Find him, you got a winner. Nat Lofthouse. He hit the ground before the ball went over the line, knocked out cold for one of the most famous goals of his career. Having played his first organised game as an emergency goalkeeper for his older brothers school team, conceding seven times and upsetting his Mum by playing in a new pair of shoes (he would later redeem himself by cleaning them as good as new), he quickly moved into attack his more natural position, due to his size, and established himself as the star centre forward for Castle Hill school. His last appearance for Bolton came on Nov. 17, 1960, a draw against Birmingham, after missing all of the 1959-60 season due to an ankle injury sustained in a pre-season tour of South Africa. Lofthouse was a constant at the head of the Wanderers goalscoring charts and his exploits, which included four goals in a win for an FA XI over the Army were finally rewarded by the international selectors in 1950 when, after scoring the only goal in the B teams win over the Netherlands at St James Park he went on the FA tour of Canada and North America. Although he failed to score in the Cup Winners Cup match there is no doubt that, with 13 goals, he was the star of the show. And so, Lofthouse had achieved his boyhood dream, to be a Bolton Wanderers player, at age 14. This win made for up defeat in the 1953 FA Cup Final, the same year he was selected as the Footballer of the Year by the FWA. That statue is a fitting tribute to a man who gave his all, for both club and country throughout his life. The stands were filled with British troops, who had remained stationed throughout Austria in the aftermath of the war. The crowd in the stands cheered Lofthouse on.if(typeof ez_ad_units!='undefined'){ez_ad_units.push([[300,250],'historyofsoccer_info-large-mobile-banner-2','ezslot_14',187,'0','0'])};__ez_fad_position('div-gpt-ad-historyofsoccer_info-large-mobile-banner-2-0'); As Lofthouse recalls, I heard the hounds running after me. Musil began running but stopped before he reached me. Its difficult to discuss Nat Lofthouse without resorting to clichs. . During the game, Nat was told to play in net, and being the kind of child that relished the opportunity to get on the field, didn't complain. Bolton as a team were struggling to reassert themselves with their pre-war team dismantled and Foweraker retiring, and that process was made considerably more difficult by the shadow both psychological and financial cast by the Burnden Disaster, a crush that killed 33, in 1946. The project, funded by the people of Bolton and fans of the club, is due to be completed on August 27, 2013, or what would have been Lofthouse's 88th birthday. We are a registered charity; 1968 rolled around and Nat Lofthouse was appointed caretaker manager of the club. These cookies do not store any personal information. In that game, Blackpool came back from 3-1 down to win 4-3, largely thanks to the heroics of Matthews, although he was no doubt helped by the fact that the Wanderers were effectively down to 10 men throughout much of the second half as Eric Bell was playing through a torn hamstring. Boltons top-flight status stabilised as Lofthouse began to find his feet, and in 1950/51 he enjoyed a true breakthrough season, netting 17 times and being granted his first opportunity to prove his mettle on the international stage. Please enter the following information to sign up. Lofthouse was chosen to represent Bolton schools against Bury. You just say Nat. Friendly internationals then held an importance that has now all but vanished, and Lofthouse's winning goal, in a 3-2 victory against a powerful team, was lauded to the . You would be very hard-pressed to find a sane person that had a negative thing to say about Nat Lofthouse. Entwistle, like Lofthouse, was an avid Wanderers fan and was named to the club's board in 1937. Just about. (Subs) Franz Pelikan, Stotz, Koller, Dekkerif(typeof ez_ad_units!='undefined'){ez_ad_units.push([[250,250],'historyofsoccer_info-large-leaderboard-2','ezslot_11',185,'0','0'])};__ez_fad_position('div-gpt-ad-historyofsoccer_info-large-leaderboard-2-0'); Gilbert Merrick, Alf Ramsey, William Eckersley, William Wright, Jack Froggatt, James Dickinson, Tom Finney, John Sewell, Nat Lofthouse, Edward Baily, William Elliott. The Bolton boys launched another attack, ending with a Ray Parry shot on goal. Richard Lofthouse brought up his family on a weekly wage of just 2 10s. RIP Nat Lofthouse. final", "England List of FA Charity/Community Shield Matches", 'The Cup Comes Home' - 1958 newsreel of Nat Lofthouse in Bolton, Lancashire, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Nat_Lofthouse&oldid=1150190569, *Club domestic league appearances and goals, This page was last edited on 16 April 2023, at 20:03. [3] Shoulder charging the goalkeeper was a legitimate tactic at the time, but Lofthouse later admitted that his challenge was a foul. Nat Lofthouse was a 'Bevin Boy', one of thousands of young men conscripted to work in Britain's mines by Ernest Bevin, the coalition government's Minister of Labour and National Service during. It was much like the story told about the war that had now ended they were battered and bruised but had come out on top. There were a number of football legends and people that the Bolton Wanderers faithful hold dear on hand to pay their respects to the legendary Nat Lofthouse. The team nearly went back up at the first time of asking but a third-place position would not be enough for them. [10] He married Alma Foster in 1947 and they remained married until her death in 1985. Bolton were 3-1 up with just 22 minutes to go but their opponents, inspired by Stanley Matthews, stormed back to win 4-3. The England camp was tense as dawn broke in Vienna, Austria, on the morning of 25 May 1952. The main target was Nat Lofthouse, who was struck in the neck, while Elliott and Sewell required treatment from England trainer Jimmy Trotter. Nat Lofthouse OBE, the Bolton Wanderers and England legend, has passed away aged 85, leaving countless memories. 