Samuel English (18 August 1908 – 12 April 1967) was a Northern Irish footballer who played for several clubs during the 1930s, but is mainly remembered for his time with Rangers.
His career was overshadowed by the death of Celtic goalkeeper John Thomson who died as a result of an accidental collision with English during an Old Firm game in 1931.
The official enquiry found that the collision was an accident, and cleared English of any blame; a view which was fully supported by Thomson's family and all players from both teams who were on the field at the time.
[3] In 1935 the recently appointed Queen of the South manager George McLachlan took English back north to Scotland for a spell at the Dumfries-based club.
[2] He was to find that his reputation had preceded him, he often faced taunts regarding the death of Thomson, and he never fully recovered his playing form despite scoring 31 goals in 75 appearances for Hartlepools.
[3] Eventually he retired from football at the age of 28, and was quoted afterwards as describing his playing career after the Thomson accident as being "seven years of joyless sport.