Alf Ramsey

Sir Alf Ramsey

Personal information
Full name	Alfred Ernest Ramsey
Date of birth	22 January 1920(1920-01-22)
Place of birth	Dagenham, London, England
Date of death	28 April 1999(1999-04-28) (aged 79)
Place of death	Suffolk, England
Height	5 ft 8 in (1.73 m)
Playing position	Right-back
Youth career
1940–1943	Portsmouth
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps†	(Gls)†
1943–1949	Southampton	90	(8)
1949–1955	Tottenham Hotspur	226	(24)
National team
1948–1953	England	32	(3)
Teams managed
1955–1963	Ipswich Town
1963–1974	England
1977–1978	Birmingham City
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only. † Appearances (Goals).

Sir Alfred Ernest "Alf" Ramsey (22 January 1920 – 28 April 1999) was an English footballer and manager of the English national football team from 1963 to 1974. His greatest achievement was winning the 1966 World Cup with England on 30 July 1966. They also came third in the 1968 European Championship and reached the quarter-final stage of the 1970 World Cup and the 1972 European Championship under his management. He was knighted in 1967 in recognition of England's World Cup win the previous year.

As a player, he had been capped 32 times between 1948 and 1954, scoring three goals, and was part of the Tottenham Hotspur team which in 1951 became champions of the top flight a year after promotion.

Between the end of his playing career and his appointment as England manager, Ramsey was Ipswich Town manager for eight years, taking them from the Third Division to the top of the First Division in that time, winning the English Championship title at the first attempt.

His final job in football was manager of Birmingham City, which he left in March 1978.

Playing career

Ramsey was born in Dagenham, England. Having been a gifted amateur as a pupil and as a player for his army regiment, he played for Portsmouth in the London War League in 1942 before moving to Southampton from 1943 to 1949 (since 1944 as a professional), and Tottenham Hotspur after that. He was very successful with Spurs, playing as a right-back in more than 250 cup and league games, and in 1948 made his England debut against Switzerland; he went on to captain his country three times. His last game for England was the 6–3 defeat by Hungary in November 1953, in which he scored a penalty. As a player Ramsey was considered slow, but had excellent positional sense, read the game better than most, had awareness, strength, and excellent distribution for a defender. He was also a specialist penalty kick taker; his coolness and ability to anticipate the goalkeeper earning him the nickname, The General.

Managerial career

Ipswich Town

He retired from playing in 1955 to become manager of Ipswich Town. He guided the Suffolk-based side to third place in the Third Division South in his debut season, the side scoring 106 goals in the 46 league fixtures. Ramsey's second season in charge led to the division title, Ipswich's second at that level, and promotion to the Second Division.

The Suffolk-based side established themselves at the Second Division level for the following three seasons with mid-table finishes. Ramsey also managed his side to moderate success in the FA Cup, reaching the Fifth Round in the 1958–59 season. After three seasons of mid-table finishes, the fourth brought further success to Portman Road as Ramsey guided the Blues to the Second Division title and into the top flight for the first time in the club's history.

Ramsey's Ipswich achieved unprecedented success the following season as he led his side to the Championship in their debut season at the top level. The side had been tipped by virtually all contemporary football pundits and journalists for relegation at the start of the season, making the achievement arguably one of the most remarkable in the history of the League.

Ramsey's tactical astuteness, working with a squad of solid but not outstanding players, baffled and astonished the illustrious football clubs against whom Ipswich were playing. Ramsey had found the style he would take to the England job the following April; choosing players to fit his system on the pitch. He left Ipswich Town on 29 April 1963 after eight seasons having guided them from the Third Division South to the very top of English football.

England

Ramsey was appointed England manager on 25 October 1962 (effective from 1 May 1963) and immediately caused a stir when he predicted that England would win the next World Cup, which was to be held in England in 1966. This was a bold statement to make, as England's performance on the international stage had been poor up to that point. The World Cup started in 1930: but England refused to participate until 1950, when they suffered an embarrassing 1-0 defeat at the hands of the U.S.A. (Ramsey played at right-back in this game.) When Ramsey took over, he demanded complete control over squad selections. Before Ramsey, Walter Winterbottom had been manager, but selections and other decisions were often carried out by board committees and so forth. When Ramsey took over all of these duties, it led to him being referred to as 'England's first proper manager'.

