Jump to content

Bill Shorthouse

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Bill Shorthouse
Personal information
Full name William Henry Shorthouse
Date of birth (1922-05-27)27 May 1922
Place of birth Bilston, England
Date of death 6 September 2008(2008-09-06) (aged 86)
Place of death Wolverhampton, England
Position(s) Defender
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1941–1956 Wolverhampton Wanderers 344 (1)
Managerial career
1970 Birmingham City (joint caretaker)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

William Henry Shorthouse (27 May 1922 – 6 September 2008) was an English professional football player and coach, who spent his playing career with Wolverhampton Wanderers.

Career

[edit]

Born in Bilston, Staffordshire, Shorthouse attended St Martin's School in nearby Bradley.[1] He served in the Royal Engineers in the Second World War, and was wounded in the arm during the Normandy landings.[2] He had joined Wolverhampton Wanderers as an amateur in 1941;[3] his senior debut came on 23 August 1947 in a 4–3 First Division defeat at Manchester City.[4]

He played as a defender, first at centre-half until replaced by Billy Wright, then at full-back.[3] He was part of the club's 1949 FA Cup-winning team and was a near ever-present as the club won their first league championship in the 1953–54 season.[1]

The defender remained a first choice player at Molineux until retiring in late 1956. In total, he played 376 senior games for the club – putting him among the club's top 20 appearance makers – before launching a career in coaching.[1]

Shorthouse went on to coach at Birmingham City,[5] and he and chief scout Don Dorman acted as caretaker managers at the end of the 1969–70 season while the club sought a replacement after Stan Cullis, Shorthouse's former manager at Wolves, retired.[6] He also briefly coached the England youth team during the following season and later worked as a youth team coach at Aston Villa, guiding them to victory in the 1980 FA Youth Cup.

Known as "The Baron" to his teammates, he died in a Wolverhampton nursing home on 6 September 2008 at the age of 86. He had been suffering from dementia.[7]

Honours

[edit]

Wolverhampton Wanderers

References

[edit]
  1. ^ a b c "Tributes paid to Wolves legend". Wolverhampton Wanderers F.C. 12 September 2008. Archived from the original on 13 September 2008.
  2. ^ Rippon, Anton (2011) [First published 2005]. Gas Masks for Goal Posts. Football in Britain during the Second World War. Stroud: The History Press. ISBN 978-0-7524-7188-4.
  3. ^ a b Ponting, Ivan (17 September 2008). "Bill Shorthouse: Stalwart of the finest Wolves side". The Independent. London. Retrieved 2 November 2016.
  4. ^ "Player stats: Debuts". wolves-stats.co.uk. Archived from the original on 13 June 2011.
  5. ^ Alexander, Douglas (4 March 2007). "Lancashire hot Scot". Sunday Times. London. Retrieved 2 November 2016 – via Newsbank.
  6. ^ "Managers". The Birmingham City FC Archive. Tony Jordan. Archived from the original on 10 April 2003.
  7. ^ "Football star Bill dies, 86". Express & Star. Wolverhampton. 8 September 2008. Archived from the original on 22 May 2011. Retrieved 8 September 2008.
[edit]