Claude Jephcott
Family Connections Claude Jephcott was a professional football player with West Bromwich Albion from 1911 to 1923.[1] He was the son of the celebrated Midlands journalist William Jephcott, who was one of the first sports journalists to regularly travel with the team that he covered for every away game. Previously, only the home games would be covered, and the newspaper would rely on agency reports for away matches. At one point, Jephcott senior was officially registered with the Football League as an Albion player, just in case a regular failed to turn up for an away fixture, and on one occasion, William Jephcott was within five minutes of making his League debut in a match at Liverpool, when an Albion player missed his train. William Jephcott worked for, amongst other, the Birmingham Gazette and the Weekly News. Claude Jephcott was born in Smethwick in 1881, and began his football career as an amateur with Brierley Hill Alliance, with whom he won his Junior International cap, against the Scottish Juniors, in Glasgow in April 1911. He immediately signed professionally signed for West Bromwich Albion (for a £100 consideration) and made his reserve team debut against Worcester City in a 3-0 win in the Birmingham & District League on April 22, 1911. His first team debut came in the Birmingham Charity Cup Final against Aston Villa at Villa Park on September 19 of that year, when Albion lost 4-0. He made his League debut in a 3-2 defeat at Sunderland on December 9 of the same year. He soon made the right wing position his own, scoring for the first time on March 13, getting both goals in a 2-0 win against Tottenham. That same season he featured prominently in Albion team that reached the FA Cup Final, but ended up on the losing side, after a replay, against Second Division Barnsley. He had a poor game in the first game, at the Crystal Palace, but it was his injury in the replay, at Bramall Lane, that unbalanced the side and ended with a goal in the last minute of extra time.
Representative Call-ups He received his first representative call-up in October 16, 1912 when he played in the annual game between Birmingham and London at St Andrew's, Birmingham, scoring the last goal in his side's 5-1 win. He was selected again twelve months later, and once again Birmingham were victorious in a fog-affected game at Upton Park. His potential international career moved up a notch when he was selected for the England versus the South game at Craven Cottage in November 1913, and he was being widely tipped to win his first cap at any time. As a precursor to that, he played for the Football League side against the Scottish League a Burnley in March 1914, but, as the Athletic News pointed out, the winger was starved of the ball, "in one period of 25 minutes in the second half, Jephcott only received three passes." He also starred for the North against the South in an international trial game at Stamford Bridge the following month. His club form was outstanding at that time, and he was assisting more goals in a successful Albion side than all of the other players in the side. His great form continued during the final pre-War season, when Albion made a good bid to win the First Division title for the first time, but, of course, he lost four seasons between 1015 and 1919. In that time he played games for Foleshill Great Heath, and Birmingham, with occasional guest appearances for Derby County (January 1916) and Nottingham Forest (September 1916). Although he played in most of Albion's War-time charity games (of which there were very few) he fell victim to the great influenza pandemic when they resumed football in 1919, and missed out on their victorious campaign in the Midland Victory League. He was a major figure in their glorious 1919-20 season, when they landed the First Division title with a record number of points (60) and goals (104). He was once again selected for the Football League side, this time against the Irish League, at Anfield in November 1919, with his Albion team mate Jack Crisp on the opposite wing, but injury was beginning to slow him down a little, which was perhaps why he never did win his England cap. Four days before that game at Anfield, he had been the star performer in Albion's 4-2 win at Villa Park, when the Athletic News said of him, "Jephcott scintillated in the second half. He is supposed to have a hardened muscle in one of his thighs, but the drawback was not apparent when he wheeled about, and ran in and out, and finally delivered choice centres." Because of the calcification in his thigh, Jephcott only managed to play in half of the League games—enough to qualify for his precious medal—and scored five goals for the side. The following season he managed 32 games, and, again showing great form in a declining side, was again selected for the England trial match at White Hart Lane in February 1921 but—significantly—he was playing for the South rather than the likely England side. That was his last such selection.
End of career The beginning of the end of a fine career came in September 3, 1921, when he dislocated his ankle in a 3-2 defeat against Middlesbrough at Ayresome Park. As the Birmingham Gazette explained, "The ambulance men were also called to a number of people in the crowd, who had fainted on seeing the gruesome nature of Jephcott's injury." He was out of the game for seven months, just returning in time to play a few games at the ehd of the season, making five appearances all told.[2] He seemed to have regained his former form in the opening games of the 1922-23 season, but five games in, in a frantic Derby game at Villa Park, he collided with Villa's left-half, Blackburn, and turned onto his right leg. He was splinted and stretchered off and taken to Claremont Nursing home, having fractured his right leg just below the knee. He would never play again, calling a halt in his career after 205 first team games (17 goals). He would become an Albion director in 1934, remaining on the board until his death, in Penn, near Wolverhampton, on October 5, 1950. His brother William Ellery Jephcott, a journalist like his father, would also serve on the board from 1941-53.