Nobby Stiles – An Obituary
“But I still see that tackle by Moore, and when Lineker scored, and Nobby dancing…”
This line from ‘Three Lions (Football’s Coming Home)’ by Frank Skinner and David Baddiel gave me my first insight into who Nobby Stiles was. I knew his name and that he was in the 1966 World Cup winning side as when I was younger, my Dad tried to teach me the names of that England team.
Only Gordon Banks, Bobby Moore, Geoff Hurst and the Charlton brothers were instantly memorable for me but the others were very difficult to remember. I’d always struggle with Ray Wilson, George Cohen and Nobby Stiles. However one little moment that was mentioned in Baddiel and Skinner’s Euro ’96 anthem would make the former Manchester United one of the first names on my list.
As the England players did a lap of honour after their World Cup win in 1966, Stiles gleefully danced around the Wembley pitch. His merry jig was caught on camera as he held the Jules Rimet Trophy in his hand and huge gappy smile beaming across his face. This was reenacted in the ‘Three Lions’ video and in doing so left the midfielder’s joy at winning football’s biggest prize imprinted on fans memories.
Nobby Stiles signed for his boyhood club Manchester United as an apprentice in 1959 and Sir Matt Busby gave him his first team debut a year later.
Stiles played primarily as a ‘holding midfielder’, linking the defence and midfield. He won the First Division championship twice during his time at Old Trafford and was part of the United team that beat Benfica in the 1968 European Cup Final at Wembley.
The United midfielder certainly didn’t have the appearance of a footballer. He was quite short at five foot six, wore thick glasses off the pitch and also had a number of his top teeth missing. He wore dentures but took them out before playing!
After making 395 appearances for Manchester United and scoring 19 goals, Stiles moved on to Middlesbrough for two seasons. He left Ayresome Park after two seasons to become player-coach at Preston North End when former Manchester United and England team mate Bobby Charlton became manager at Deepdale.
England’s 1966 World Cup triumph was made possible thanks to some memorable performances over the course of the tournament. Geoff Hurst’s hat-trick in the Final is probably the one that most people will remember but Alan Ball’s man of the match performance in the Final was equally as good. However, little is mentioned of Nobby Stiles’ fantastic job of marking the great Eusebio out of the semi final against Portugal.
Alf Ramsey took Stiles to one side before the game against the Portuguese and told him that he wanted him to man-mark Eusebio. This was to be no easy task as ‘The Black Pearl’ had already scored eight goals in Portugal’s four games in the tournament. He had also won the Balon d’Or the previous year.
Stiles managed to stifle Eusebio successfully and England won 2-1. Eusebio scored his ninth goal of the tournament from the penalty spot before being effectively shackled once more by the excellent Stiles.
In 1977, Stiles embarked on a nine year managerial career. He took charge of Preston North End, Vancouver Whitecaps of Canada and finally West Bromwich Albion. Management just wasn’t his game and after three years away from the game Stiles returned to Old Trafford as the youth team coach.
Between 1989 and 1993, Stiles coached the likes of David Beckham, Paul Scholes, Nicky Butt, Ryan Giggs, Lee Sharpe and the two Neville brothers. He was awarded an MBE in 2000 for his services to football.
In later years he suffered from cancer and dementia and sadly passed away yesterday at the age of 78. Nobby Stiles is in the ‘English Football Hall of Fame’.
About Author