Ramsey was a firm but fair manager and was often regarded as difficult by the press. He ran a strict regime with his players and made sure that no-one felt that they enjoyed special status, star player or not. In May 1964, after a number of players failed to show up for a meeting in a hotel about a forthcoming tour, amongst them Jimmy Greaves, Bobby Moore and Bobby Charlton, they eventually returned to their rooms to discover their passports left on their beds. His strict regime didn't suit everyone but the players with real talent and respect for the game responded well to them and had great respect for Ramsey. Very few of those who played for Ramsey spoke ill of him. In the preparations for the 1966 World Cup, Ramsey made sure that no player was confident of a place in the final 22, which resulted in players performing at their highest level. His decision to appoint a young Bobby Moore as captain also showed Ramsey's ability to see great potential in young players. Another one of his abilities was as a master tactician: a quality that he had first shown with his reading of the game as a player. When it came to tactics, Ramsey had revolutionary ideas.

Tactics

During his time at Ipswich, Ramsey began experimenting with a new style of play that would eventually lead to success in the World Cup and led to his England team being styled, "The Wingless Wonders". As natural wingers were not always known for their defensive qualities, Ramsey started dropping them in favour of attacking midfielders who could also drop back into defensive roles. This system proved revolutionary as it often baffled opposing fullbacks, who would naturally expect to see a winger coming down the flank at them once the ball was kicked off: instead, the attacking midfielders and strikers were taking the ball through the middle of the defence and scoring. This style of play proved successful at Ipswich, but really showed its worth when England traveled to Spain to play a friendly with them before the World Cup. As Bobby Charlton remarked, "The Spanish fullbacks were just looking at each other while we were going in droves through the middle". To go to Spain (who were the reigning European Champions) and win easily was a rare achievement for England, and clear evidence that Ramsey's techniques were working.

The 1966 World Cup

With his final squad chosen, Ramsey set about winning the World Cup for England. The first group game was against Uruguay and despite an array of attacking talent, including Jimmy Greaves and Roger Hunt, England were held to a 0–0 draw. Ramsey's statement made three years earlier was looking in doubt now, but he remained calm and continued experimenting when his side faced Mexico in the next game. Ramsey was using the 4-3-3 system and for each of the group games used a winger; John Connelly against Uruguay, Terry Paine against Mexico and Ian Callaghan against France.

Ramsey dropped Alan Ball and John Connelly and brought in Terry Paine and Martin Peters, whose advanced style of play as a midfielder matched the qualities Ramsey looked for in his system. England beat Mexico 2–0. Ramsey replaced Terry Paine with Ian Callaghan for their final group match, against France. England won 2–0, securing qualification to the knockout rounds. Two difficult situations arose from the final group match, however. After making a vicious tackle and being cautioned, midfielder Nobby Stiles came under flack from senior FIFA officials, who called for Ramsey to drop him from the side. Ramsey was having none of it, and firmly told the FA to inform FIFA that either Stiles would remain in his team or Ramsey himself would resign. Another bad tackle was committed during that match, resulting in Tottenham striker (and one of England's most prolific goal-scorers) Jimmy Greaves being injured and sidelined for the next few matches. Despite having more experienced strikers in his squad, Ramsey selected young Geoff Hurst as Greaves's replacement, once again seeing potential in the young West Ham forward. The France match also marked Ramsey's final game with a winger. After it, he dropped Ian Callaghan from his side and brought back Alan Ball to strengthen the midfield.

For the knockout stages, England's first opponents were a notoriously rough Argentina side. Ramsey once again showed his tactical awareness, and, now he was no longer using wingers, he decided to switch from 4–3–3 to 4–4–2. With Ball and Peters operating on the flanks, the midfield now boasted Nobby Stiles and Bobby Charlton in the centre. After a violent quarter-final (where the Argentine captain Antonio Rattin refused to leave the field after being sent off), England scraped a 1–0 win thanks to Geoff Hurst latching onto a beautiful cross from Martin Peters and heading home a goal. Ramsey came under flack when he stopped his players swapping shirts with the Argentinians in protest at their dirty play and was then reported to have described Argentinian players as "animals". The remark probably helped to lose him his job after England failed to qualify for the 1974 tournament. The 1978 World Cup was to be played in Argentina where, because of his outburst, Ramsey was barred as a football official. The FA could have appealed but with Ramsey's methods failing, they probably felt that it was not worth it.

