PHONEY WAR

The W.D. & H.O. Wills Association Footballers series, issued in November 1939 at the outset of the so‑called “Phoney War,” marked not only a snapshot of the game on the eve of global conflict but also the end of more than half a century of cigarette‑card production in Britain.

Leonard Arthur Goulden had begun his West Ham career in 1931 and, by 1933, was an indispensable part of the side. His elegant, incisive play soon attracted the attention of the England selectors. He scored on his debut - one of 14 caps - during a 6–0 win over Norway in Oslo on 14 May 1937, a remarkable achievement given that West Ham were then a Second Division club.

Sixteen months before the outbreak of the Second World War, the 25‑year‑old Goulden was part of the England team ordered by the Foreign Office to deliver the Nazi salute during the German national anthem at Berlin’s Olympic Stadium on 14 May 1938. He struck an 85th‑minute goal in England’s 6–3 victory.

During the war years Goulden guested for Chelsea, a spell that ultimately smoothed the path for his post‑war transfer to Stamford Bridge, completed for a reported fee of £5,000.