Roy Swinbourne

Roy Swinbourne
Personnel
Surname	Royston Harry Swinbourne
birthday	August 25, 1929
place of birth	Denaby Main ,  England
date of death	December 27, 2015
Place of death	Kidderminster ,  England
position	Center Forward
Juniors
Years	station
	Wath Wanderers
1944-1945	Wolverhampton Wanderers
Men's
Years	station	Games (goals) 1
1945–1957	Wolverhampton Wanderers	211 (107)
National team
Years	selection	Games (goals)
1955	England B	1 00(1)
1 Only league games are given.

Royston Harry "Roy" Swinbourne (born August 25, 1929 in Denaby Main , † December 27, 2015 in Kidderminster ) was an English football player . The center forward of Wolverhampton Wanderers and English champion of 1954 was one of the most promising talents of his country before overtook him on November 5, 1955 serious knee injury that forced him almost two years later to the premature end of career.

Athletic career

Swinbourne learned to play football during the Second World War with the Wath Wanderers, who were then a kind of " farm team " for the Wolverhampton Wanderers . On the initiative of the local trainer Ted Vizard , he joined the "Wolves" and prepared for his future professional career in the reserve team.

The tall center forward made his debut on December 17, 1949 under the new sporting director Stan Cullis in the first team, but remained in the 1-1 draw against Fulham FC without his first goal. This he put on just nine days later in the 2: 3 home defeat against Aston Villa and pushed the veteran Jesse Pye out of the team by the middle of the 1950/51 season . With 22 competitive goals he was also the top scorer of his team at the end of this season. After a difficult year due to injury, he swung himself into another career leap in the 1952/53 season and shot 38 league goals together with strike partner Dennis Wilshaw (21 of which he scored himself), which enabled the club to take the wide set to third place in the table. The new offensive series, which in addition to Swinbourne and Wilshaw also consisted of wingers Johnny Hancocks and Jimmy Mullen as well as half-striker Peter Broadbent , reached its sporting climax a year later when this quintet scored 93 of the 96 goals for their first win in the English championship. Swinbourne scored 24 times himself and closed the season with two goals to 2-0 against Tottenham Hotspur . Also in the following season Swinbourne found himself in the championship fight; His personal “highlight”, however, was a friendly against the Hungarian world-class team Honvéd Budapest on December 13, 1954 : In this prestigious “floodlit match” he scored two headers for a 3-2 victory and was part of the team that the local press considered the best in the world Football club team was proclaimed.

After winning the runner-up in 1955 Swinbourne started furiously in the 1955/56 season and scored 17 goals in the first eleven league games. At the height of his athletic prowess, Swinbournes career suffered a major setback on November 5, 1955. While playing against the local club Luton Town on Kenilworth Road , he crashed so unhappily against a crowd of cameramen who had positioned themselves on the sidelines that he had to undergo knee surgery a few weeks later after a brief attempt at comeback . For more than a year Swinbourne did not give up hope of a return before he realized that he would not regain his old speed. In May 1957, the striker, who scored 114 goals in a total of 230 competitive games for the "Wolves", resignedly announced his resignation.

After the active career

Roy Swinbourne last lived as a pensioner in the village of Kinver , which lies in the far south-west of the county of Staffordshire .

successes

• English champion : 1954

literature

• Matthews, Tony: Wolverhampton Wanderers - The Complete Record . Breedon Books, 2008, ISBN 978-1-85983-632-3 , pp. 155 .

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Wolverhampton Wanderers legend Roy Swinbourne dies, aged 86