 Viollet in 1957 | |||
| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Dennis Sydney Viollet | ||
| Date of birth | (1933-09-20)20 September 1933 | ||
| Place of birth | Fallowfield,Manchester,Lancashire, England | ||
| Date of death | 6 March 1999(1999-03-06) (aged 65) | ||
| Place of death | Jacksonville, Florida, United States | ||
| Height | 1.75 m (5 ft 9 in)[1] | ||
| Position | Inside forward | ||
| Youth career | |||
| 1949–1953 | Manchester United | ||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
| 1953–1962 | Manchester United | 259 | (159) |
| 1962–1967 | Stoke City | 182 | (59) |
| 1967–1968 | Baltimore Bays | 34 | (7) |
| 1969 | Witton Albion | 8 | (2) |
| 1969–1970 | Linfield | 11 | (5) |
| Total | 494 | (232) | |
| International career | |||
| 1960–1961 | England | 2 | (1) |
| Managerial career | |||
| 1971 | Crewe Alexandra | ||
| 1974–1977 | Washington Diplomats | ||
| 1978–1980 | New England Tea Men (assistant) | ||
| 1980–1982 | Jacksonville Tea Men (assistant) | ||
| 1983–1984 | Jacksonville Tea Men | ||
| 1990–1995 | Jacksonville Dolphins | ||
| 1995–1996 | Richmond Kickers | ||
| 1997–1999 | Jacksonville Cyclones | ||
| * Club domestic league appearances and goals | |||
Dennis Sydney Viollet (20 September 1933 – 6 March 1999) was an Englishfootballer who played forManchester United andStoke City as well as theEngland national team.[2][3][page needed] He was famous as one of theBusby Babes and survived theMunich air disaster. After his retirement as player, he became a coach and spent most of his managerial career in the United States for various professional and school teams.
Viollet joinedManchester United on 1 September 1949. He came through the junior ranks at United and turned professional in 1950. His first competitive game for the first team came againstNewcastle United on 11 April 1953 and he was a key part of the United teams that won back to backFirst Division titles in 1956 and 1957. One of his most notable games came on 26 September 1956, in the second leg of United'sEuropean Cup preliminary round tie against Belgian championsAnderlecht, in which he scored four goals in a 10–0 win that remains United's biggest competitive victory.[4] In February 1958, Viollet was flying back from a European Cup match in Belgrade via Munich; attempting to take off in bad weather, the plane crashed, killing 21 people, including seven Manchester United players, in what would become known as theMunich air disaster. Viollet survived, suffering only injuries to his head and face, and he returned to action before the end of the season, less than three months later. He played in the1958 FA Cup Final againstBolton Wanderers, which United lost 2–0, and less than a week later, he scored the equalising goal in a 2–1 win overMilan in the first leg of their European Cup semi-final; Milan won the second leg 4–0 to deny United a place in the final.
After scoring 21 goals in 37 league appearances in 1958–59, Viollet had his most prolific season to date in 1959–60, scoring 32 goals in 36 league appearances, aclub record.[5] In recognition of his scoring exploits, Viollet received his first call-up to theEngland team in May 1960; after being left out for a 3–3 home draw withYugoslavia and a 3–0 away defeat toSpain on 15 May, he was named at inside left for a 2–0 away defeat toHungary a week later. Despite missing three months of the 1960–61 season, he still scored 15 goals, behind onlyBobby Charlton and Alex Dawson as Manchester United's top scorer, and in September 1961, he was called up to the England squad again for a1962 World Cup qualifier at home toLuxembourg; Viollet scored England's second goal in a 4–1 win. In January 1962,Matt Busby surprisingly sold the 28-year-old Viollet toStoke City for £25,000 after scoring 179 goals in 293 appearances for United.[6]
