Alf Ramsey

Sir Alf Ramsey

Ramsey as England manager, in 1969
Personal information
Full name	Alfred Ernest Ramsey
Date of birth	(1920-01-22)22 January 1920
Place of birth	Dagenham, Essex, England
Date of death	28 April 1999(1999-04-28) (aged 79)
Place of death	Ipswich, Suffolk, England
Height	5 ft 8 in (1.73 m)
Position(s)	Right-back
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
1943–1949	Southampton	90	(8)
1949–1955	Tottenham Hotspur	226	(24)
Total		316	(32)
International career
1948	England B	1	(0)
1948–1953	England	32	(3)
Managerial career
1955–1963	Ipswich Town
1963–1974	England
1977–1978	Birmingham City
1979–1980	Panathinaikos (Technical director)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Sir Alfred Ernest "Alf" Ramsey (22 January 1920 – 28 April 1999) was an English footballer and manager who, as manager of the England national football team from 1963 to 1974, guided England to victory in the 1966 FIFA World Cup. Knighted in 1967 in recognition of England's World Cup win, Ramsey also managed England to third place in the 1968 European Championship and the quarter-finals of the 1970 World Cup and the 1972 European Championship respectively. As a player, Ramsey was a defender and a member of England's 1950 World Cup squad. He is, as of 2015, the only person to have been inducted into the English Football Hall of Fame twice, both as manager and player.

Ramsey was born and raised in Dagenham, which was then a quiet Essex village. He showed sporting promise from an early age and, after serving in the British Army during the Second World War, embarked on a football career, primarily as a right-back for Southampton and Tottenham Hotspur. He was generally considered a rather slow, but accomplished player with a tremendous grasp of the tactical side of the game; nicknamed "The General", he was part of the Tottenham side that won the English League championship in the 1950–51 season. He played for England 32 times between 1948 and 1953, captaining the side three times and scoring three goals, all from penalty kicks.

Ramsey retired from playing in 1955 to become the manager of Ipswich Town, then in the third tier of English football. Ipswich rose through the divisions over the next six years, winning the Third Division (South) in 1956–57 and the Second Division in 1960–61. In the 1961–62 season, Ipswich's first campaign in the top division, Ramsey's team defied expectations to become champions of England at the first attempt. Ramsey took charge of the England team a year later. In a distinct break with common practice of the day, he used a narrow formation that led to his England side being dubbed "The Wingless Wonders". England's World Cup victory at Wembley in 1966 made Ramsey a national hero, though he had his critics, both at the time and since. He lost the England job acrimoniously, following the team's failure to qualify for the 1974 World Cup.

After briefly managing Birmingham City during the 1977–78 season, then acting in an advisory role at the Greek club Panathinaikos in 1979–80, Ramsey retired to Ipswich, where he led a somewhat reclusive life over the next two decades. He died in Ipswich in 1999, aged 79. Soon after his death, a statue of Ramsey was built outside Ipswich's home ground at Portman Road, and a neighbouring street was named after him. A stand at Portman Road was named after Ramsey in 2012. A second statue of Ramsey was dedicated at the reconstructed Wembley Stadium in 2009, in the players' tunnel. Ramsey was an inaugural inductee into the English Football Hall of Fame in 2002, in recognition of his achievements as a manager; he was admitted again, as a player, in 2010. He remains widely regarded as one of British football's all-time great managers.

Early life

The village green in Dagenham, Ramsey's birthplace and childhood home, in 2007

Alfred Ernest Ramsey was born on 22 January 1920 at 6 Parrish Cottages, Halbutt Street in Dagenham, which was then an agrarian village in Essex, about 10 miles (16 km) east of central London. He was the third of five children, four boys and a girl, born to Herbert Ramsey, a manual labourer who worked a smallholding, kept pigs and drove a horse-drawn dustcart, and his wife Florence (née Bixby). Parrish Cottages lacked hot running water and electricity, and had only an outside toilet. This was typical of the Dagenham of Ramsey's infancy, but the street gradually became something of an anachronism as he grew up. From 1921 onwards, London County Council transformed the area into the Becontree estate, a vast urban community that by 1934 was home to 120,000 people and the Ford Dagenham automobile factory. Parrish Cottages remained largely untouched: electricity was not installed until the 1950s, and even then only with the reluctant approval of Ramsey's mother, who, according to a neighbour, was frightened of it. In the recollection of a childhood contemporary, Phil Cairns, the Ramsey house was "little more than a wooden hut".

