Walter Winterbottom Obituary 1913 - 2002 (from BBC SPORT FOOTBALL Football mourns Sir Walter) The first ever England football manager, Walter Winterbottom, has died aged 88. Walter's long career was before the remit of this site, but nobody would deny the influence that his coaching style had on the generation of managers and coaches that were prominent in the 70-71 season. Here is some of the ways that Walter has been commemorated on the Net Brian Glanville at Guardian Unlimited Football News Sir Walter Winterbottom reports Walter Winterbottom, who has died aged 88, was the first full-time manager of the England football team, and kept the job for an astonishing 16 years, from 1946 to 1962. During this time England consistently qualified for the World Cup, although in the 1950 tournament in Brazil they lost 1-0 to the United States - possibly the greatest humiliation in the history of English football. Winterbottom was concurrently director of coaching at the Football Association, and significantly was wont to say that he considered this the more important of his two jobs.

When his mentor, the FA secretary Sir Stanley Rous, retired in 1962, everyone expected Winterbottom to become the new secretary. But journalists who supported him overplayed their hand, with the result that Professor Sir Harold Thompson, who detested Rous, succeeded in steering through a compromise candidate. Winterbottom instead became secretary of the Central Council of Physical Recreation. The charge that Winterbottom could never communicate with England players because he had not played professional football himself was unfair. He had in fact played it with some success. Born in Lancashire, Winterbottom was educated at Oldham grammar school and Chester College. It was there that he met Eddie Lever, a Portsmouth footballer whose career had just been ended by a knee injury. In later years, Lever would become the Portsmouth manager. Long conversations about tactics stimulated the young Winterbottom. "It was largely from Eddie Lever's knowledge," he admitted, "that I got my yearning for the game." Winterbottom then became a schoolmaster. He taught for three years in Oldham, playing centre-half meanwhile for Royston Amateurs in the Lancashire and Cheshire League, and for Mossley.

It was here that he was spotted by Manchester United's legendary chief scout, Louis Rocca; and the money he earned from turning professional with United allowed him to study at Carnegie physical training college, where eventually he joined the staff. His debut for United was in 1934, in a League match versus Leeds, which he remembered chiefly because he had eaten something that upset him and felt violently ill. Yet he played well enough to displace, for a time, one of United's salient pre-war players, George Vose. Spinal trouble put him prematurely out of the game, and when the second world war broke out in 1939 he joined the RAF, becoming chief instructor of physical training at RAF Cosford, then head of physical training at the Air Ministry. He later resumed his playing career, turning out as a guest for Chelsea at half back and full back, and was even named twice as an England reserve. A star he may not have been, but he had every right to call himself a first-class footballer. When he was appointed England manager and senior FA coach in 1946, he inaugurated a series of courses.

He was concurrently in charge of the senior, amateur and youth international teams - the latter a new departure - till pressure of work obliged him to give up the last two responsibilities. He found himself confronted by a welter of prejudice and ignorance. If the FA coaching scheme may in later years have ossified into a new orthodoxy, initially it had much to offer; and much to contend with. At many clubs, training still consisted of endless running round the track, with nothing seen of the ball, the theory being that the less players saw of it during the week, the more they would want it on a Saturday. Having never been a club manager, Winterbottom found himself subject to much criticism. And so he gathered around him a band of like-minded disciples; men such as Ron Greenwood and Bill Nicholson, who would become influential managers in the years to come. Tall, agile, pipe-smoking and bespectacled, he could have passed for a public school beak, which had much to do with the way he was perceived. Coaching, he insisted, was merely "a means of showing how to practise".

His apothegms were always illuminating: "Football is a game where superiority in match play can't always be indicated by goals, because of the difficulty of mooring." He inherited a talented England team, though it must be emphasised that he never, officially, had responsibility for picking it. He deferred in this to a panel of selectors, and yet was the target of the press when things went wrong. However, by the time of the 1958 World Cup finals, England's third in a row, he had the selectors dancing to his tune. In no other footballing country in the world could a manager with Winterbottom's results have survived so long. You could hardly blame him for the ghastly defeat in Brazil when, as he said, "We did have our chances, dozens of them," but he was never an inspirational figure, he had a tendency to talk above his players' heads, and for all his interest in tactics, his strategies were often flawed. This became particularly plain in 1953, when England were thrashed 6-3 by Hungary at Wembley. When they went to Budapest the following May, they had learned so little that they were humiliated 7-1.

Still, Winterbottom kept his job, and took the team on to the 1954 World Cup in Switzerland, where they honourably attained the quarter-finals. Meanwhile, the FA coaching scheme was becoming the domain of theorist schoolmasters who, unlike Winterbottom, had never played at professional level. Jargon abounded. Asked once about the ability of certain players almost to photograph the field around them, Winterbottom replied, "We know all about that, but we call it environmental awareness." England's 1958 prospects were damaged by the Munich air crash, which killed three key players - Roger Byrne, Tommy Taylor and Duncan Edwards. Leaving the Bolton centre-forward Nat Lofthouse out of a World Cup party was an evident blunder. A second was not to give the young Bobby Charlton a single World Cup game. A third was to throw two neophytes, Peter Broadbent and Peter Brabrook, in at the deep end for the doomed play-off against the Soviet Union. But under Winterbottom, England qualified again in 1962 and reached the quarter-finals, going out to Brazil.

The time had come, it seemed, for Winterbottom to succeed Rous - which he would have done, but for the machinations of Harold Thompson. He married his wife Ann in 1942. She and their two daughters survive him; a son predeceased him. • Walter Winterbottom, football coach, born March 31 1913; died February 16 2002 The Football Association - News includes some tributes from 70-71 stars (hyperlinked - underlined) Howard Wilkinson, The F.A.’s Technical Director today paid this tribute to Sir Walter Winterbottom, saying: "Quite simply, he was a visionary, light years ahead of his time. "With England and the Football Association, he worked tirelessly to drag the coaching set-up out of the Dark Ages. "After England’s disastrous performance at the 1950 World Cup in Brazil, Walter produced a prophetic report which recommended the essential need for better qualified English coaches to concentrate entirely on the development of technique and skill in the very young.

