Danny Blanchflower

Did You Know?

• Blanchflower played as a defensive midfielder at right half, known for accurate passing and dictating the tempo of the game.
• After retiring as a player, he coached at Spurs and was intended by Bill Nicholson to be his long-term successor, but was passed over in 1974.
• He managed Northern Ireland in 1976 and later Chelsea, winning only five of 32 games before leaving in September 1979.

Early years and family

Blanchflower was born in the Bloomfield district of Belfast, the first of five children. His mother had played as a centre-forward on a women's team. He attended Ravenscroft public elementary school and won a scholarship to Belfast College of Technology, but left early to become an apprentice electrician at Gallaher's cigarette factory. After the war he returned to Gallaher's and built a reputation as a footballer. His younger brother Jackie also played for Northern Ireland and Manchester United, his career ended by injuries from the 1958 Munich air disaster.

Playing career

Blanchflower began his senior career with Glentoran in 1946, then moved to Barnsley for £6,000 in 1949. He transferred to Aston Villa for £15,000, making his debut in March 1951 and appearing 155 times for the club. In 1954 Tottenham Hotspur bought him for £30,000. Over ten years at White Hart Lane he made 337 league appearances and 382 total, scoring 21 goals.

As captain in 1960–61, Spurs won their first 11 league games, a top-flight record, and took the title by eight points. They then beat Leicester City in the FA Cup final, becoming the first 20th-century team to win the double. Blanchflower was voted FWA Footballer of the Year in 1958 and 1961. He helped Spurs win the FA Cup again in 1962, scoring a penalty in the final, and captained the side to victory in the 1963 European Cup Winners' Cup final.

He also had a short spell with Toronto City. For Northern Ireland he earned 56 caps, captaining the team to the 1958 World Cup quarter-finals. He retired as a player on 5 April 1964 at age 38, having captained Spurs to four major trophies. In 1965 he briefly came out of retirement to play three matches for Durban City in South Africa.

Off the field

Blanchflower was one of only a handful of players to win the FWA Footballer of the Year award twice. In July 1958 he was among signatories to a letter to The Times opposing apartheid in international sport. On 6 February 1961 he became the first person to decline an invitation to appear on This Is Your Life, calling the programme an invasion of privacy. He commentated on a match for ITV as early as January 1956 and later hosted editions of BBC's Junior Sportsview and ITV's Junior Criss Cross Quiz.

In 1967 he served as colour commentator for CBS broadcasts of National Professional Soccer League matches in the United States, and his candid remarks about the league's shortcomings were recounted in a 1968 Sports Illustrated article. He was a regular commentator for Yorkshire Television in the 1968–69 season. One of his well-known remarks was: 'We aim to equalise before the other team score. We should get our retaliation in first.'

Later life and death

Blanchflower appeared in Anton Weinberg's 1985 documentary The Keller Instinct, speaking approvingly of Hans Keller's advocacy of creative football. He retired from writing for the Sunday Express in 1988. A testimonial match was held for him at White Hart Lane on 1 May 1990, by which time he was in the early stages of Alzheimer's disease and Parkinson's disease. He was placed in Woodlands Nursing Home, Staines, and died there from pneumonia on 9 December 1993, aged 67. He was buried at St. Jude's Cemetery, Englefield Green.