In the semi-final, England faced a fluent and skillful Portuguese side containing the tournament’s top goal-scorer Eusébio. However, England won a 2–1 victory in a memorable match which saw them concede their first goal of the competition from the penalty spot. Ramsey had found the perfect defensive formula that went unchanged throughout the entire tournament.

On 30 July 1966, Ramsey's promise was fulfilled as England became the World Champions by beating West Germany in a thrilling final. A lot of Ramsey's tactics and decisions proved their worth in this final. Ramsey came under pressure to restore the fit-again Jimmy Greaves to the side: but he stuck to his guns and kept faith with Greaves's replacement, Geoff Hurst, who was to thoroughly vindicate Ramsey's judgement by scoring a hat-trick in a 4–2 win (after extra time) at Wembley. Filling his side with a good balance of experience and youth proved vital when the gruelling final went to extra time. The youth in the team powered England through extra time. A particular example of this was Alan Ball who, at 21, was the youngest player in the England side. Even in extra time, he never showed signs of tiredness and never stopped running – famously setting up Hurst's controversial second goal, as well as having a few chances himself. Even as the match ended with Geoff Hurst scoring England’s fourth goal, Ball was still running down the pitch in case Hurst needed assistance. Rather than a cross from Hurst, Ball was greeted by a number of England fans running onto the pitch who, thinking that the game was already over, had already started celebrating England's victory.

Ramsey remained his usual self during the celebrations: not joining in, but rather opting to let his players soak up their achievement. With his boldly-made promise now fulfilled, Ramsey had proved that the 4–4–2 system could work and had assembled an England team that could compete on the highest level due to physical fitness and good tactics. He remains an example to this day and is the only England manager ever to have won the World Cup.

1966–1970

Despite famously losing to Scotland 3–2 at home in the qualifying competition, England still qualified for the 1968 European Championship, only to lose out in a 1–0 defeat by Yugoslavia in the semi-finals. England had to settle for third place after beating the Soviet Union.

1970–1974

The fortunes of Ramsey's England declined in the 1970s. They entered the 1970 World Cup as one of the favourites and many people thought their squad superior to that of 1966, but having qualified for the later stages after a memorable match against Brazil when Gordon Banks made his famous save from Pele's header, they lost to the Germans 3–2 in the quarter-finals, after having been in the lead 2–0 with only twenty minutes remaining. The blame was put partly on Sir Alf's cautious tactics and partly on the stand-in goalkeeper, Chelsea's Peter Bonetti.

The early 70s saw failure in the 1972 European Championship (again to the Germans), and in a heartbreaking world cup qualifier against Poland at Wembley in October 1973, England failed to qualify for the World Cup. Again while Ramsey's tactics were partly to blame (his inappropriate, mistimed substitutions, for example), England had also been spectacularly denied the win that would have secured their place by a mixture of poor finishing and incredibly lucky goalkeeping from Poland's Jan Tomaszewski who did practically everything wrong but got away with it. A few months later, Ramsey was sacked by the FA, many of whose officials had long held apparent grudges against him. Leo McKinstry has said "England's most successful manager would have had a legacy fit for a hero had it not been for the malevolence of the FA chief Harold Thompson". What McInstry - whose book showed a remarkable lack of knowledge of football and of the contemporary scene - failed to understand was that the FA were swayed in their decision by the fact that the next World Cup was to be played in Argentina and Ramsey was barred from entering that country as a football official because of his "animals" remark at the 1966 tournament. Some people thought it poetic justice - Ramsey had played Stiles in the full knowledge (perhaps the hope) that he was likely to cause the sort of scenes that led to Argentina's captain being sent off in 1966. As it was Argentina, although a man short, were still playing the ball out of defence and up to the England penalty area with a couple of deft passes and one could only wonder at what they might have done with a full side. "The Guardian" "Hero cast aside – Sir Alf Ramsey, 1970s"</ref> ^[1]

Later life and death

The later stages of his career were as a Board director and caretaker manager of Birmingham City and then as technical advisor to Panathinaikos between 1979 and 1980. He also appeared, in illustrated form, in the Roy of the Rovers comic, when he took over as caretaker manager of Melchester Rovers while Roy himself was in a coma. Sir Alf also had a sporadic column in the Daily Mirror in the late 1980s and early 1990s, his thoughts written down by Nigel Clarke.