He also called for the provision of floodlit training areas to facilitate this work in the evenings and furthermore recommended that the FA should have its own centre – a "home" as he put it. He was a knowledgeable and modest prophet in his own land to whom the game owes an incalculable debt." Sir Walter, 89, who ran the team from 1946-62, died on Saturday at Royal Surrey County Hospital in Guildford. Born in Oldham on January 31, 1913, he was a centre halfback for Manchester United until his playing days were ended by injury in 1939. He was appointed national director of coaching in 1946 with responsibility for the national team, aged 33, and officially became manager in May 1947. Sir Walter started on high note, with a 7-2 thrashing of Northern Ireland in in his first match in charge in September 1946. He subsequently guided England through four World Cup finals during his stint as the team’s longest serving manager, before handing over the reins to Sir Alf Ramsey.

He was awarded an OBE in 1963 for services to football, receiving a CBE in 1972 and his knighthood in 1978 for services to sport. Sir Walter Winterbottom was England’s first full-time manager and the longest-serving of the post-war era. He was appointed chief coach by The Football Association in 1946 and was later installed as manager after some political manoeuvring by secretary Stanley Rous. With great players of the like of Stan Mortensen, Tom Finney, Stanley Matthews, Raich Carter and Tommy Lawton at his disposal, he oversaw some emphatic victories in his first few years in charge. Portugal’s 10-0 thrashing in Lisbon in 1947 followed 7-2 and 8-2 defeats of Northern Ireland and Holland respectively. Northern Ireland particularly became favoured whipping boys with 6-2 and 9-2 wins following in subsequent years. Winterbottom was also the first manager to lead England into World Cup competition in 1950. The tournament in Brazil was the first time England had entered, having hitherto considered the Home Nations Internationals their priority.

Winterbottom resigned four months after his fourth World Cup in charge ended with defeat by Brazil in 1962. He left the job after being overlooked for the role of F.A. secretary following Rous’ elevation to FIFA president. He went on to take up a post with the General Council for Physical Education. His record remains the most successful of any post-war England manager having recorded 78 wins, 33 draw and 28 defeats from his 139 matches in charge. The F.A.’s Executive Director, David Davies, warmly recalled Sir Walter, telling TheFA.com: "He was a lovely guy and a highly intelligent man. "He was an innovator and set up the first ever national coaching network as well as initiating what was then the England Under-23 team. "He had a great sense of humour and a tremendous work ethic. When England teams travelled under him, he was in charge of food, travel and training, though not team selection which in those days was made by the International Committee. "He was England manager for 16 years, taking charge of players who are household names such as Matthews, Wright, Finney and Lawton. "He gave a lot to the game and will be sadly missed.

Former England manager, Bobby Robson, was deeply inspired by Sir Walter and credits him with putting him where he is today. Robson, who celebrates his 69th birthday tomorrow, said: ``I’m very saddened because Sir Walter is one of the finest men I’ve ever met in football, not because he brought me into the international arena, which he did - he gave me my first cap and I played all the matches under Sir Walter. ``He was my mentor, he was one of the most, if not the most, knowledgable men in football I’ve ever met. ``He was a fantastic guy, he was a great coach, he had a wonderful knowledge of the game and he could impart that knowledge. I could listen to Walter for hours talking about football.’’ And Robson revealed it was one of his predecessors as national coach who persuaded him to try his hand at management. ``I wouldn’t be here today if it wasn’t for Sir Walter because when I played for him, he came to Don Howe and I and said `I want you two to come to Lilleshall every summer and get your qualifications and get your diplomas and stay in the game’, and we responded to that,’’ he said.

``I kept in touch with him and he used to write me fantastic letters of support when I was the England manager. ``I’m very sad to hear of his death and it’s a funeral I really must go to. ``He was a great football man, one of the finest football men this country has ever, ever produced.’’ Former England captain paid his own tribute, describing him as a ``terrific bloke’’ who was a ``true gent’’. Winterbottom handed Armfield his international debut against Brazil in 1959 - the first of 43 caps for his country. And Armfield was quick to praise Sir Walter for the way he managed such exceptional talents as Sir Stanley Matthews and Stan Mortensen. ``He was a terrific bloke,’’ Armfield said. ``He had a problem in a way - he came in just after the war when we had such great talents and he had to get those into a team. ``He believed in a coaching system so he was ahead of his time really, he was director of football for a time. ``From my first cap in 1959 in Brazil right through to being captain in 62 he was there.

I think I brought a lot with me from Walter Winterbottom - he was a gent, a nice man, a really nice person. ``You have to remember what it was like at The F.A. in those early days just after the war, you can imagine them all sat together and he probably had 12 or 13 players to look at and pick 11 of them. ``Eventually he proved his point and got his own way. ``He had some highs and some lows. We had the famous defeat by the USA - that was one of his lows, he always said that. ``He always said that the team he had was as good a bunch of players you could put together at that time so he always felt he was privileged - that was the kind of man he was. ``What he did is put down the first coaching book in this country and it provided the skeleton for all the others - a lot of European countries who used this skeleton.’’ England legend Sir Tom Finney paid tribute to the spirit of English football under Winterbottom. He said: ``The game has changed in so many ways. ``He had so much success during his spell as manager and there was nowhere near the sort of pressures the present managers are under.

``In those days it was really the enjoyment of playing and managing your country.’’ England’s World Cup exits and what happened next – from 1950 to 2014 | Paul Doyle | Football | The Guardian England’s World Cup exits and what happened next – from 1950 to 2014 From triumph to heartache and resignation to sacking, England’s tournament history down the years The England captain Steven Gerrard cuts a dejected figure after his side's World Cup Group D loss to Uruguay. Photograph: Jean Catuffe/Getty Images Saturday 21 June 2014 06.42 EDT Last modified on Monday 4 April 2016 11.14 EDT Close 1950 Having long snubbed the global tournament, England entered the competition for the first time and soon set about teaching those pesky foreigners a thing or two. They began their campaign with victory over Chile but were then shocked 1-0 by the part-timers of America before losing their final group game against Spain by the same score.

