Ralph Coates

Ralph Coates (born April 26, 1946 in Hetton-le-Hole , † December 17, 2010 ) was an English football player .

Athletic career

Coates was discovered for Burnley FC by Jack Hixon , who tracked down various later England internationals . After a successful trial training in 1961, the club from the county of Lancashire committed him , for which he made his professional football debut in December 1964. Until he was relegated from the First Division in 1971, the winger was a regular for long stretches under coach Harry Potts and his successor Jimmy Adamson . In the spring of 1970 he was the focus of the English selection and was in the provisional squad of national coach Alf Ramsey for the 1970 World Cup , but did not travel to Mexico. He was called up into the following year, playing a total of four internationals for the "Three Lions".

In the summer of 1971, Bill Nicholson brought Coates to London as the reigning League Cup winner Tottenham Hotspur . Here he won his first international title in his first season after a 2-1 away win at Wolverhampton Wanderers and a 1-1 home draw by winning the first edition of the UEFA Cup in 1971/72 , in 1973 by winning the League Cups followed by a national title. He had in the final against Norwich City , as a substitute in the first half of the game replacing John Pratt , scored the decisive goal for the 1-0 final win at Wembley Stadium . In the 1973/74 UEFA Cup he reached the finals again with the team, this time Feyenoord Rotterdam prevailed after a 2-2 draw at White Hart Lane with a 2-0 win at Rotterdam's De Kuip .

1978 Coates went as a player- coach to the second division Leyton Orient , where he worked for two years in the second division . He then returned to White Hart Lane to work as a stadium announcer .

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Former Tottenham midfielder Ralph Coates dies. BBC News . December 17, 2010, accessed May 26, 2017.