The young Alf Ramsey was recalled by his friend Fred Tibble as "a very quiet boy who really loved sport". In his 1952 autobiography Talking Football, Ramsey would describe "liv[ing] in the open air from the moment I could toddle", spending hours each day in the meadow behind the family cottage, playing ball games with his brothers. He learned skills such as ball control, kicking and heading with a tennis ball. From the age of five, Ramsey attended Becontree Heath School, which had a roll of about 200 pupils aged from four to 14. He and his brothers had to walk two hours from their house to get there, and passed a ball between each other on the way to break the monotony. Ramsey was not especially popular socially, nor particularly diligent as a student, but he excelled in sports. In addition to football, he played cricket to a high standard, represented the school in the high jump, the long jump, the 100-yard and 200-yard dash, and boxed. Despite his diminutive stature, Ramsey enjoyed boxing until an incident when he was 10 years old, when a much larger opponent—"as wide as I was tall" in Ramsey's recollection—gave him a severe beating in a school tournament. Ramsey carried a noticeable scar above his mouth, a memento of this fight, for the rest of his life.

"He was very withdrawn, almost surly," Cairns recalled, "but he became animated on the football field". Ramsey was selected to play for Becontree Heath School when he was only seven years old, playing at inside-left alongside boys as old as fourteen; his nine-year-old brother Len was at inside-right. Alf's selection for the school occasioned the purchase of his first pair of football boots. Two years later, when Ramsey was nine, he became captain of the school team. By this point he had switched to playing at centre-half—the key position of the "WM" formation then favoured in British football, between the full-backs and the forwards. His main strength was generally perceived to be his extremely accurate passing; his chief shortcoming was a lack of pace, for which Ramsey compensated by learning to read the game and position himself well. Ramsey played for teams representing the schools of Dagenham and Essex County respectively, and trialled unsuccessfully for the London schools team while at Becontree.

On leaving school in 1934, the 14-year-old Ramsey tried to get a job at the Ford plant, then told his family he intended to become a greengrocer. To that end he became an apprentice at a local branch of the Co-op, delivering groceries on a bicycle. The manual work helped to bulk up Ramsey's physique. Around this time he and his brother Albert went to their first professional match, travelling to Upton Park to see their favourite team, West Ham United, play against Arsenal. This was the only senior match Alf would attend before becoming a footballer.

Playing career

Southampton

Bill Nicholson in 1961. Ramsey and Nicholson made an effective partnership when playing together at Tottenham Hotspur. Both went on to manage top flight clubs.

Ramsey was spotted by scouts from Portsmouth in 1937–38, while he was playing amateur football for Five Elms F.C. The club offered him a contract as an amateur and although he asked for time in order for his parents to consider the offer, he signed the forms. Much to his disappointment, the club did not contact him again, so he spent the next two years working at the Co-op while playing cricket in the summer and football in the winter.

Having played successfully for his British Army regiment, the Duke of Cornwall's Light Infantry, where he rose to be a company quartermaster sergeant, Ramsey played for Portsmouth in the London War League in 1942 before moving to Southampton in 1943. He turned professional in 1944 and made his Football League debut on 26 October 1946, in a Second Divison match for Southampton against Plymouth Argyle at The Dell. Southampton won the home match 5–1—their biggest win of the 1946–47 season. Ramsey went on to make 90 league appearances for Southampton, scoring eight goals. He also made six FA Cup appearances without scoring. Ted Bates, one of Ramsey's Southampton team-mates, described him as "lacking both height and speed", but credited him with a "razor-sharp brain": "He would never get into a situation that exposed him".