That was the beginning of a realisation that England had fallen behind tactically and their manager, Walter Winterbottom, began reforming the country’s coaching structure. However, Winterbottom did not have power to pick his team, which was selected by a one-man committee consisting of Arthur Drewry, whose decision to omit Stanley Matthews for the match against USA came to be seen as costly hubris. It was not so costly to Drewry, who five years later was appointed head of Fifa. 1954 Led again by Winterbottom, England went into this tournament less sure of themselves, with the infamous Wembley defeat by Hungary in 1953 confirming that they had plenty of catching up to do. So there was joy when England made it out of their group thanks to a victory over Switzerland and a draw with Belgium. They were outclassed in the quarter-finals, where they were beaten 4-2 defeat by Uruguay, but returned home to praise for the improvements Winterbottom had overseen. 1958 Winterbottom took charge of his third tournament – though the team was still picked by committee – and England battled their way to three draws in the group before losing a play-off with the USSR.

Most of the criticism was directed at the selectors, over whom Winterbottom now had some influence – hence the manager was also rebuked for the decision to leave out Bobby Charlton, whose performances seemed unaffected by the Munich air disaster. 1962 England made it out of their group on goal average after a win, a draw and a defeat and then produced their finest performance of the campaign in the next round – but that was not enough to avoid a 3-1 defeat by the eventual winners, Brazil. Winterbottom resigned that year and successfully convinced the FA that the next manager should have sole authority for picking the team. 1966 England won the World Cup on home soil and Alf Ramsey said: “It has taken English football 100 years to realise that football can be played differently from the way it was when it was originated, but we have now caught up.” Ramsey was later knighted, as was Geoff Hurst, scorer of a hat-trick in the final, though he had to wait until 1998 for his honour.

1970 The holders finished second in the group behind Brazil to set up a knockout match with West Germany, who gained revenge for their defeat in the 1966 final by recovering from 2-0 to beat England 3-2 after extra time . Ramsey’s side were criticised for their caution throughout the tournament, but the most obvious scapegoat was the Chelsea goalkeeper Peter Bonetti, who made a costly error after being fielded as a late replacement when Gordon Banks fell victim to food poisoning. Ramsey stayed on, but was sacked when England failed to qualify for the 1974 tournament. 1982 England made a semi-successful return after a 12-year absence, exiting in the second-round group stages without losing a match. Though they had struggled to qualify, Ron Greenwood’s side impressed when winning all three of their first group games and were then held to goalless draws by Spain and West Germany. Most of the blame was put on the lack of fitness of key players, Kevin Keegan, Trevor Brooking and Bryan Robson. Greenwood, who had been talked out of resigning when the team looked unlikely to make the finals, decided to step down after the tournament.

Two days later Bobby Robson was appointed as his replacement. 1986 After making a drab start – losing to Portugal and drawing with Morocco – England recovered and Gary Linker’s goals fired them to the quarter-final, where they were ousted by Argentina , the ingenuity of Diego Maradona and “divine” intervention: England had a handy scapegoat. 1990 Robson, barracked by the press since England’s dismal showing at the 1988 European Championships, announced before the tournament that he would not renew his contract and would instead take charge of PSV Eindhoven. This was decried as nigh-on treasonous by some in the media but the manager’s popularity soared when his team reached the semi-finals before losing to West Germany on penalties, amid Gazza’s tears and misses by Stuart Pearce and Chris Waddle. The squad returned to a heroes’ reception. Graham Taylor took over the manager’s reigns but failed to qualify for the next World Cup and resigned, leading to Terry Venables’s appointment for two years.

1998 Defeat to Romania did not stop the team, now led by Glenn Hoddle, from emerging from their group and the 18-year-old Michael Owen shot himself into the nation’s hearts in the next round with a dashing goal against Argentina. David Beckham, on the other hand, returned as public enemy No1 after his kick at Diego Simeone earned him a red card, leaving England to play on with 10 men before Argentina won on penalties following misses by Paul Ince and David Batty. After Hoddle made a controversial interview in January 1999, the FA sacked the manager, replacing him with Kevin Keegan. He lasted three years before resigning in the Wembley toilets following defeat to Germany. 2002 Under the management of a foreign manager, Sven-Goran Eriksson, for the first time, England emerged from a difficult group but lost to Brazil in the quarter-finals.

David Seaman earned entry into the national hall of shame after being beaten by Ronaldinho from long-range and Gareth Southgate rued Eriksson’s inability to motivate the troops, lamenting that at half-time in the match with Brazil: “We were expecting Winston Churchill and instead we got Iain Duncan Smith.” 2006 Eriksson announced that January that he would be stepping down after the finals. England plodded their way to the quarters, where they were beaten in a shootout by Portugal. Wayne Rooney was sent off for stamping on Ricardo Carvalho and England scored one of four penalties in the shootout, but the immediate focus of much of the blame for the defeat was Cristiano Ronaldo – whose crime was to wink after Rooney was dismissed. 2010 The highly-decorated Italian manager Fabio Capello was hired to give England’s so-called golden generation the technician they deserved. At least that was the plan.

As it turned out, the players performed abysmally in South Africa, with the blame variously placed on Capello’s joyless approach, the players’ preciousness and cluelessness, Rob Green’s slippery fingers in the draw with the USA and the non-existence of goalline technology to overrule the referee’s decision not to award Frank Lampard a potentially pivotal goal in the 4-1 second-round defeat by Germany. Despite calls for his departure, Tthe FA announced Capello would see out his contract until after Euro 2012. However, the Italian quit just four months before the tournament following the national body’s decision to strip John Terry of the captaincy over the Anton Ferdinand racism affair. He was replaced by Roy Hodgson. 2014 No one seriously expected Hodgson’s men to win the tournament, but failure even to make it out of the group following defeats to Italy and Uruguay meant England were going home at the first hurdle for the first time since 1958. Hodgson, who has two years left on his contract, insisted he would not resign and the FA said it would not sack him.

