fullname youthclubs years death_date death_place youthyears birth_place clubs caps goals nationalteam position nationalcaps nationalyears birth_date article_title name nationalgoals
john cornelius sleeuwenhoek aston villa 1959 1972 -- 1961 1967 -- 1971 1971 1971 -- july 1989 february 1944 birmingham , england 1959 -- 1961 wednesfield , england aston -rrb- oldham athletic villa birmingham city → torquay united -lrb- loan 226 30 11 2 1 0 0 0 england u-23 centre half 2 1962 -- 1963 26 february 1944 john sleeuwenhoek
 john sleeuwenhoek 0
john sleeuwenhoek

john cornelius sleeuwenhoek -lrb- 26 february 1944 -- july 1989 -rrb- was an english professional footballer who played as a centre half .
he made 226 appearances in the football league for aston villa and was capped twice for england at under-23 level .
sleeuwenhoek was born in wednesfield , staffordshire , the son of a dutch paratrooper .
he started his football career as a junior with aston villa , turning professional in 1961 , and played regularly for the club for six seasons .
while at the club he won two caps for england u-23 and also played for a representative football league xi .
he then moved to birmingham city , but recurrent knee problems dogged his later career .
after spells at torquay united and oldham athletic he retired from professional football at the early age of 28 .
he was affectionately known as ` tulip ' due to his dutch roots .
he died in birmingham in july 1989 , aged 45 .
