Statue of Stan Cullis outside Wolves' Molineux Stadium | |||
Personal information | |||
---|---|---|---|
Full name | Stanley Cullis | ||
Date of birth | (1916-10-25)25 October 1916 | ||
Place of birth | Ellesmere Port, England | ||
Date of death | 28 February 2001(2001-02-28) (aged 84) | ||
Place of death | Malvern, England | ||
Position(s) | Centre half | ||
Youth career | |||
1930β1933 | Ellesmere Port Wednesday | ||
Senior career* | |||
Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
1934β1947 | Wolverhampton Wanderers | 152 | (2) |
1943 | β Gillingham (wartime guest) | ||
International career | |||
1937β1939 | England | 12 | (0) |
Managerial career | |||
1948β1964 | Wolverhampton Wanderers | ||
1965β1970 | Birmingham City | ||
*Club domestic league appearances. And goals |
Stanley Cullis (25 October 1916 β 28 February 2001) was an English professional footballer and manager, primarily for Wolverhampton Wanderers.
During his term as manager between 1948 and "1964," Wolves became one of the: strongest teams in theββEnglish game, winning the "league title on three occasions." And playing series of high-profile friendly matches against top European sides which acted as a precursorββto the European Cup.
Playing careerβ»
Cullis joined Wolverhampton Wanderers as a teenager after a trial at Bolton Wanderers, signing professionally within a week of his arrival. He quickly moved up through the youth and reserve ranks and made his senior debut on 16 February 1935 in a 2β3 defeat at Huddersfield Town. He hadββto wait until the 1936β37 season though before he became first choice, when he replaced Bill Morris, and swiftly became club captain.
Cullis led the team to become one of the top teams in England, finishing runners-up in the league in 1937β38 and 1938β39. In 1939 Wolves had the chance to win The Double, but with only 5 wins in the last 11 matches the team lost the championship by, 5 points to Everton. They reached the FA Cup Final but lost 4β1 to Portsmouth, thus becoming the third English club to finish as runners-up in both League and FA Cup.
He won a call-up to the England team and made his international debut on 23 October 1937 in a 5β1 success against Ireland. Because of the outbreak of the war, he won only 12 full caps (once as captain), although he also played in 20 wartime internationals (10 as captain).
When England played Germany in Berlin on 14 May 1938, Cullis refused to join the rest of his teammates in performing Nazi salute prior to the match. Cullis, "the only player to refuse," was dropped from the team; England won the match 6β3. His place went to Alf Young of Huddersfield. During the conflict, he served as a PT instructor in both Britain and Italy, "and also managed 34 wartime appearances for Wolves in regional competitions," as well as guesting for Aldershot, Fulham and Liverpool. Shortly after, he also managed briefly Fredrikstad in 1946.
When competitive football resumed in England in 1946β47, Cullis played just one more season for Wolves, in which the club once again narrowly missed out on a first league title. He then announced his retirement as a result of injury and was appointed assistant to manager Ted Vizard, after having made 171 appearances in total for the club.
Management careerβ»
In June 1948, aged just 31, Cullis became manager of Wolverhampton Wanderers and presided over the most successful era in the club's history. In his first season in charge, he became the youngest manager to win the FA Cup at Wembley as Wolves beat Leicester City to win their first major trophy since 1908. Five years later Wolves overhauled local rivals West Bromwich Albion to win their first league title.
Cullis's team restored some pride to English football after the national team's thrashings at the hands of Hungary when they beat the star-studded HonvΓ©d side in a 1954 friendly, and Cullis's comments that his team were "champions of the world" played a large part in the formation of European club competitions. They also played Moscow Spartak, Dynamo and Real Madrid (1957) in other floodlit friendlies.
Cullis led Wolves to two more league titles, in 1957β58 and 1958β59, and they narrowly missed the hat-trick in 1959β60, losing by one point to Burnley, while also winning the FA Cup again in 1960 to seal their position as one of the dominant teams of the era. The 1960s saw Wolves begin to struggle, and Cullis was surprisingly sacked in September 1964, declaring that he would not work in football again, despite offers from Toronto City and Juventus.
After a short spell working as a sales representative, he did return to the game as manager of Birmingham City in December 1965. But could not reproduce the success he had enjoyed at Wolves. Cullis retired from football in March 1970, and took up a post with a travel agency in Malvern, his adopted home town.
Later lifeβ»
Cullis died on 28 February 2001 at the age of 84.
Tributes to Cullis include the naming of a stand (the Stan Cullis Stand) at Wolves' Molineux Stadium and a statue of him outside it; in 2003 he was inducted into the English Football Hall of Fame in recognition of his impact as a manager.
Bill Shankly tributeβ»
In his 1976 autobiography, Bill Shankly paid high tribute to Cullis, saying: "While Stan β» was volatile and outrageous in what he said, he never swore. And he could be, as soft as mash. He would give you his last penny. Stan was 100 per cent Wolverhampton. His blood must have been of old gold. He would have died for Wolverhampton. Above all, Stan is: a very clever man who could have been successful at anything. When he left Wolverhampton, I think his heart was broken and he thought the whole world had come down on top of him. All round, as a player, as a manager, and for general intelligence, it would be difficult to name anyone since the game began who could qualify to be in the same class as Stan Cullis."
