Passed, almost unnoticed, was this year’s
100th anniversary of the birth of Alf
Ramsey, the only man to guide England
to World Cup glory. He was born on
January 22, 1920, and died, aged 79,
on April 28, 1999.
Ramsey’s reputation has suffered from
a mistaken modernist presumption that
English managers were all tactical dunces
by comparison with the multi-titled,
multi-lingual foreign coaches who have
bestrode the Premier League over the
last 30 years.
Revisionists credit Herbert Chapman
- or was it Charlie Buchan? – for
devising the WM with a stopper centre-
half to combat the goal rush sparked by
the offside law change in 1925. Probably
Chapman and/or Buchan garnered most
of the credit because the English league
was the most visible.
But simultaneously, in Switzerland,
Austrian coach Karl Rappan was devising
the “Swiss Bolt”, in which the two full-
backs moved into the heart of defence
and the wing-halves dropped into their
full-back slots, creating the forerunner^
of catenaccio.
In the 1940s and early 1950s, as
player numbering became universal,
evolution brought new visible changes
in South America. The numbers told the
tale: in Argentina number four became
the right-back with number two a centre-
back alongside the six; in Uruguay
numbers two and three became the
centre-backs; in Brazil it was the
three who became the second
centre-back, alongside five,
while six became the left-back.
On both banks of the River
Plate the old centre-half –
the number five – remained
a kingpin, hence a dynasty
stretching from Nestor Rossi
in the 1940s through to
Antonio Rattin in the 1960s.
Hungary, in the early 1950s,
were an adjusted version of
the WM with balanced wing-
halves and a deep-lying
centre-forward. Manchester
City aped that with the
“Revie Plan” which involved
centre-forward Don Revie
dropping deep. After early
success it became too obvious. By the
time Revie moved on to Sunderland in
the late 1950s he was just one more
traditional inside-forward.
But the pursuit of novelty persisted.
West Ham United were the first English
club to copy the clearly-defined 4-2-
with which Brazil commandeered the
1958 World Cup.
In the autumn of 1960, largely
forgotten now, England followed suit.
Walter Winterbottom persuaded his
selection committee to give him the
team he wanted with Wolves’ Ron
Flowers dropping from left-half to second
centre-back, Bobby Robson and Johnny
Haynes running midfield, with Jimmy
Greaves up alongside the centre-forward.
For one season results were
spectacular, with six successive victories
including wins by 4-2 over Spain, 9-
over Scotland and 8-0 over Mexico. Then
came a quarter-final halt at the 1962
World Cup and the Ramsey takeover.
Ramsey had achieved success at
Ipswich Town with a lop-sided tactic: an
orthodox winger and deep-lying schemer,
Jimmy Leadbetter, on the left.
In 1965 a combination of injuries
prompted the selection of Ramsey’s
original “wingless wonders” in a 2-
friendly victory for England against Spain
in Madrid. From there it was only a small
step to the wingless 4-4-2 with which he
would win the World Cup a year later.
Alf Ramsey maybe gone but he should
not be forgotten.Tactical shift
GALATASARAY
Won away to
Istanbul rivals
Fenerbahce in the
Turkish Super Liga
for the first time in
20 years.JORGE
JESUS
Collected
his fifth
trophy
in just eight
months as
Flamengo beat
Independiente
Del Valle
to win the
Recopa
Sudamericana.REAL
SOCIEDAD
The Basque
club reached
the Final of
the Spanish
Cup for the
first time
since 1987.MICHEL
PLATINI
The former UEFA
president lost his
appeal against his
now-expired ban at
the European Court
of Human Rights.AJAX
Knocked out of the
Champions League
in their last group
game in December,
the Dutch club’s
next appearance
in Europe saw
them eliminated
from the Europa
League by Getafe.SALZBURG
After selling
Erling Haaland
and Takumi
Minamino
in January,
the Austrian
champions went
on a five-match
winless streak.GLOBAL FOOTBALL INTELLIGENCE
In charge...
Alf Ramsey