Whatever happens, England should at least qualify for Euro 2016 as the tournament finals in France will be the first one with 24 teams rather than 16. Roy Hodgson has said that England will get better as they look ahead to Euro 2016, and may give starts to Ross Barkley, Luke Shaw and Jack Wilshere in the final game, against Costa Rica Published: 21 Jun 2014 Football: The inheritance of alienation: Terry Venables names his first England squad tomorrow. Norman Fox sees parallels with the past | The Independent Football: The inheritance of alienation: Terry Venables names his first England squad tomorrow. Norman Fox sees parallels with the past Sunday 27 February 1994 00:02 BST Click to follow The Independent Online TERRY VENABLES had just returned from watching Paul Gascoigne play in Italy. The plane had been half full of pressmen assigned to watch his every move - Venables', not Gascoigne's. No problem. Having run a club called Scribes, he already had a lot of them on his side.

He reckons he understands the press and he was not a bit taken in when someone complimented him on his good public relations. 'That's easy when you 'aven't played your first match. ' Pragmatism and dropped H's reminiscent of Sir Alf Ramsey himself. As well as the fact that he faces a task remarkably similar to the one Sir Alf confronted 31 years ago, Venables the coach ought to have a lot in common with the only truly successful England manager. They both played for Spurs and England and were brought up on the tough east side of London. But Venables is gregarious, witty, and a bit flash, Ramsey the epitomy of unsophisticated post-war Essex man when the only four-wheel-drive vehicles were tractors. When Sir Alf officially became England's manager in May 1963 they were in a situation not dissimilar to the one Venables inherits. They had been eliminated from a major competition, the European Championship, and with the next World Cup (in 1966) being held in England, there would be no competitive games for more than three years.

Like Graham Taylor, the scholarly Walter Winterbottom, who preceded Ramsey without much power, had presided over a humiliating defeat by the United States. Neither had Wing Commander Winterbottom escaped the wrath of the press (Jimmy Hill recalls that 'criticism came from all directions') except that in those days 'old turnip head' was almost a term of endearment. Yet Ron Greenwood said: 'The appointment of Walter was probably the most important the FA ever made; his influence is still difficult to comprehend.' As for his first match, it was a home fixture against Ireland in the autumn of 1946 and no England manager has made a better debut: a 7-2 win and a goal in the first minute. But the FA Committee had given its 'manager' a cast including Finney, Matthews, Mannion and a newcomer called Billy Wright, an embarrassment of riches. Eventually the world caught up and Winterbottom's legacy was less a team than a situation in which the FA was almost ready to hand over full power of selection. A 'good and honourable man,' Jimmy Hill called Winterbottom. Familiar?

When Ramsey took over he made it clear that he was not going to put up with old buffers blocking his path but he was hardly talking from a position of strength. The Ipswich Town manager had done well at club level but Winterbottom had already sounded out Greenwood for the job. Greenwood now says he would have been too young but he might have got it if Winterbottom had become FA secretary. When Ramsey made his famous remark that England would win the 1966 World Cup the media of the day loved him - it was unrequited and Ramsey now says that the only thing in his mind was to inspire confidence in his players. It clearly failed in his first game which, although he was not yet under contract, was the 5-2 defeat by France in the European Nations' Cup in February 1963. Bobby Moore recalled that on the coach afterwards 'Alf asked a million questions on the ways things had been done under Walter'. What Ramsey was probably unaware of was that the FA had also been asking a lot of questions.

Ironically while then and now they refuse to consider non-English applicants, they had sought the advice of Matt Busby and Bill Shankly who said Ramsey should not have to take the dual role of manager and director of coaching and should be in sole charge of England at full, under-23 and youth levels. The naturally solitary Ramsey spent the first few months at Lancaster Gate feeling isolated and out of touch with players. All of the past managers except Winterbottom (who had never experienced club management) have admitted that the long periods between games bring on a sense of being out of control. 'It was the loneliness that was one of the reasons why I wanted to create a club spirit with England; I thought it would fill the gaps,' Don Revie, Ramsey's controversial successor, later admitted. Said to be ruthlessly ambitious, Revie worried about whether or not he could do the job (not, as rumour had it, whether the FA could afford him), then called up Ted Croker to express his interest. Once appointed, he worried all the way to a Dubai bank. In spite of the fact that England had been lifted briefly and refreshingly under the paternal caretaking of Joe Mercer, Revie had plenty to worry about.

Again like Venables and Ramsey, he started with a team recently eliminated from a top competition, the 1976 World Cup. His first match was against Czechoslovakia in a European Championship qualifier. He suffered terribly for fear of losing but gained a 3-0 win. 'In the end perhaps Don tried too hard,' Trevor Brooking recalled. As with Taylor, Revie had counselled other managers for advice and had an early get- together of 80 potential internationals. He tried to buy popularity by promising the players pounds 200 for a win, and inspire patriotism by getting the crowd to sing 'Land of Hope and Glory'. There was plenty of early hope but no lasting glory. The criticisms of Taylor applied to Revie. In 29 matches he only once chose an unchanged side. His final comment? 'It's just not worth the aggravation.' Familiar? In 1977 that kindly uncle Ron Greenwood was brought in to stop the FA taking more flak. Invited to stay for three games, he remained for more than four years and reached the finals of the European Championship and the World Cup.

Before his first match, there was nothing many managers could tell him about football, especially of a smooth flowing West Ham variety, but he did call on Bob Paisley to talk about winning things. Memorably, he included six Liverpool players plus Kevin Keegan (then with SV Hamburg) for a friendly against Switzerland which ended goalless. No doubt Venables will remember that in effect Greenwood played for time and went for experience before embarking on his own squad based on Brooking, Ray Wilkins, Keegan and wingers. Venables could do worse than think along similar lines and begin by calling up the experienced Peter Beardsley to help encourage the talents of Matthew Le Tissier, Nick Barmby and the previously unforgivably overlooked Ruel Fox. When Bobby Robson inherited Greenwood's team after the World Cup of 1982 he was highly experienced but not prepared for the pressure which he inflicted on himself by dropping Keegan from the first team he chose, for the match curiously enough against Venables' first opponents Denmark, in a European Championship qualifier. Keegan rocked the boat by saying he was finished with England.

