- Danny Blanchflower
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Danny Blanchflower Personal information Full name Robert Dennis Blanchflower Date of birth 10 February 1926 Place of birth Belfast, Northern Ireland Date of death 9 December 1993 (aged 67)Place of death London, England Playing position Midfielder Youth career 194?–1949 Glentoran Senior career* Years Team Apps† (Gls)† 1949–1951 Barnsley 68 (2) 1951–1954 Aston Villa 148 (10) 1954–1964 Tottenham Hotspur 337 (15) 1961 → Toronto City (loan) National team 1949–1963 Northern Ireland 56 (2) Teams managed 1978–1979? Northern Ireland 1978?–1979 Chelsea * Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only.
† Appearances (Goals).Robert Dennis "Danny" Blanchflower (10 February 1926 – 9 December 1993) was a Northern Irish footballer, football manager, and journalist who captained Tottenham Hotspur F.C. during its double-winning season of 1961. He was ranked as the greatest player in Spurs history by The Times in 2009.[1] He is remembered as one of the great tacticians in the history of the game, renowned for his passing, and as an outstanding right-half.
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Early years
Blanchflower was born on 10 February 1926 in the Bloomfield district of Belfast. His mother had played as a centre-forward on a women's football team. He was educated at Ravenscroft public elementary school and was awarded a scholarship to Belfast College of Technology.[2] His younger brother, Jackie, played for Manchester United.
He left early to become an apprentice electrician at Gallaher's cigarette factory in Belfast. He also joined the Air Raid Precautions (ARP) and in 1943 lied about his age in order to join the RAF. As a trainee navigator he was sent on a course to St Andrews University (where he acquired a lifelong love of golf) and in the spring of 1945 was posted to Canada for further training. By 1946, aged 20, he was back in Belfast, back at Gallaher's, and building a reputation as an outstanding footballer.[2]
Playing career
He began his professional football career at the end of the Second World War when he was signed by Belfast side Glentoran. In 1949, Barnsley paid £6,000 to transfer him to England, and two years later Aston Villa bought him for £15,000. He played 148 times for Villa in the League,[3] captaining the side on many occasions. He grew disenchanted with the club and the way training was conducted, becoming one of the first to propose that players should train with a ball as opposed to merely undertaking physical exercise.
In 1954 he was bought by Tottenham Hotspur for the huge fee of £30,000, and during his ten years at White Hart Lane he made 337 League appearances,[3] and 382 total appearances (scoring 21 goals).[1]
The highlight of his time at Spurs came with the 1960–61 season. With Blanchflower as captain Spurs won their first 11 games, still a record for the top flight of English football and eventually won the league by 8 points. They then beat Leicester City in the final of the FA Cup to become the first team in the 20th century to win the League and Cup double, not achieved since Aston Villa in 1897.
In 1962 he again captained the Spurs team to victory in the FA Cup (scoring a penalty in the final against Burnley), only narrowly missing out on a second double when they finished a close third in the league behind Ipswich Town and Burnley, and in 1963 he captained his side to victory over Atlético Madrid in the final of the European Cup Winners' Cup. During his time with Spurs he also had a short spell with Toronto City, alongside fellow Football League players Stanley Matthews and Johnny Haynes.[4]
Between 1949 and 1963, he earned 56 caps for Northern Ireland, often playing alongside his brother Jackie, and in 1958 captained his country when they reached the quarter-finals of the World Cup. On 4 December 1957 he captained the Northern Ireland team against Italy in Belfast, in a bad tempered game that came to be known as the "Battle of Belfast"; Blanchflower attempted to keep the peace as the game turned nasty.[5]
International goals
Scores and results list Northern Ireland's goal tally first.
# Date Venue Opponent Result Competition 1 4 June 1960 Wrexham, Wales Wales 2-3 1960 British Home Championship 2 11 September 1960 Glasgow, Scotland Scotland 2-5 1961 British Home Championship Career as manager
He became manager of Northern Ireland for a brief spell in 1978, and was then appointed as Chelsea boss. However, he won only three of his 15 games in charge and he left them in September 1979.[2]
Off the field
He was one of only a handful of players to have been awarded the title of English Footballer of the Year on two occasions, winning in both 1958 and 1961. On 6 February 1961, he also became the first person to turn down the invitation to appear on This Is Your Life, simply walking away from host Eamonn Andrews live on air. "I consider this programme to be an invasion of privacy", he explained. "Nobody is going to press gang me into anything."
Blanchflower commentated on a match for ITV as early as 3 January 1956 - the final of the Southern Junior Floodlit Cup between West Ham and Chelsea.[6] He was the colour commentator for the CBS television network broadcasts of National Professional Soccer League matches in the United States in 1967.[7] His candour about the fledgling league's shortcomings distressed network executives, as he recounted in a 10 June 1968 Sports Illustrated article he authored.[8] In the 1968-69 season he was the regular commentator for Yorkshire Television.[9]
Anton Weinberg's 1985 Channel 4 documentary film The Keller Instinct featured an appearance by Blanchflower, who spoke approvingly of his late friend musicologist Hans Keller's advocacy of inventive, tactically creative football.
