Mike England

Mike England

Personal information
Full name	Harold Michael England
Date of birth	2 December 1941 (1941-12-02) (age 69)
Place of birth	Holywell, Flintshire, Wales
Height	6 ft 2 in (1.88 m)
Playing position	Defender
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps†	(Gls)†
1959–1966	Blackburn Rovers	165	(21)
1966–1975	Tottenham Hotspur	300	(14)
1975–1976	Cardiff City	40	(1)
1975–1979	Seattle Sounders	106	(6)
1979–1980	Cleveland Force (indoor)	11	(0)
National team
1962–1975	Wales	44	(4)
Teams managed
1979–1987	Wales
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only. † Appearances (Goals).

Harold Michael "Mike" England, MBE^[1](born 2 December 1941) was a popular Welsh footballer and manager.^[2]

Playing career

Born Holywell, Wales, Mike England was a tall commanding centre-half, who could also play effectively as a centre-forward. He played for Blackburn Rovers, Tottenham Hotspur, Cardiff, and for the Wales national team. At Spurs he won the inaugural 1972 UEFA Cup Final and was runner up in the same competition 2 years later, his goal in the first leg of the final unable to win the cup a second time for Spurs. He retired as a player in 1979 after playing eleven games for the Cleveland Force of the Major Indoor Soccer League. He scored "weird" hat-trick: two own-goals and one goal to Burnley net. It was in 1974.

Mike England was recently overtaken as the youngest Wales permanent captain by Aaron Ramsey. .^[3]

Management career

He managed the Wales national team from 1979 to 1987. In his first match, Wales beat England 4-1 at Wrexham. Under his managership Wales came close to qualifying for several tournaments, most notably the 1986 World Cup. That year, Wales faced Scotland in a World Cup qualifier, which Wales had to win to qualify for the finals. A 1-1 draw was enough for Scotland, but their much loved manager Jock Stein had a heart attack in the dugout next to Mike England, and died shortly after. This affected Mike very much, as he has admitted freely, and he quit football management shortly afterwards to manage a nursing home in North Wales. England was awarded MBE for services to Welsh football.

• Wales national football team (1979–1987)

• Wales Under 23- 11 appearances

Honours

Tottenham Hotspur

• F.A. Cup winner - 1967

External links

• Fact-file
• Spurs legend
• 1975 Seattle Sounders player profile
• 1979 Sounders profile - with stats

References

1. ^ "Spurs Legend - Mike England". Tottenham Hotspur. http://www.tottenhamhotspur.com/history/legends/mikeengland.html. Retrieved 26 May 2010. 
2. ^ Hugman,B,J, (Ed)The PFA Premier & Football League Players' Records 1946-2005 (2005) p195 ISBN 1852916656
3. ^ Mike England captains Wales

Persondata
Name	England, Mike
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	2 December 1941
Place of birth	Holywell, Flintshire, Wales
Date of death
Place of death