Everything about Cyril Knowles totally explained
|
cityofbirth =
Fitzwilliam |
countryofbirth =
England |
dateofdeath = |
cityofdeath =
Middlesbrough |
countryofdeath =
England |
position =
Left back |
youthyears = |
youthclubs = Hemsworth F.C.
Monckton Colliery Welfare |
years = 1963-1964
1964-1976 |
clubs =
Middlesbrough Tottenham Hotspur |
caps(goals) =
Cyril Barry Knowles (born
July 13,
1944 in
Fitzwilliam, West Yorkshire; died
August 30,
1991 in
Middlesbrough, North Yorkshire) was a full-back for
Tottenham Hostpur and
England. He was the brother of fellow professional footballer
Peter Knowles.
Playing career
Early career
Knowles started his career as a left winger with local side Hemsworth before rejection from three of the country's leading sides -
Manchester United,
Blackpool and
Wolverhampton Wanderers - left him questioning his future prospects as a professional footballer.
Middlesbrough
However,
Middlesbrough recognised his talents as a potential left back and Knowles was accepted into their amateur squad. He made his debut late in the
1962-63 season and after just 39 first team appearances legendary Spurs manager
Bill Nicholson signed Knowles in 1964 for £45,000.
Tottenham Hotspur
Knowles was seen as a young replacement for
Ron Henry, a member of the Spurs team that famously won
The Double in
1960-61, the
FA Cup in
1962 and the
European Cup Winners Cup in
1963. His first competitive match for Spurs was in a 2-0 win over
Sheffield United at White Hart Lane on the opening day of
1964-65 First Division campaign.
Knowles would spend 11 years at
White Hart Lane, where he was famed for his crossing ability, creating countless opportunities from open play as well as set pieces. He is also remembered for his excellent partnership with Irish right-back
Joe Kinnear and his valuable contribution towards the acceptance of the overlapping, attacking full-back in modern football.
A stalwart of the Spurs first team, he missed only one league match between
1965 and
1969 and represented
England four times, making his international debut against the
Soviet Union in December
1967. Knowles also represented the English Under-23 team on six occasions and played for Young England against the England senior side and the
Football League against the
Scottish League in 1968 and 1969. Only the consistent performances of
Leeds United star
Terry Cooper restricted Knowles to a fringe role in the national team.
Knowles made his final appearance as a professional footballer in a 2-2 draw with Everton in December
1975. Regular knee problems forced his premature retirement at the age of 31 but his contributions and loyalty to Tottenham Hotspur were rewarded with a testimonial match against arch-rivals
Arsenal in the same season. An example of his quality was the memorable display against Leeds United in one of his final appearances for the club. With Spurs needing victory to avoid relegation against the reigning
First Division champions and
1975 European Cup finalists, Knowles scored twice in a 4-2 victory.
He scored 17 goals in 507 appearances for Tottenham Hotspur, winning the
FA Cup in
1967, the
League Cup in
1971 and
1973 and a
UEFA Cup winners medal in
1972. After announcing his retirement from professional football, Knowles started his managerial career as a
Yorkshire based scout for Spurs. This was followed by a brief spell as manager of
Hertford Town in
1976 and he was first team coach at
Doncaster Rovers between
1977 and
1981.
Management career
In the summer of 1981, he was appointed assistant manager of Middlesbrough, where he started his career, but resigned two years later to become manager of
Fourth Division strugglers
Darlington. His second season,
1984-85, was a great success as he transformed the club's playing fortunes and guided them to third place in the Fourth Division, ensuring promotion to the
Third Division.
He resigned as Darlington manager in
1987 following relegation to the Fourth Division, but soon returned to management with
Torquay United. As manager of Torquay, Knowles developed the talent of
Lee Sharpe, the young winger who would star for
Manchester United in the early 1990s and later play for
Leeds United and
Sampdoria. He transformed a poor side that had almost been relegated from the
League the previous season, taking them to the brink of play-offs in his first season and the final of the
Sherpa Van Trophy the following year.
He resigned as manager of Torquay in October
1989 after a disappointing start to the
1989-90 season but returned to management in
December, at Fourth Division basement club
Hartlepool United. He revived Hartlepool and they finished 12 points clear of relegation. Their form in
1990-91 was even better, and they eventually gained promotion in third place.
He was diagnosed with a brain tumour in February
1991 and player-coach
Alan Murray took temporary charge of the first team. At the end of the season, Murray took over on a permanent basis, with Knowles unable to continue following brain surgery.
Knowles failed to recover from the cancer and he died on
30 August 1991 at the age of 47. Three months after his death a memorial match was played at White Hart Lane and in 1995 a new stand at Hartlepool's
Victoria Park stadium was renamed in his honour.
He was the inspiration for the popular record
"Nice one, Cyril" which peaked at number 14 in the UK singles charts in March 1973 and is widely regarded as the greatest left-back in the history of Tottenham Hotspur by both supporters and critics.
Tottenham Hotspur F.C. statistics
Honours
1967 FA Cup (2-1 Chelsea F.C.)
1967 FA Community Shield (shared) (3-3 Manchester United F.C.)
1971 League Cup (2-0 Aston Villa F.C.)
1972 UEFA Cup (2-1, 1-1 Wolverhampton Wanderers F.C.)
1973 League Cup (1-0 Norwich City F.C.)Further Information
Get more info on 'Cyril Knowles'.
|
External Link Exchanges
Do you know how hard it is to get a link from a large encyclopaedia? Well we're different and will prove it. To get a link from us just add the following HTML to your site on a relevant page:
<a href="http://cyril_knowles.totallyexplained.com">Cyril Knowles Totally Explained</a>
Then simply click through this link from your web page. Our crawlers will verify your link, extract the title of your web page and instantly add a link back to it. If you like you can remove the words Totally Explained and embed the link in article text.
As long as your link remains in place, we'll keep our link to you right here. Please play fair - our crawlers are watching. Your site must be closely related to this one's topic. Any kind of spamming, dubious practises or removing the link will result in your link from us being dropped and, potentially, your whole site being banned. |