Sir Alf Ramsey suffered a massive stroke on 9 June 1998, during the 1998 World Cup. By this stage he was suffering from Alzheimer's disease. He died less than a year later, in a nursing home, on 28 April 1999, at the age of 79 from a heart attack, while also suffering from prostate cancer.

The Engand goalkeeper Peter Shilton said that while he and other players admired Ramsey as a manager, it was only honest to say that remarks that he made about the team in later years were less than helpful. This was notable during the tenure of Bobby Robson who lived near Ramsey in Ipswich, which prompted the former manager to expect Robson to come to him for advice on how to run the team. Ramsey also incurred the displeasure of many people in football by not recalling Johnny Haynes to the England side when he had recovered from a road accident. Prior to that, Haynes had been the captain of England and had never played a bad game for his country, and it seemed very unlikely that Ramsey would have dropped him.

In the build-up to the 1966 World Cup the Engand side were unimpressive and players such as Gerry Hitchens, who had played in a similar team system in Italy, said that if Ramsey was committed to that system, Haynes was the ideal man to play in midfield. That, it seemed, was probably the worst thing that Hitchens could have said as regards reinstating Haynes. Instead, Ramsey stubbonly continued to play Bobby Charlton in midfield and while Haynes was probably the best passer of the ball in English football, Charlton's passing was never good and frequently negative as he could only achieve apparent accuracy by pushing the ball back to an oncoming team mate. He was, as he admitted himself, incapable of winning the ball in a tackle and Alan Ball once admitted that Ramsey gave him and Stiles the task of feeding Charlton. When Johnny Haynes died, his former team-mate and soccer pundit Jimmy Hill remarked that he had been surprised when Ramsey played Charlton in midfield.

In his autobiography, Sir Geoff Hurst revealed that his wife had disliked Ramsey, and gave instances of what appeared to be insecurity with him and other players. When the 1966 winners were about to disperse and go back to their clubs, Hurst - having been credited with the first hat-trick in a World Cup final - said to Ramsey, “See you in September,” - when the England team would reconvene for their next international - to which the manager replied, “Possibly, Geoffrey, possibly.” Gordon Banks, having established himself as one of the best goalkeepers in the world, took his leave with the same words and received a far more unfriendly reply. Ramsey shot him a hostile look and retorted, “Will you?”

Ramsey obviously did not like to be taken for granted but at a moment of triumph, could have let the remarks go. His treatment of Jack Charlton when the team were flying home from Mexico, having lost the cup, was even more ungrateful. Hurst said that when the seat next to Ramsey was vacant, Charlton sat down in it and said that he realised that he had had a good run with the England side but having reached the veteran stage, he expected it to end. As he put it, “I reckon I’ve had it,” to which Ramsey replied, “I entirely agree with you.”

A football fan writing to a national newspaper reported that he had encountered Ramsey one night, just after his Birmingham City appointment, at a jellied eel stall. Recognising him, he asked, "How's Birmingham City coming on then?" and Ramsey retored, "What's it got to do with you?" The commentator Kenneth Wolstenholme, often ridiculed for his commentaries by football fans, achieved a place in the history of the game by his remark just prior to Hurst's third goal in the 1966 Final, "People are on the pitch, they think it's all over," then, as Hurst's somewhat speculative shot went in, "It is now." A few years later, a newspaper article by a former player, suggested that without knowing it, Wolstenholme might have been talking about football as we knew it. It had become a fairly wide opinion that with other nations copying Ramsey's system, we had done the game no favours by winning the cup in the way that we did. Only Brazil continued to play with natural flair. The game did overcome the post-Ramsey era and with teams developing systems that he would never have recognised, excitement and fluency returned to football.