Ramsey made his final competitive appearance for Southampton on 8 January 1949, in a 2–1 away defeat to Sheffield Wednesday. In an friendly match away at Plymouth Argyle a week later, he slipped as he went into a tackle and injured his knee. The Southampton manager Bill Dodgin brought Bill Ellerington into the side to replace Ramsey while he recovered, and Ellerington performed strongly as Southampton won eight and drew two of the next ten matches. Dodgin told Ramsey that given Ellerington's good form it might be difficult for him to regain his place in the team. Considering this poor man-management by Dodgin, Ramsey asked Southampton to place him on the transfer list on 7 March 1949. Despite interest from Sheffield Wednesday, on 16 May 1949 Ramsey moved to Tottenham Hotspur in a part-exchange deal, with Southampton receiving the Wales international winger Ernie Jones and £21,000 from Tottenham.

Tottenham Hotspur

Ramsey soon became an essential part of the Tottenham team making the right-back position his own and building a partnership with wing half Bill Nicholson. He was not, however, popular with Tottenham supporters due to his reluctance to pass the ball. Ramsey believed that if you deprived the opposition of the ball, you were "always on the attack". He was very successful with Tottenham, playing as a right-back in more than 250 cup and league games. 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 preferred to play the ball out of defence rather than simply "get the ball upfield as quickly as possible". His influence on the club earned him the nickname "The General". He was also a specialist penalty taker due to his coolness and ability to anticipate the goalkeeper.

Ramsey's error in the last minutes of the semi-final of the 1952–53 FA Cup saw him vilified by the press, fans and at least one Tottenham director alike; it was a mistake which he described as "an awful moment in my career". As was his usual style, he had attempted to play the ball out of defence from a free-kick rather than clearing it, allowing Blackpool's Jackie Mudie to score the winner, which sent Blackpool to Wembley for the "Matthews Final" and Tottenham out of the competition. Nevertheless, following the departure of Ron Burgess, Ramsey was appointed club captain.

International career

Ramsey played for England B on 19 May 1948 in a 5–1 win against Switzerland B at Stadio Comunale Bellinzona, Bellinzona, Switzerland. In his match report for The Times, Geoffrey Green highlighted Ramsey as bearing "the clear stamp of an England player for future international matches". He made his full debut for England in December 1948, against Switzerland in a 6–0 win for England at Highbury. A member of the England squad for the 1950 World Cup in Brazil, he played in England's surprise 1–0 defeat to the United States at the Estádio Independência in Belo Horizonte. Ramsey captained his country three times, all in games where the regular captain Billy Wright was unavailable through injury. After 29 consecutive appearances for England, Ramsey was left out of the squad for a match against Wales in October 1953. He was reinstated for the following match, against a Rest of Europe XI in October 1953, in which he scored his international second goal, securing a 4–4 draw; he was subsequently dropped once again. His last international match was England's 6–3 defeat by Hungary on 25 November 1953, in which he scored a penalty. All three of Ramsey's England goals were from the penalty spot.

Managerial career

Ipswich Town

Ramsey took up the post of manager of Ipswich Town, an "obscure team wallowing in the Third Division South", in August 1955, despite Tottenham's hopes that he might stay on as a player. In his first season at the club, Ramsey guided Ipswich to third place in the league, with his side scoring 106 goals in the 46 league fixtures. Ramsey's second season in charge led to the division title, again scoring in excess of 100 goals. It was Ipswich's second title at that level and saw them promoted to the Second Division. The Suffolk-based side established themselves at the Second Division level for the following three seasons with mid-table finishes. The fourth season brought further success to Portman Road as Ramsey guided Ipswich 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.

It was Bill Nicholson and his Spurs team who was the first to crack the Ramsey code, when he changed formation to counter Ipswich in the 1962 FA Charity Shield curtain raiser to the 1963 season, a game which Tottenham won 5–1.

