| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | William Henry Shorthouse | ||
| Date of birth | 27 May 1922 | ||
| Place of birth | Bilston, England | ||
| Date of death | 6 September 2008 (aged 86) | ||
| Place of death | Wolverhampton, England | ||
| Height | 1.84 m (6 ft 0 in) | ||
| Playing position | Defender | ||
| Youth career | |||
| 1945–1947 | Wolverhampton Wanderers | ||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps† | (Gls)† |
| 1947–1956 | Wolverhampton Wanderers | 344 | (1) |
| Teams managed | |||
| 1970 | Birmingham City (joint caretaker) | ||
| * Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only. † Appearances (Goals). |
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William "Bill" Shorthouse (27 May 1922 – 6 September 2008) was an English professional football player and coach, who spent his playing career with Wolverhampton Wanderers.
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Born in Bilston, Staffordshire, Shorthouse attended St Martin's School in nearby Bradley before serving in the Second World War, where he was wounded in the arm during the Normandy Landings.[1] He returned and recovered to sign for Wolves as an apprentice in 1945; his league debut came on 23 August 1947 in a 3–4 defeat at Manchester City.
He played as a defender, first at centre-half until replaced by Billy Wright, then at full-back. He was part of the club's 1949 FA Cup-winning team and was a near ever-present as the club won their first league championship in the 1953–54 season.
The defender remained a first choice player at Molineux until retiring in late 1956. In total, he played 376 senior games for the club – putting him among the club's top 20 appearance makers – before launching a career in coaching.
Shorthouse went on to coach at Birmingham City,[2] and he and chief scout Don Dorman acted as caretaker managers at the end of the 1969–70 season while the club sought a replacement after Stan Cullis, Shorthouse's former manager at Wolves, retired.[3] He also briefly coached the England Youth Team during the following season and later worked as a youth team coach at Aston Villa, guiding them to victory in the 1980 FA Youth Cup.
Known as 'The Baron' to his team-mates, he died in a Wolverhampton nursing home on 6 September 2008 at the age of 86. He had been suffering from dementia.[4]