Thanks largely to Peter Shilton, England got a 2-2 draw but Robson later recalled: 'That night I realised the frightening responsibility of the task I had assumed and what it meant to the country.' Graham Taylor had not experienced international football as a player and though, like Venables, he says that had he not made a career out of the game he might have considered journalism, thought he understood the pressure and could build on England's comparatively successful 1990 World Cup, he was proved painfully wrong. Yet like every other England manager bar one, he avoided defeat in his opening game. The one, of course, was Ramsey. (Photograph and table omitted) England Managers - Alf Ramsey Sir Alfred Ernest Ramsey Born 22 January 1920 at 6 Parrish's Cottages, Five Elms Farm, Dagenham, London [registered in Rochford, Essex, March 1920]. He attended Becontree Heath School. Married to Victoria Welch [apparently registered in Southampton, December 1951].

Died 28 April 1999 in an Ipswich nursing home, aged 79 years 96 days [registered in Ipswich, April 1999]. Died following a heart attack, having battled Alzheimer's Disease and Prostrate Cancer. He is buried in Old Ipswich cemetery on 7 May 1999. Height/Weight - Playing Career Began his career with Essex schools and Five Elms FC. Also played Army football when he signed amateur forms with Portsmouth FC, whom he played for through the wartime. He went onto Southampton FC, signing amateur forms in 1943, turning professional in August 1944. He went on to play in ninety league matches, scoring eight goals before he joined Tottenham Hotspur FC in May 1949 for £21,000. Another 226 league appearances followed, and another 24 league goals, until his retirement in August 1955. Football League Divsion Two winners 1949-50; Football League Champions 1950-51; FA Charity Shield winner 1951.

Individual honours England 1948-53 (32 appearances, three goals), England B (one appearance), Football League (six appearances). Management Career After retiring from playing, Ramsey immediately took up the management mantle at Ipswich Town FC on 8 August 1955. He remained in charge, with relative success until 29 April 1963. In his final season, 1962-63, he took charge of Town and England simultanously. Football League Division Three (South) winners 1956-57; Football League Division Two winners 1960-61; Football League Champions 1961-62; FA Charity Shield runners-up 1962; None England Career England tenure Appointed 25 October 1962, but Ramsey would not take on the full-time responsibility until his club, Ipswich Town FC, were safe from relegation. He arrived at Lancaster Gate on 31 December 1962, but did not take full charge until May 1963. His first three games in charge, Ramsey was part of an International Select Committee.

Ramsey was dismissed 19 April 1974 following failure to reach the 1974 World Cup Finals, with announcement delayed until 1 May 1974. Other applicants The Football Association had 59 applicants interested in the manager's job. The Director of Coaching only attracted nineteen. The FA chose none of them, instead their interest lay with two men, Dennis Wilshaw and Jimmy Adamson. When they declined the offer, they had publically toyed with the idea of a small panel of League Managers to select the National Team. That idea was muted, so the FA turned to Ramsey, who only accepted the job after an interview with Walter Winterbottom. First match No. 366, 27 February 1963, France 5 England 2, a European Nations Cup preliminary match at Parc des Princes, Paris, aged 43 years 36 days. Last match No. 478, 3 April 1974, Portugal 0 England 0, a friendly match at Estádio do Sport Lisboa e Benfica, Bairro Dona Leonor, Lisboa, aged 54 years 71 days.

Major tournaments World Cup winners 1966; European Championship third-place 1968; British Championship winners 1964-65, 1965-66, 1967-68, 1968-69, 1970-71, 1972-73, shared 1963-64, 1969-70, 1971-72, Individual honours Received knighthood January 1967. Backroom Staff Ramsey kept with Harold Shepherdson as his trainer. He was alo the first to employ a doctor, Dr Alan Bass. Notes It is generally accepted that Ramsey refused to take the position unless he was given team responsibility. This is not necessarily true, because although Walter Winterbottom was still constrained by the ISC, which he was now heading, it was readily acknowledged that he was choosing the team that he wanted, and had been since the Autumn 1960. Winterbottom had in fact, sold the idea to Ramsey that he would have sole responsibility and all the club's manager's backing.

Beyond England Management Career Club(s) He did not return to football straightaway, instead, only becoming consultant to Birmingham City FC, a position he resigned in March 1978, although he had become their director and for a time, caretaker manager. In 1979, he became a technical advisor to Greek side, Panathinaikos FC. Afterwhich, he returned to England and into retirement. Club honours England managers: How Roy Hodgson's predecessors fared | The Independent England managers: How Roy Hodgson's predecessors fared Tuesday 1 May 2012 14:08 BST Click to follow England managers: How Roy Hodgson's predecessors fared 1/13 Walter Winterbottom (1946-1963) CLUB RECORD BEFORE JOINING ENGLAND:Did not manage at club level. RECORD WITH ENGLAND: Four years into his reign Winterbottom suffered the most inglorious moment in England's footballing history when he saw his side beaten 1-0 by the United States in the 1950 World Cup before elimination at the group stage.

Winterbottom oversaw three further World Cup campaigns, reaching the quarter-finals in both 1954 and 1962 and a play-off elimination in 1958. But it was the media who finally earned the former Manchester United player the axe with a series of negative headlines. Played: 139 2/13 Sir Alf Ramsey (1963-1974) CLUB RECORD: Steered Ipswich to the Second Division (now Championship) title in 1961 and the First Division (now Premier League) title a year later. ENGLAND: The man who took England to World Cup glory in 1966 was felled by the same competition eight years later. England's failure to qualify for the competition in West Germany in 1974 signalled the end of Ramsey's reign after a campaign to sack him in May. Ramsey became almost reclusive in his dealings with the press and that fact, allied with England's poor performance in non-qualification in 1974, became the stick with which to beat him.