Ramsey guided his team of "wingless wonders" into the 1962–63 European Cup. In the first round, their first European games, they beat Maltese club, Floriana, 14–1 on aggregate. In the second round they lost to the eventual winners A.C. Milan on aggregate.

He left Ipswich Town at the end of April 1963. after eight seasons having guided them from the Third Division South to the very top of English football. After Ramsey's departure, Ipswich's performances declined and, two years after winning the league title, they dropped back into the Second Division.

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: "we will win the World Cup". This was a bold statement to make, as England's performance on the international stage had been poor up to that point, but managers will often make such predictions—none will say that their teams will stand no chance. 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 United States, in which Ramsey had played at right-back. 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. 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.

Alf Ramsey earned the respect of his players. He strongly supported Nobby Stiles when the FA leaned on Ramsey to drop Stiles from the 1966 World Cup quarter-final following a tackle on Frenchman Jacky Simon in the previous game. After the final, at the banquet, with the players in one room and their wives forced to sit in an adjoining room, he excused his players early from the banquet to allow the players to join their wives after nearly four weeks apart.

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 travelled 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 win in Spain, who were the reigning European Champions, was rare for an English team and was evidence that Ramsey's techniques were working.

1964 European Championship

Ramsey's first competitive match as England coach was a preliminary qualification round for the 1964 European Nations' Cup (England, along with many other national teams, had declined to participate in the inaugural 1960 competition). They had been drawn against France for a two-legged knockout fixture to progress to the last sixteen qualifiers. The home leg, played under Winterbottom, had been drawn 1–1 at Hillsborough. Ramsey insisted that he pick the team himself and included seven players who would go on to win the World Cup in 1966. He took charge for the away leg in Paris at the Parc des Princes, which they lost 5–2. 3–0 down at half-time, Bobby Tambling and Bobby Smith scored for England before France scored two more. England were therefore eliminated from the competition.

1966 World Cup

As hosts, England automatically qualified for the 1966 World Cup.

The first group game, on 11 July 1966, was against Uruguay and despite attacking talent, including Jimmy Greaves and Roger Hunt, playing against a disciplined Uruguayan defence, England were held to a 0–0 draw. This was the first England game since 1945 where they had failed to score. 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.

Jimmy Greaves (left) and Bobby Charlton in December 1964. It was an injury to Greaves that brought Geoff Hurst into the England team.

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 fire 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.

Argentina's Antonio Rattín (striped shirt, left) is sent off during the 1966 World Cup quarter-final against Ramsey's England

For the knockout stages, England's first opponents were Argentina. Ramsey 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 Rattín refused to leave the field after being sent off), England won 1–0 thanks to Geoff Hurst latching onto a cross from Martin Peters and heading home a goal. Ramsey came under fire when he stopped his players swapping shirts with the Argentinians in protest at their play and was then reported to have described Argentinian players as "animals"; "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." Jimmy Greaves in his 2009 autobiography, "Greavsie", claims that Ramsey had said "I've been a little disappointed that the behaviour of some players in this competition reminded me of animals". The belieft that he had referred directly to the Argentinians as animals damaged Ramsey's reputation and made successive England teams unpopular abroad, particularly in South America.

In the semi-final, England faced a fluent and skilful 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 his philosophy was "never change a winning team". He stuck to his guns and kept faith with Greaves's replacement, Geoff Hurst, who vindicated 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 encouraged his side at the end of 90 minutes, famously saying, "You've won it once. Now you'll have to go out there and win it again."

Queen Elizabeth II presents the World Cup to the captain of Ramsey's England team, Bobby Moore

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.

Bobby Charlton praised Ramsey and his approach to managing the England team to World Cup victory: "He was professional to his fingertips and as popular with the players as any manager I've ever seen. He was a winner and without Alf Ramsey England would not have won the World Cup in 1966. He gave us our proudest moment." Nobby Stiles agreed: "You did it, Alf, we'd have been nothing without you."