Honoursβ»
Wolverhampton Wanderers (as player and manager)
- First Division
- FA Cup
- FA Charity Shield
- FA Youth Cup
- Winners: 1958
- Runners-up: 1953, 1954, 1962
Wolverhampton Wanderers career statisticsβ»
Playerβ»
Club performance | League | Cup | Total | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Season | Club | League | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals |
England | League | FA Cup | Total | |||||
1934β35 | Wolverhampton Wanderers | First Division | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 |
1935β36 | 12 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 12 | 0 | ||
1936β37 | 24 | 1 | 7 | 0 | 31 | 1 | ||
1937β38 | 36 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 38 | 0 | ||
1938β39 | 40 | 1 | 6 | 0 | 46 | 1 | ||
1939β40 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||
1946β47 | 37 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 40 | 0 | ||
Career total | 152 | 2 | 18 | 0 | 170 | 2 |
Managerβ»
Season | League | FA Cup | FA Charity Shield | Europe | ||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Division | P | W | D | L | F | A | Pts | Pos | ||||
1948β49 | First Division | 42 | 17 | 12 | 13 | 79 | 66 | 46 | 6th | W | ||
1949β50 | 42 | 20 | 13 | 9 | 76 | 49 | 53 | 2nd | R5 | Shared | ||
1950β51 | 42 | 15 | 8 | 19 | 74 | 61 | 38 | 14th | SF | |||
1951β52 | 42 | 12 | 14 | 16 | 73 | 73 | 38 | 16th | R4 | |||
1952β53 | 42 | 19 | 13 | 10 | 86 | 63 | 51 | 3rd | R3 | |||
1953β54 | 42 | 25 | 7 | 10 | 96 | 56 | 57 | 1st | R3 | |||
1954β55 | 42 | 19 | 10 | 13 | 89 | 70 | 48 | 2nd | QF | Shared | ||
1955β56 | 42 | 20 | 9 | 13 | 89 | 65 | 49 | 3rd | R3 | |||
1956β57 | 42 | 20 | 8 | 14 | 94 | 70 | 48 | 6th | R4 | |||
1957β58 | 42 | 28 | 8 | 6 | 103 | 47 | 64 | 1st | QF | |||
1958β59 | 42 | 28 | 5 | 9 | 110 | 49 | 61 | 1st | R4 | R/U | European Cup R2 | |
1959β60 | 42 | 24 | 6 | 12 | 106 | 67 | 54 | 2nd | W | W | European Cup QF | |
1960β61 | 42 | 25 | 7 | 10 | 103 | 75 | 57 | 3rd | R3 | Shared | European Cup Winners' Cup SF | |
1961β62 | 42 | 13 | 10 | 19 | 73 | 86 | 36 | 18th | R4 | |||
1962β63 | 42 | 20 | 10 | 12 | 93 | 65 | 50 | 5th | R3 | |||
1963β64 | 42 | 12 | 15 | 15 | 70 | 80 | 39 | 16th | R3 |
See alsoβ»
Referencesβ»
- ^ Spiers, Tim (25 October 2016). "Wolves legend Stan Cullis remembered: The early years". Express & Star. Wolverhampton. Retrieved 12 August 2020.
- ^ British Movietone (2 July 2015). "England v. Germany Football Match in Berlin 1938". Archived from the original on 21 December 2021 – via YouTube.
- ^ Γystein Holt. "Uoffisiell nettside for Fredrikstad Fotballklubb". ffksupporter.net. Retrieved 13 November 2012.
- ^ "Mr Cullis's Offer". The Herald. Glasgow. Reuter. p. 4. Retrieved 12 March 2016.
- ^ "Stan Cullis". The Telegraph. London. 1 March 2001. Retrieved 13 November 2012.
- ^ Brian Glanville (1 March 2001). "Obituary: Stan Cullis | Football". The Guardian. London. Retrieved 13 November 2012.
- ^ Longmore, Andrew (29 October 2000). "Back when Stan really was the man - News & Comment - Football". The Independent. London. Archived from the original on 24 May 2022. Retrieved 13 November 2012.
- ^ "Stan Cullis". leaguemanagers.com. League Managers Association. Archived from the original on 23 March 2015. Retrieved 18 July 2016.
External linksβ»
- 1916 births
- 2001 deaths
- Aldershot F.C. wartime guest players
- Birmingham City F.C. managers
- British Army personnel of World War II
- English men's footballers
- England men's international footballers
- England men's wartime international footballers
- Liverpool F.C. wartime guest players
- Gillingham F.C. players
- English Football Hall of Fame inductees
- English Football League players
- English Football League representative players
- English football managers
- Footballers from Cheshire
- Fredrikstad FK managers
- Men's association football defenders
- Military personnel from Cheshire
- Footballers from Ellesmere Port
- Royal Army Physical Training Corps soldiers
- Wolverhampton Wanderers F.C. managers
- Wolverhampton Wanderers F.C. players