|
|
|
Interested in soccer trivia? Visit the newest and best soccer trivia website at www.soccertrivia.org.uk
|
Danny Blanchflower Legendary Tottenham captain, inevitably
nicknamed 'Danny Boy', Blanchflower led Spurs to the League and FA Cup double in
1961 - the first team in the Twentieth Century to achieve the feat. One of
the game's great tacticians, he summed up his philosophy with typical eloquence:
'The great fallacy is that the game is first and last about winning. It is
nothing of the kind. The game is about glory, it is about doing things in style
and with a flourish, about going out and beating the other lot, not waiting for
them to die of boredom.'. Born in Belfast in 1926, Blanchflower began his career with Belfast club Glentoran in 1945 before transferring to Barnsley in 1949. In 1951 he moved to Aston Villa and finally arrived at Tottenham in 1954 for the huge fee of £30,000, remaining with the London club until his retirement as a player ten years later. Playing at right-half, he forged two brilliant midfield partnerships at Tottenham; first with Tommy Harmer during the late 1950s; then with Scot John White. As club captain, Blanchflower won a Championship and FA Cup winners medal in 1961, a second Cup winners medal in 1962 and the European Cup Winner's Cup in 1963. He dominated Spur's attacking play with his vision, ball control and long-distance passing; skills than made him Footballer of the Year in both 1958 and 1961. Blanchflower made his debut for Northern Ireland
in 1949 and went on to collect a record 56 international caps. He was an
inspirational figure in the glorious World Cup campaign which took Northern
Ireland to the quarter finals of the competition in Sweden. In April 1964, at the age of 37, Blanchflower finally announced his retirement. Jimmy Greaves summed up the feelings of many Tottenham fans when he declared: ‘A light has gone out at White Hart Lane,' After his retirement he worked as a journalist with the Sunday Express. During his 24-year spell with the paper, he gained a reputation for being outspoken and openly attacked the football establishment. He also had brief spells as manager of Chelsea and Northern Ireland. In the later years of his life, he suffered from Alzheimer's Disease, and died at his home in December 1993 aged 67. In 2003 Blanchflower was inducted into the English Football Hall of Fame in recognition of his talents Still remembered for his intelligence and forceful opinions off the field, he once remarked, with typical originality: 'We try to equalize before the others have scored'. |
