Quick off the mark, an ability to shoot with either foot, with strength and agility in the air an innate ability to be in the right place at the right time. Promised a new bike if he scored a hat-trick in the match he actually went four better, getting all the goals in a 7-1 win, establishing himself as one to watch. Lofthouse was the recipient of various honours after retiring from the game. We are a registered charity; Find him, you got a winner. Read |Duncan Edwards: the original, greatest boy wonder. All in all, he tallied up 255 goals in 452 league games, and 30 goals in 51 cup matches. It happened a lot in our day as it were, of course. Andy is a UK-born, football fanatic who follows the trials and tribulations of Aston Villa and his local non-league side, Stafford Rangers. Read |Sir Stanley Matthews and the story of Englands humble wizard. He made the best out of every situation and was often the first to say that he was happy to be earning a living by playing the game that he loved so much. Bolton were 3-1 up with just 22 minutes to go but their opponents, inspired by Stanley Matthews, stormed back to win 4-3. He is third in the Premier League (old Division 1) list behind Jimmy Greaves (357) and Alan Shearer (283). Born and bred in Bolton, Lofthouse earned his. Never again will you say that England has lost the will to fight. Injured for the next match, in the quarter final game against Uruguay he equalized in the 16th minute, after receiving the ball in the 18-yard box.[which? He was a pivotal figure in one of the true golden ages of the beautiful game, ending his career as the leading goal scorer for both his club and his country, with a reputation as one of the game's true greats. In spite of his prolific scoring, it took England selectors a few seasons to notice the boy from Bolton, Lofthouse's first England cap came in November of 1950 at the late age of 25. Lofthouse once said of the Preston Plumber; He was that good he could cross the ball making sure the laces were facing away from my head.. 32 goals in 36 games for his club and four in five international matches seemed to cement his place as the countrys leading marksman. However, given his family's financial stance and the need to care for four boys, the young Lofthouse could not afford to pay for entry into Burnden Park to watch his beloved Whites. The wording of the epithet is indicative both of the era and the man himself. The England camp was tense as dawn broke in Vienna, Austria, on the morning of 25 May 1952. I wasn't cut out to be a manager.". Despite that flirtation with a move to Spurs (they came back in for him a second time in 1954 but were again rebuffed) and an audacious attempt by Fiorentina to take him to Italy, Lofthouse remained a one-club man. 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. if(typeof ez_ad_units!='undefined'){ez_ad_units.push([[336,280],'historyofsoccer_info-leader-2','ezslot_15',169,'0','0'])};__ez_fad_position('div-gpt-ad-historyofsoccer_info-leader-2-0');In 452 Football League appearances for Bolton, he scored 255 goals. He didnt need to be asked twice. A one-club man, he played over 400 games for Bolton Wanderers and earned 33 caps for England (as well as his famous nickname). His devotion to Alma was matched only by his love of Bolton, and true to form, that Saturday Nat got married in the morning then played football in the afternoon at Burnden Park. 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. During the Second World War, both countries were major allies of Nazi Germany. Quite possibly the best football magazine in the World, 2023 All Rights Reserved - Read The League Built by B[]X, RIDE TO HELL. Any hopes of the Three Lions traditional end-of-season tour being a relatively sedate one had been dashed in their opening game, a frustrating 1-1 draw in Florence in which Englands Italian opponents had resorted to the dark arts on more than one occasion. Club Chaplain Phil Mason added: "We are absolutely delighted with the work Sean has done; the image captures Nat perfectly - his strength both physical and mental and his great sense of purpose on and off the field. Accepting his award from a local councilman, he was unaware that the man in front of him sat on the board of Bolton Wanderers, until he asked if Lofthouse would like to play for them. To be awarded the label of Lion, once reserved for realm's greatest warriors, is to be christened with one of England's most enduring symbols. As always, football matches were symbolic.. It was originally scheduled to take place three days later on his birthday but the date was moved forward to coincide with Bolton's home fixture against Queens Park Rangers. A forceful player, he combined physical strength with a powerful shot in either foot or a strong header. Known as the 'Lion of Vienna,' Nat Lofthouse was the epitome of the down-to-earth football star of the 1940s and 1950s. 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. 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. The Lion of Vienna sleeps. His signing may well have been precipitated by Boltons stately long-time manager, Charles Foweraker, anticipating losing many of his players to the war effort. He holds this record to this day. 