[3] Shoulder charging the goalkeeper was a legitimate tactic at the time, but Lofthouse later admitted that his challenge was a foul. Celebs . In his 14 years at Bolton between . Two goals in a win against Bury immediately had the few hardy souls willing to brave the football during the Blitz abuzz with excitement. Thousands of England fans attended it. Having seen off Blackburn Rovers, Liverpool and Middlesbrough, Bolton were drawn to play Stoke City Stanley Matthews and all in the two-legged quarter final. From an early age, however, it was clear that as long as he or one of the neighbouring children had something approximating a ball, he felt natural and content. 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. An England international, Nat Lofthouse played his entire club career for his hometown club, Bolton Wanderers, scoring 255 goals in 452 league appearances. They could not receive service medals and were not guaranteed a return to their old jobs, unlike those serving in the armed forces. "The banks had called time on us. He wasn't part of an illustrious academy early on, like those you see in the modern game. The team was struggling, the club was struggling. Having served his apprenticeship in wartime football, Lofthouse went on to become a star of peacetime football. He was capped 33 times for the England national football team between 1950 and 1958, scoring 30 goals and giving himself one of the greatest. And that, basically, was all I wanted to do. Many would travel more than a mile down into the earth for around eight hours per day of very hard, physical work. In 1978, he became the club's executive manager. He was forced to retire at the age of 35 because of his persistent injuries. The title came from a prestigious match against Austria in 1952. Its capital cities, Berlin and Vienna, were also divided into four by the four Allied Powers (Britain, the United States, the Soviet Union, and France). He didnt need to be asked twice. 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. Speaking During his "Nat Lofthouse: This Is Your Life" show, Lofthouse had said of his time as manager: "I think the worst thing Bolton Wanderers' directors ever did was ask me to be manager. To open the scoring, he swiveled on his right foot and hit a volley with his left foot. He hesitated before he emerged at my side. Lofthouse earned full international recognition when he was called up to play for his country against Yugoslavia at Highbury in November 1950. Nat was always a big boy and because of that, often found himself in goal, acting as the last line of defense for whatever ragtag side he found himself playing on. 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. During Lofthouses career, Vienna played a crucial role. A few years later, on Sept. 4, 1939, the day after World War II broke out in Europe, as nearly all of the Bolton first team went off to war, Lofthouse went to Burnden Park, put pen to paper and signed for Bolton Wanderers as a youth player. Capped 33 times by the Three Lions, Lofthouse picked up the nickname 'the Lion of Vienna' after his two goals against Austria and represented England in the 1954 World Cup. 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, Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window), Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window), Click to share on WhatsApp (Opens in new window), Click to email a link to a friend (Opens in new window), Nat Lofthouse: the Lion of Vienna and the gent of Bolton, Remembering the disaster of 1991/92, Bayern Munichs worst season in modern history, Rio, 1989: Chilean skullduggery, hidden razor blades and Brazilian flares, Brighton and Crystal Palace: the rise of a rivalry separated by 39 miles, The madness of Liverpools first foray into European competition, The tale of Queens Park: the early innovators who became last of the amateurs, Bobby Robson, Ipswich Town and a brutal quest for the 1981 treble. Scot Foweraker, who started at the club as a gateman when the ground opened in 1895, had taken over as manager in 1919 and would go on to serve Wanderers for an outstanding 49 years, 25 as boss. The award was given in recognition of his great skill with the ball at a time when English football was not known for its aesthetic beauty. Lofthouse would later say; The miners of Britain are the finest fellows in the world. Josef Musil, Rudolf, Rockl, Ernst Happel, Walter Schleger, Ernst Ocwirk, Theodor Brinek, Ernst Melchior, Gerhard Hanappi, Robert Dienst, Adolf Huber, Walter Haummer. Thanks to his size, a healthy 12 stone (168 pounds) by age 15, he was played up front in a center forward position and it was there that Nat thrived. As a result of the United States defeat in the 1950 World Cup in Brazil, the national team lost its confidence when playing outside their comfort zone of the Home International Championships. He said of his career; For me Football is pleasure with pay. if(typeof ez_ad_units!