Ron Greenwood

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Ron Greenwood
Personal information
Full name	Ronald Greenwood
Date of birth	11 November 1921 (1921-11-11)
Place of birth	Worsthorne, England
Date of death	9 February 2006 (aged 84)
Place of death	Suffolk, England
Playing position	Defender
Youth clubs
	Chelsea
Senior clubs1
Years	Club	App (Gls)*
1945–1949 1949–1952 1952–1955 1955–1956	Bradford Park Avenue Brentford Chelsea Fulham	059 (0) 142 (1) 065 (0) 042 (0)
National team
	England B	001 (0)
Teams managed
1961–1974 1977–1982	West Ham United England
1 Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only. * Appearances (Goals)

Ron Greenwood CBE (November 11, 1921 — February 9, 2006) was an English football player and manager, best known for being manager of the English national football team from 1977 until 1982. He had previously been a successful manager of West Ham United, and his role as England manager was his final role in football.

Contents 1 Playing career 2 Coaching career 3 Life after football 4 External links

[edit] Playing career

Ron Greenwood was born in the village of Worsthorne, near Burnley, Lancashire, but moved to London as a child during the 1930s Depression. He was educated at Alperton School in Middlesex, leaving at the age of 14 to be an apprentice sign-writer. He played as a centre-half, joining Chelsea as an amateur whilst training as an apprentice signwriter. During World War II he served in the Royal Air Force in Northern Ireland and guested for Belfast Celtic. In 1945 he left Chelsea for Bradford Park Avenue, and made 59 appearances over the next four seasons.

In 1949 Greenwood moved to the club he supported as a boy, Brentford, where he made 142 league appearances and scored one goal. After three years at Brentford, he returned to Chelsea, where he played 65 times and won a First Division winners' medal in 1954-55 under Ted Drake. That summer, he moved on to Fulham, where he made another 42 league appearances before retiring at the end of the 1955-1956 season. He was never capped for his country, though he did make a single 'B' team appearance.

[edit] Coaching career

After retiring Greenwood moved into coaching. He coached Eastbourne United, Oxford University (where he came to the attention of Sir Harold Thompson, a future Chairman of the F.A.), the England Youth and Under-23 teams. He combined the England Under-23 post with being the assistant manager at Arsenal under George Swindin between 1958 and 1962, when he was appointed as the manager of West Ham United.

Greenwood's reign at West Ham brought them sizeable success. He oversaw the development of players such as the 1966 FIFA World Cup-winning trio of Bobby Moore, Geoff Hurst and Martin Peters, and under him the Hammers won the FA Cup in 1964 and the European Cup Winners' Cup in 1965. He moved upstairs in 1974, becoming the club's general manager. After England coach Don Revie's resignation in 1977, Greenwood was appointed first as caretaker manager of the national side, then full-time manager in December 1977. Under Greenwood, England qualified for the 1980 European Championship and then the 1982 World Cup, their first World Cup in 12 years. England came through the tournament unbeaten, but did not win enough games to progress beyond the second group stage. Greenwood resigned after the World Cup and retired from the game.

[edit] Life after football

After his career in football Greenwood was a regular analyst on BBC Radio. He died on 9 February 2006, aged 84, after a long struggle with Alzheimer's disease.

The Town Council of Loughton, where Greenwood lived during his time as West Ham manager, have resolved to erect a blue plaque to his memory. When West Ham played Birmingham in a Premier League fixture on 13 February 2006, a one minute silence was held in Greenwood's memory. West Ham won the game 3-0.

Greenwood was inducted into the English Football Hall of Fame in 2006, recognising his achievements as a manager in the English game. He was survived by his widow, Lucy.

The Heritage Foundation charity has erected a blue plaque in Greenwood's memory at West Ham's Upton Park, which was unveiled by Ron's family on 21 January 2007.

[edit] External links

• Obituary from BBC Sport
• Obituary from The Times
• Obituary from The Guardian
• England- Expects.org obituary
• Ron Greenwood and the England job. Extract from new book about the England football team by author James Corbett

v • d • e West Ham United F.C. – Managers King (1901–32) • Paynter (1932–50) • Fenton (1950–61) • Greenwood (1961–74) • Lyall (1974–1989) • Macari (1989–1990) • Bonds (1990–94) • Redknapp (1994–2001) • Roeder (2001–03) • Pardew (2003–06) • Curbishley (2006–)

v • d • e England squad - 1980 UEFA European Championship 1 Clemence • 2 Neal • 3 Sansom • 4 Thompson • 5 Watson • 6 Wilkins • 7 Keegan • 8 Coppell • 9 Johnson • 10 Brooking • 11 Woodcock • 12 Anderson • 13 Shilton • 14 Cherry • 15 Hughes • 16 Mills • 17 McDermott • 18 Kennedy • 19 Hoddle • 20 Mariner • 21 Birtles • 22 Corrigan • Coach: Greenwood

v • d • e England squad - 1982 FIFA World Cup 1 Clemence • 2 Anderson • 3 Brooking • 4 Butcher • 5 Coppell • 6 Foster • 7 Keegan • 8 Francis • 9 Hoddle • 10 McDermott • 11 Mariner • 12 Mills • 13 Corrigan • 14 Neal • 15 Rix • 16 Robson • 17 Sansom • 18 Thompson • 19 Wilkins • 20 Withe • 21 Woodcock • 22 Shilton • Coach: Greenwood

v • d • e England national football team – Managers Winterbottom (1946–62) • Ramsey (1963–74) • Mercer (caretaker) (1974) • Revie (1974–77) • Greenwood (1977–82) • Robson (1982–90) • G. Taylor (1990–93) • Venables (1994–96) • Hoddle (1996–99) • Keegan (1999–2000) • Wilkinson (caretaker) (2000) • P. Taylor (caretaker) (2000) • Eriksson (2001–06) • McClaren (2006–07) • Capello (2008–)