1968 European Championship

In 1967, a year after England won the World Cup under his management, Ramsey received a knighthood—the first given to a football manager or player.

England reached the last eight of the 1968 European Championships by amassing the best aggregate record of the four Home Nations over the 1966–67 and 1967–68 seasons (despite a loss to Scotland 3–2 at home in 1967). They subsequently defeated Spain home and away to become one of four teams to progress to the finals in Italy. There England suffered a 1–0 defeat by Yugoslavia in a bad tempered semi-final: Alan Mullery was dismissed for kicking an opponent in the groin. Mullery subsequently reported that Ramsey had said to him "I'm glad somebody retaliated against those bastards" and paid Mullery's £50 fine levied by the Football Association.

England had to settle for third place after beating the Soviet Union. This remains England's best ever position in a major international tournament apart from the 1966 World Cup.

1970 World Cup

Ramsey blamed the goalkeeper Peter Bonetti (centre, holding ball) for England's defeat to West Germany in 1970.

England qualified automatically as defending champions for the 1970 World Cup, held in Mexico. They entered the tournament as one of the favourites and many people thought their squad superior to that of 1966. Ramsey's preparations for the tournament had been disrupted by the arrest of Bobby Moore in the Bogotá Bracelet incident with the England squad being labelled "thieves and drunks" by the Mexican press.

In the first round, two 1–0 victories over Romania and Czechoslovakia enabled England to progress, despite a loss by the same scoreline to ultimate champions Brazil (a match which also featured a famous save by Gordon Banks from Pelé's header). In the quarter-final, however, they lost to West Germany 3–2, after having been in the lead 2–0 with only twenty minutes remaining. At 2–0 Ramsey had substituted Bobby Charlton and Martin Peters, supposedly to rest them for the semi-final, is what was considered a tactical blunder. The blame for the defeat was partly placed on Ramsey's's cautious tactics and substitutions in searing Mexican heat and partly on the stand-in goalkeeper, Chelsea's Peter Bonetti. At 2–0 up Bonetti who was only playing as regular 'keeper Gordon Bank had been taken ill, had let an innocuous shot by Franz Beckenbauer slip under his body and was then caught out of position by a looping shot by Uwe Seeler. Gerd Müller scored a third in the 108th minute to knock England out. Ramsey blamed Bonetti and his mistakes but his own tactics were not beyond reproach.

1972 European Championship

England reached the last eight of the 1972 European championship by topping a qualification group also containing Switzerland, Greece and Malta. They dropped only one point in the qualification, in a 1–1 home draw with Switzerland. England then faced West Germany again in a home-and-away knockout match to determine who would progress to the finals (which featured only four teams). A 3–1 home defeat at Wembley, followed by a scoreless draw in Berlin, meant that England were eliminated. The football played by England against West Germany was described by journalist Hugh McIlvanney as "cautious, joyless football" and as an indicator that the England era under Ramsey had run its course. West Germany went on to win the competition by beating USSR 3–0 in the final.

1974 World Cup

Jan Tomaszewski (centre)—dismissed by Brian Clough as a "clown"—whose goalkeeping for Poland helped to prevent England from qualifying for the 1974 World Cup.

England's qualification group for the 1974 World Cup, consisted of just Poland and Wales. However the Poles, who had not qualified for a World Cup finals since 1938, were a massively improved team who would go on to finish third in the tournament. A home draw with Wales, followed by a defeat in Katowice, meant that England had to win their final match against Poland at Wembley in October 1973. Ramsey had asked for the Football League games to be postponed on the weekend before the game. This request was refused by Football League chairman, Alan Hardaker who said "its a football match, not a war".

Before the qualifier with Poland at Wembley Stadium, Brian Clough described Polish goalkeeper Jan Tomaszewski as a "circus clown in gloves". Errors by Norman Hunter and goalkeeper Peter Shilton and an inspired goalkeeping performance by Tomaszewski, who made many crucial saves, meant that the match finished 1–1. Ramsey, always uncomfortable with the substitute rule, was blamed for waiting until the 85th minute before bringing on forward, Kevin Keegan. The draw meant that England had tried and failed to qualify for a World Cup for the first time in the national team's history (England did not compete in the three pre-War World Cups, but that was because of a boycott of FIFA by the English FA).

