• Arthur King Postcard, Sat 04 Oct 1913

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  Arthur King in goal for Tottenham. Manchester United v Tottenham Hotspur,
  Sat 04 Oct 1913 at Old Trafford. 3-1 to Manchester United, Attendance 39,000

It was in a somewhat light-hearted moment that I agreed to write the story of my football career for the readers of THE ILLUSTRATED POLICE NEWS. But now, having equipped myself with a new pen and clean sheet of foolscap, I am beginning to realise how slender are resources at my command. To begin with, it is very difficult to write about oneself without appearing egotistical, and then I have just come to the conclusion that I have really very little to say, my football career having been or the uneventful order.

You see, I have only been at the game six years as a professional and have practically only played with two clubs, Aberdeen and the Spurs. Having taken up my pen, however, I am not going to shirk my job, so I will make a dash for the personal details. I was born in Hinter, in Aberdeenshire, twenty-four years ago. I am just 6ft. In height and I go 12st 6lbs in weight.

Although born outside the granite city, my earliest recollections are connected with Aberdeen, my parents having moved there when I was a wee bit of a youngster. Like most young Scots I got my first taste of the game through kicking a ball about the streets and any other open spaces available, with my school-fellows. We had no regular club at school, but I always had very keen liking for the game, and as soon as I turned out to earn my own living – I was apprenticed as an iron worker – I went in quite seriously for it. I do not mean to infer that I had any thought of getting my living at the game, but just that I wanted very badly to improve at it.

With that end in view I joined a team called East End, and at once took up the position of goalkeeper. At first I was very crude sort of player, but, having plenty of enthusiasm at my back, I developed at a rapid rate and towards the end of my first season I earned for myself something of a local reputation.

In all I had two seasons with East End, of course as an amateur, and I had no idea of ever becoming anything else, when at the end of my second term with the club, I had an interview with the manager of the Aberdeen F.C. Who wanted me to sign a professional form.

At the time I was just eighteen years of age and the prospect of following a game I was devoted to appealed to me strongly that I was not long in making up my mind.
Of course, I did not step into the first team right away; in fact, I put in a couple of seasons with the reserves before my chance came and during my period pf probation I picked up many a useful lesson in the goal-keeping art.

I well remember the day when I first donned the black and gold livery of the League team. It was a red letter day in my existence and although the game was of little importance actually, it always carries with it pleasant memory, especially as I preserved a clean sheet that day.

During my three seasons with the Aberdeen first team I played in many a hard-fought Scottish League and Scottish Cup-tie, but without doubt the greatest match of my career to date was in my first season when we played Glasgow Celtic in the semi-final round of the Scottish Cup. My club mates had been telling me about the big gate that would sure to turn up, but I was never more surprised in my life when I went out on the field and had to face 80,000 people. It was my first experience of a really big concourse of people and small wonder that I was a bit nervous. That feeling, however, wore off with the first kick of the ball and I proudly determined that I would keep my charge intact that day in the face of Scotland's most deadly shots. I should here remark that we had gone through the preliminary rounds without a goal against us. For quite a long time we held our own and I began to have visions of my side securing the greatest honour in Scottish football. With a suddenness than can only be described as electrical, however, my dream was shattered by one Quinn, who beat me with glorious shot. I have no hesitation in describing that same Quinn as the very best centre-forward I have ever played against, but at the same time I have not quite forgiven him for the defeat he inflicted on my team that day.

After five seasons in all Scottish football I thought I would like to see and participate in the game as it is played over the boarder. I am not an advocate of many changes, nor am I a rover, but at the same time I believe in an occasional change of scene if only for sake of enlarging one's ideas, so I came to the metropolis of the Empire, where I am getting a taste of the best class English football.

At first I was very strange to the game and the surroundings, Tottenham and Aberdeen presenting so many totally different features, but I soon found my game, and I am most happy to say that everybody at White Hart Lane has been very kind and considerate to me. I went to Tottenham a stranger in a strange land, and in the course of a few months I have made hosts of friends.

After all, there is not a lot of difference between the Scotch and the English game. Generally it is conducted at a brisker rate south of the Tweed, but that is the only point I notice.

My one desire is to shine in the great Cup competition, and when the ties in the F.A. Cup come along I shall be in my element. League games are the backbone of football without doubt, but the salt and spice of the sport are provided by the Cup-ties and, having lost my chance in the Scottish Cup, I am now keenly anxious to participate in a final at the Crystal Palace, or wherever it is that the great game is to be played.

• Arthur King in goal for Tottenham, 1913-14

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  Back Row L-R: Frederick "Fred" Webster, William Weir, Robert "Bobby" Steel, Arthur King-GK,
  Arthur Grimsdell, J. Nie (trainer), William "Bill" Cartwright
  Front Row L-R: Frederick "Fanny" Walden, James "Jim" Fleming, James "Jimmy" Cantrell,
  Herbert "Bert" Bliss, William Oliver.