Robert Dennis Blanchflower, or simply known as “Danny Blanchflower,” was a known figure in the world of football. Born on February 10, 1926 in Belfast, Northern Ireland, Blanchflower passed away in December 9, 1993 after suffering from Alzheimer’s Disease for several years. Blanchflower is also known for his contribution to the sport as a football player, manager, journalist, as well as for once being the captain of the Tottenham Hotspur F.C. during its glorious 1961 season.
Blanchflower was exposed to football at an early age mainly due to the fact that his mother once played as a centre-forward in a women’s football team. His younger brother, Jackie Blanchflower, is also a football player who played for Manchester United. Aside from playing football, Blanchflower was also adept in other fields such as being an electrician and being good at golf.
His professional career, however, started in 1949 just as the Second World War was ending. His first professional team was Barnsley. He stayed with the club for two years until Aston Villa bought him for approximately 15,000 pounds. He spent three years with Aston Villa, eventually doing some captaining on the side, and appeared in 148 matches. However it was in Tottenham Hotspur that Blanchflower was able to stay the longest, making 337 appearances and scoring 15 goals. His last three matches were with Durban City, when he joined in 1965.
Position | Midfielder |
Born | 10 Feb 1926 |
Nationality | Ireland |
Team History | |
Durban City F.C. | 1965 |
Tottenham | 1954 - 1964 |
→ Boksburg (loan) | 1962 (loan) |
Toronto City | 1961 (loan) |
Aston Villa | 1951 - 1954 |
Barnsley | 1949 - 1951 |
Glentoran | 1946 - 1949 |
Throughout his professional career, Blanchflower also enjoyed playing in the international level for Northern Ireland. Blanchflower was with the national team from 1949 to 1963, making 56 caps and scoring 2 goals.
After playing football for several years, Blanchflower retired and somewhat withdrew from the sport. He did return briefly to become the manager of the Northern Ireland national team in 1978, and was even the manager of Chelsea in 1978 to 1979. Blanchflower was also awarded the English Footballer of the Year recognition on two occasions. And was also inducted into the English Football Hall of Fame in 2003, being recognized in 2010 as the greatest player of the Tottenham Hotspurs.
User Comments
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Mozah
Yeah, I've thought about relgeation/promotion too, and think it is a good idea. Mixing it with the crackpot idea of super-conferences is your plan's weakness. And yes, it is unrealistic. But here is a realistic relgeation/promotion option:The MWC and the WAC should form a loose affiliation, sort of like a non-aggression pact. No more poaching teams. Instead, use promotion/relgeation. (Conference USA and perhaps the Sun Belt could do the same.) The BCS evaluates conferences for automatic qualifying status every 4 years, I believe, and evaluates them based on the teams presently in the conference, regardless of how long the teams have been in the conference. So the last season before evaluation, promote and relegate either: (a) the bottom/top 2 teams; or, (b) as many teams as necessary to maximize the top conference's chances at getting a BCS bid. For fairness sake, and as a way to compensate the lower conference, require each team to schedule a four game home and home with two assigned opponents, thus creating one home game and one away game per season with the affiliated conference. Also, guarantee to repeat the process every 4 years for a number of cycles, regardless of whether automatic qualifying status is gained. That way, status is more likely to be retained, and the teams on the outside looking in know that they have a performance-based path to AQ status.Something like that.
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