New owner donates ‘Thrice Champions’ memorabilia to the club
- Kevin Nagle wins Tom Wilson medal collection via auction
- Our new owner is donating them to the club’s collection
- ‘Thrice Champions’ medals and FA Cup medal from 1922
The medals of one of our famous ‘Thrice Champions’, Tom Wilson, now have pride of place in the club’s archive after new owner Kevin Nagle won several lots in a recent memorabilia auction.
Ahead of receiving final approvals for his takeover of the club, which came through in June, Mr Nagle was successful in capitalising on a rare opportunity to take ownership of four medals from the same player in the successful team of the 1920s.
Kevin participated in the auction, held by sporting memorabilia specialists Graham Budd, and placed significant bids to secure Tom’s winner’s meals from Town’s 1922 FA Cup Final and the famous ‘Thrice Champions’ medals from the 1923/24, 1924/25 and 1925/26.
He was also successful in securing Tom’s single England cap from the 1927/28 campaign.
Upon being successful, Mr Nagle has immediately donated the five pieces of memorabilia to the club. The medals join his teammate Billy Smith’s collection at the John Smith’s Stadium.
Kevin explained:
“Celebrating Huddersfield Town’s rich history is something that is very important to me, and I immediately understood how rare an opportunity it was to secure the full medal collection of a player from the ‘Thrice Champions’ team.
“I’m delighted I could secure this collection and donate it to the club, particularly as we celebrate the centenary of the first of our three Division One title wins this season.
“It’s a longer-term goal for us to find a way to showcase the club’s varied collection of memorabilia more easily to our terrific fans.”
Born in Seaham, Durham in 1896, Tom Wilson started his career at Sunderland before World War One, and subsequently played for Seaham Colliery FC before joining Town in June 1919.
A centre half, Wilson immediately became a virtual ever-present for the side. Having helped Town to promotion out of Division Two, he was a key player for the legendary Herbert Chapman as Town defeated Preston North End in the 1922 FA Cup Final.
He played practically every game as Town won back-to-back-to-back Division One titles from 1924 through 1926 and continued to do so as the 30s approached.
Tom’s England cap was earned on 31 March 1928 in a game against Scotland, which became famous as the visitors won 5-1 and became known as ‘The Wembley Wizards’. Ironically it was another Town great, Alex Jackson, who put Wilson and his England colleagues to the sword with a magnificent hat-trick.
His final Town appearance was his only one in the 1931/32 campaign – a start against Everton at Leeds Road on 7 November 1931. That was an historic 500th game across league and FA Cup for the club, which makes him second in our all-time appearance list to this day.
Wilson subsequently played for Blackpool before retiring in 1932, at which point he returned to Town as an assistant trainer to John Chaplin.
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