Sacking

It was the most devastating half-hour of my life. I stood in a room almost full of staring committee men. It was just like I was on trial. I thought I was going to be hanged.

Ramsey

England, having won the World Cup in 1966, were now perceived to have failed in three successive tournaments. The disappointments of quarter final exits from major tournaments in 1970 and 1972, had been followed by failing even to qualify for the 1974 World Cup. A few months after the draw with Poland which had meant failure to progress, Ramsey was sacked by the FA.

It seems that some of the FA's officials had long held grudges against Ramsey. The British journalist and author Leo McKinstry 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". Alan Ball described the treatment of Ramsey as "the most incredible thing that ever happened in English football".

After England

Ramsey returned to league management in September 1977 with Birmingham City until March 1978 before resigning because of ill-health. Former Birmingham City player, Pat Van Den Hauwe recalled in his 2012 autobiography "Psycho Pat - The Autobiography of Pat Van den Hauwe: Legend or Madman" that Ramsey had recommended to the Birmingham City board of directors, the transfer of fans' favourites, Trevor Francis and Joe Gallagher. With the board fearing disapproval from supporters, Ramsey left the club instead. Although his time with Birmingham was short, he did mastermind a notable victory, 3-2 away at Anfield against the reigning League and European Champions, Liverpool on 21 January 1978. Ramsey also spent a brief time between 1979 and 1980 at Greek side Panathinaikos as a technical adviser.

Life after football and death

"He retired to live in Ipswich, where he lived a reclusive life with occasional forays into journalism." "He concentrated on his golf game and watching his Westerns... He published a ghosted, rather selective autobiography in 1952, Talking Football."

Ramsey suffered a 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. He was buried in a private ceremony at Old Ipswich Cemetery on 7 May 1999.

Following his death Ramsey's widow Lady Victoria continued to live in their modest three-bedroom home in Ipswich.

Personal life

Ramsey was very sensitive about his personal background. He strove to mask his working-class Essex origins and to present himself as erudite and worldly, going so far as to adopt a speaking accent that the journalist Brian Glanville would call "sergeant-major posh". A widely-held perception that Ramsey's accent had become more upper-class during his time as England manager fuelled speculation that he had received elocution lessons, and prompted constant joking from members of the England team who came from similar Essex or East London backgrounds, such as Bobby Moore and Jimmy Greaves. Rodney Marsh, a forward from the East End who played in Ramsey's England team from 1971 to 1973, later said:

Alf tended to speak in a very poncey plum-in-the-mouth way. It was all "Oh hello Rodney and how are you?". To me it was all complete bollocks.

It was rumoured that Ramsey had Romany (or "gypsy") ancestors—Ramsey was sensitive about the connection and, according to one anecdote, seethed with fury when Moore saw some Romany caravans and joked that the manager should "drop in to see his relatives". The football journalist Ken Jones would relate that on one occasion, when Ramsey perceived Moore and Greaves to be mocking his accent on the team bus, he said he would "win the World Cup without those two bastards".

Throughout his career as a professional footballer and for years afterwards, Ramsey claimed to be two years younger than he really was. This began when Ramsey first turned professional with Southampton, after his return from military service in the Second World War. He told Southampton he was born in 1922 rather than 1920, reasoning that this might improve his career prospects and compensate for the years he had lost to the hostilities. He would propagate this false age for over two decades, including in his 1952 autobiography Talking Football, numerous press articles and Who's Who. Only after his knighthood in 1967 did Ramsey reveal his true age, deciding that he could not lie to Debrett's.

Ramsey married Vicky Answorth in 1951, while he was a player for Tottenham Hotspur and England. They had one adopted daughter, Tania. He was a Freemason of Waltham Abbey Lodge from 1953 until 1981, when he resigned.

