Bill Foulkes

Bill Foulkes
Personnel
Surname	William Anthony Foulkes
birthday	January 5, 1932
place of birth	St Helens ,  England
position	Central defender
Juniors
Years	station
1950	Whiston Boys Club
1950-1951	Manchester United
Men's
Years	station	Games (goals) 1
1951-1970	Manchester United	566 (7)
National team
Years	selection	Games (goals)
1954	England	1 (0)
Stations as a trainer
Years	station
	Chicago Sting
	Tulsa roughnecks
	Witney Town
	San Jose Earthquakes
	IL Bryn
	Steinkjer FK
	Lillestrøm SK
	Viking Stavanger
	FC Mazda
1 Only league games are given.

William Anthony "Bill" Foulkes (born January 5, 1932 in St Helens , † November 25, 2013 ) was an English football player and coach .

Life

Foulkes was born in St Helens, Lancashire , in 1932 . His grandfather was the captain of England's national rugby team . The Englishman made his first football experiences at the Whiston Boys Club. In the early days of his career he worked in the Lea Green coal mine.

Career

The Englishman was brought to Manchester United by Matt Busby in 1950 . His preferred position over the course of his career was that of central defender or pre-stopper . He played 679 competitive games for the Red Devils and is still the player with the third most appearances for the club, behind Ryan Giggs and Sir Bobby Charlton . In the seasons 1957/58, 1959/60, 1963/64 and 1964/65 the defender played all games in the season. Foulkes scored nine competitive goals in 18 seasons as a professional, won four championships , an FA Cup and, in 1968, the European Cup . Nevertheless, he only played once for the English national football team .

1950-1957

Foulkes was spotted playing for Manchester United's Whiston Boys Club in 1950. He signed his first professional contract in March of the same year at the age of 18 and was promoted to the first team in August 1951. He made his competitive debut on December 12, 1952 as a right full-back against Liverpool . During this time he also played two games for the English U-23 team. At the same time, Foulkes continued to work part-time in the coal mine, as he had not yet been convinced of his own qualities as a professional footballer. Foulkes scored the first goal for the "Red Devils" on January 2, 1954 at St. James' Park against Newcastle United . On October 2, 1954, he played against Northern Ireland (2-0) for the first and last time for the English national team. After being called up to the team, the defender gave up his work in the mine to concentrate fully on football. In the season 1955/56 Foulkes won his first English championship and almost two years later Bill Foulkes was a member of the United team, which on February 6, 1958 after a European Cup match on British-European-Airways flight 609 at Munich-Riem Airport crashed. While teammates such as Duncan Edwards , Tommy Taylor and Roger Byrne died, Foulkes was almost uninjured and was able to continue his career immediately.

1958-1969

After the plane crash, Foulkes became captain of the Red Devils and succeeded Roger Byrne. The decimated team then only finished ninth in the championship and was also eliminated from the national championship in the semifinals. In the 1962/63 season, Manchester United reached only 19th place in the league, but won the FA Cup final against Leicester City . In the 1964/65 season, Manchester United won the first English championship since the plane crash.

Three years later, Bill Foulkes achieved his greatest international success after Manchester United had won another championship in the previous season. Besides Bobby Charlton, Bill Foulkes was the only survivor of the Munich disaster, who was still part of the team ten years later. In the semifinals of the European championship cup, the club faced Real Madrid and after a 1-0 first leg win at Old Trafford , United were 3-1 behind at half-time in the second leg. The game finally ended 3: 3 and Bill Foulkes even equalized in the 77th minute. In the final Benfica Lisbon were defeated 4-1 after two goals from Bobby Charlton in extra time.

The last of his 683 competitive games made Foulkes on August 16, 1969 against Southampton FC .

Coaching career

Immediately after the end of his active career, Foulkes began his work as a coach. From 1970 to 1975 he looked after the youth players of Manchester United and then worked preferably abroad. These included the Chicago Sting , Tulsa Roughnecks and San José Earthquakes clubs in the USA , and the IL Bryn , Steinkjer FK , Lillestrøm SK and Viking Stavanger clubs in Norway . With his last engagement in Japan with FC Mazda (today: Sanfrecce Hiroshima ) he left football after more than forty years in the business.

Others

Since June 2000, Foulkes has been guiding Japanese tourists through Old Trafford Stadium.

successes

• four times English champion (1956, 1957, 1965, 1967)
• one time English cup winner (1963)
• one time European champion cup (1968)

Web links

• Profile at Manchester United

supporting documents

1. ↑ Bill Foulkes: Manchester United legend dies aged 81 , Guardian article, Nov. 25, 2013