The 'Maestro' Raich Carter (The Great Horatio/The Silver Fox)
Raich Carter was one of the greatest English footballers of the pre-war era. Regardless of generation, there are not many living souls within any shore who would have had the good fortune of witnessing Raich Carter with a ball at his feet, yet his legacy lives on.
Facts
The young Raich would have received a footballing education from the earliest of ages as the sport was embedded into him from his father, Robert Carter, who strode out in the colours of Port Vale, Southampton, and Fulham as a professional, but a serious head injury cut his career short at 29.
As a 13-year-old schoolboy it was clear that football was in Carter's legacy, as local rag the Sunderland Echo, reported upon witnessing him take apart Wales in an international youth game where he scored a deuce, "This young Hendon product is one of the best all-round athletes Sunderland has produced for many a day, and his future career will be watched with interest."
Carter's ability became quickly apparent as soon as he began to play regularly for Sunderland at the age of 18, and his inclusion - like the dramas that unfold today as to how talents like Arsenal's Jack Wilshere are best educated - polarised opinion. Some quarters felt that due to his natural ability in front of goal, his calmness and compsure, together with his ability to pick and thread a pass, meant that he should be starting games on the regular, while others felt he should be carefully nurtured. Nevertheless Carter's rise became positively meteoric. In 1934 he made his full England debut, against Scotland at Wembley; two years on he inspired an essentially ordinary Sunderland team to the League championship, becoming the youngest title-winning skipper in the process; in 1937 he was the star turn (scoring 2nd in a 3-1 victory) as the Rokerites beat Preston North End to lift the FA Cup. Thus, at 23, Raich Carter had won every honour then available to a footballer.
The
Second World War left him bereft of many of his peak years, like many great players of his age. Afterwards he picked up another Cup winners medal with
Derby in 1946, becoming the only player to win Cup winners medals both before and after the war.
Carter was also
capped 13 times for
England as an inside forward.
Style (taken from articles)
Carter was that rare being, a magnificent maker and taker of goals, and were he playing today his transfer valuation would surely be astronomical. During his peak years and beyond, when his black hair had turned prematurely to a distinguished silver, he cut an imperious figure, radiating self-confidence as he strutted around the pitch, invariably dictating the course of a game. Some would (and did) call him arrogant, but there was no denying the Carter class. He shot thunderously with either foot, especially his left; his ball control was impeccable and his body-swerve little short of sublime; and, crucially, he possessed the intelligence to put these natural gifts to maximum use.
Raich Carter was one of the greatest inside-forwards ever produced by England, being often referred to as 'The Maestro' for the way he took control of games. He was the complete inside-forward who could create and take chances with equal flair. He had a fine footballing brain and could shoot fiercely with either foot. He was an arrogant performer, strutting around the midfield and dictating the flow of play as he saw fit. He had been a superb talent, the master of all the attacking arts. He carried shooting power in both foot and married his talent with resolution and dedication.
He could roll immaculate passes through the tiniest of gaps, sometimes seeming to shred defences at will, and much of his work alongside Stanley Matthews, when the two formed a right-wing pair for England, was breathtaking. Indeed, few men appreciated the footballing needs of 'The Wizard of Dribble' as Carter did, and, certainly from this distance, the reluctance of the selection committee (this was well before the days of the all-powerful team boss) to use them in tandem more regularly appears incomprehensible
Carter, who played for Sunderland and Derby in his extended prime, was a prince of a player. Skilled on the ball, a quality playmaker and goal scorer. Some consider him England’s finest ever inside forward, which given that was Bobby Charlton’s principle position, is saying something. His England career stretched over 13 years either side of the war and he was a major figure in Wartime internationals. So Raich belongs on this list without a doubt. The most direct comparisons should be with Rooney, young Scholes and Bobby Charlton who were similar in style i.e. a play-making midfielder who dictates the tempo of the game and can be a number 10 due to his goal-scoring prowess with fantastic ability to time runs into the box.
Quotes
In tribute, English great Stanley Matthews, on looking back at Carter's talent, said,
"Roker Park was packed. I was on the right wing and inside me was local hero Raich Carter, who I felt was the ideal partner for me. Sunderland had a very talented team at the time and Carter was its mastermind. You would never have suspected, seeing him casually taking to the pitch, that here was a man who could lay claim to football genius. But he did and often. Carter was not a buzzing, workaholic inside-forward, far from it. At times you could be tricked into thinking he had only a passing interest in a game. He'd ghost into great positions and had that rarest of talents on receiving the ball; he could turn a game. `Let the ball do the work,' he'd say and how miraculously it did work when guided by his touches. His ball control appeared so casual and effortless it often passed unnoticed and seemed less a matter of conscious artistry than the possession of another sense. Carter was a supreme entertainer who dodged, dribbled, twisted and turned, sending bewildered left-halves madly along false trails."
"Inside the penalty box with the ball at his feet and two or three defenders snapping at his ankles, he'd find the space to get a shot in at goal... Bewilderingly clever, constructive, lethal in front of goal, yet unselfish. Time and again he'd play the ball out wide to me and with such service I was in my element."
Tommy Lawton later explained:
"Raich was the master of the pass which sneaks its way through the seemingly impregnable defence, but Raich was also an opportunist of the highest order. Yes, I know everyone knows all about his tremendous shot, but Raich had something else. He could size up a chance in a flash, and he would be on it before anyone could move. For instance, the centre forward has only to leap for a ball and nod it downwards and backwards, and Raich will be tearing in to ram the ball into the net."
Stan Mortensen agreed:
"Raich is a double-purpose inside-forward. He is clever and brainy enough to make openings for other players, and would be worth his place in any side for that alone. He also has the knack of cutting through for goals himself, and from the edge of the penalty area can hit a ball as hard as most."
