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Danny Blanchflower

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'''Robert Dennis Blanchflower''', known as '''Danny Blanchflower''' (February 10, 1926 in Belfast - December 9, 1993) was a soccer footballer, football manager, and journalist who captained Tottenham Hotspur F.C. Spurs during their double-winning season of 1961. He is remembered as one of the great tacticians in the history the game, renowned for his passing and as an outstanding right-half. He began his professional football career at the end of the World War II Second World War when he was signed by Belfast side Glentoran F.C. Glentoran. In 1949, Barnsley F.C. paid £6,000 to transfer him to England, and two years later Aston Villa F.C. Aston Villa bought him for £15,000. He played 155 times for Villa, captaining the side on many occasions. However, he became unhappy 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 Spurs for the huge fee of £30,000, and during his ten years at White Hart Lane he made 337 league appearances. 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 ran out as league champions by 8 points. They then beat Leicester City F.C. 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 Spurs to victory in the FA Cup, only narrowly missing out on a second double when they finished a close third in the league behind Ipswich Town F.C. Ipswich Town and Burnley F.C. Burnley, and in 1963 he captained his side to victory over Atlético de Madrid Atletico Madrid in the final of the Cup Winners' Cup European Cup Winners' Cup, the first British side to win a European trophy. Between 1949 and 1963, he earned 56 caps for Northern Ireland national football team Northern Ireland, often playing alongside his brother Jackie Blanchflower Jackie, and in 1958 captained his country when they reached the quarter-finals of the Football World Cup 1958 World Cup. After retiring as a player in April 1964, he withdrew from football for several years, returning briefly as manager of Northern Ireland in 1978, and as manager of Chelsea F.C. Chelsea in 1978-1979, where he won just 5 out of 32 games as the club plunged towards relegation. He eventually left the job less than a year after his appointment, in September 1979. He was one of only a handful of players to have been awarded the title of FWA Footballer of the Year English Footballer of the Year on two occasions, winning in both 1958 and 1961. On February 6, 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. 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.

Quotations
* "Everything in our favour was against us." * "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 lot, not waiting for them to die of boredom." * "Ice in his veins, warmth in his heart, and timing and balance in his feet" (on George Best) {{start box}} {{succession box|title=FWA Footballer of the Year Football Writers' Association Footballer of the Year|before=Tom Finney |after=Syd Owen|years=1958}} {{succession box|title=FWA Footballer of the Year Football Writers' Association Footballer of the Year|before=Bill Slater |after=Jimmy Adamson|years=1961}} {{succession box| before=Ken Shellito| title=Chelsea F.C. Manager| years=1978-1979| after=Geoff Hurst }} {{succession box| before=Dave Clements| title=Northern Ireland national football team#Managers Northern Ireland manager| years=1976 - 1979| after= Billy Bingham| }} {{end box}}

External links

- English Football Hall of Fame Profile Category:1926 births Blanchflower, Danny Category:1993 deaths Blanchflower, Danny Category:Aston Villa F.C. players Blanchflower, Danny Category:Barnsley F.C. players Blanchflower, Danny Category:Chelsea F.C. managers Blanchflower, Danny Category:Natives of Belfast Blanchflower, Danny Category:Northern Ireland football managers Blanchflower, Danny Category:Northern Ireland footballers Blanchflower, Danny Category:Northern Ireland national football team managers Blanchflower, Danny Category:Tottenham Hotspur F.C. players Blanchflower, Danny de:Danny Blanchflower

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