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. The move was not a success and English was given a free transfer to Hartlepool United in July 1936. 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 although managed 31 goals in 75 appearances for the north-east of England team. Eventually he gave up 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."