Played 113 3/13 Don Revie (1974-1977) CLUB RECORD: In 13 years as Leeds boss, he led the club to two league titles, the League Cup, the FA Cup and two Fairs Cup victories. ENGLAND: The reputation he earned at Leeds was tarnished by greed for money at Lancaster Gate. Revie's aborted campaign to reach the 1978 World Cup finals in Argentina engendered further bad feeling and ensured the media would not let up in their pursuit of blood. Revie had fixed up a money-spinning coaching role in Dubai before the end of the campaign and also tried to take further cash from the FA with a pay-off as compensation for the intolerable pressures as England boss, after losing his job. Played 29 4/13 Ron Greenwood (1977-1982) CLUB RECORD: Led West Ham to FA Cup glory in 1964 and European Cup Winners' Cup success the following year. Several of his players won the World Cup with England the following year. ENGLAND: Greenwood had already left the West Ham hot-seat for John Lyall when the FA offered him the post.

Began his England career with a two-winger system, deploying Peter Barnes and Steve Coppell, and was rewarded with qualification for the World Cup in 1982 - England's first successful qualifying campaign for 20 years. Greenwood felt enough pressure to quit in 1981 before being persuaded by the players to stay on for the World Cup in Spain. Played 55 5/13 Bobby Robson (1982-1990) CLUB RECORD: Ipswich twice finished second in the league and won both the FA Cup and UEFA Cup under Robson. ENGLAND: Robson became the first England manager to suffer badly at the hands of the press during the World Cup in 1986 when England lost to Portugal before drawing with Morocco in the group stages. A Gary Lineker hat-trick against Poland ensured qualification before the infamous Diego Maradona 'Hand of God' goal sent England crashing out in the quarter-finals. Robson's England crashed spectacularly at Euro 88 in West Germany, losing to the Republic of Ireland, Holland and Russia, but he kept his job.

The World Cup in Italy two years later gave Robson the perfect swansong, with only West German penalties denying England a place in the final. Played 95 6/13 Graham Taylor (1990-1993) CLUB RECORD: Led Lincoln to the Fourth Division title, and Watford all the way from the bottom tier to a second-placed finish in the top flight. Also took Watford into an FA Cup final, and finished second in the league with Aston Villa in 1990. ENGLAND: England were knocked out by hosts Sweden in the group stages of Euro 92, ending a solid start to Taylor's reign. He was pilloried for replacing Lineker with Alan Smith in the second half against the Swedes before the team crashed to a 2-1 defeat - leading to the headline 'Turnip Taylor'. Taylor then lurched from crisis to catastrophe, allowing a documentary filmmaker to follow England's failed 1994 World Cup qualifying campaign, and seeing his side beaten by USA in Boston in summer 1993.

There was nowhere else to run other than for his notice after going a goal down to San Marino seconds into the final qualifying game, even though England won 7-1. Played 38 7/13 Terry Venables (1994-1996) CLUB RECORD: Steered Crystal Palace and QPR to promotion to the First Division, and QPR reached the 1982 FA Cup final. Head-hunted by Barcelona and won the Spanish title. Won the FA Cup with Tottenham before acrimonious departure. ENGLAND: Venables was a controversial choice as England coach. The former QPR and Tottenham manager was involved with legal action against Tottenham owner Alan Sugar to add to some other business dealings. But Venables was never let down by results. After the head of the FA's international committee, Noel White, suggested that the former Chelsea player did not have the support of the committee over the long-running feud with Sugar, Venables announced he would resign after Euro 96 to focus on the case. He led England to within a penalty kick of the final against Germany on English soil.

Played 23 8/13 Glenn Hoddle (1996-1999) CLUB RECORD: Led Swindon to promotion into the Premier League and showed potential as Chelsea boss. ENGLAND: After the second-round World Cup penalty shoot-out elimination by Argentina in 1998, Hoddle was viewed with respect. But after the World Cup Hoddle walked into one row after another, publishing a World Cup diary which allegedly betrayed the confidence of his players. He claimed his only mistake of the campaign was not to take faith healer Eileen Drewery with the squad to France. Karma and re-incarnation became by-words for Hoddle's era but the former Tottenham midfielder was beginning to become a victim of his beliefs. Ill-judged comments on disabled people were the final straw for the FA, the public and the press. Played 28 9/13 Kevin Keegan (1999-2000) CLUB RECORD: Turned Newcastle into a top-flight force, after being backed in the transfer market, and then worked his wonders at Fulham.

ENGLAND: Keegan's appointment was greeted by fears he would be found wanting tactically and that he would quit suddenly under pressure - and they proved well founded. England scrambled into the Euro 2000 finals with victory over Scotland in a play-off, and then performed disappointingly. They threw away a 2-0 lead in their opening game, losing 3-2 against Portugal. Victory against Germany raised hopes that England would make the second stage, but a 3-2 defeat against Romania condemned them to an early exit. The World Cup qualifying campaign began in disastrous fashion with a 1-0 defeat at the hands of Germany at Wembley, after which Keegan announced his resignation in a TV interview. Played 18 10/13 Sven-Goran Eriksson (2001-2006) CLUB RECORD: Eriksson arrived with a formidable track record featuring league and cup victories in Sweden, Portugal and Italy, plus UEFA Cup and Cup Winners' Cup triumphs. ENGLAND: Swede Eriksson became England's first foreign coach and salvaged a torrid World Cup qualifying campaign, before seeing his team lose to eventual winners Brazil in the quarter-finals.

England also reached the last eight at Euro 2004. But for an injury to star man Wayne Rooney, when England were leading Portugal in the quarter-finals, Eriksson might well have returned a hero. As it was, England let in a late equaliser, lost a penalty shoot-out, and another trophy eluded them. Eriksson's side topped their latest World Cup qualifying group, but revelations about the manager's private life - which had been frequent and damaging - prompted the announcement that Eriksson would be leaving after the finals in Germany, where England again came up short against Portugal. Played 60 11/13 Steve McClaren (2006-2007) CLUB RECORD: Made his name at Middlesbrough, whom he led to victory in the 2004 Carling Cup. A run to the final of the 2006 UEFA Cup bolstered his reputation. ENGLAND: McClaren's tenure was strained from the outset, with barbs of 'Second-choice Steve' never too far from the lips of his critics - a reference to the FA's failed bid to appoint preferred candidate Luiz Felipe Scolari.