He joined a team being re-built byTony Waddington, containing experienced players such asStanley Matthews, andJackie Mudie and also emerging talent such asJohn Ritchie andEric Skeels.[3] His signing was viewed as a coup for Stoke as at 28 Viollet was still in his prime.[3] He made a decent start to his Stoke career scoring five goals towards the end of the1961–62 season meaning that hopes were high for1962–63.[3] While six games without a win heralded another poor start for Stoke, Viollet kick-started Stoke's season with four goals againstCharlton Athletic on 12 September.[3] That win gave Stoke the impetus to embark on an unbeaten run of 18, ended byLeeds United on 15 December.[3]The winter of 1962–63 saw no matches played for two months and once football resumed in March Stoke lost once in their next 13 matches and won theSecond Division title with Viollet scoring 23 goals. With Stoke back in theFirst Division after a ten-year absence Waddington decided to move Viollet into midfield.[3] He played and scored in the1964 Football League Cup Final as Stoke lost 4–3 toLeicester City. He continued to play for Stoke until the summer of 1967 when he announced his retirement after scoring 66 goals in 207 matches for the "Potters".[3] Shortly after his death in March 1999 he was honoured by the club having a street near theBritannia Stadium named 'Dennis Viollet Avenue'.[3]
Shortly after leaving theVictoria Ground, he came out of retirement to joinNASL teamBaltimore Bays in the United States for a season.[3] On returning to Britain, he played for non-leagueWitton Albion, before finishing his career atLinfield helping them to win the Irish cup in 1970. Once his playing career finished, he had spells coaching atPreston North End, andCrewe Alexandra briefly in 1971.[3]
On 22 May 1960, at the end of his record-breaking season with Manchester United, Viollet won his first full England cap in a 2–0 friendly defeat toHungary inBudapest. His second and final appearance came on 28 September 1961, in aqualifying game for the 1962 World Cup atHighbury, in which he scored in a 4–1 win overLuxembourg.[7]
In 1974, Dennis Viollet became the first head coach of theWashington Diplomats of theNorth American Soccer League. The team did not achieve a great deal of on-field success during his three-year tenure as the coach, only reaching postseason play once (1977) where they were eliminated in the first round.[8] After being replaced in Washington, Viollett accepted the invitation of his former United teammate,Noel Cantwell, to serve as his assistant with the expansionNew England Tea Men. After three seasons in the Boston area, the team relocated toJacksonville, Florida, where Viollet continued on the coaching staff for the nowJacksonville Tea Men. Before the 1983 season, the financially struggling club was sold to an owner whose plan to turn around their budget woes included moving down to the second divisionAmerican Soccer League, and Cantwell decided to move on. Viollet assumed head coaching duties for the ASL version of the Tea Men and led that squad to the 1983 ASL title, bringing the city of Jacksonville its first ever professional sports championship. He stayed on for one more year as the team moved to the ASL's successor, theUnited Soccer League, but the Tea Men were still losing money and folded after the 1984 season.[9][10] In 1985, Viollett became the coach of the varsity boys soccer team atSt. Johns Country Day School located inOrange Park, Florida. He also coached the Jacksonville Knights, a professional indoor soccer team, in 1989. In 1990, Viollet took the reins of theJacksonville University Dolphins, where he stayed until 1995. Jacksonville University and their primary rivals, theUniversity of North Florida, compete annually for the Dennis Viollet Cup. He then took the USISLRichmond Kickers to the 1995 American Double (USISL Premier League andUS Open Cup titles). He stayed with Richmond for 2 seasons, then served as coach of the A-LeagueJacksonville Cyclones before his death from cancer on 6 March 1999, aged 65, in his adopted home ofJacksonville.[3]
In additional to his professional coaching career, Dennis Viollet made important volunteer contributions to youth soccer development in the Orange Park community near Jacksonville. He became an influential member of Orange Park Soccer Club in the early 1980s, helping to organize the club and volunteering to coach a number of youth teams. Over the years that club grew to become Clay County Soccer Club, and in recognition of Dennis' contributions in its early days they honored him by naming their primary soccer field complex after him (Dennis Viollet Soccer Complex) in Orange Park, Florida. Dennis also ran youth soccer camps every summer in Orange Park at St. Johns Country Day School, where he would invite players from teams he managed, such as the Tea Men or Jacksonville University, to act as instructors. Dennis coached and mentored numerous local youth players who later succeeded at various college and professional levels.
