At that point he was 36 years old and had been at the top level of English football for 13 years. The first sign that England was no longer on top of the game could be seen one month before the match against Hungary, when England on the occasion of the 90th anniversary of the FA, encountered a European XI on 21 October 1953 in Wembley and drew luckily, thanks to a hardly justified last minute penalty 4-4. Bob Ferrier wrote in the Daily Mirror, england kit that England needed “all the luck in the world” to achieve this result. A £250 donation from Football Unites Racism Divides was supported by money from Preston City Council and other others.