why was nat lofthouse called the lion of vienna

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. 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. Lofthouse soon played for the Bolton Schools XI and made his debut in a 7-1 win over Bury Schools. Sign up to our fortnightly newsletter below. Thompson would later write: I came away with the impression that Lofthouse was game and persistent, a fine footballer, but not quite an England leader. The performance certainly cemented Nats place as Englands number nine and six goals for the Football League against the Irish League further underlined it. Promised a new bike if he scored a hat-trick in the match he actually went four better, getting all the goals in a 7-1 win, establishing himself as one to watch. Because the move came before the age of player power and agents controlling moves, Nat didn't have any say in the matter. He then played in the 2-2 draw with Wales in November 1958 but, at 33 years old, and even though he had scored 29 times in 37 games for his club that proved to be his final cap and he ended his international career with an outstanding record of 30 goals in 33 starts. Two goals in a win against Bury immediately had the few hardy souls willing to brave the football during the Blitz abuzz with excitement. The Bolton Wanderers reached the final again five years later. There were England Soccer players dotted among them, their red shirts feeling like poppies in a field of corn as they were carried high in triumph to their dressing-room on the shoulders of the Dorsets, the Warwicks, the Signalmen, and the Gunners. I would say without fear or favor the man was more important to Bolton from 82 onwards than ever he was in the 50s.". There have been many claims that Lofthouse and Tommy Lawton went to the same school but in fact Lawton went to nearby Folds Road. Lofthouse once said of the Preston Plumber; He was that good he could cross the ball making sure the laces were facing away from my head.. Josef Musil, Rudolf, Rockl, Ernst Happel, Walter Schleger, Ernst Ocwirk, Theodor Brinek, Ernst Melchior, Gerhard Hanappi, Robert Dienst, Adolf Huber, Walter Haummer. This match determined which of the two nations would call themselves Champions of Europe in many parts of Europe. People like Tom Finney and myself, people like that. I could only nod like a dim-wit. But after Taylors tragic death at Munich he was included in the 40-man squad for the 1958 World Cup but failed to make the final 22. . Bolton were 3-1 up with just 22 minutes to go but their opponents, inspired by Stanley Matthews, stormed back to win 4-3. The evening of Saturday, 15 January 2011, Nat Lofthouse passed away at the Bolton nursing home. It was much like the story told about the war that had now ended they were battered and bruised but had come out on top. Sun 16 Jan 2011 13.15 EST The footballer Nat Lofthouse, who has died aged 85, won 33 England caps during a career spent entirely with one club, Bolton Wanderers. After that 1958 final, Bolton had started slipping and were ultimately relegated to the old Second Division in 1964. Nat Lofthouse had endured well against a battering from the Italian defenders, despite these suggestions of poor performance. His signing may well have been precipitated by Boltons stately long-time manager, Charles Foweraker, anticipating losing many of his players to the war effort. In doing so he was elbowed in the face, tackled from behind, and finally brought down by the goalkeeper. Towards the end of the 1956-57 season there was some doubt over whether Lofthouse would remain at Bolton and it was all because of a pub. In 4th position is Ian Rush on 233 goals, then David Herd on 223 goals. Eulogies were offered by Bolton chairman Phil Gartside and Professional Footballers' Association chief executive Gordon Taylor, a boyhood Bolton fan and former Wanderers player. On 25 May 1952, Lofthouse earned the title 'Lion of Vienna' after scoring his second goal in England's 3-2 victory over Austria. "'He was everything a centre forward should be and was a great one-club man.". As the decade wore on, the clouds began to disperse. A typical Saturday for Lofthouse involved getting up at 3.30am, catching the 4.30am tram to work, and working down the pit for 8 hours before the team bus took him to the match. 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. 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. Nat Lofthouse scored his last goal for the Three Lions on Oct. 22, 1958 in a 5-1 win over the USSR. The words so often used to describe how he acted in public fearless, brave, lionheart in the words of Stanley Matthews reflected a reputation as a player of almost biblical determination, but one who was privately beset by worry at various points throughout his career. Despite Ocwirks efforts, Lofthouse was able to slip past him. Football was also a significant sport for the two nations. This win made for up defeat in the 1953 FA Cup Final, the same year he was selected as the Footballer of the Year by the FWA. When they won a late corner, they flooded forward, leaving Lofthouse alone with a single marker on the halfway line. 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. Too young for military service, Nat was determined to work hard on and off the field. This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. 