fullname years death_date death_place clubs birth_place caps goals position manageryears birth_date managerclubs article_title name
james brain 1923 1937 -- 1939 1939 -- 1940 -- 1931 1931 -- 1934 1934 -- 1937 1971 barnet , london , england arsenal tottenham hotspur swansea town bristol city cheltenham town bristol , england 204 45 51 32 125 10 25 9 centre forward 1939 -- ? 000 ? -- 1948 11 september 1900 king 's lynn cheltenham town jimmy brain
 jimmy brain
jimmy brain

james `` jimmy '' brain -lrb- 11 september 1900 -- 1971 -rrb- was an english football player .
born in bristol , brain started his career playing in wales , having an unsuccessful trial at cardiff city , before gaining a regular place at ton pentre .
in 1923 , he moved to arsenal , and in his eight years with the gunners became one of the club 's most successful goalscorers .
after a year in the reserve side , brain started his arsenal first-team career with a goal on his debut , a 1 -- 0 win against local rivals tottenham hotspur on 25 october 1924 .
brain was a prolific striker throughout his career , and was the club 's top scorer for four seasons in a row , from 1924 -- 25 to 1928 -- 29 ; this included 39 goals in the 1925 -- 26 season -lrb- second only to ted drake 's haul of 45 in 1934 -- 35 -rrb- , which included four hat tricks .
the next season , 1926 -- 27 , brain scored 34 goals , this haul including two four-goal tallies against sheffield wednesday and burnley .
brain 's goalscoring feats helped arsenal reach their first fa cup final , in 1926 -- 27 , though a mistake by goalkeeper dan lewis meant arsenal lost 1 -- 0 to cardiff city .
however brain 's form dropped and in 1929 -- 30 he lost out in competing for the front spot with jack lambert , david jack and dave halliday all getting the nod ahead of him , meaning brain only played six league matches this season .
brain therefore missed the gunners ' 1930 cup final win over huddersfield town ; jack and lambert led the line that day .
however , the following season , 1930 -- 31 , brain finally won a medal after playing sixteen matches -lrb- scoring four goals -rrb- in arsenal 's very first first division title-winning season .
brain 's final appearance in an arsenal shirt was a 2 -- 0 win over sheffield wednesday on 21 march 1931 .
by now , brain 's age was catching up with him , and he had been overtaken in the goalscoring stakes by both lambert and jack .
he left arsenal for tottenham for # 2,500 in september 1931 , becoming one of the few players to have moved directly between the two rival clubs .
in total , he scored 139 goals in 232 appearances for arsenal , making him the gunners ' joint-fifth top scorer of all time , and he was the first player ever to score 100 goals for the club , a feat he achieved in a 6 -- 3 win over liverpool on 7 march 1928 .
however , he never played for england ; he managed to secure a trial for the national team but was never actually selected .
by the time brain had joined spurs he was in his thirties , and only played 47 times for them , scoring 10 goals , before leaving in 1934 .
he played his final years out at swansea town and bristol city .
after retiring as a player , brain managed first king 's lynn and then cheltenham town from 1939 until 1948 .
during the war brain briefly turned out for cheltenham town .
he returned to is role as cheltenham town manager until 1948 , after which he retired completely from football .
he died in 1971 , at the age of 71 .
