A medal awarded to Jack Bruton, one of the finest English footballers of the inter-War period

Lancashire Football Association, a gold award medal by Vaughton, crowned arms, back named (Blackburn Rovers F.C., Runners-Up 1936-37, J. Bruton (Capt)), hallmarked Birmingham 1936, 29mm, 9ct, 20.04g. Extremely fine, with gold arch mount, clip and ring for suspension; in blue case of issue £300-400

John (Jack) Bruton (1903-86), born at Westhoughton in November 1903, a miner by trade, was playing for local club Hindley Green in the Lancashire Alliance when he signed as an amateur for Wigan Borough in 1922. Moving to Bolton Wanderers in 1923 and to Horwich in 1924, his reputation as a right winger with electric pace and tight ball control reached the ears of the scouts at Burnley FC. The story goes that he emerged from a pit cage at the end of a shift to find a delegation from Turf Moor waiting for his signature. In March 1925 he signed for Burnley for £125, making his league debut for them that month in a 3-1 defeat by Newcastle in which Bruton scored. In 167 league appearances for Burnley over the next four years he scored 42 goals, performances which earned him three full England caps in 1928-9 against France, Belgium and Scotland. In December 1929 Bruton was sold to Blackburn Rovers for £6,500, a record signing for the club at the time. In a 10-year playing career at Ewood Park Bruton made 324 league appearances, scoring 108 goals, in addition to 7 goals in FA Cup ties. In 1943 Bruton announced his retirement and became Blackburn’s assistant secretary, then assistant manager and subsequently manager in December 1947 (after being short-listed for the vacant manager’s job at Manchester City), but following a couple of mediocre seasons was dismissed in May 1949, claiming that he had to submit his team selection to the board and had no control over the buying and selling of players. In March 1950 he was appointed manager at Bournemouth & Boscombe Athletic, but in six years at Dean Court he was never able to inspire anything other than mid-table finishes and left the club in 1956. Subsequently, while based on the south coast, he had spells as a scout with Portsmouth, Bournemouth and Blackburn; he died in Bournemouth in March 1986. Sold with a file of background information, including several copy photographs