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. His most memorable performance,. Nat Lofthouse. Nat Lofthouse began playing football as a very young boy. After that, Musil crashed into me, and we both fell to the ground. Lofthouse is rightly remembered as the archetypal one-club man, but to call him that is to do him a disservice. As a result, Nat Lofthouse became known as the Lion of Vienna by the Daily Express newspaper. Before becoming Bolton's chief scout, he became an administrative manager at Burnden. The match in question was a 3-2 win over Wolverhampton Wanderers, and Nat scored 2 of Bolton's goals. Lion of Vienna Suite Nat Lofthouse East Stand, sponsored by Eventura Providing a match day experience that is perfect for family, friends and fellow Bolton Wanderers fans, the Lion of Vienna Suite offers a relaxed atmosphere with its own pay bar and LED TV screens. As much as he was a one-club man, Bolton Wanderers will forever remain a one-man club. All Rights Reserved. In the second half, the Wanderers looked the better team, as the thrown-together nature of Manchester United began to show. His career and life, like so many of the players he shared the pitch with, seems so improbable when compared to modern stars both in terms of achievements and circumstances that its hard to separate the man from the legend. On 24 January 2011 in Bolton Wanderers first home game since his death against Chelsea, a pre-match period of a minute's silence, thunderous applause, black-and-white footage of Lofthouse in action and the laying of floral tributes by Kevin Davies and John Terry took place before the start of the match. They overcame Southport (Lofthouse got a hat-trick), Accrington Stanley (where he scored twice), Blackpool (where he hit five over the two legs), Newcastle (three more for Lofthouse) and Wolves, where he shockingly failed to score, before beating Manchester United 3-2 on aggregate in the final. Times during and just after the war were hard for Bolton, especially after the "golden age", and Bevin Boys were commonly seen as cowards or unpatriotic men seeking to avoid the dangers of active combat. 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. by ReadTheLeague | May 24, 2021 | The Big Feature. The poor performance of England against Italy almost certainly played a role in the games outcome against Austria. He said later; I never saw the ball enter the Austrian net for the best goal of my life. The team was struggling, the club was struggling. He won that. On foreign soil, the English brave and plucky had triumphed over technologically superior opponents against all odds. It was, perhaps, fitting that Finney played a key role in the famous goal. He did win the medal. This was touched on to Lofthouse on the halfway line by Finney. All Id ever wanted to do.. Born in Bolton, Lancashire, in 1925, Lofthouse joined the town's main club on 4 September 1939 and made his debut in a wartime 51 win against Bury on 22 March 1941 when he scored two goals. RIP Nat Lofthouse. Phillips, a 78-year-old Minden resident, was Lofthouse's cousin (their mothers Lily and Jane were sisters) and said the man dubbed the "Lion of Vienna" would be shocked at all the fuss. England travelled to to meet an Austria side that at the time were considered among the best in Europe and who had the better of the 2-2 draw at Wembley six months before. As it transpired, Nats first day reporting to Burnden Park in 1939 was also Britains first full day at war with Germany. If anything, this inspired a more violent second half, with both sides desperate for a meaningful win. Nat Lofthouse was born on 27 August, 1925 in Bolton, Lancashire, England, UK, is an Actor. The United lost emotion on the whole game at the end. He continued playing for Bolton throughout the war and on Saturdays would wake at 3:30 a.m. go to his mining job at 4:30 a.m and work for eight hours before going on to play for his club. Six years later, he was promoted to the head coach position, and the following year, he took to managing the club. When he awoke several moments later, groggy and with a good deal more pain than even he was used to, he was informed that he had just scored one of the defining goals of his career. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. In 1953, it all came together. But he continued banging in goals with either foot or his head for his club and the selectors eventually decided they couldnt ignore him. Not once after that did Nat protest or fight Bolton's decision. 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. England conceded 24 free kicks, while Austria conceded 19. The new forward scored twice but Lawton matched his feat and Chelsea scraped to a 4-3 win. please support us. An England international, Nat Lofthouse played his entire club career for his hometown club, Bolton Wanderers, scoring 255 goals in 452 league appearances. That is, a sane person that wasn't scared of facing the Lion of Vienna on the pitch. An estimated crowd of 85,000 turned up at Burnden Park with fans climbing in after the gates had been shut. [10] He married Alma Foster in 1947 and they remained married until her death in 1985. 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. In 1943, Nat Lofthouse was called upon to serve as a Bevin Boy at the Mosley Common coal mine. Even earning the maximum wage, financial security for his family wasnt secured beyond his playing days, and he tried his hand at both working as a paint salesman and running a pub. In 1968, he spent a brief time as caretaker manager of the club and took over the job full-time on 18 December. Of all those conscripted into service between the ages of 18 and 25, around 10% went to work in the mines. Wanderers gave the then 15-year-old his debut on 14 March 1941 in a wartime match with Bury again providing the opposition. After that 1958 final, Bolton had started slipping and were ultimately relegated to the old Second Division in 1964. There was nowhere left to.
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