30 Facts About Walter Winterbottom

Sir Walter Winterbottom was an English football player and coach.

Walter Winterbottom was the first manager of the England national team and Director of Coaching for The Football Association.

Walter Winterbottom resigned from the FA in 1962 to become General Secretary of the Central Council of Physical Recreation and was appointed as the first Director of the Sports Council in 1965.

Walter Winterbottom was knighted for his services to sport in 1978 when he retired.

Walter Winterbottom won a bursary to Chester Diocesan Teachers Training College, graduating as the top student in 1933 and took a teaching post at the Alexandra Road School, Oldham.

Walter Winterbottom signed for United as a part-time professional in 1936 but continued teaching.

Walter Winterbottom has the distinction of being England's first, youngest and longest serving England team manager; he is the only England manager to have had no previous professional managerial experience.

Walter Winterbottom's innovations included the introduction of England B, Under 23, youth and schoolboy teams providing players with continuity and experience in international football before being selected for the full England team.

Walter Winterbottom led England to four consecutive World Cup finals, a record subsequently equalled only by Helmut Schon of West Germany.

Walter Winterbottom again led England to qualification in Switzerland in 1954 by winning the British Home championship.

Walter Winterbottom again led his team to qualification for the 1962 World Cup in Chile with wins over Portugal and Luxembourg.

Walter Winterbottom made no secret of his belief that his job as Director of Coaching was the more important of his two roles at the FA.

When he joined the FA in 1946, club directors, managers and players were cynical about the need for coaching but Walter Winterbottom had a passion for coaching and a vision of how it should develop.

Walter Winterbottom soon created a national coaching scheme with summer residential courses at Lilleshall, Shropshire, and persuaded some of his international players to take the courses that led to exams for the FA preliminary and full coaching badges.

Walter Winterbottom's courses were expanded to include professional players, referees, schoolmasters, club trainers, schoolboys and youth leaders.

Walter Winterbottom was regarded by many as a leading technical thinker and exponent of association football, of his generation, in the world and lectured internationally.

Walter Winterbottom inspired a new generation of managers, most notably Ron Greenwood and Bobby Robson, who graduated through every level of coaching, both eventually becoming England team manager.

In 1962 Walter Winterbottom resigned from the FA and took up an appointment as General Secretary of the Central Council of Physical Recreation and two years later became the Director of the newly formed Sports Council.

Walter Winterbottom stepped onto the wider stage of sport and emerged to have a profound effect on sport in Britain during the second half of the twentieth century.

At the Central Council of Physical Education Walter Winterbottom worked to provide coaches and better facilities for sports governing bodies.

Walter Winterbottom soon became involved in the ongoing political debate about the recommendations of the 1960 Report of the Wolfenden Committee on Sport, which had recommended the establishment of a Sports Council responsible for distributing government money to sport.

Walter Winterbottom was in favour but the CCPR was divided on the issue.

In 1965 the Government under set up a Sports Council and Walter Winterbottom was seconded to become the first Director of the Sports Council with Denis Howell as his chairman.

Walter Winterbottom believed that participation in a sport played a much more important role in society that was generally accepted.

Walter Winterbottom conceived the idea of the Sports Aid Foundation, raising money from industry to back young elite sportsmen and women with Olympic medal winning chances.

Walter Winterbottom was a member of the Council of Europe and Chairman of the Committee for the Development of Sport and was influential in the acceptance of the Sport For All concept by Canada and UNESCO.

In 1978, after reaching the age of 65, Walter Winterbottom retired from the Sports Council and was knighted for his services to sport.

Walter Winterbottom became an advisor to the British government on ways in which British manufacturers of sports equipment could work with foreign firms.

Walter Winterbottom was head of the FIFA Technical Studies Group for the World Cup in 1966,1970,1974,1978 and a member in 1982.

Walter Winterbottom died in the Royal Surrey Hospital after an operation for cancer on 16 February 2002.