Legacy

Statue of Ramsey at Portman Road. The southern stand at the ground is named in his honour.

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. He became the only person to be inducted twice when, in 2010, he was included in the Hall of Fame as a player as well 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. On 31 March 2012, the South Stand at Portman Road was renamed to the Sir Alf Ramsey Stand.

In 2009, Fabio Capello inaugurated a statue, sculpted by Philip Jackson, of Ramsey at Wembley. It is situated in the player's tunnel and, according to George Cohen, "it will remind every player to give their best out on the pitch."

Ramsey was listed in the top ten best British managers ever in The Independent. He is widely regarded as one of British football's all-time great managers.

Not everyone reveres Ramsey's managerial style. According to historian Frank McLynn "he was a humourless bore and stifling tactician whose reputation rests on a single undeserved triumph".

Honours

As a player

Tottenham Hotspur

• Second Division champions: 1949–50
• First Division champions: 1950–51
• FA Charity Shield winner: 1951

As a manager

Ipswich Town

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

England

• FIFA World Cup winners: 1966
• UEFA European Championship third place: 1968

Career statistics

Club

Source:

Club	Season	League			FA Cup		Total
		Division	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
Southampton	1946–47	Second Division	23	1	1	0	24	1
	1947–48	Second Division	42	5	4	0	46	5
	1948–49	Second Division	25	2	1	0	26	2
	Total		90	8	6	0	96	8
Tottenham Hotspur	1949–50	Second Division	41	4	3	0	44	4
	1950–51	First Division	40	4	1	0	41	4
	1951–52	First Division	38	5	2	0	40	5
	1952–53	First Division	37	6	9	0	46	6
	1953–54	First Division	37	2	6	0	43	2
	1954–55	First Division	33	3	3	0	36	3
	Total		226	24	24	0	250	24
Career total			316	32	30	0	346	32

International

Source:

National team	Year	Apps	Goals
England	1948	1	0
	1949	1	0
	1950	9	0
	1951	7	1
	1952	7	0
	1953	7	2
Total		32	3

International goals

Scores and results list England's goal tally first.

No.	Date	Venue	Opponent	Score	Result	Competition	Notes
1	28 November 1951	Wembley Stadium, London	Austria	1*–1	2–2	Friendly	Penalty
2	21 October 1953	Wembley Stadium, London	Rest of Europe	4*–4	4–4	Friendly	Penalty
3	25 November 1953	Wembley Stadium, London	Hungary	3*–6	3–6	Friendly	Penalty

Managerial statistics

Team	From	To	Record					Ref
G	W	D	L	Win %
Ipswich Town	August 1955	April 1963	369	176	75	118	047.7
England	May 1963	May 1974	113	69	27	17	061.1
Birmingham City	September 1977	March 1978	28	11	4	13	039.3
Total			510	256	106	148	50.2

See also

• List of English football championship winning managers

Notes and references

Footnotes

References

Bibliography

• Bowler, Dave (2013). Winning Isn't Everything: A Biography of Sir Alf Ramsey. London: Hachette UK. ISBN 978-1-4091-4676-6. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
• Cox, Richard; Russell, Dave; Vamplew, Wray, eds. (2002). Encyclopedia of British Football. London: Routledge. ISBN 978-0-7146-5249-8. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
• Dickinson, Matt (2014). Bobby Moore: The Man in Full. London: Random House. ISBN 978-1-4464-8332-9. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
• Lawton, James (2003). Nobby Stiles: After The Ball. London: Hodder & Stoughton. ISBN 978-0-3408-2887-8. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
• McKinstry, Leo (2010) [2006]. Sir Alf: A Major Reappraisal of the Life and Times of England's Greatest Football Manager. London: HarperSport. ISBN 978-0-0071-9379-0. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)

External links

• Alf Ramsey at Soccerbase
• Alf Ramsey at Englandstats.com
• Alf Ramsey management career statistics at Soccerbase