A final summing up on Ramsey is said to have been by Don Revie. It was, “His luck finally ran out.” Ramsey was lucky to have one the League Championship with Ipswich, because it had depended on a home game against Spurs, which the Londoners should have won. In later years Bill Nicholson told an interviewer that at a team talk prior to the Ipswich game it was suggested that the Spurs full backs should mark the two strikers Crawford and Phillips, who were Ramsey’s only class players. Unfortunately for Spurs, a counter suggestion was made and the idea forgotten. Crawford and Phillips won the game for Ipswich but had Spurs won, they would have taken the league on goal average, as it was then, probably more because had they dropped behind, Ipswich’s league challenge might well have floundered. As it was, Ipswich won the league, Spurs held the FA Cup and the two sides met in the Charity Shield at the start of the new season. Spurs then did use their full backs to mark the Ipswich strikers and they won easily. Other teams followed suit and Ipswich, the reigning Champions, were relegated. It was often suggested, wrongly, that Ramsey’s departure to manage the England team was responsible of their downfall. It would have been interesting to see how he would have coped with a team whose main strength had been nullified. Ramsey was also lucky with England. He persisted in a team formation that found the favour of few of his contemporaries. When the Argentina game nearly degenerated into a riot Rattin, the Argentina captain was wrongly sent off - he was merely trying to gain some idea of what the referee was saying and neither of them fully understood each other. Even down to ten men, Argentina had more of the play and might well have won with a full side. The deciding factors in the semi final and final was probably the goalkeepers. Banks was excellent but his Portuguese and West German counterparts both looked woefully uncertain under pressure and clearly failed to inspire confidence in the defenders in front of them. In the Final there was the incident of the “Russian linesman” - an insinuation that the official had told the referee that the shot for Hurst’s second goal had crossed the line because of anti-German prejudice - but the real point was that neither the linesman nor the referee were really in a position to see and the goal should have been disallowed. Letting it stand changed the course of the game with West Germany desperately pushing for an equaliser and being caught on the break by Hurst’s third goal, scored by his own admission by accident as he was simply trying to kick the ball away to waste time. Had England not won the Cup there would have been a Press inquest and it would probably have been admitted that Ramsey had been wrong to play Charlton in midfield instead of recalling Haynes. It was probably wrong to blame his substitutions for the defeat to West Germany in Mexico - Charlton was taken off but his contributions in a holding situation when England were ahead by two goals would have been negligible and in view of his inability to tackle he was likely to have been a liability - and criticism of the performance of the stand-in goalkeeper Bonetti was also ill-founded. West Germany simply lasted better and were much the superior side in the closing stages. The Poland fiasco in 1973 was unlucky but perhaps more a case of - as Revie had said - the luck running out.

Legacy

Sir Alf

Ramsey was made an inaugural inductee of the English Football Hall of Fame in 2002 in recognition of his impact on the English game as a manager.

Sir Alf Ramsey Way, formerly Portman's Walk, is a street in Ipswich that was named after Ramsey shortly after his death in honour of his achievements as Ipswich Town manager. In 2000, a statue of Ramsey was erected on the corner of the street named after him and Portman Road, at the North Stand/Cobbold Stand corner of the stadium. The statue was commissioned by the Ipswich Town Supporters' Club after an initial idea by local fan Seán Salter. Lady (Vickie) Ramsey continues to live (2009) in Suffolk.^[2]