='undefined'){ez_ad_units.push([[300,250],'historyofsoccer_info-leader-1','ezslot_12',186,'0','0'])};__ez_fad_position('div-gpt-ad-historyofsoccer_info-leader-1-0');White shirts were worn by Austria and red by England. This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website. During the Second World War, both countries were major allies of Nazi Germany. The performance certainly cemented Nats place as Englands number nine and six goals for the Football League against the Irish League further underlined it. 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. Quite possibly the best football magazine in the World, 2023 All Rights Reserved - Read The League Built by B[]X, RIDE TO HELL. Lofthouse was the recipient of various honours after retiring from the game. 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. Lofthouse returned to the National line-up for the October 1951 home international draw with Wales and then got both goals in the 2-0 win over Ireland in November followed by another in a 2-2 draw with Austria where he headed home an Alf Ramsey free kick after 76 minutes to level the scores. Nat Lofthouse - Alchetron, The Free Social Encyclopedia [8] Nat Lofthouse was an Inaugural Inductee into the English Football Hall of Fame in 2002. Lofthouse was a one-club centre-forward who dedicated his life to Bolton Wanderers. All Id ever wanted to do.. by ReadTheLeague | May 24, 2021 | The Big Feature. Lofthouse, battered and semi-conscious, was taken from the field but returned as a passenger minutes later, still proving fit enough to shoot an effort 30 yards into the goal. Outside the church, it was former Bolton manager Jimmy Armfield (1971-1974) who perhaps summed it all up best: "It's the fact that he was a one-club man. 102 Years of Burnden Park: Part Two - Lion Of Vienna Suite After receiving a congratulatory telegram from hero Lawton he had a debut to remember grabbing both goals in a 2-2 draw, beating former ballet dancer Vladimir Beara with a close-range shot from a cross from Les Medley and Johnny Hancocks then provided a pinpoint centre which Nat converted with a diving header. He was elbowed in the face, tackled from behind and brought down by the goalkeeper. Lofthouse was battered on the field and left the field. He earned the nickname by leading England to victory over Austria in Vienna on 25 May 1952. Please enter the following information to sign up. 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. [14] Any cookies that may not be particularly necessary for the website to function and is used specifically to collect user personal data via analytics, ads, other embedded contents are termed as non-necessary cookies. How many goals in total did Lofthouse score in the 33 matches he played for England? . Not long after his retirement from football, Nat took control of the Castle Pub on Tonge Moor Road in Bolton. [7] A campaign, backed by Gordon Taylor, the chief executive of the Professional Footballers' Association and former Bolton player, was started, aiming to get Lofthouse knighted. It would have certainly resulted in a straight red card by today's standards, but was adjudged to be fair at the time. Football Legends - Nat Lofthouse - BBC Archive Like many aspiring youngsters one of Nats early jobs at the club was cleaning the boots of the senior pros and he always paid special attention to those of star forward Ray Westwood, one of the players he had cheered from the sideline when a star-struck spectator. After Jackie Sewell restored the lead, Nat Lofthouse headed against the crossbar. My legs became stronger and when I played football I felt I was shooting with greater power.". He also led his side to the FA Cup final, giving them a 2nd minute lead against Blackpool to compete a record of scoring in every round. There was then a Cup Winners Cup played between the winners of the North and South tournaments. The title came from a prestigious match against Austria in 1952. One of those matches would turn out to be the definitive 90 minutes of his England career, at what was then called Praterstadion in Vienna on the 25th of May, 1952. 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. As always, football matches were symbolic.. Both men were among the inaugural inductees to the Hall Of Fame. And so with that barge, Lofthouse won Bolton's fourth, and final to date, FA Cup, famously proud of his "110 team" that cost no more than each player's signing-on fee. Why was Nat Lofthouse called the Lion of Vienna? - Sage-Answers Awarded an O.B.E in 1994, Lofthouse suffered from dementia in his later years and passed away at the age of 84 in 2011. On foreign soil, the English brave and plucky had triumphed over technologically superior opponents against all odds. Before becoming Bolton's chief scout, he became an administrative manager at Burnden. A) 20 B) 30 C) 40 His very style of football embodied Bolton, an appreciation for power alongside skill which is still part of the club today. For as much as Bolton Wanderers shaped him, his career and his life, he too left an indelible mark on