John Alexander Angus (1867 – August 1891) was a

Scottish Scottish usually refers to something of, from, or related to Scotland, including: *Scottish Gaelic, a Celtic Goidelic language of the Indo-European language family native to Scotland *Scottish English *Scottish national identity, the Scottish ide ...

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby le ...

who played in the Northern League for

Sunderland Albion Sunderland Albion Football Club was an English association football club based in Sunderland, England, formed in 1888 and disbanded in 1892. The club was reformed in 2020 but has as of 2023 ceased operations again. Summary Sunderland Albion ...

and

the Football League The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, the league is the oldest such competition in the world. It was the top-level football league in Engla ...

for Everton.

Everton career

Everton's signing of 23-year-old Scottish goalkeeper John Angus from

was announced in the Liverpool Mercury of 7 April 1890, as Angus joined his new teammates for a pre-season friendly versus

Bootle Bootle (pronounced ) is a town in the Metropolitan Borough of Sefton, Merseyside, England, which had a population of 51,394 in 2011; the wider Bootle (UK Parliament constituency), Parliamentary constituency had a population of 98,449. Histo ...

. He lodged with the Williams family and fellow Everton player and Scot, Alex Lochhead, at 6 Skerries Road, adjacent to the

Anfield Anfield is a football stadium in Anfield, Liverpool, Merseyside, England, which has a seating capacity of 53,394, making it the seventh largest football stadium in England. It has been the home of Liverpool F.C. since their formation in 1892. ...

ground where Everton were tenants, shortly before the fallout which forced their move to what would become

Goodison Park Goodison Park is a football stadium in the Walton area of Liverpool, England. It has been the home stadium of Premier League club Everton F.C. since its completion in 1892. Located in a residential area 2 miles (3 km) north of Liverpool ...

in 1892. Angus made his full debut for Everton alongside established stars including

Johnny Holt Johnny Holt (10 April 1865 – 1937) was an English professional footballer who played in twenty-one of Everton's twenty-two game Football League title winning side of 1890–91. Biography Holt played for a number of clubs before signing ...

Fred Geary Fred Geary (23 January 1868 – 8 January 1955) was an English professional footballer who played at centre forward for Everton in the 1890s, and made two appearances for England, scoring a hat-trick on his debut. At Everton, he was a prolif ...

and

Edgar Chadwick Edgar Wallace Chadwick (14 June 1869 – 14 February 1942) was a left-sided footballer who had a long and distinguished career with Everton during the 1890s. He was also the national coach for the Netherlands from 1908 to 1913. His cousin, ...

in the opening game of the 1890/91 season at

Stoney Lane Stoney Lane was a football ground in West Bromwich, England. It was the home ground of West Bromwich Albion from 1885 until 1900. History West Bromwich Albion moved to Stoney Lane in 1885 from their Four Acres ground in 1885. A 600-seat grandst ...

, as the Toffeemen overcame W.B.A. by four goals to one. In the coming weeks, Everton, with Angus between the sticks, stormed to the top of the Division 1 table, winning their next four games by an aggregate score of 19–1, before a 2–2 draw at

Aston Villa Aston Villa Football Club is a professional football club based in Aston, Birmingham, England. The club competes in the , the top tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1874, they have played at their home ground, Villa Park ...

slowed their progress. A 2–0 win at

Bolton Bolton (, locally ) is a large town in Greater Manchester in North West England, formerly a part of Lancashire. A former mill town, Bolton has been a production centre for textiles since Flemish people, Flemish weavers settled in the area i ...

was followed by a 3–2 defeat in the return match at Anfield versus W.B.A. and a 1–3 loss at

Notts County Notts County Football Club is a professional association football club based in Nottingham, England. The team participate in the National League (division), National League, the fifth tier of the English football league system. Founded on the 2 ...

. Angus was replaced in goal by Bob Smalley for a 2–1 reverse at

Ewood Park Ewood Park () is a football stadium in Blackburn, Lancashire, England, and the home of Blackburn Rovers F.C., founding members of the Football League and Premier League, who have played there since 1890. It is an all seater multi-sports facili ...

versus

Blackburn Blackburn () is an industrial town and the administrative centre of the Blackburn with Darwen borough in Lancashire, England. The town is north of the West Pennine Moors on the southern edge of the Ribble Valley, east of Preston and north-n ...

, but returned to keep a clean sheet in a 1–0 home win over

Sunderland Sunderland () is a port city in Tyne and Wear, England. It is the City of Sunderland's administrative centre and in the Historic counties of England, historic county of County of Durham, Durham. The city is from Newcastle-upon-Tyne and is on t ...

, a result which restored Everton's position at the top of the table. Angus's final league appearance for Everton came a week later, in a 2–0 defeat at

Deepdale Deepdale is a football stadium in the Deepdale area of Preston, England, the home of Preston North End. Deepdale is "widely recognised as being the oldest 'continuously used' football stadium in the world, though this is contested". History ...

versus the mighty Preston side who had won the previous two Division 1 titles and would push Everton all the way in 1890/91. Angus received a kick to the knee in the Preston match, and fellow Scot David Jardine took his place for the following fixture at home to Blackburn. Jardine would keep goal for Everton in the remaining ten league fixtures, helping his side to claim their first league championship title in the process. John Angus made his final appearance in Everton colours on 17 January 1891, in the club's sole

F.A. Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual knockout football competition in men's domestic English football. First played during the 1871–72 season, it is the oldest national football competiti ...

tie that season, a 1–0 defeat at

Newcastle Road Newcastle Road was a football ground in the Monkwearmouth area of Sunderland, England, and was the home ground of Sunderland A.F.C for twelve years, between 1886 and 1898. It was the sixth ground at which the club had played. Also called ''As ...

—where he played well and was not at fault for a superb winning goal, according to local news reports—fittingly, as fate would have it, versus his old rivals Sunderland. Tragically, by the time Everton, the newly-crowned champions of England, kicked off their 1891/92 campaign, again at W.B.A, only this time ending up on the wrong end of a 4–0 hiding, Jack Angus would be dead. A short paragraph in the Liverpool Mercury, dated 10 August 1891, reads: Not to be confused with John William Angus, his contemporary at Everton.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Angus, John 1867 births 1891 deaths Scottish men's footballers Everton F.C. players Sunderland Albion F.C. players English Football League players Men's association football goalkeepers Deaths from typhoid fever