Mike England

{{Infobox football biography

| name = Mike England
MBE

| image = Feyenoord tegen Tottenham Hotspur 2-0, finale UEFA Cup spelmomenten, Bestanddeelnr 927-2235.jpg

| caption = England playing for Tottenham Hotspur in 1974

| fullname = Harold Michael EnglandHugman, B. J. (Ed) The PFA Premier & Football League Players' Records 1946–2005 (2005) p195 {{ISBN|1-85291-665-6}}

| birth_date = {{birth date and age|1941|12|2|df=y}}

| birth_place = Holywell, Flintshire, Wales

| height = {{height|ft=6|in=2}}

| position = Defender

| years1 = 1959–1966

| years2 = 1966–1975

| years3 = 1975–1979

| years4 = 1975–1976

| years5 = 1979–1980

| clubs1 = Blackburn Rovers

| clubs2 = Tottenham Hotspur

| clubs3 = Seattle Sounders

| clubs4 = → Cardiff City (loan)

| clubs5 = Cleveland Force (indoor)

| caps1 = 165

| caps2 = 300

| caps3 = 106

| caps4 = 40

| caps5 = 11

| goals1 = 21

| goals2 = 14

| goals3 = 6

| goals4 = 1

| goals5 = 0

| totalcaps = 622

| totalgoals = 42

| nationalyears1 = 1962–1974

| nationalteam1 = Wales

| nationalcaps1 = 44

| nationalgoals1 = 4

| manageryears1 = 1980–1988

| managerclubs1 = Wales

}}

Harold Michael England {{post-nominals|country=GBR|MBE}} (born 2 December 1941) is a Welsh former footballer and manager.

Playing career

Playing as a central defender, England began his career at Blackburn Rovers in 1959, before moving to Tottenham Hotspur in July 1966, ultimately winning four major trophies: the FA Cup in 1967, the UEFA Cup in 1972, and the League Cup in 1971 and 1973.

He made 44 international appearances for Wales over twelve years, scoring 4 goals.{{Cite web |title=A Cymru inspired by Mike England {{!}} FC Cymru Magazine |url=https://magazine.faw.cymru/en/01/cymru-inspired-mike-england/ |access-date=2023-06-19 |website=magazine.faw.cymru}} He was the youngest ever Wales permanent captain for many years, until superseded by Aaron Ramsey in 2011.{{cite news|url=http://www.walesonline.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/aaron-ramsey-ready-england-upset-11474267|title=Ramsey upset as he misses son crawl for the first time|last=Wathan|first=Chris|date=14 June 2016|website=Wales Online|access-date=19 October 2019}}

Management career

He later managed the Wales national team from March 1980 to February 1988. His reign as manager was marked by a series of frustrations, as a team of limited resources, but with talented players such as Neville Southall, Ian Rush, Mark Hughes and Mickey Thomas, very narrowly missed out on qualification to a series of major tournaments, including the 1982, and 1986 FIFA World Cups. Perhaps most agonisingly, Wales only missed out on qualification for the UEFA Euro 1984 by seconds when an injury-time winning goal by Ljubomir Radanović for Yugoslavia in the final game of qualifying group 4 against Bulgaria eliminated Wales.

England was sacked as Wales manager on 3 February 1988 after another initially promising attempt to qualify for UEFA Euro 1988 ended in failure. That was to be the final job he would ever have in football. He later managed a nursing home in North Wales, and then owned two nursing homes and ran his own timber business.{{cite web|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/internationals/3714626.stm|title=Football – Internationals – Yesterday's men|last1=Bevan|first1=Chris|last2=Fletcher|first2=Paul|date=6 October 2004|work=BBC Sport}}

Honours

Tottenham Hotspur

FA Cup: 1966–67{{cite book |first1=Leslie |first2=Jack |last1=Vernon |last2=Rollin |title=Rothmans Football Yearbook 1977–78 |year=1977 |publisher=Brickfield Publications Ltd |location=London |isbn=0354 09018 6 |page=491}}
Football League Cup: 1970–71, 1972–73
UEFA Cup: 1971–72

Individual

Rothmans Golden Boots Awards: 1970{{cite web|url=https://www.bigsoccer.com/threads/1969-70-british-team-of-the-season.1794502/ |website=BigSoccer |date=31 July 2011 |title=1969-1970 British Team of the Season |access-date=17 April 2024 }}
NASL All-Stars:{{Cite web|url=http://www.oocities.org/colosseum/Arena/6925/nasl.html|title=Steve Dimitry's NASL Web Page|website=www.oocities.org}} First-team: 1975, 1976, 1977, 1978

References

External links

{{NeilBrownPlayers|player/mikeengland}}
[https://archive.today/20130131191151/http://davfal.powweb.com/museum/1976updates/mike_england.htm 1976 Seattle Sounders player profile]
[https://web.archive.org/web/20160411214531/http://davfal.powweb.com/museum/1979updates/even_more_1979_sounders.htm 1979 Sounders profile – with stats]
[http://www.nasljerseys.com/Players/E/England.Mike.htm American stats]

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Category:1941 births

Category:Living people

Category:People from Holywell, Flintshire

Category:Footballers from Flintshire

Category:Cleveland Force (original MISL) players

Category:Welsh men's footballers