Bill Shorthouse

Infobox Football biography
playername = Bill Shorthouse


fullname = William Henry Shorthouse
dateofbirth = birth date|1922|5|27|df=y
cityofbirth = Bilston
countryofbirth = England
dateofdeath = death date and age|2008|9|6|1922|5|27|df=y
cityofdeath = Wolverhampton
countryofdeath = England
height =
position = Defender
youthyears = 1945–1947
youthclubs = Wolverhampton Wanderers
years = 1947–1956
clubs = Wolverhampton Wanderers
caps(goals) = 344 0(1)
manageryears = 1970
managerclubs = Birmingham City (joint caretaker)

William "Bill" Shorthouse (27 May 1922 – 6 September 2008) was an English professional football player and coach, who spent his playing career with Wolverhampton Wanderers.

Career

Born in Bilston, Staffordshire, Shorthouse attended St Martin's School in nearby Bradley before serving in the Second World War, where he was wounded in the arm during the Normandy Landings. [cite web |url=http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/2WWfootball.htm |title=Football and the Second World War |work=The Encyclopedia of British Football |publisher=Spartacus Educational |accessdate=2007-11-30] He returned and recovered to sign for Wolves as an apprentice in 1945; his league debut came on 23 August 1947 in a 3–4 defeat at Manchester City.

He played as a defender, first at centre-half until replaced by Billy Wright, then at full-back. He was part of the club's 1949 FA Cup-winning team and was a near ever-present as the club won their first league championship in the 1953–54 season.

The defender remained a first choice player at Molineux until retiring in late 1956. In total, he played 376 senior games for the club – putting him among the club's top 20 appearance makers – before launching a career in coaching.

Shorthouse went on to coach at Birmingham City, [cite news
url=http://docs.newsbank.com/openurl?ctx_ver=z39.88-2004&rft_id=info:sid/iw.newsbank.com:AWNB:LSTB&rft_val_format=info:ofi/fmt:kev:mtx:ctx&rft_dat=1181A72846924BF8&svc_dat=InfoWeb:aggregated4&req_dat=0D0CB57AB53DF815 |title=Lancashire hot Scot |author=Alexander, Douglas |publisher=Sunday Times |date=2007-03-04 |accessdate=2007-11-30] and he and chief scout Don Dorman acted as caretaker managers at the end of the 1969–70 season while the club sought a replacement after Stan Cullis, Shorthouse's former manager at Wolves, retired. [cite web |url=http://www.bcfc-archive.freeserve.co.uk/managers.htm |title=Managers |work=The Birmingham City FC Archive |publisher=Tony Jordan |archiveurl=http://web.archive.org/web/20030410030300/http://www.bcfc-archive.freeserve.co.uk/managers.htm |archivedate=2003-04-10] He also briefly coached the England Youth Team during the following season and later worked as a youth team coach at Aston Villa, guiding them to victory in the .

Known as 'The Baron' to his team-mates, he died in a Wolverhampton nursing home on 6 September 2008 at the age of 86. He had been suffering from dementia. [cite news |url=http://www.expressandstar.com/2008/09/08/football-star-bill-dies-86/ |title=Football star Bill dies, 86 |publisher=Express & Star |location=Wolverhampton |date=2008-09-08 |accessdate=2008-09-08]

Honours

with Wolves
*FA Cup winner 1949.
*Charity Shield (shared) 1949.
*First Division championship 1954.
*First Division runners-up 1950, 1955.

References

External links

* [http://www.wolves.premiumtv.co.uk/page/News/0,,10307~1387174,00.html Official Wolves site obituary]
* [http://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/bill-shorthouse-stalwart-of-the-finest-wolves-side-934143.html Obituary in "The Independent"]
*soccerbase|id=7258|name=Bill Shorthouse

Persondata
NAME = Shorthouse, Bill
ALTERNATIVE NAMES = Shorthouse, William
SHORT DESCRIPTION = Professional footballer, football coach
DATE OF BIRTH = 1922-05-27
PLACE OF BIRTH = Bilston, Staffordshire, England
DATE OF DEATH = 2008-09-06
PLACE OF DEATH = Wolverhampton, West Midlands, England