Roy Pritchard

Roy Pritchard
Personnel
Surname	Roy Thomas Pritchard
birthday	May 9, 1925
place of birth	Dawley ,  England
date of death	January 1993
Place of death	Walsall ,  England
position	defender
Juniors
Years	station
1941-1945	Wolverhampton Wanderers
Men's
Years	station	Games (goals) 1
1945–1955	Wolverhampton Wanderers	202 (0)
1955-1957	Aston Villa	3 (0)
1957-1958	Notts County	18 (0)
1958-1960	Port Vale	24 (0)
	Wellington Town
1 Only league games are given.

Roy Thomas Pritchard (born May 9, 1925 in Dawley , † January 1993 in Walsall ) was an English football player . The defender was best known for his time with Wolverhampton Wanderers . With the "Wolves" he won the FA Cup in 1949 and the English championship five years later .

Athletic career

Pritchard joined the Wanderers after graduating in 1941 in Wolverhampton - about 30 kilometers southeast of his native Dawley . Since the official game operation was suspended due to the Second World War, it took five years before Pritchard began his professional career. During the war, he had hired himself as a guest player for Mansfield Town , Notts County , Swindon Town and FC Walsall , before making his debut in the English top division in a 6-1 win over Huddersfield Town at home in Molineux Stadium on October 12, 1946 . In the 1946/47 season he completed only four league games under coach Ted Vizard . In later years he was a regular at left-back under Vizard's successor Stan Cullis . He was considered to be particularly ambitious and, according to contemporary witness reports, he often posed major problems to well-known opponents such as Stanley Matthews . In addition to respectable successes in the league on the fifth and sixth final table place in the seasons 1947/48 and 1948/49, winning the FA Cup in 1949 was a first high point in Pritchard's career. He was also in the team that brought about the 3-1 final victory over Leicester City . The following year Pritchard failed with his men only narrowly at winning the English championship due to the poorer goal quotient compared to Portsmouth FC . After a sporting slack in the following season 1951/52, in which the "Wolves" landed in the lower half of the table despite a positive goal difference, Pritchard reported back with his men afterwards in the fight for the championship. The third place in the season 1952/53 followed the awaited first championship title in the club's history - with four points ahead of local rivals West Bromwich Albion . Pritchard had made a significant contribution to this with 27 league appearances, but in the following period he fell victim to the renovation work in the team by coach Cullis. As a result, he not only missed the Charity Shield game in 1954, but also lost his regular place the following year. It was only used seven times on the way to the runner-up behind Chelsea FC . Before the end of the season, he moved to league rivals Aston Villa in February 1955 . In total, he had played 202 league games for the "Wolves"; he was not allowed to score a goal.

The hopes for a sporting revival among the "Villans" were not fulfilled. During the two and a half years Pritchard completed just three league games in coach Eric Houghton's team . Even when winning the FA Cup in 1957 , he was left out and was not taken into account, especially on the occasion of the final. At the end of the 1950s, he left his professional career at Notts County in the second division and later at Port Vale (where he won the fourth division championship in 1959 ), before spending a long time in the semi-professional Southern League at Wellington Town from May 1960 .

Pritchard died in January 1993 at the age of 67.

successes

• English champion : 1954
• English cup winner : 1949

Web links

• Statistical data from the Post War English & Scottish Football League AZ Player's Database
• Profile on barryhugmansfootballers.com

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Fondly Remembered: Roy Pritchard: Fan's Recollections Of Tough Defender (Wolves Heroes)