Bill Shorthouse

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
Height 1.84 m (6 ft 0 in)
Playing position Defender
Youth career
1945–1947 Wolverhampton Wanderers
Senior career*
Years Team Apps† (Gls)†
1947–1956 Wolverhampton Wanderers 344 (1)
Teams managed
1970 Birmingham City (joint caretaker)

* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only.

† Appearances (goals)

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

Career

Born in Bilston, Staffordshire, Shorthouse attended St Martin's School in nearby Bradley before serving in the Second World War, where he was wounded in the arm during the Normandy Landings.[1] He returned and recovered to sign for Wolves as an apprentice in 1945; his league debut came on 23 August 1947 in a 3–4 defeat at Manchester City.

He played as a defender, first at centre-half until replaced by Billy Wright, then at full-back. 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.

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.

Shorthouse went on to coach at Birmingham City,[2] 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.[3] 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 team-mates, he died in a Wolverhampton nursing home on 6 September 2008 at the age of 86. He had been suffering from dementia.[4]

Honours

Wolverhampton Wanderers

References

  1. ↑ "Football and the Second World War". The Encyclopedia of British Football. Spartacus Educational. Retrieved 2007-11-30.
  2. ↑ Alexander, Douglas (2007-03-04). "Lancashire hot Scot". Sunday Times. Retrieved 2007-11-30.
  3. ↑ "Managers". The Birmingham City FC Archive. Tony Jordan. Archived from the original on 2003-04-10.
  4. ↑ "Football star Bill dies, 86". Wolverhampton: Express & Star. 2008-09-08. Retrieved 2008-09-08.

External links

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