His decision to strip David Beckham of the England captaincy was supposed to signify a break with the Eriksson era, but for many it smacked of a cheap attempt to curry favour with England's disgruntled fans. England's laboured Euro 2008 qualification campaign came down to a final-game showdown against Croatia at Wembley, where a 3-2 loss sealed the Three Lions' fate. On the sidelines, McClaren sheltered from a wet Wembley night under an umbrella. The next day, the media dubbed McClaren 'the Wally with the Brolly' and the FA fired him. Played 18 12/13 Fabio Capello (2008-2012) CLUB RECORD: The Italian had won a host of major honours in European club football by the time England came calling in late 2007, including the Champions League in 1994, five Serie A titles and two La Liga crowns. ENGLAND: Expectations were high at the time of Capello's appointment, and for a while the FA's choice appeared inspired as England easily qualified for the 2010 World Cup.

But cracks began to show in the tournament, where an underwhelming group campaign was followed by a 4-1 mauling by Germany in the second round. Capello survived calls for his head to comfortably guide England to Euro 2012, but his decision to reinstate John Terry as skipper - having earlier stripped him of the armband due to allegations relating to his private life - prompted many to question his judgement. When Terry was stripped of the captaincy a second time - this time by the FA - Capello first publicly criticised the decision and then quit his post two days later. Played 42 Won 28 13/13 Roy Hodgson (2012-?) CLUB RECORD: The 64-year-old has had an incredibly extensive managerial career, starting with Swedish side Halmstad where he won two league titles. He then won five titles with another Swedish side, Malmo. Became the Switzerland manager, taking them to the quarter-finals of the 1994 World Cup and to No 3 in Fifa's world rankings. Then took Internazionale to the Uefa Cup final.

Won a Danish league title with Copenhagen before a short spell with Italian side Udinese and than another international role with UAE. Then managed Finland. Saved Fulham from relegation and then took them to the Europa League final. Lasted six-months at Liverpool and has been at West Brom for the last 18-months. ENGLAND: Has two friendly fixtures, away against Norway and at home to Belgium before Euro 2012 kicks-off in June. England are in a group with France, Sweden and Ukraine. **Also coached England: Joe Mercer (P7 W3 D3 L1), Howard Wilkinson (P2 W0 D1 L1), Peter Taylor (P1 W0 D0 L1), Stuart Pearce (P1 W0 D0 L1). GETTY IMAGES Sir Bobby Robson - Telegraph Obituaries Sir Bobby Robson Sir Bobby Robson, who died on July 31 aged 76, was England's football manager from 1982 until 1990, the year that he took the side to within a kick of the World Cup Final.

Robson after taking over from Ruud Gullit at Newcastle Photo: reuters During his most famous match in charge, the 1990 semi-final against Germany Photo: PA Gascoigne's tears afterwards. Robson never came to terms with the defeat either. Photo: Getty The early days. In a Fulham shirt in 1952 Photo: PA Shooting, for Fulham, against West Ham, in 1964 Photo: Getty Image 1 of 7 In his pomp as a club manager. Taking training with his Brazilian star Ronaldo at Barcelona in 1997 Photo: AP Sir Bobby Robson: a gentleman and a real football enthusiast Photo: PA 11:09AM BST 31 Jul 2009 Robson was appointed to the England job in succession to Ron Greenwood on the strength of his successes over a decade with unfashionable Ipswich Town, which he had transformed into a club capable (often more through hard work than through skill) of challenging for European trophies.

By comparison with the situation at Portman Road, as England coach Robson had almost an embarrassment of natural talent at his disposal, including Glenn Hoddle, John Barnes, Paul Gascoigne, Chris Waddle and Peter Beardsley. His chief problem, it would emerge, was not also having luck on his side. Robson's time as manager was, more than that of his predecessors, characterised by the press's disenchantment with his performance. This began when the team failed to qualify for the 1984 European Championships, and by 1986, when he took England to the World Cup in Mexico, he was under severe pressure from the media. Fleet Street wanted him to build the side around the gifted but sometimes flighty Hoddle, but in fact the issue was how Robson would compensate for the loss through injury of his dynamic namesake Bryan Robson. In the event, the side overcame a poor start to reach the quarter-final against Argentina. Here, however, fortune notoriously favoured the Argentine playmaker, Diego Maradona.

Although his second goal of the game was a work of sporting genius, his first – in which he punched the ball into the England net – was no more than the act of a cheat. Yet his offence was not spotted by the officials, and though Gary Lineker almost headed an equaliser, it was ultimately "the hand of God", as Maradona's goal became known, that separated the sides and eliminated England. Robson had every right to feel hard done by. Four years later in Italy, Robson again found himself pilloried by the newspapers. Not only had England performed wretchedly in the 1988 European Championships, but details of an alleged love affair had also surfaced, and the FA had crassly announced that whatever happened in the World Cup, Robson would be replaced at its end. Normally a genial man, for much of the tournament Robson wore the air of a man under siege.

Related Articles Sir Bobby Robson - the legend 31 Jul 2009 The side was once more handicapped by the absence of Bryan Robson, and by the inexperience of some players caused by the ban on English clubs entering European competition after the Heysel disaster; but the emergence of David Platt, and Robson's acceptance of the players' wish to employ a sweeper system, brought the team through to a semi-final meeting with Germany in Turin. It was the first time that England had reached this stage since 1966. Yet again, in a match that was always bound to be close, luck went against Robson. The Germans scored with a freak deflection off Paul Parker, and though Lineker equalised magnificently, the outcome fell to be determined by penalties. Waddle ballooned his over the bar, and England were out. They subsequently lost the third-place match to Italy. There were many observers who felt that, had the result in Turin gone the other way, Robson's side might well have prevailed in the Final against Argentina.