He died at his home in London on 9 December 1993, having suffered from Alzheimer's disease.[2]
Honours
- English League Championship (1961)
- FA Cup (1961) (1962)
- European Cup Winners Cup (1963)
- Football Writers Player of the Year (1958) (1961)
Filmography
- Those Glory Glory Days (1983)
References
- ^ a b Myers, Phil (17 March 2009). "The 50 greatest Tottenham Hotspur players (Page 12 of 12)". London: timesonline.co.uk. http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/football/premier_league/tottenham/article5920090.ece?token=null&offset=132&page=12. Retrieved 31 July 2010.
- ^ a b c d "Danny Blanchflower - fact file". mehstg.com. http://archive.mehstg.com/fact_blanchflower.htm. Retrieved 31 July 2010.
- ^ a b Football League Career Stats at Neil Brown
- ^ Lance Hornby. "All the King's men: Real Madrid makes way to T.O.". Slam Sports. slam.canoe.ca. http://slam.canoe.ca/Slam/Soccer/TorontoFC/2009/08/04/10355821-sun.html. Retrieved 31 July 2010.
- ^ Malcolm Brodie (5 December 2007). "Down Memory Lane: Battle of Belfast was far from a golden moment". Belfast Telegraph. http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/sport/football/international/down-memory-lane-battle-of-belfast-was-far-from-a-golden-moment-13499897.html?startindex=-1. Retrieved 31 July 2010.
- ^ TV Times, 30 December 1955
- ^ Maule, Tex. "Kickoff For A Babel Of Booters," Sports Illustrated, 24 April 1967.
- ^ Blanchflower, Danny. "Just One Truth For Me," Sports Illustrated, 10 June 1968.
- ^ Yorkshire ITV Football Highlights 1968-1983
Bibliography
- David Bowler (1997). Danny Blanchflower: The Biography of a Visionary. Orion. ISBN 0-575-06504-4.
- Danny Blanchflower (1961). The Double and Before. Nicholas Kaye.
- Danny Blanchflower (1959). Danny Blanchflower's Soccer Book. Frederick Muller.
Northern Ireland squad – 1958 FIFA World Cup Northern Ireland national football team – managers Chelsea F.C. – managers Robertson (1905–06) · Lewis (1906–07) · Calderhead (1907–33) · Knighton (1933–39) · Birrell (1939–52) · Drake (1952–61) · Docherty (1961–67) · Sexton (1967–74) · Suart (1974–75) · McCreadie (1975–77) · Shellito (1977–78) · Blanchflower (1978–79) · Hurst (1979–81) · Gould (1981) · Neal (1981–85) · Hollins (1985–88) · Campbell (1988–91) · Porterfield (1991–93) · Webb (1993) · Hoddle (1993–96) · Gullit (1996–98) · Vialli (1998–2000) · Rix & Wilkins (2000c) · Ranieri (2000–04) · Mourinho (2004–07) · Grant (2007–08) · Scolari (2008–09) · Wilkins (2009c) · Hiddink (2009) · Ancelotti (2009–11) · Villas-Boas (2011–)
C (caretaker manager)FWA Footballer of the Year 1948: Matthews | 1949: Carey | 1950: Mercer | 1951: Johnston | 1952: Wright | 1953: Lofthouse | 1954: Finney | 1955: Revie | 1956: Trautmann | 1957: Finney | 1958: Blanchflower | 1959: Owen | 1960: Slater | 1961: Blanchflower | 1962: Adamson | 1963: Matthews | 1964: Moore | 1965: Collins | 1966: B. Charlton | 1967: J. Charlton | 1968: Best | 1969: Book/Dave Mackay | 1970: Bremner | 1971: McLintock | 1972: Banks | 1973: Jennings | 1974: Callaghan | 1975: Mullery | 1976: Keegan | 1977: Hughes | 1978: Burns | 1979: Dalglish | 1980: McDermott | 1981: Thijssen | 1982: Perryman | 1983: Dalglish | 1984: Rush | 1985: Southall | 1986: Lineker | 1987: Allen | 1988: Barnes | 1989: Nicol | 1990: Barnes | 1991: Strachan | 1992: Lineker | 1993: Waddle | 1994: Shearer | 1995: Klinsmann | 1996: Cantona | 1997: Zola | 1998: Bergkamp | 1999: Ginola | 2000: Keane | 2001: Sheringham | 2002: Pirès | 2003: Henry | 2004: Henry | 2005: Lampard | 2006: Henry | 2007: C. Ronaldo | 2008: C. Ronaldo | 2009: Gerrard | 2010: Rooney | 2011: ParkerCategories:- 1926 births
- 1993 deaths
- 1958 FIFA World Cup players
- Alumni of the University of St Andrews
- Association football commentators
- Association football midfielders
- Association footballers from Northern Ireland
- Aston Villa F.C. players
- Barnsley F.C. players
- Chelsea F.C. managers
- Deaths from Alzheimer's disease
- English Football Hall of Fame inductees
- The Football League players
- Glentoran F.C. players
- Irish Football League players
- Football managers from Northern Ireland
- Northern Ireland international footballers
- Northern Ireland national football team managers
- People from Belfast
- Tottenham Hotspur F.C. players
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