Nobby Stiles

Nobby Stiles
Personalia
Surname	Norbert Peter Stiles
birthday	May 18, 1942
place of birth	Collyhurst , Manchester ,  England
date of death	October 30, 2020
size	168 cm
position	Defensive Midfield
Juniors
Years	station
	Manchester United
Men's
Years	station	Games (goals) 1
1960-1971	Manchester United	311 (17)
1971-1973	Middlesbrough FC	57 (2)
1973-1975	Preston North End	46 (1)
National team
Years	selection	Games (goals)
1965-1970	England	28 (1)
Stations as a trainer
Years	station
1977-1981	Preston North End
1981-1984	Vancouver Whitecaps
1985-1986	West Bromwich Albion
1 Only league games are given.

Norbert "Nobby" Peter Stiles (born May 18, 1942 in Collyhurst , Manchester , England ; † October 30, 2020 ) was an English football player . He became known as the toothless midfielder in the English national football team , which won the 1966 World Cup in his own country.

Athletic career

Stiles grew up supporting Manchester United . His skills were recognized in an international match for the English student selection when he was 15 years old. Manchester United signed him in the same year for their own youth team.

He was a very unusual footballer in several ways. As a small-grown player at a time when clubs were already rejecting talent due to insufficient size, Stiles was also a wearer of dentures after his real teeth were damaged during a game (at times he played without this replacement and this sight intimidated many opponents one). In addition, Stiles was very nearsighted and had to wear contact lenses during the game and glasses with very strong glasses outside of the field.

Even so, Manchester United coach Matt Busby recognized the ambitious youngster's talent. Stiles made his debut as a full-back in October 1960 against the Bolton Wanderers .

His skills in the simple passing game and in winning the ball meant that Stiles moved into the controlling midfield . He had a position that should soon be represented in all top clubs, but at that time it was still a rarity in view of the prevailing five offensive players and a limitation of the midfield to forward central defenders in the half-position (so-called half-backs ). Stiles mostly stayed in the middle of the field and was responsible for neutralizing the creative elements in the opposing game, which he mostly succeeded in doing. His strength, which consisted in winning and securing the ball, opened up more opportunities for more technically savvy players like Bobby Charlton and later George Best to exercise their skills.

This did not rule out that Busby in some cases waived the services of Stiles depending on tactics. When Manchester United won the FA Cup in 1963 with a 3-1 final win over Leicester City , Stiles was not included in the game. He played more often in the following years and won the English championship in 1965. It was during this time that he was appointed to the England national team for the first time.

Since England hosted the 1966 World Cup, coach Alf Ramsey did not have to play qualifying games, so he could spend two years training and testing his squad in friendly matches and the British Home Championship . Bobby Charlton was the only seeded starter in midfield for the World Cup and Ramsey was faced with the task of putting together a trio of players to play with the Manchester United attacking player. In this trio, a pure destroyer of the opposing game should be involved. Stiles played this role at Wembley on April 10, 1965 , when England separated from Scotland 2-2. He held this position in eight of the following nine games, scoring the only goal in a game against Germany that was also played at Wembley Stadium. His place in the starting eleven seemed to be secured when Ramsey nominated his 22 players for the World Cup.

His 15th international match for England completed Stiles in the goalless draw with Uruguay . He kept his regular place as an aggressive player in front of the four defensive players and made sure that Charlton had enough space and time in front of him to develop his game. Stiles never missed a minute on the field as England survived the group stage after defeating Mexico and France and then beating an over-tough Argentina in the quarter-finals .

In the semi-final against Portugal Stiles convinced with a good performance when he took the opposing playmaker and striker Eusébio in man marking and largely out of the game. England won the game 2-1, with some supporters of football criticizing the destructive style of play. Others, however, congratulated Stiles on this game, in which he managed to win the duel with his opponent without the aid of unfair means. Ramsey commented on a critical journalist question with incomprehension and counter-questions, although he was aware of the core of the criticism. As a result, one of England's best opponents at the tournament had few chances to score (with the exception of the late penalty goal ) and England made it to the final.

