Mike England

Mike England
MBE
	England playing for Tottenham Hotspur in 1974
Personal information
Full name	Harold Michael England
Date of birth	2 December 1941 (age 82)
Place of birth	Holywell, Flintshire, Wales
Height	6 ft 2 in (1.88 m)
Position(s)	Defender
Senior career*
Years	Team
1959–1966	Blackburn Rovers
1966–1975	Tottenham Hotspur
1975–1979	Seattle Sounders
1975–1976	→ Cardiff City (loan)
1979–1980	Cleveland Force (indoor)
Total
International career
1962–1974	Wales
Managerial career
1980–1988	Wales
	*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Harold Michael England MBE (born 2 December 1941) is a Welsh former footballer and manager.

Playing career

Playing as a central defender, England began his career at Blackburn Rovers in 1959, before moving to Tottenham Hotspur in July 1966, ultimately winning four major trophies: the FA Cup in 1967, the UEFA Cup in 1972, and the League Cup in 1971 and 1973.

He made 44 international appearances for Wales over twelve years, scoring 4 goals.^[2] He was the youngest ever Wales permanent captain for many years, until superseded by Aaron Ramsey in 2011.^[3]

Management career

He later managed the Wales national team from March 1980 to February 1988. His reign as manager was marked by a series of frustrations, as a team of limited resources, but with talented players such as Neville Southall, Ian Rush, Mark Hughes and Mickey Thomas, very narrowly missed out on qualification to a series of major tournaments, including the 1982, and 1986 FIFA World Cups. Perhaps most agonisingly, Wales only missed out on qualification for the UEFA Euro 1984 by seconds when an injury-time winning goal by Ljubomir Radanović for Yugoslavia in the final game of qualifying group 4 against Bulgaria eliminated Wales.

England was sacked as Wales manager on 3 February 1988 after another initially promising attempt to qualify for UEFA Euro 1988 ended in failure. That was to be the final job he would ever have in football. He later managed a nursing home in North Wales, and then owned two nursing homes and ran his own timber business.^[4]

Honours

Tottenham Hotspur

Individual

Rothmans Golden Boots Awards: 1970^[6]
NASL All-Stars:^[7] First-team: 1975, 1976, 1977, 1978

References

^ Hugman, B. J. (Ed) The PFA Premier & Football League Players' Records 1946–2005 (2005) p195 ISBN 1-85291-665-6
^ "A Cymru inspired by Mike England | FC Cymru Magazine". magazine.faw.cymru. Retrieved 19 June 2023.
^ Wathan, Chris (14 June 2016). "Ramsey upset as he misses son crawl for the first time". Wales Online. Retrieved 19 October 2019.
^ Bevan, Chris; Fletcher, Paul (6 October 2004). "Football – Internationals – Yesterday's men". BBC Sport.
^ Vernon, Leslie; Rollin, Jack (1977). Rothmans Football Yearbook 1977–78. London: Brickfield Publications Ltd. p. 491. ISBN 0354 09018 6.
^ "1969-1970 British Team of the Season". BigSoccer. 31 July 2011. Retrieved 17 April 2024.
^ "Steve Dimitry's NASL Web Page". www.oocities.org.

External links

Mike England at Post War English & Scottish Football League A–Z Player's Transfer Database
1976 Seattle Sounders player profile
1979 Sounders profile – with stats
American stats

[1] Hugman, B. J. (Ed) The PFA Premier & Football League Players' Records 1946–2005 (2005) p195 ISBN 1-85291-665-6

[2] "A Cymru inspired by Mike England | FC Cymru Magazine". magazine.faw.cymru. Retrieved 19 June 2023.

[3] Wathan, Chris (14 June 2016). "Ramsey upset as he misses son crawl for the first time". Wales Online. Retrieved 19 October 2019.

[4] Bevan, Chris; Fletcher, Paul (6 October 2004). "Football – Internationals – Yesterday's men". BBC Sport.

[5] Vernon, Leslie; Rollin, Jack (1977). Rothmans Football Yearbook 1977–78. London: Brickfield Publications Ltd. p. 491. ISBN 0354 09018 6.

[6] "1969-1970 British Team of the Season". BigSoccer. 31 July 2011. Retrieved 17 April 2024.

[7] "Steve Dimitry's NASL Web Page". www.oocities.org.

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