Personality

Ramsey often came across as an "aloof" and "proud" figure who talked what was once described as "sergeant-major posh" despite coming from a working-class background (during Euro 96, much was made in the English media of the difference between his accent and the unabashed Cockney tones of Terry Venables, his successor who also came from Dagenham, and what this said about social changes in England). It was rumoured that he had Romany blood but he resented any reference to it. In spite of the airs that he gave himself, he allowed his players to address him as "Alf", which is unusual for managers even today. He had a particular dislike of the media and of anything that he saw as bad manners. He often trained his side hard, a practice which paid off when England were able to battle on despite the heat in their World Cup 1966 Final against West Germany. He seemed to have felt nothing but disgust for his successors. At Ipswich, after he left for the England job, he refused to give Jackie Milburn any advice in his managerial career. Milburn was sacked after nine months, following Ipswich's relegation from the top flight. Neither did Ramsey get on with Bobby Robson, who some say did a better job than Ramsey as manager of Ipswich. Not only did Robson guide Ipswich to the FA Cup, the UEFA Cup, and a high place in the League, he also got England to the semi-finals of the 1990 World Cup. Many thought that Ramsey's attitude to Robson was evidence of jealousy – even though Robson failed to match his achievements in winning the English championship with Ipswich and the World Cup with England. Members of Ramsey's family have suggested that he was liable to take a negative view of anyone who took over one of his jobs. Shortly before he died, however, Ramsey passed on his thanks to Sir Bobby through Bobby's wife after the Robsons paid for his bills in his nursing home. Sir Bobby later declared that Alf was the greatest British football manager ever.^[3]

Membership of Freemasonry

Ramsey was a Freemason from 1953 until 1981. He was initiated into Waltham Abbey Lodge, No. 2750, on 5 October 1953 at the age of 33, while still on the playing staff of Tottenham Hotspur. He was passed to the 2nd degree the following month and raised to the 3rd degree in October 1954. He remained a Freemason until 1981, when he resigned. Following his death in 1999, his widow donated various items of his masonic regalia, including his master mason's apron and his Grand Lodge certificate to his old lodge. They are currently (2010) displayed at the Masonic Hall in Chingford.^[4]

Quotes

• "We will win the World Cup" – Ramsey said after taking the England job in 1963.
• "Never change a winning team."
• "It seemed a pity so much Argentinian talent is wasted. Our best football will come against the right type of opposition – a team who come to play football, and not act as animals." – Ramsey's indignant opinion of Argentina after England beat them 1–0 in a bruising quarter final in the 1966 World Cup.
• "You've won it once. Now you'll have to go out there and win it again." – Ramsey's brief team talk prior to the extra-time period in the 1966 final.

Honours

As a player

Tottenham Hotspur

• Second Division Title winner: 1949–50
• First Division Title winner: 1950–51
• FA Community Shield winner: 1951

As a manager

Ipswich Town

• Third Division (South) Title winner: 1956–57
• Second Division Title winner: 1960–61
• First Division Title winner: 1961–62
• FA Charity Shield runner-up: 1962

England

• FIFA World Cup winner: 1966
• UEFA European Championships third place: 1968

1966 World Cup final

In the 1966 World Cup final only the 11 players on the pitch at the end of the 4–2 win over West Germany received medals. Following a Football Association led campaign to persuade FIFA to award medals to every non-playing squad and staff member, George Cohen received the medal on behalf of the former England manager's family from Gordon Brown at a ceremony at 10 Downing Street on 10 June 2009. ^[5]

Career statistics

^[6]

Managerial statistics

Team	Nat	From	To	Record
				G	W	D	L	Win %
Ipswich Town[7]		August 1955	April 1963	&0000000000000369000000369	&0000000000000176000000176	&000000000000007500000075	&0000000000000118000000118	&000000000000004770000047.7
England[8]		May 1963[9]	May 1974[9]	&0000000000000113000000113	&000000000000006900000069	&000000000000002700000027	&000000000000001700000017	&000000000000006110000061.1
Birmingham City		September 1977	March 1978	&000000000000002600000026	&000000000000001000000010	&00000000000000040000004	&000000000000001200000012	&000000000000003850000038.5

References

External links

• Alf Ramsey career stats at Soccerbase
• Sir Alf Ramsey - Daily Telegraph obituary
• Alf Ramsey management career stats at Soccerbase
• English Football Hall of Fame Profile
• Alf Ramsey at Find a Grave
• Ramsey to get medal at last?
• "A classic coach" – FIFA

Sporting positions
Preceded by Aymoré Moreira	FIFA World Cup winning managers 1966	Succeeded by Mário Zagallo

