.jpg) Blanchflower in 1976 | |||
| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Robert Dennis Blanchflower | ||
| Date of birth | (1926-02-10)10 February 1926 | ||
| Place of birth | Belfast, Northern Ireland | ||
| Date of death | 9 December 1993(1993-12-09) (aged 67) | ||
| Place of death | Staines, England | ||
| Height | 5 ft 9 in (1.75 m) | ||
| Position | Right-half | ||
| Youth career | |||
| Glentoran | |||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
| 1946–1949 | Glentoran | 124 | (7) |
| 1949–1951 | Barnsley | 68 | (2) |
| 1951–1954 | Aston Villa | 148 | (10) |
| 1954–1964 | Tottenham Hotspur | 337 | (15) |
| 1961 | →Toronto City (loan) | 12 | (3) |
| 1962 | → Boksburg (loan) | 4 | (1) |
| 1965 | Durban City | 3 | (0) |
| Total | 693 | (38) | |
| International career | |||
| 1949–1963 | Northern Ireland | 56 | (2) |
| 1948–1949 | Irish League XI | 4 | (0) |
| Managerial career | |||
| 1976–1979 | Northern Ireland | ||
| 1978–1979 | Chelsea | ||
| * Club domestic league appearances and goals | |||
Robert Dennis Blanchflower (10 February 1926 – 9 December 1993) was aNorthern Ireland footballer,football manager and journalist who played for and captainedTottenham Hotspur, including during theirdouble-winning season of 1960–61. He was twiceFootballer of the Year and ranked as the greatest player in Spurs history byThe Times in 2009.[1] After a lengthy playing career, he retired at the age of 38. He became a respected football journalist and, later, afootball manager.
Blanchflower said of football: "The great fallacy is that the game is first and last about winning. It is nothing of the kind. The game is about glory, it is about doing things in style and with a flourish, about going out and beating the lot, not waiting for them to die of boredom".[2][3]
Blanchflower was born on 10 February 1926 in theBloomfield district ofBelfast, the first of five children born to John and Selina Blanchflower.[4] His mother had played as a centre-forward on a women's football team. He was educated at Ravenscroft public elementary school and was awarded a scholarship toBelfast College of Technology.[5]
He left early to become an apprentice electrician atGallaher's cigarette factory in Belfast. He also joined theAir Raid Precautions (ARP) and in 1943 lied about his age to join theRAF. As a trainee navigator he was sent on a course toSt Andrews University (where he acquired a lifelong love of golf) and in the spring of 1945 was posted to Canada for further training. By 1946, aged 20, he was back in Belfast, back at Gallaher's, and building a reputation as an outstanding footballer.[5] While at St Andrews Blanchflower played for theUniversity College Dundee football team which was coached by formerCeltic,Dundee United andScotland trainerJack Qusklay.[6]
His younger brotherJackie (1933–1998) was also aNorthern Irish international footballer and played forManchester United before his playing career was ended by injuries sustained in theMunich air disaster of February 1958.[7]
Blanchflower signed forGlentoran in 1946, before crossing theIrish Sea and signing forBarnsley for £6000 in 1949, at the age of 23.[5] He transferred from Barnsley toAston Villa for a fee of £15,000, making his debut in March 1951. He made 155 senior appearances for Villa (148 in the League), before being sold during the1954–55 season.[8]
In 1954 Blanchflower was bought byTottenham Hotspur for a fee of £30,000, and during his ten years atWhite Hart Lane he made 337 League appearances,[9] and 382 total appearances (scoring 21 goals).[1] The highlight of his time at Spurs came with the1960–61 season. With Blanchflower as captain Spurs won their first 11 games, a record for the top flight of English football and eventually won the league by 8 points. They then beatLeicester City in the final of theFA Cup to become the first team in the 20th century to win theLeague and Cup double, not achieved sinceAston Villa in 1897.
Blanchflower was votedFWA Footballer of the Year in 1958 and 1961.