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? Two goals in a 5-1 win gave a taste of what was the come. Nat Lofthouse began playing football as a very young boy. Boltons all-time greatest player was a gentleman throughout the league. [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. Prisoner Of A Dubious Peace. As a result, Nat Lofthouse was nicknamed the Lion of Vienna. HE was nicknamed the Lion of Vienna. Lofthouse was one of the inaugural inductees to the National Football Museum Hall Of Fame in 2002, attending the event to collect his award alongside other greats of the game, including his friend and former England team-mate Sir Tom Finney. For a time it appeared that he might not re-sign with the club for the 1957-58 season but he eventually relented and stayed at Burnden Park. As much as he was a one-club man, Bolton Wanderers will forever remain a one-man club. The number 9 shirt is traditionally for the club's top goal scorer, a shirt that has been cursed at Bolton for years. The previous week, Nat Lofthouse was heavily criticized, but now hes the great hero, according to the headlines. Nat charged forward with the ball, in typical Lofthouse fashion receiving an elbow in the face and a tackle from behind. England conceded 24 free kicks, while Austria conceded 19. His strength and power were again prominent when he won the single honour of his career. The club remained close to him after that, and he served as its general manager, scout, and president as of October 1986. His lifelong dedication to the club was not work, but a manifestation of who he was. As it turned out, the England team ended up on the receiving end of a brutal match. Ridding had been prominent in Nat Lofthouse's successful rise and had led the Trotters to the 1953 and 1958 FA Cup finals, famously winning the second one. Shortlisted for the Telegraph Sports Book Awards Biography of the Year. This website uses cookies to improve your experience. Six years later, he was promoted to the head coach position, and the following year, he took to managing the club. [3] In doing so he was elbowed in the face, tackled from behind, and finally brought down by the goalkeeper. On 25 May 1952, Lofthouse earned the title 'Lion of Vienna' after scoring his second goal in England's 32 victory over Austria. Lofthouse found the step up in quality in First Division defences hard to cope with, and he briefly considered leaving the game, as well as entertaining an offer from Tottenham, then of the Second Division. I learnt to take hard knocks without feeling them. In the spring, he was awarded the Football Writers Association (FWA) Footballer of the Year title, a clear indication that he had achieved the status of a model professional. Nat Lofthouse OBE, the Bolton Wanderers and England legend, has passed away aged 85, leaving countless memories. He scored a goal but was on the losing side in the famous 1953 FA Cup Final (aka 'The Matthews Final'), having previously scored in each round. In a football match bearing the weight of sport, politics, and differing ideologies, Lofthouse approached the pitch as though it were a battlefield, sacrificing his body (and probably a few brain cells) to win an important, poignant, and unexpected, victory for England. We will normally only contact you via e-newsletter. Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. From an early age, Nat was a Bolton Wanderers supporter. Retiring from playing in 1960, he was made a President of Bolton Wanderers in 1986, a post he held until his death in 2011. As far as the future was concerned, these results were not isolated, and these signs were already in evidence. Friendly internationals then held an importance that has now all but vanished, and Lofthouse's winning goal, in a 3-2 victory against a powerful team, was lauded to the . Ernest Bevin, Minister of Labour and National Service during World War II, lent his name to the conscripted miners. My body became firmer and harder, I learned to take hard knocks without feeling them. [9], Already a Bolton Wanderers player having joined them in 1939 Lofthouse was conscripted in 1943 and worked in Mosley Common colliery as a Bevin Boy. 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. Out of these, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. 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. It was then more than five years until he made his league debut for the club, but he eventually played against Chelsea on 31 August 1946, when he scored twice in a 43 defeat. But the Wanderers policy was that if you played for them you couldnt run a pub. Upon coming home, he was the recipient of a stern scolding from his mother for ruining his brand new shoes. Lofthouse scored twice against Belgium in a match that ended 44. It was there that the conversation that would change his life forever took place. 