Links to related articles FIFA World Cup · Winning Manager 1930 Suppici · 1934 Pozzo · 1938 Pozzo · 1950 López Fontana · 1954 Herberger · 1958 Feola · 1962 Moreira · 1966 Ramsey · 1970 Zagallo · 1974 Schön · 1978 Menotti · 1982 Bearzot · 1986 Bilardo · 1990 Beckenbauer · 1994 Parreira · 1998 Jacquet · 2002 Scolari · 2006 Lippi · 2010 del Bosque England squad – 1950 FIFA World Cup GK Ditchburn • GK Williams • DF Aston • DF Eckersley • DF Ramsey • DF Scott • DF Taylor • DF Wright • MF Baily • MF Cockburn • MF Dickinson • MF Hughes • MF Nicholson • MF Watson • FW Bentley • FW Finney • FW Mannion • FW Matthews • FW Milburn • FW Mortensen • FW Mullen • Coach: Winterbottom Ipswich Town F.C. – Managers Committee (1878–1936) · O'Brien (1936–37) · Duncan (1937–55) · Ramsey (1955–63) · Milburn (1963–64) · Forsyth (1964) · McGarry (1964–68) · Lea (1968) · Robson (1969–82) · Ferguson (1982–87) · Duncan (1987–90) · Lyall (1990–94) · McGiven (1993–94) · Burley (1994–2002) · Mowbray (2002) · Royle (2002–06) · Magilton (2006–09) · Keane (2009–) England national football team – Managers Winterbottom (1946–1962) · Ramsey (1963–1974) · Mercer (caretaker) (1974) · Revie (1974–1977) · Greenwood (1977–1982) · Robson (1982–1990) · G. Taylor (1990–1993) · Venables (1993–1996) · Hoddle (1996–1999) · Keegan (1999–2000) · Wilkinson (caretaker) (2000) · P. Taylor (caretaker) (2000–2001) · Eriksson (2001–2006) · McClaren (2006–2007) · Capello (2008–) England squad – 1966 FIFA World Cup Winners (1st Title) 1 Banks • 2 Cohen • 3 Wilson • 4 Stiles • 5 J. Charlton • 6 Moore • 7 Ball • 8 Greaves • 9 B. Charlton • 10 Hurst • 11 Connelly • 12 Springett • 13 Bonetti • 14 Armfield • 15 Byrne • 16 Peters • 17 Flowers • 18 Hunter • 19 Paine • 20 Callaghan • 21 Hunt • 22 Eastham • Coach: Ramsey England squad – UEFA Euro 1968 Third Place 1 Banks • 2 Newton • 3 Wilson • 4 Mullery • 5 Labone • 6 Moore • 7 Ball • 8 Hunt • 9 B. Charlton • 10 Hurst • 11 Peters • 12 Stepney • 13 West • 14 Knowles • 15 J. Charlton • 16 Wright • 17 Stiles • 18 Summerbee • 19 Hunter • 20 Bell • 21 Greaves • 22 Thompson • Coach: Ramsey England squad – 1970 FIFA World Cup 1 Banks • 2 Newton • 3 Cooper • 4 Mullery • 5 Labone • 6 Moore • 7 Lee • 8 Ball • 9 B. Charlton • 10 Hurst • 11 Peters • 12 Bonetti • 13 Stepney • 14 Wright • 15 Stiles • 16 Hughes • 17 J. Charlton • 18 Hunter • 19 Bell • 20 Osgood • 21 Clarke • 22 Astle • Coach: Ramsey Birmingham City F.C. – Managers Jones (1892–1908) · Watson (1908–10) · McRoberts (1910–15) · Richards (1915–23) · Beer (1923–27) · Harvey (1927–28) · Knighton (1928–33) · Liddell (1933–39) · Camkin (1939–44) · Goodier (1944–45) · Storer (1945–49) · Brocklebank (1949–54) · Turner (1954–58) · Turner and Beasley (1958) · Beasley (1958–60) · Merrick (1960–64) · Mallett (1964–65) · Cullis (1965–70) · Goodwin (1970–75) · Bell (1975–77) · Ramsey (1977–78) · Smith (1978–82) · Saunders (1982–86) · Bond (1986–87) · Pendrey (1987–89) · Mackay (1989–91) · Macari (1991) · Cooper (1991–93) · Fry (1993–96) · Francis (1996–2001) · Bruce (2001–07) · McLeish (2007–)