In 1962 he helped Spurs win theFA Cup, scoring a penalty in the final against Burnley. In 1963 he captained his side to victory overAtlético Madrid in the final of theEuropean Cup Winners' Cup.[10]
During his time with Spurs he also had a short spell withToronto City, alongside fellow Football League playersStanley Matthews andJohnny Haynes.[11]
Making his debut in 1949, he earned 56 caps forNorthern Ireland, and in 1958 captained his country when they reached the quarter-finals of theFIFA World Cup. He was the first Northern Irishman to achieve a half century of caps when he played against Wales in 1962.[12]
On 4 December 1957 he captained the Northern Ireland team againstItaly inBelfast, in a bad tempered game that came to be known as the "Battle of Belfast"; Blanchflower attempted to keep the peace as the game turned nasty.[13]
He finally announced his retirement as a player of 5 April 1964 at the age of 38, having played nearly 400 games in all competitions for Spurs and captained them to four major trophies.[14]
In 1965, Blanchflower briefly came out of retirement to play forDurban City. Blanchflower played three times for the club in South Africa'sNational Football League (NFL).[15]
Considered to be the brains of the great Tottenham team of the 1960s, Blanchflower played as adefensive midfielder atright half and was known particularly for his accurate passing, his ability to dictate the tempo of the game and his inspiring leadership.[16]
Following his retirement as a player, Blanchflower coached at Spurs for a number of years, and double-winning managerBill Nicholson intended for Blanchflower to be his long-term successor. When Nicholson resigned from the club in 1974 however, Blanchflower found himself being passed over in favour ofTerry Neill, and subsequently left the club himself. He became manager of Northern Ireland for a spell in 1976, and was then appointed asChelsea boss. However, he won only five of his 32 games in charge and he left them in September 1979.[5]
Blanchflower was one of only a handful of players to have been awarded the title ofFWA Footballer of the Year on two occasions, winning in both 1958 and 1961.
He was one of many signatories in a letter toThe Times on 17 July 1958 opposing 'the policy of apartheid' in international sport and defending 'the principle of racial equality which is embodied in the Declaration of the Olympic Games'.[17] On 6 February 1961, he also became the first person to turn down the invitation to appear onThis Is Your Life, walking away from hostEamonn Andrews. Contrary to belief, this incident was not broadcast live on air, but was being recorded to be shown at the beginning of the live transmission. "I consider this programme to be an invasion of privacy", he explained. "Nobody is going to press gang me into anything".[18]
Blanchflower commentated on a match forITV as early as 3 January 1956, for the final of the Southern Junior Floodlit Cup betweenWest Ham andChelsea.[19] He also hosted editions of the BBC'sJunior Sportsview in 1959[20] and ITV'sJunior Criss Cross Quiz in the mid 60s.[21] He was thecolour commentator for theCBS television network broadcasts ofNational Professional Soccer League matches in the United States in 1967.[22] His candour about the fledgling league's shortcomings distressed network executives, as he recounted in a 10 June 1968Sports Illustrated article he authored.[23] In the 1968–69 season he was the regular commentator forYorkshire Television.[24]
One of Blanchflower's best-known tongue-in-cheek remarks is: "We aim to equalise before the other team score. We should get our retaliation in first".[18]
Anton Weinberg's 1985 Channel 4 documentary filmThe Keller Instinct featured an appearance by Blanchflower, who spoke approvingly of his late friend musicologistHans Keller's advocacy of inventive, tactically creative football. He retired from his position as a writer for theSunday Express in 1988.[25]
On 1 May 1990, Tottenham held a testimonial match for him atWhite Hart Lane, but by this stage he was in the first stages of what would later be diagnosed asAlzheimer's disease andParkinson's disease.[4]
He was eventually placed in Woodlands Nursing Home,Staines. He died there frompneumonia on 9 December 1993, aged 67.[18] He was buried nearby at St. Jude's Cemetery,Englefield Green.[26]
Blanchflower was honoured in his home city of Belfast with an Ulster History Circle plaque recognising his outstanding achievements in the world of sport. The blue plaque is located at 49 Grace Avenue, his childhood home.[27]
The Danny Blanchflower Playing Fields in East Belfast, owned by Belfast City Council, was named after him. Plans to redevelop the site date to include more professional football facilities started in the mid-2000s and went through several revisions.[28][29] By 2020, construction of a new stadium and grounds forHarland & Wolff Welders F.C. was underway in the park, to be followed by nature trails and community projects.[30]
Tottenham Hotspur
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