Viollet was born inFallowfield, Manchester, in September 1933, the youngest of three children born to Charles Sydney Viollet (1890–1961) and Hannah Tomlinson (1893–1992); he had two older sisters, Vera (born 1917) and Audrey (born 1930). He grew up as aManchester City supporter.[11]
He married Barbara Mavis Southern at St Edmund's Church, Manchester, in 1951, when he was 17 years old. Their daughter Stephanie was born later that year, and they later had two sons, Roger (born 1957) and Malcolm (born 1961), and another daughter, Deborah (born 1958). They divorced in 1969, and in June that year, Viollet married Helen B. Greeph; they were married until his death nearly 30 years later.[12] Their daughterRachel (born 1972) became the British number one ranked tennis player when she reached the second round ofWimbledon in 1996.[13][14] During her tennis career, she won one ITF singles tournament and one ITF doubles tournament.[citation needed]
Viollet died in March 1999 after a two-year battle against cancer, with abrain tumour first being diagnosed during 1997, despite treatment and surgery during that time to combat the illness.[15]
In 2010, Viollet was inducted into theWashington, D.C. Soccer Hall of Fame. Viollet was also inducted into the first class of the United Soccer League Hall of Fame in 2002. The annualUniversity of North Florida/Jacksonville University soccer match has been contested for the Viollet Cup since 2001. The Dennis Viollet Soccer Training Center was dedicated in 2006 and located at the Complete Soccer Academy inLongwood, Florida.[citation needed]
| Club | Season | League | FA Cup | League Cup | Europe | Other | Total | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Division | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | ||
| Manchester United | 1952–53 | First Division | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | — | — | 0 | 0 | 3 | 1 | ||
| 1953–54 | First Division | 29 | 11 | 1 | 1 | — | — | — | 30 | 12 | ||||
| 1954–55 | First Division | 34 | 20 | 3 | 1 | — | — | — | 37 | 21 | ||||
| 1955–56 | First Division | 34 | 20 | 1 | 0 | — | — | — | 35 | 20 | ||||
| 1956–57 | First Division | 27 | 16 | 5 | 0 | — | 6[a] | 9 | 1[b] | 1 | 39 | 26 | ||
| 1957–58 | First Division | 22 | 16 | 3 | 3 | — | 6[a] | 4 | 1[b] | 0 | 32 | 23 | ||
| 1958–59 | First Division | 37 | 21 | 1 | 0 | — | — | — | 38 | 21 | ||||
| 1959–60 | First Division | 36 | 32 | 3 | 0 | — | — | — | 39 | 32 | ||||
| 1960–61 | First Division | 24 | 15 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 1 | — | — | 27 | 16 | |||
| 1961–62 | First Division | 13 | 7 | 0 | 0 | — | — | — | 13 | 7 | ||||
| Total | 259 | 159 | 18 | 5 | 2 | 1 | 12 | 13 | 2 | 1 | 293 | 179 | ||
| Stoke City | 1961–62 | Second Division | 13 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | — | 13 | 5 | ||
| 1962–63 | Second Division | 37 | 23 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | — | — | 39 | 23 | |||
| 1963–64 | First Division | 32 | 10 | 3 | 2 | 6 | 1 | — | — | 41 | 13 | |||
| 1964–65 | First Division | 34 | 13 | 3 | 2 | 3 | 1 | — | — | 40 | 16 | |||
| 1965–66 | First Division | 32 | 6 | 1 | 0 | 5 | 1 | — | — | 38 | 7 | |||
| 1966–67 | First Division | 34 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | — | — | 36 | 2 | |||
| Total | 182 | 59 | 9 | 4 | 16 | 3 | — | — | 207 | 66 | ||||
| Baltimore Bays | 1967 | NPSL | 12 | 4 | — | — | — | — | 12 | 4 | ||||
| 1968 | NASL | 22 | 3 | — | — | — | — | 22 | 3 | |||||
| Total | 34 | 7 | — | — | — | — | 34 | 7 | ||||||
| Career total | 475 | 225 | 27 | 9 | 18 | 4 | 12 | 13 | 2 | 1 | 534 | 252 | ||
| National team | Year | Apps | Goals |
|---|---|---|---|
| England | 1960 | 1 | 0 |
| 1961 | 1 | 1 | |
| Total | 2 | 1 | |
| Team | From | To | Record | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| G | W | D | L | Win % | |||
| Crewe Alexandra | 1 August 1971 | 1 November 1971 | 15 | 4 | 2 | 9 | 026.67 |
Manchester United
Stoke City
Linfield
Individual
| Sporting positions | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | Manchester United captain 1959–1960 | Succeeded by |