the club, defining the team's most iconic era and playing a pivotal role in saving the club during its most ignominious age. Bolton's new number 9, Eoin Doyle, whilst playing for League Two side Swindon last season. He hung up his boots in 1961 having scored 285 goals for Wanderers. The statue's pose was chosen by the club's fans as well as Nat Lofthouse's surviving family. With no club having shown an interest and his days of regular organised football coming to an end, it appeared that any chance he had of making it as a professional was over, before one of his final days at school where he was to be commended at the annual prize-giving ceremony. Had Lofthouse not been a Bolton Wanderers player, life would have been extremely difficult for him. Lofthouse was at his imperious best, plundering goals at a rate that even the sportswriters who had grown up watching the likes of Dixie Dean and others agreed was exceptional. Find him, you got a winner. He started his countrys next 12 internationals scoring 13 times. This was touched on to Lofthouse on the halfway line by Finney. In what was only his seventh cap, he was already well accustomed to the no-holds-barred criticism that came with being Englands centre forward. It was taken from 40 yards and swerved like a mad thing past the astonished Robertson in the Chelsea goal.. But you always associate Nat with Bolton. 16 January 2011 #1. Wanderers gave the then 15-year-old his debut on 14 March 1941 in a wartime match with Bury again providing the opposition. Over his international career, launched at such a late age, he scored 30 goals in 33 games, a scoring ratio that is unmatched by any England player with more than 5 appearances to this day. My body became firmer and harder. M4 3BG, 2023 National Football Museum. (Subs) Ronnie Allen, Ivor Broadis, Bill Nicholson, Stan Pearson, Bert Williams. Football was also a significant sport for the two nations. The 1958-59 campaign provided a final high point in Lofthouses international career. Posts 7,107 Likes 2 Location swindon wilts. To prove it, they battered England with arms, legs and heads. The key to his appeal, beyond his fantastic abilities on the pitch, was his humility. 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. Owning the public house was not the most rewarding career choice to the man who only wanted to see his boyhood club do well. Harry Gregg, a survivor of the crash who would go on to be one of United's best goalkeepers ever, could only manage to deflect the shot. I could hear the hounds setting off after me but I knew it was basically down to me and [Austrian goalkeeper Josef] Musil. The sickening collision between striker and keeper left Lofthouse knocked out cold. The third? 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. Shortlisted for the Telegraph Sports Book Awards Biography of the Year. This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Once again, Nat Lofthouse made his intent known early on, scoring his first goal 3 minutes in, bounding onto the ball inside the 6-yard box and poking it in. That's the two words that go together and the thing about Nat was, as well, that you don't need to put his surname there, do you? Lofthouse was chosen to represent Bolton schools against Bury. In the second half, the Wanderers looked the better team, as the thrown-together nature of Manchester United began to show. A year ago today, Bolton Wanderers announced plans to immortalize the Lion of Vienna with a statue in front of the Reebok Stadium. A vote of the Football Writers Association members, which functions like a jury, selected the professional player who best exemplified footballers precepts and examples as the player of the year. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. Nathaniel Lofthouse OBE (27 August 1925 15 January 2011) was an English professional footballer who played as a forward for Bolton Wanderers for his entire career. In addition to their colorful rosettes, red, white, and blue rattles, and chants of England, they instilled a carnival atmosphere around the stadium, evoking the atmosphere associated with an FA Cup match. Speaking at Nat's "This Is Your Life" show, Bolton Wanderers' commercial manager at the time, Alf Davies shared just how crucial Nat Lofthouse's presence at the club was: "In 1982, we hit on some hard times and in 1982, we had just six weeks to live before the bank called time on our activities. In 195253, he was named FWA Footballer of the Year. Lofthouses story wasnt as black and white as many modern accounts would have readers believe. 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. 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. Football's Pioneers: Nat Lofthouse - Leicester City F.C. There was nowhere left to. Caps:33 (30 goals) In April 1998, train operator Virgin CrossCountry named locomotive 47807 Lion of Vienna in Lofthouse's honour at Bolton station. After failing to score in the win over Scotland at Hampden the centre forward went on Englands 1952 summer tour.