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. And so, Lofthouse had achieved his boyhood dream, to be a Bolton Wanderers player, at age 14. On foreign soil, the English brave and plucky had triumphed over technologically superior opponents against all odds. The Lion of Vienna With the war over, the legendary Nat Lofthouse was finally able to start his career officially. He had been clattered by a defender as he shot and was carried from the field. Following his discovery, Nat Lofthouse was signed by then-Bolton manager Charles Foweraker, who had, at that point, been manager of the club for 25 years (and would manage for a further five years). The plaudits for the Lion of Vienna didn't stop after he hung up his boots though. Lofthouse is rightly remembered as the archetypal one-club man, but to call him that is to do him a disservice. "He was probably one of the best centre forwards England ever had, very aggressive and combative with great speed. 16 January 2011 #1. After gaining eight corners to Englands none, the Austrians dominated for most of the game. Lion Of Vienna Suite, a Bolton Wanderers community. [5], On 7 April 1993, he appeared as a special guest on the TV guest show This Is Your Life, in which the on-screen guests included Tom Finney and Harry Gregg, while others including Bobby Charlton, Gary Lineker and Ian Rush appeared on screen to pay tribute to Lofthouse as they were unable to appear alongside Lofthouse due to other commitments. Wanderers gave the then 15-year-old his debut on 14 March 1941 in a wartime match with Bury again providing the opposition. In 1957, he assumed captaincy of the club. Lofthouse is rightly remembered as the archetypal one-club man, but to call him that is to do him a disservice. Why was Nat Lofthouse called the Lion of Vienna? Contents show The 1952 tour England toured Europe briefly in summer 1952 and played matches against politically sensitive opponents Italy and Austria. On 1 January 1994, he was appointed an OBE and on 18 January 1997, Bolton decided to name their East Stand at their new Reebok Stadium after him. In the Daily Herald, Clifford Webb wrote; Every man-jack did a heros job, but the player who provided the really tremendous thrill for the frantically cheering English colony was Nat Lofthouse. At the age of 11 in 1936, Lofthouse tagged along with one of his brothers to watch his older sibling play for the school that they both attended, Castle Hill. This time he only managed to score a brace, the fourth and fifth goals in a 5-1 victory at Burnden Park. When he came to, he was the Lion of Vienna, an epithet that stuck for the rest of his life. Honours:1 FA Cup Nat was the youngest of four boys. It made me fitter than ever I had been before. His very style of football embodied Bolton, an appreciation for power alongside skill which is still part of the club today. Nat Lofthouse was a 'Bevin Boy', one of thousands of young men conscripted to work in Britain's mines by Ernest Bevin, the coalition government's Minister of Labour and National Service during. 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. Austria and England played a classic international match in Vienna, combining physical, influential English players with a technically proficient Austrian team to display steel and brute strength when needed. His final match in an England shirt came just over a month later, a 2-all draw against Wales. That game launched one of the best periods of his career, which previously Lofthouse had been decidedly unsatisfied with, receiving little praise for his international efforts, and little respect from anyone barring Bolton fans. Of all those conscripted into service between the ages of 18 and 25, around 10% went to work in the mines. It was, perhaps, fitting that Finney played a key role in the famous goal. And in an ironic twist, for all his on-field exploits, all his goals, all his charging, bulldozing, irresistible runs forward, arguably his greatest contribution to the club came long after hed retired and after his ill-fated spells as manager, when his tireless fundraising helped rescue Bolton from financial oblivion. In 1956, he finished as the First Divisions top scorer with 33 goals. He is third in the Premier League (old Division 1) list behind Jimmy Greaves (357) and Alan Shearer (283). His father, Robert, was a coal bagger and head horse keeper for the Bolton Corporation but once his footballing skills come to the fore it was quickly apparent that there was no way Nat would be following in Dads footsteps full time. When remembering the menial jobs he was tasked with as youth team coach following his retirement, he reflected that they meant I could stay with Bolton Wanderers. In a rare show of off-field bullishness, Lofthouse later remembered that he made it his sole purpose to make one particular writer eat his words even if he choked. Italy had already won the World Cup twice, and football had returned to its former glory following the war. 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. That was the last moment of real glory for Lofthouse's playing career, and for Bolton as well. [17] It was unveiled on 24 August 2013, three days before what would have been Lofthouse's 88th birthday. As a result, Nat Lofthouse became known as the Lion of Vienna by the Daily Express newspaper. For England, the Austria game provided two firsts. Despite that flirtation with a move to Spurs (they came back in for him a second time in 1954 but were again rebuffed) and an audacious attempt by Fiorentina to take him to Italy, Lofthouse remained a one-club man.

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