In the final of the soccer world championship, now the 20th international match of Stiles, he did not have to take an opponent in man marking and produced a strong performance in the game when England lost a 2-1 lead against Germany in the last minutes, but then by the hat-trick from Geoff Hurst in the extension won. Although the use of Stiles did not stay in the memory, which was to be rated positively due to his task, a scene occurred immediately after the game that was to be well known even decades later: he held the World Cup trophy Coupe Jules Rimet in the one and his false teeth in the other hand. Thirty years later, Frank Skinner and David Baddiel referred to this moment in the song " Three Lions " they wrote for the 1996 European Championship .

Stiles was also used in the subsequent four internationals, but when England lost to Scotland at Wembley in 1967 and Stiles showed a poor performance, Ramsey removed him from the team. He won his second English championship that same year, but that success was soon to be increased.

Manchester United reached the final in the European Cup in 1968 and Stiles faced Eusébio again and a strong offensive series from Benfica Lisbon . Stiles played well again but couldn't completely knock out Eusébio. When the game was close to the end of the game 1-1, the Portuguese star escaped the defensive of Manchester and was alone in front of goalkeeper Alex Stepney , but he could not overcome. Manchester United won the game 4-1 and were the first English club to win the most important European club title.

Stiles was appointed to the English squad for the 1968 European Championship . However, he was only the midfield substitute for Alan Mullery from Tottenham Hotspur . England were knocked out against Yugoslavia in the semi-finals and Mullery became the first England international to receive a red card . Stiles was then used in the third place match against the Soviet Union , but it was evident that, aside from that suspension, Mullery was now Ramsey's first choice.

Stiles came in 1969 to only one and in 1970 only two internationals. He was nominated by Ramsey in the squad for the 1970 World Cup in Mexico , but even there he was only a substitute for Mullery and was not used in any game when England were eliminated in the quarter-finals and thus could not defend their world championship title. His national team career came to an end after a total of 28 international matches and one goal. From the world championship team, Stiles was the player with the fewest appearances for England.

After 392 games and 19 goals, Manchester United sold Stiles to Middlesbrough FC for £ 20,000 in 1971 . Two years later he became player -coach at Preston North End when Bobby Charlton coached the club full-time. This constellation had only moderate success and Stiles then coached the club between 1977 and 1981.

Stiles joined the NASL in 1981, like numerous other aging and partially retired players, and was active for the Vancouver Whitecaps . After three more years, he finally resigned as an active footballer.

On September 29, 1985 Stiles was the new coach of West Bromwich Albion . In the following February, however, the club dismissed him again after the team had come under his leadership to only three wins. This coaching station was his last. He later revealed that during this time he had suffered from depression and had difficulty dealing with the situation of working in the Midlands and daily commuting to Manchester, where his family lived.

From 1989 to 1993 Stiles worked as a youth coach for Manchester United and was responsible for the training of later world-class players such as David Beckham , Nicky Butt , Ryan Giggs , Paul Scholes and the brothers Phil and Gary Neville .

In 2000, Stiles was awarded the Order of the British Empire as an MBE , along with four other 1966 national team-mates ( Roger Hunt , George Cohen , Ray Wilson and Alan Ball ) for his services to English football . The award was preceded by a media campaign that expressed the surprise that the contributions made by these players to one of the greatest successes in English football had not yet been recognized.

In 2003, Stiles published his autobiography , entitled After The Ball . Despite his activities and successes, football did not make "Nobby" wealthy: in 2010 he even had to auction his World Cup medal.

health

Nobby Stiles has had Alzheimer's disease since 2012 .

successes

• World Champion: 1966
• European champion cup: 1968
• English champion: 1965, 1967
• FA Cup winner: 1963
• Community Shield Winner: 1965, 1967

Sources and Notes

1. ^ "The other side of the coin for Stiles - signs of an epochal change" in France Football of September 21, 2010, p
2. ↑ http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/sportsnews/article-3305432/Manchester-United-England-legend-Nobby-Stiles-suffering-Alzheimer-s.html