Charles Murray Buchan, one of the legends of our football club, became the first Sunderland player to captain England, and the 38th player in total to captain the country, when they played Wales at Ninian Park on 14 March 1921. Certainly stranger times then, as the record books show that he only won 6 England caps in total, yet he scored 4 goals in those 4 matches. An excellent return in today’s currency! He was initially capped in 1913, but the war years hindered his international career.
The inside-right/centre-forward,
as we all know, was prolific in front of goal for his club. To this day, he still holds the club record for goals scored – all 224 of them in 413 appearances (in all competitions). Whilst Bobby Gurney scored more goals in total (228), Buchan leads the way in the number of league goals scored.
The changing face of football will probably mean that that record will never be beaten. Depending on how you count appearances (including sub appearances etc.), he is in the elite group of players who have represented the Black Cats more than 400 times. Those being: Jimmy Montgomery 627, Len Ashurst 459, Ned Doig 456, Stan Anderson 447, Charlie Buchan 413, Charley Hurley 401 and Gordon Armstrong.
Buchan was a very skilful player, who read the game superbly well, and was very quick-thinking. Some sources have mentioned that it was indeed his quick thinking – sometimes ahead of even his own colleagues, who weren’t quite on the same advanced page – that accounted for his paltry 6 caps. He is to this day a legend in these parts, and finished top scorer from the championship season of 1912–13 through to 1923–24. A truly amazing feat. He was also the 1st Division’s top scorer in the 1923–24 season.
He was born in Plumstead, London, on 22 September 1891, and died in 1960, aged just 68, in Monte Carlo. At 6ft 1in, he was an imposing player, and with his trickery and famed ‘glancing headers’, was the focal point of our team for well over a decade. He eventually joined Arsenal at the age of 34, as one of the first signings of the famed manager Herbert Chapman.
It was a wise move; despite Buchan’s age, the then Sunderland manager Kyle believed he could still deliver 20 goals a season. Sunderland wanted £4,000 for the forward, but a deal was eventually struck for just £2,000 – plus £100 for every goal he scored in his first season at Highbury. That turned out to be a very clever piece of business, as Charlie scored 21 goals that season, so we were up on the deal!
Whilst Sunderland have had many players represent England (29 in total), he remains the only one to be chosen as captain. Of course, in today’s climate, certainly in the Premier League, teams are multinational, and this season saw Sunderland announce a team with no English player in the starting XI for the first time, in the derby against the Visitors.
Another interesting stat I noticed when researching our England international players is that we’ve always had at least one player represent England in every decade since internationals began – until the 2020s. We have another 4 years to keep that record intact.
For the record, England drew 0–0 with Wales in Buchan’s first captaincy (he did captain them again 2 years later). The line-up:
Herbert Coleman (Dulwich Hamlet FC)
Warneford Cresswell (South Shields FC)
John Silcock (Manchester United FC)
John Bamber (Liverpool FC)
George Wilson (The Wednesday FC)
Thomas Bromilow (Liverpool FC)
Samuel Chedgzoy (Everton FC)
Robert Kelly (Burnley FC)
Charles Buchan (Sunderland AFC)
Henry Chambers (Liverpool FC)
Alfred Quantrill (Derby County FC)
Subs: Tommy Urwin (Middlesbrough FC) and Ernie Simms (Luton Town FC)
The line-up as it appeared on the team sheet in today’s parlance was a 2–3–5. The team was picked by a fourteen-man FA International Selection Committee, following a trial match a week earlier.
According to The Times report of the match, the game was played in very windy and wet conditions, on a bare and greasy surface, which further helped to produce a very poor game.
