Ron Henry

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Ron Henry
Ron Henry (1961) .jpg
Ron Henry (1961)
Personnel
Surname Ronald Patrick Henry
birthday 17th August 1934
place of birth Shoreditch ,  England
date of death December 27, 2014
Place of death Harpenden ,  England
position Defense (left)
Juniors
Years station
Redbourn FC
Men's
Years station Games (goals) 1
1953-1967 Tottenham Hotspur 247 (1)
National team
Years selection Games (goals)
1963 England 1 (0)
1 Only league games are given.

Ronald Patrick "Ron" Henry (born August 17, 1934 in Shoreditch , † December 27, 2014 in Harpenden ) was an English football player . As a left defender he was a regular in the team from Tottenham Hotspur , which won the English championship in 1961 , twice the FA Cup ( 1961 , 1962 ) and in the 1962/63 season the European Cup winners' competition.

Athletic career

Henry was born in the East End of London as one of six children. He gained his first footballing experience as a winger before becoming a defender. He did his military service at the Royal Artillery in Woolwich and was discovered by the talent scouts of Tottenham Hotspur at a game of the military team - like his future teammate Terry Dyson . After his discharge from the army, he joined the "Spurs" under coach Arthur Rowe in March 1953 on an amateur basis. Henry slowly worked his way up the hierarchy and after his promotion to professional in January 1955 he made his debut in April 1955 as a substitute for Harry Clarke as a middle runner against Huddersfield Town (0-1). After that, he went back to the club's reserves, which was mainly due to the Welshman Mel Hopkins , who was considered one of the best left-backs in English football at the time - Henry's preferred position was also to be found there. It was only when Hopkins broke his nose at a game for Wales in November 1959 and was out for a few weeks that he had a sustainable opportunity and Henry knew how to use it. The new coach Bill Nicholson liked Henry's style of play, which was characterized by reliability, a high level of commitment and game intelligence. In addition, Nicholson valued Henry's “elegant running style”, which was clearly different from that of his Welsh competitor, who had long legs and looked limp. In contrast to Hopkins, Henry lacked aggressiveness and speed; Instead, he brought tackling strength, a cool head and good positional play - after conquering the ball, he preferred the short pass to the teammate and accordingly he remained largely error-free.

When Tottenham won the English Championship and FA Cup double in the 1960/61 season , Henry never missed a game. In the following year, when the Spurs defended the cup , he was a constant and only once did he allow Hopkins to appear as a substitute. He was "permanently present" again in the 1962/63 season, which brought Tottenham success in the European Cup Winners' Cup . That year he also played his first and only full international match for England . The game, which at the end of February 1963 was also the first in the tenure of the future world champion coach Alf Ramsey, was clearly lost 5-2 to France in Paris and from then on Ray Wilson matured with the "Three Lions" to permanent solution to Henry's position. In Tottenham, however, he stayed until the end of the 1964/65 season before he was ousted by the young Cyril Knowles . In contrast to Henry, Knowles was a more modern full-back who started offensive runs on the flank and did not interpret the task exclusively defensively. Henry, who had practically mentored Knowles at the beginning, spent his last years playing in the reserve team. There he was responsible for promoting young talents, including Joe Kinnear . In 1967 he ended his active career. He had played 247 league games for Tottenham and scored a single goal - to the general surprise of those present, the 1-0 winner from long range on February 6, 1965 against eventual champions Manchester United .

Henry remained loyal to Tottenham and was a coach in the club's youth academy - one of his students was grandson Ronnie . In addition to football, he ran a nursery next to his house in Redbourn and later a kindergarten. He also took part in tours of Tottenham's White Hart Lane stadium well into old age , before giving up this position in 2006 for health reasons. He died at the end of 2014 at the age of 80.

Title / Awards

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Bob Goodwin: Tottenham Hotspur - The Complete Record . Breedon Books, Derby 2007, ISBN 978-1-85983-567-8 , pp. 154 f .
  2. ^ "Ron Henry obituary" (The Guardian)
personal data
SURNAME Henry, Ron
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Henry, Ronald Patrick (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION English soccer player
DATE OF BIRTH 17th August 1934
PLACE OF BIRTH Shoreditch
DATE OF DEATH December 27, 2014
Place of death Harpenden