Skilful part-time lecturer who helped master the Magyars
ONE of the finest English footballers passed away last week, a man who played alongside Stanley Matthews as a youngster, who won three League titles and was named Footballer of the Year in 1960 in the week he that lifted the FA Cup as captain of Wolves.
Bill Slater was no ordinary player, and no ordinary man.
He was the last amateur to play in the Cup Final, with Blackpool in 1951. When he joined the celebrated Wolves team of the 1950s he did so as a part-time professional so that he could continue with his other job as a lecturer at Birmingham University. Imagine that today.
Sometimes it meant Slater was unavailable for away matches, but the mighty manager of the club, Stan Cullis, accepted the problem. He knew it was worth it for the skill, style, intelligence and energy his outstanding wing-half gave to the team.
Slater took part in so many big matches, including four at the
1958 World Cup finals when England held eventual champions Brazil to a 0-0 draw in the group section.
The most memorable occasion of his career, he told me once when I visited his home in west London, was a game played 64 years ago this week.
Wolves beat Honved 3-2 in an emotionally charged friendly against the great Hungarian side led by Ferenc Puskas.
A few months earlier the England national team had lost 7-1 to Hungary. This was revenge, and Cullis proclaimed his magnificent Wolves to be “champions of the world”.
It was a boast that angered many on the continent, and it led directly to the formation of the European Cup a few months later.
Oh yes, Bill Slater was a man at the heart of football history.
For many years after his retirement he attended the annual Player of the Year dinner, happy to be among those who had won the award, walking with pleasure among his peers to the top table.
At that function people would nudge me and ask, ‘Who’s that old fellow?’
I always felt that was a pity. We value the past too little in our sport; we neglect our giants.
Bill Slater was a modest man. He didn’t shout about his glory.
He was, nevertheless, one of the very finest English footballers. show’s anthem of honour is played.
This time they had a pop music band playing, while Thomas looked nonplussed and walked around asking BBC technicians what he should do next. It was a shambles.