Nobby Stiles - A Tribute.

English football has lost another of its best loved heroes with the sad news that Nobby Stiles passed away on 30^th October. A World Cup Winner in 1966 Stiles was described by Alf Ramsey as one of 5 World Class players in that team.

 

Stiles spent the bulk of his career at Manchester United but will forever be remembered for his little dance after becoming a World Champion with England. Nobby’s victory dance while clutching the Jules Rimet is not just recalled by those lucky enough to witness our nations’ greatest sporting achievement but by those of us who missed that particular chapter and revel in the history of our sport.

Stiles was aware of his place in football folklore when he recalled that kids of his Grandchildren’s age recognised him as “that fella who danced around Wembley”, no doubt helped by Baddiel, Skinner and The Lightning Seeds “3 Lions” video. "In a way, you end up belonging to everyone" he stated. Which is why his passing will be mourned by all generations.

A likeable man who was respected for his football skills as much as his self-depreciating humour, Stiles was not just a successful player, he won promotion as a manager with a limited budget, used his experience as a coach, most famously under Alex Ferguson with the “class of 92” generation and became a popular after dinner speaker, where he recalled with fondness his first football coach, a nun at his primary school.

A Manchester United supporter Nobby joined the club he loved as an apprentice in 1959, his Dad was so pleased when they got the offer letter that he took him straight down to the club to sign, in his company hearse.

Making his debut a year later Matt Busby was concerned with the amount of mistimed tackles that Nobby was making so sent him to the Opticians. Once he’d got his eyesight sorted, though it was never perfect, the transformation was immediate. Busby knew he had a talented player who would win the ball and get United’s attackers going. The script was written for Nobby’s part in United’s success of the 1960’s. Stiles would win the ball back off the opposition and feed Charlton, Best & Law. Nobby became the midfield engine for United and the famous trio worked their magic. Despite an improvement after that trip to the opticians Nobby’s eyesight was never very good and he used to tell Bobby Charlton “You’ve gotta stay within a 15 yard range of me ‘cos that’s as far as I can see”.

Alf Ramsey spotted his talent too and knew he could use him as he built a side for the 1966 World Cup. Ramsey gave Stiles his England debut in the same match as Jack Charlton v Scotland in 1965. With Alan Ball alongside him they soon became the engine of the England side under Ramsey.

Nobby was renowned for his tackling, not in the hard man style of the 60’s & 70’s but he went in ferociously and gave 100%, something he passed on to his players as a manager and coach later in his career. He was tenacious, if the ball needed winning Nobby was at his opponent, looking for the angle to get his foot in and win the ball for his team. His skill in keeping on his feet, dancing around with the ball to evade tackles to enable the pass to Bobby (most often) and set up attacks for United and England saw him with a League Championship medal and become a European and World Champion in the mid to late 60’s. Of all the joyous scenes at Wembley that July day in 1966 Nobby Stiles with his gap toothed smile and little jig is one of the most endearing, a normal guy, not a flash superstar but you or me winning a World Cup medal.

Ramsey knew the value of having Stiles in his team to the extent that he threatened to resign mid tournament when the FA suggested that he be dropped after a particularly bad tackle on the French player Jacky Simon. Ramsey insisted that he alone picked the team. It was an incident that Stiles was unaware of until after Ramsey died.

Jack Charlton recalled an incident with Nobby in his autobiography.  England played Poland in a pre-tournament friendly when they had to defend a free kick on the edge of the penalty area. Bobby Charlton had a thunderous shot but he hated being in a defensive wall and very often squirmed, opening up a gap. Nobby was aware of this and has he was lining up the wall he leant over to pull Bobby Charlton tight to edge, the free kick was taken and the ball went through the gap where Nobby should have been and hit the post. Jack Charlton shouted “you silly prat, why didn’t you watch what’s going on”. Nobby stared hard across the penalty area at Jack and started to walk towards him, socks round his ankles, hair dangling over his face, no teeth at the front and he snarled at Jack who thought to himself “you’ve made a mistake here Jack”. When Nobby was about 5 yards away Jack’s bottle went and he turned and ran off. He admitted that he always wondered why people were afraid of Nobby, but not after that.

In the ‘66 World Cup Final Nobby whacked the ball the length of the field to start the move for the 3^rd goal. When congratulated afterwards at knocking the ball in to the corner for Alan Ball and comment being made that they didn’t think he could see that far, he said “to tell you the truth…I never saw him (Alan Ball), I was just playing for time”

Nobby joined Middlesbrough in 1971 where he spent 2 years before his former England colleague Jack Charlton became boss. There was bad news for Jack though as Nobby’s wife was home sick and wanted to move back to Manchester. Despite Jack’s best efforts he was adamant he needed to move back to Lancashire so Jack set him up at Preston North End where his brother, Bobby, had become manager.

His last managerial appointment was an unsuccessful 1985/86 season at West Brom. His description of his managerial career is "The time I had in management was all part of learning and all part of life. In my case it made me realise I was no good at it."

 It was another 4 years before he was active in football and it was at his beloved Manchester United. So many of our World Cup winners have never been utilised after their playing careers ended. United had the foresight to use Nobby’s experience and invited him back as youth team coach in 1989, nurturing the likes of Ryan Giggs, Gary Neville, David Beckham and Nicky Butt - a player who reminded Stiles much of himself - from the academy to the first team. Nobby was revered amongst the youth team players, here was a footballing legend who had done it all and was passing his knowledge on to the young lads at United.

 After leaving Manchester United in 1993 Nobby became a well respected after dinner speaker, regaling audiences of dressing room tales. Not all former pro’s can do this successfully some just turn up, don’t entertain and take the money but Nobby was usually invited back to clubs which shows how highly he was thought of in the footballing fraternity.

 Sadly, like so many other former footballers, Nobby Stiles suffered in later years with vascular dementia, almost certainly linked to heading a football. With each player that we hear about with this terrible disease it is brought home how the powers that be in our sport have not done enough to research into the impact of heading the ball on players.

 Rest in Peace, Nobby Stiles, one of England's finest.