102 Years of Burnden Park: Part Two - Lion Of Vienna Suite A forward for Bolton Wanderers for the entirety of his career, Nat Lofthouse was an English professional footballer. By 1951 it had begun to recover from the wars ravages. Lofthouse returned to Burnden Park full-time in 1968 spending a mostly nondescript three-year spell as manager. Of all those conscripted into service between the ages of 18 and 25, around 10% went to work in the mines. My body became firmer and harder. Nat was discovered by James Entwistle, the Mayor of Bolton at the time. Eulogies were offered by Bolton chairman Phil Gartside and Professional Footballers' Association chief executive Gordon Taylor, a boyhood Bolton fan and former Wanderers player. Following his first go at managing the club, Lofthouse took an administrative manager role at Burnden Park before being appointed as the club's chief scout. The wording of the epithet is indicative both of the era and the man himself. Who was known as the Lion of Vienna? - idswater.com Former Bolton Wanderers and England striker Nat Lofthouse, one of the greats of a golden post-war generation, died in his sleep at the age of 85, the club announced on Sunday. Writing in his 1954 autobiography Goals Galore, Lofthouse discussed his time in the mines: "The job proved to be the best I could possibly have had. All the while, he kept scoring for his country as well as for his club, finishing on an incredible 30 goals in 33 caps and taking the record as the national teams all-time top goalscorer jointly with Finney. A year to the day after his death, Bolton Wanderers chairman Phil Gartside announced plans for one to be built and for the statue to be situated outside the Reebok Stadium. Bolton's new number 9, Eoin Doyle, whilst playing for League Two side Swindon last season. Nat Lofthouse scored his last goal for the Three Lions on Oct. 22, 1958 in a 5-1 win over the USSR. Sir Tom Finney and Nat Lofthouse together at the National Football Museum Hall Of Fame awards in 2002. Back in the England line up for the World Cup, he scored three times including one in the 4-2 quarter final defeat at the hands of Uruguay. Ridding had been prominent in Nat Lofthouse's successful rise and had led the Trotters to the 1953 and 1958 FA Cup finals, famously winning the second one. We had to do something quickly and we had no identity at that time. In July 1961, Lofthouse accepted a boot cleaner and assistant trainer position at Burnden Park. For the game with Saskatoon the local team only had nine players so Lofthouse and Tim Ward of Derby County switched sides but couldnt prevent their team losing 19-1. A one-club man, he played over 400 games for Bolton Wanderers and earned 33 caps for England (as well as his famous nickname). Mr Lofthouse, known as the Lion of Vienna, died on 15 January aged 85. Lion of Vienna Suite - Bolton Wanderers By 1942, all males in the United Kingdom aged 18-51 (with a few exceptions) were eligible to be conscripted by the government into wartime service. By choosing I Accept, you consent to our use of cookies and other tracking technologies. Even after he was conscripted to work in the nightmarish Lancashire coal pits as part of the war effort (many miners volunteered for the Armed Forces in large part to escape the agonising, doom-laden drudgery of their vocation), he could still consistently put opposition defences to the sword with a combination of rugged, raw power, superb aerial ability and a remarkable fearlessness. If he fails again to accept changes from the clean breakaways against Italy, England will be doomed. Lofthouse was well aware of his uncertain status, saying later, I knew I played poorly in Florence [but] I wasnt prepared for the reception I received in the press.. To open the scoring, he swiveled on his right foot and hit a volley with his left foot. I learnt to take hard knocks without feeling them. Bolton won the game 20 with Lofthouse scoring both goals, the second of which was highly controversial and remains a talking point to this day. Telephone: 0161 605 8200. [5], On 7 April 1993, he appeared as a special guest on the TV guest show This Is Your Life, in which the on-screen guests included Tom Finney and Harry Gregg, while others including Bobby Charlton, Gary Lineker and Ian Rush appeared on screen to pay tribute to Lofthouse as they were unable to appear alongside Lofthouse due to other commitments. Nat joined Burnden Parks backroom staff several years ago, eventually becoming the clubs manager in August 1968. Even at that time, Bolton was an unfashionable club that hadn't exactly been lighting up the league for 10 years, and Nat felt this was slowing down his career. It was, perhaps, fitting that Finney played a key role in the famous goal. There was a light breeze and intermittent rain during the game. One false start for his school team aside he was drafted in as a last-minute replacement in goal and conceded seven he began exhibiting a prodigious knack for goalscoring early on. Thousands of England fans attended the game at the Praterstadion in Viennas Soviet Zone, as evidenced by the Path film of the game. As though fate declared it, Nat's debut for Bolton's first team also came against a Bury side, on March 22, 1941. There may have been no better example of this than in 1954 when Serie A side Fiorentina put in a lucrative offer for Lofthouse (one that would have allowed him to live very comfortably after retirement) but the club turned it down. Pushing the tubs made me fitter than I had ever been before. It was then more than five years until he made his league debut for the club, but he eventually played against Chelsea on 31 August 1946, when he scored twice in a 43 defeat. For 47 years after the program wound up, Bevin Boys were not recognized as full contributors to the war effort (despite being conscripted). His strength and power were again prominent when he won the single honour of his career. There are many stories about footballers of the day who started developing at a later age simply because they were not able to afford even basic footwear and it was a gift of shoes by a family member or friend that really allowed them to get going.
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why was nat lofthouse called the lion of vienna