Instead, the nature of his defeat haunted Robson for years afterwards, and he could never speak about it in a manner that implied he had come to terms with it. He was England manager for 95 matches, 47 of which he won and just 18 of which he lost. In an era in which both press and public had yet to accept that England had lost ground as a power in world football, his was a more than respectable record, and far more creditable than some of his successors. Robson was not a master tactician, but judged by the only mark that really counts in the game, his achievement in taking England to both a quarter- and a semi-final of a World Cup means he should be considered second only to Sir Alf Ramsey among England managers. Robert William Robson was born at Sacriston, Co Durham, on February 18 1933 and was raised at nearby Langley Park. His father worked in the pits, missing only one shift in 51 years, and it was he who secured Bobby a job as an apprentice electrician in the mine when he left school at 15.

He also transmitted his passion for Newcastle United to his son, who became both a promising schoolboy footballer and cricketer. The former had first claim on his affections, however, and in 1950 he was noticed and signed by Fulham. Pacy, with a stinging shot in his right foot, Robson at first played for the club at inside-forward, forming a useful understanding with Johnny Haynes. Between making his debut and 1956, when he was sold to West Bromwich Albion, Robson scored 68 goals for the club in 152 matches. At Fulham, Robson had not been one to pay much attention to the finer points of team talks – indeed, he was partially deaf in one ear, a condition that meant he was never called up for National Service. At West Brom, however, he met Don Howe, later to become an influential coach himself, who persuaded him to take a coaching course with Walter Winterbottom, then the England manager. Robson's own understanding of the game improved, and while at the Hawthorns he was picked for England 20 times, scoring four goals.

He played in the 1958 World Cup, and would have played in the tournament four years later but for injury. In 1962, after 239 appearances and 56 goals for West Brom, he returned to Fulham, by now established as a wing-half. He scored a further nine goals in 193 games for the Cottagers before, in 1967, taking his first managerial job, with Vancouver Whitecaps in Canada. A year later he was offered the post at Fulham itself, but after only nine months in the job he was sacked. The club that was to prove the making of him was Ipswich Town, which appointed him manager in 1969. A few years earlier, it had unexpectedly risen to prominence with Ramsey at the helm, but since he had become the England coach it had reverted to being a small-town side presided over benignly by the Cobbold family. It was a set-up that allowed Robson to find his feet and then, working mostly with young players and almost no funds, to turn Ipswich into one of the best sides in Europe.

Between 1973 and 1982 the club qualified for European competition every year, and in 1982 narrowly finished second in the championship to a Liverpool side in their pomp. In 1978 Ipswich beat Arsenal to lift the FA Cup, and three years later, even more impressively, won the Uefa Cup by defeating the Dutch champions AZ 67 Alkmaar 5-4 in a two-legged final. Robson's chief merit as a manager was always his ability to make players regard him as a respected father-figure for whom they wanted to play their best. He also, however, had a somewhat underrated talent for identifying and bringing through potential stars – notably Terry Butcher, John Wark, Paul Mariner and Alan Brazil at Ipswich, and later the Brazilian striker Ronaldo and Ruud van Nistelrooy at PSV Eindhoven. Moreover, though criticised by the press when national manager for his adherence to an English style of play, it was Robson at Ipswich who in fact began the revolution in domestic soccer by signing two Dutch players, Arnold Muhren and Frans Thijssen. The transfers were greeted initially with some scepticism, but both proved outstanding buys.

Though Robson could present a forgetful, indecisive, even mildly eccentric air at times, he also had visionary qualities. He knew, too, how to draw on experience, and it was no coincidence that in his sixties he enjoyed his palmiest days as a club manager. Widely admired on the Continent since his time with Ipswich a decade before, Robson took a series of ever more prestigious jobs with European sides after leaving England – and the English press – behind in 1990. In 1991 and 1992 he guided PSV Eindhoven to the Dutch title. The next year he was appointed coach at Sporting Lisbon (where he worked with the young Luis Figo), but was sacked after a season. He was quickly snapped up by their rivals Porto, who for some years had been in the doldrums. Robson turned the club around, steering them to the championship in 1994 and the Portuguese league and cup double the next season. The following year, Robson discovered that he had a cancer of the mouth which, if left untreated, would kill him in less than six months. He endured two operations to remove the tumour and successfully overcame his illness.

He returned to coaching, and in 1997 reached perhaps the pinnacle of his club career when he was appointed manager of Barcelona. Having persuaded the Catalan giants to sign the almost unknown Ronaldo from PSV, he won the Spanish cup and the European Cup Winners' Cup that season, and finished second in the league. As so often at Barca, this last achievement was not considered good enough, and he was moved upstairs as chief scout in 1998 to make way for Louis van Gaal. Six months later he returned to PSV for a brief second spell before being offered – at the age of 66 – the coach's job at the club he had supported as a boy, Newcastle United. The side was then struggling after Ruud Gullit's disastrous spell as manager; in particular, the team's talisman, Alan Shearer, who had fallen out with Gullit, was failing to score goals. Robson quickly won him round, and Shearer responded by scoring five times in his first match at St James's Park under his new coach.

Within two years Robson had the side back in the Champions League and snapping at the heels of the two dominant teams of the time, Arsenal and Manchester United, although he could never quite bring the championship back to Tyneside. In 2002 his services to football were recognised with a knighthood, and that same year a statue of him was erected in Ipswich. He retired, aged 71, at the end of the 2004 season, much admired by players and fans alike and, eventually, much feted by the press. Robson's long battle with cancer was well-documented, and he established the Sir Bobby Robson Foundation to set up a centre in Newcastle to fight the disease. His popularity with the public ensured that the £500,000 needed was raised in just seven weeks. The sum contributed now stands at more than £1.2 million. He is survived by his wife, Elsie, whom he married in 1955, and by their three sons. Published July 31 2009

Question: Walter Winterbottom preceded whom as the England Football manager?
Answer: Alf Ramsey