[PaulR]

The arm that drops over the centre of the record senses whether there are any records to play automatically. If you use the short spindle the player will "think" there are no records there and the arm will do as you describe. If you use the long spindle and put the record so it sits on the little "sticky out bit" towards the top then put the second arm over it to hold it in position it should work.

However, there are some capacitors in the amplifier which should be changed. If you are very unlucky the failure of these my already have damaged the output transformer. Can you hear any hum or noise at all from the speaker with the volume turned fully up?