Cyril Knowles

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Cyril Knowles
Personnel
Surname Cyril Barry Knowles
birthday July 13, 1944
place of birth Fitzwilliam ,  England
date of death August 30, 1991
Place of death Middlesbrough ,  England
position Full-back (left)
Juniors
Years station
Hemsworth FC
Monckton Colliery Welfare
Men's
Years station Games (goals) 1
1963-1964 Middlesbrough FC 39 0(1)
1964-1976 Tottenham Hotspur 402 (15)
National team
Years selection Games (goals)
1967-1968 England 4 0(0)
Stations as a trainer
Years station
1976 Hertford Town
1977-1981 Doncaster Rovers (Kotrainer)
1981-1983 Middlesbrough FC (Kotrainer)
1983-1987 Darlington FC
1987-1989 Torquay United
1989-1991 Hartlepool United
1 Only league games are given.

Cyril Barry Knowles (born July 13, 1944 in Fitzwilliam , † August 30, 1991 in Middlesbrough ) was an English football player and coach . As a left full-back , the four-time England international played successfully for Tottenham Hotspur for many years and also gave musical inspiration to Cockerel Chrous, who came 14th in the English charts in March 1973 with the song "Nice one, Cyril".

Athletic career

Like his one year younger brother Peter Knowles , who later also became a professional footballer, Cyril Knowles was born in the small town of Fitzwilliam - in West Yorkshire . At his first club, Hemsworth FC, he was initially on the wing position , but his perspective seemed limited there, as he could not convince Manchester United , Blackpool FC or Wolverhampton Wanderers of his skills. The three clubs mentioned all rejected him, but Middlesbrough FC recognized him as a possible left-back and added him to the amateur squad. Towards the end of the 1962/63 season, Knowles made his first-team debut and after another full season in 1963/64, he signed Bill Nicholson, the Tottenham Hotspur master coach, for £ 45,000.

Tottenham Hotspur

Knowles was to replace Ron Henry , who won the double with Spurs in 1961 , the FA Cup again two years later and the European Cup Winners' Cup in 1963 . On August 22, 1964 he celebrated the opening of the 1964/65 season in the 2-0 win against Sheffield United at White Hart Lane his debut and immediately became a regular. In the eleven years that he played for the north London club , Knowles became a central hub. In addition to his defensive qualities, he was characterized above all by a creative play structure and precise flanks. Like the Irishman Joe Kinnear in the right-back position, Knowles shaped by "overflowing" his own left winger, who then secured backwards, an element of modern football that required more and more offensive full-backs.

Between 1965 and 1969, thanks to his physical sturdiness, he only missed one league game and during this time he also played four games for the English national team. Its premiere took place on December 6, 1967 against the Soviet Union and in addition to other appearances for the U23 team and an English junior team that competed against its own national team, it was in the selection of the English Football League against the 1968 and 1969 Scottish counterpart . Given its great importance for the Spurs, the number of internationals for the English senior team was comparatively low, but the consistency with which his rival Terry Cooper of Leeds United went to work in the left-back position left Knowles only the substitute role.

Knowles played his last competitive game in December 1975 in a 2-2 draw against Everton , before chronic knee problems at the age of only 31 forced him to retire early. His club rewarded the longstanding loyalty with a farewell game against local rivals Arsenal , which was played in the same season. In the previous season he had once again demonstrated the great importance for his club when he "saved" the Spurs, who were in desperate need of relegation, against reigning champions Leeds United , who had recently participated in the final in the European Cup . Although he had rarely appeared as a goalscorer before, he scored twice in this decisive game and was largely responsible for the 4-2 success.

In his 507 competitive appearances for Tottenham Hotspur, he ultimately scored 17 goals. The greatest successes were winning the FA Cup in 1967, two editions of the League Cup (1971 and 1973) and above all the triumph in the UEFA Cup in 1972 . Immediately after retiring as an active football player, he briefly became a scout for Spurs in his native Yorkshire and in 1976 took over as coach at Hertford Town. Between 1977 and 1981 he was a Kotrainer with the Doncaster Rovers .

Coaching career

In the summer of 1981 he was signed by Middlesbrough FC and so he returned to his first place of work as a Kotrainer. There he stayed for two years until he resigned to then take over the head coach at fourth division relegation candidate FC Darlington . Within two seasons he formed a team from the starving team, which reached third place in 1985 and rose to the third-class third division .

The club relegated in 1987 and Knowles resigned immediately afterwards. He returned only a short time later to coach Torquay United . There he discovered and developed, among others, Lee Sharpe, a young winger who was in the ranks of Manchester United in the early 1990s and later worked for Leeds United and Sampdoria Genoa . He also did development work in Torquay and Knowles led the club, which had meanwhile almost been relegated from the League Association of the Football League, to qualify for promotion to the third division and a year later to the final of the Sherpa Van Trophy . After a disappointing start to the 1989/90 season, he resigned from his coaching post in October 1989, only to reappear just two months later with the fourth division relegation candidate Hartlepool United . He ultimately saved the club with a 12-point gap to the relegation zone and in the following year laid the foundation for promotion to the third division over third place. In the crucial phase, Knowles was no longer on the coaching bench because he was diagnosed with a brain tumor in February 1991. Alan Murray then replaced him as head coach and since Murray did not return as a result of the necessary operations, Murray took over his position after the end of the season on a permanent basis.

On August 30, 1991, Knowles lost the battle to cancer at the age of only 47. Three months after his death, his old club Tottenham Hotspur remembered him with a charity game. In addition, a grandstand in Victoria Park was named by Hartlepool United.

successes

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ "Nice One Cyril" (YouTube)
  2. ↑ "Sports memories: are we all losers?" ( Memento from July 10, 2012 in the web archive archive.today ) (findarticles.com)
  3. ↑ "Peter Knowles" (football-england.com)

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Knowles, Cyril
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Knowles, Cyril Barry
BRIEF DESCRIPTION English soccer player and coach
DATE OF BIRTH July 13, 1944
PLACE OF BIRTH Fitzwilliam
DATE OF DEATH August 30, 1991
Place of death Middlesbrough