Eddie Lowe

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Eddie Lowe
Personnel
Surname Edward Lowe
birthday July 11, 1925
place of birth Halesowen ,  England
date of death March 9, 2009
Place of death Nottingham ,  England
position External rotor (left)
Juniors
Years station
Millwall FC
Finchley FC
Walthamstow Avenue
Men's
Years station Games (goals) 1
1945-1950 Aston Villa 104 (3)
1950-1963 Fulham FC 473 (8)
1963-1965 Notts County 9 (0)
National team
Years selection Games (goals)
1947 England 3 (0)
Stations as a trainer
Years station
1963-1965 Notts County (player-manager)
1 Only league games are given.

Edward "Eddie" Lowe (born July 11, 1925 in Halesowen , † March 9, 2009 in Nottingham ) was an English football player and coach. Mostly used as a left wing runner , he was in the two highest English leagues for a good two decades and with 511 competitive games for Fulham FC between 1950 and 1963, behind Johnny Haynes, he played the second-most games in the history of the West London club. Equipped with headers and great tackle strength, he was primarily responsible for defensive tasks. With expansive steps he filled holes in the midfield and was long known as the “ water carrier ” for offensive forces like Johnny Haynes. For the English national team , he completed his only three international matches in May 1947.

Athletic career

Aston Villa

Lowe worked in a pipe mill in Birmingham during World War II before moving to the capital, London, where he wanted to train as an engineer. He gained footballing experience here in his spare time as a guest player at Millwall FC , as well as at smaller clubs such as Finchley FC and Walthamstow Avenue. He soon returned to the Midlands and when he was in a cup final for the works team at the ammunition manufacturer Kynoch , the talent scouts from Aston Villa discovered him .

Towards the end of World War II, Lowe served as one of the so-called " Bevin Boys " in coal mines and after the end of the fighting he signed his first professional player contract with Aston Villa in September 1945. Since the regular game operation of the Football League was still suspended, Lowe was initially only used in the unofficial games of the Football League South. There, however, he achieved a first respectable success by winning the runner-up. His steep ascent led the defensive midfielder in the first post-war season 1946/47 not only to the regular team of the "Villans", but in May 1947 also to the English national team.

Lowe spent three more years in Birmingham, during which, however, no further leaps in development were recorded. After a successful 1947/48 season, in which Lowe 38 missions and his first goal helped the club to improve to sixth place in the league , he gradually lost his regular place - also due to injury. When he was only nine times in championship games in the 1949/50 season, he moved to London to Fulham FC , where reinforcements were urgently needed in the defensive area.

Fulham FC

Eddie Lowe moved to the Thames in May 1950 together with his brother Reg , who was also active as a full-back in professional football . While his brother had to end his career soon after a complicated broken leg, Eddie Lowe was the hoped-for long-term reinforcement. He made his debut for the "Cottagers" on the first day of the 1950/51 season against Manchester United and in the following 13 years only short-term injuries caused rare absences. His role was mostly to be found in the left midfield as an outside runner , but he also played the left full back and at the end of his career the middle runner position. His constant performance was appreciated, which earned him the reputation of a perfect team player. These included strengths in tackling, header and positional play - speed, however, was not one of his advantages. The first notable success at his new club was for Lowe in 1951 when he reached the quarter-finals in the FA Cup , which was finally lost 1-0 to Blackpool FC . His first two goals - one from a directly converted corner and with an injury handicap - he scored against Manchester United on Boxing Day of the same year. Despite the good performance of Lowe, Fulham FC struggled overall in its sporting development and by last place in the 1951/52 season , the club was relegated to the second-rate Second Division .

This was followed by a fundamental reorganization to a significantly younger team and Lowe was a key player alongside Jimmy Hill and Gordon Brice , around whom an attractively playing new team formed and from which the extremely talented half-forward Johnny Haynes stood out. With an entertaining offensive game, the "new Fulham FC" was an entertaining team, but it was only under coach Dug Livingstone , who was newly engaged in 1956, that they began to grow again into a serious contender for promotion. Lowe made little contribution to the remarkable semi-finals in the 1958 FA Cup and was absent from the semi-final defeat by Manchester United due to injury, but in the promotion season 1958/59 Lowe was instrumental in winning the second division championship with 32 appearances under the new coach and ex-team-mate Bedford Jezzard .

The "thirty-something" remained in the following nearly four years of regular at Fulham and a role model - and externally on the field by the balding clearly seen - provided Lowe with 33 operations with that of the club in 1960 on the tenth final table place certainly the Class received. Although the relegation battle remained constant companion in the championship, the club recorded the next success in the following year with the renewed entry into the FA Cup semi-finals; here Lowe and his men finally lost to Burnley FC . The high recognition for Lowe's achievements in the "high footballing age" was also expressed in fourth place in the election for England's Footballer of the Year 1963, which, curiously, was won by Stanley Matthews, who was even more than ten years his senior . With the last competitive game against Birmingham City on March 4, 1963 against Birmingham City (3: 3) Lowe's career at Fulham ended after a total of 511 appearances and ten goals.

Career finale at Notts County

Despite some offers from first-class clubs - including an offer from Tottenham Hotspur rumored in the press around a year and a half earlier - Lowe decided to become player-coach at third division Notts County . His tenure there was not a good star early on. This was mainly due to the sale of the talented Tony Hateley to Aston Villa and the fact that Terry Bly , who was signed as a replacement, was not convincing. Financially unstable and after his relegation to fourth class in 1964, Lowe was also forced to sell Jeff Astle to West Bromwich Albion and since his own sporting achievements were no longer satisfactory shortly before his 40th birthday, he dismissed him Club in the spring of 1965.

He stayed in the football business only sporadically and while working as a talent scout for Plymouth Argyle , he retrained as an accountant. He then worked in the purchasing department of a boiler manufacturer in Nottingham and lived in Nottingham, his adopted home, until his death in March 2009.

English national team

After performing well in the first post-war season for Aston Villa, the English Football Association's committee appointed him to the national team for the first time in the spring of 1947 . Here he came in a runner series with Billy Wright and Neil Franklin within 22 days to three internationals. Its premiere took place on May 3, 1947 in Highbury against France and in addition to a solid defensive performance, the newcomer prepared the gate for the 3-0 final score by Raich Carter . After a 1-0 defeat against Switzerland , the clear 10-0 win against Portugal in Lisbon behind strikers like Stanley Matthews , Stan Mortensen , Tommy Lawton , Wilf Mannion and Tom Finney was the third and final international match in Eddie Lowe's career .

The reasons why Lowe was no longer considered in the English national team remained unclear. According to rumors in the English press, he had angered an influential committee member of the English Football Association who tried to convince Lowe to move to a club he preferred, which Lowe allegedly refused to do. However, evidence to support this claim has never been found.

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ "Lowe, Edward (Eddie)" Sticks "" (Aston Villa Player Database)
personal data
SURNAME Lowe, Eddie
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Lowe, Edward
BRIEF DESCRIPTION English soccer player and coach
DATE OF BIRTH July 11, 1925
PLACE OF BIRTH Halesowen
DATE OF DEATH March 9, 2009
Place of death Nottingham