Dennis Viollet

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Dennis Viollet
Personal information
Full name Dennis Sydney Viollet
Date of birth 20 September 1933(1933-09-20)
Place of birth    Manchester, England
Date of death    6 March 1999 (aged 65)
Place of death    Jacksonville, Florida, USA
Playing position Centre forward
Senior clubs1
Years Club App (Gls)*
1950-1962
1962-1967
1967-1968		 Manchester United
Stoke City
Baltimore Bays		 259 (159)
182 0(59)
034 00(7)   
National team
1960-1962 England 002 00(1)
Teams managed
1971 Crewe Alexandra

1 Senior club appearances and goals
counted for the domestic league only.
* Appearances (Goals)

Dennis Sydney Viollet (20 September 1933 – 6 March 1999) was an English footballer.

Contents

[edit] Career

Viollet joined Manchester United on 1 September 1949. He came through the junior ranks at United and turned professional in 1950. His first game for the club came against arch-rivals Newcastle United on 11 April 1953. He is generally considered as one of the most underrated strikers of all time.

He was a striker, along with Tommy Taylor for the Busby Babes of the 1950s. He was a survivor of the Munich air disaster. Dennis was a big part of the two championships that were won by United in 1956 and 1957. Dennis scored 178 goals in 291 games for United. He was a lightning quick player, who combined well with Taylor's height to form a terrific strike force. After the Munich air disaster, Dennis proved his worth by scoring 32 goals in 36 games in 1960, a club record. It was during this season and the one following it that he received his two caps for England, in a defeat against Hungary and a victory over Luxembourg, in which he scored one goal.

In 1962, Matt Busby surprisingly sold 28-year-old Viollet to Stoke City for £22,000. He joined a team being re-built by Tony Waddington, containing experienced players such as Stanley Matthews, and Jackie Mudie, and also emerging talent such as John Ritchie, and Eric Skeels. Although he joined Stoke as a striker, the majority of his appearances were as a midfield player. While at Stoke, he won a Second Division Championship medal in 1962-63 and a League Cup runners up medal in 1964. In his time at Stoke he made 207 appearances (one as a substitute), and scored 66 goals. and was awarded a testimonial just before his retirement in 1967.

Shortly after leaving the Victoria Ground, he came out of retirement to join NASL team Baltimore Bays in the United States for a season.

On returning to the UK, he played for Witton Albion, before finishing his career at Linfield as player manager, leading them to win the Irish cup in 1970.

Once his playing career finished, he had spells coaching at Preston North End, and Crewe Alexandra briefly in 1971.

In the 1980s, Viollet moved to Florida as assistant coach, and then coach, of the Jacksonville Teamen of the NASL and ASL. In 1990, Viollet took the reins of the Jacksonville University Dolphins, where he stayed until 1995. He then took the USISL Richmond Kickers to the 1995 American Double (USISL Premier League and US Open Cup titles). He stayed with Richmond for 2 seasons, then served as coach of the A-League Jacksonville Cyclones before his death from cancer on 6 March 1999, aged 65, in his adopted home of Jacksonville, Florida. He had been ill for two years.

[edit] Honours

Viollet was inducted into the first class of the USL Hall of Fame in 2002. The annual University of North Florida/Jacksonville University soccer match has been contested for the Viollet Cup since 2001.

[edit] Private life

Dennis Violett's daughter, Rachel, became the British number one ranked tennis player when she reached the second round of Wimbledon in 1996, and she lost in the first round in 2002.[1][2] During her tennis career, she won one ITF singles tournament and one ITF doubles tournament.[3]

[edit] References

  1. ^ Harris, Nick (2002-06-26). Baltacha saves day as home players fall. The Independent. Retrieved on 2008-05-19.
  2. ^ Foster, Peter (2002-06-26). Being on court is triumph for Busby babe's daughter. Telegraph.co.uk. Telegraph Media Group. Retrieved on 2008-05-19.
  3. ^ *Rachel Viollet profile on the WTA Tour's official website
Awards
Preceded by
Jimmy Greaves		 First Division top scorer
1959–60		 Succeeded by
Jimmy Greaves
v • d • e
Crewe Alexandra F.C. – Managers

McNeill (1892–94) • Hall (1895–96) • Roberts (1897) • Bromerley (1898–1925) • Bailey (1925–38) • Lillicrop (1938–44) • Hill (1944–48) • Turner (1948–51) • Catterick (1951–53) • Ward (1953–55) • Lindley (1955–58) • Ware (1958–60) • McGuigan (1960–64) • Tagg (1964–70) • McAnearney (1970–71) • Viollet (1971) • Melia (1972–73) • Tagg (1974–74) • Gregg (1975–78) • Rimmer (1978–79) • Waddington (1979–81) • Griffiths (1981–82) • Morris (1982–83) • Gradi (1983– ) •