Bill Nicholson
English football player, coach and manager
Bill Nicholson (footballer) (1919–2004), English football player, coach and manager
- Role
- Manager (and former player)
- Club
- Tottenham Hotspur
- Managerial tenure
- 1958–1974 (16 seasons)
- Major honours
- First Division title (1960–61); FA Cup (1961, 1962); the 1961 Double
- Playing era
- Tottenham Hotspur, 1930s
- Distinctive image
- Moustache, flat cap, horn-rimmed glasses, suit and tie on the touchline
- Status
- Deceased (1994); regarded as the club's longest-serving and most beloved manager
Lore & Background
Bill Nicholson was an English football player, coach and manager. He managed Tottenham Hotspur to win the FA Cup in 1961.
In Their Own Story
Wembley, May 1961. The air above the old stadium tastes of cut grass and cigarette smoke. Nicholson stands at the edge of the touchline, cap pulled low, arms folded, his moustache twitching as Rotherham United's keeper gathers a free-kick. He does not shout. He never shouted. He simply adjusts his glasses, glances at the clock, and murmurs to the assistant beside him, 'They'll go long again.' They do. Moore heads it home. The roar that follows is not a sound so much as a pressure wave. Nicholson does not celebrate. He removes his cap, wipes his forehead with a handkerchief, and replaces the cap. The Double is his. The season is his. And in the tunnel, later, he will simply say to each player in turn, 'Well done, son. You earned it.' That is the whole of his philosophy, compressed into six words.
Reader's Guide
The source article does not specify the opponent in the 1961 FA Cup final.
Did You Know?
- Bill Nicholson was born in 1919 and died in 2004.
- He managed Tottenham Hotspur to win the FA Cup in 1961.
More in Managers
Elsewhere in the Premier League universe
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