| Stan Cullis |
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Born in Ellesmere Port , England , Cullis joined Wolverhampton Wanderers as a teenager and by 1934 was a member of the first team squad. Wolves were on the way to becoming one of the top teams in England, finishing runners-up in the league in 1938 and 1939 , when the Second World War took away many of the best years of Cullis' career. Because of the war he won only 12 caps for England , although he did captain his country in wartime internationals. When competitive football resumed in England in 1946 , Cullis played just one more season for Wolves in which the club once again narrowly missed out on a first league title. When he announced his retirement he was given a job on the coaching staff, having made 171 appearances for the club. In 1948 , aged just 31, Cullis became manager of Wolves 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 overhualed local rivals West Bromwich Albion to win the English League for the first time. Cullis' team restored some pride to English football after the national team's thrashings at the hands of Hungary when they beat the star-studded Honvéd side in a friendly, and Cullis' comments that his team were "champions of the world" played a large part in the formation of European club competitions. Cullis led Wolves to two more league titles, in 1958 and 1959 , and in 1960 they narrowly missed the hat-trick while also winning the FA Cup again, sealing their position as one of the dominant teams of the era. The 1960s saw Wolves begin to struggle, and Cullis was surprisingly sacked in 1964 , declaring that he would not work in football again. He did return a year later to manage Birmingham City , but could not reproduce the success he had enjoyed at Wolves. Cullis retired from football in 1970 , and died in 2001 at the age of 84. Tributes to Cullis include the naming of a stand (the Stan Cullis Stand) at Wolves' Molineux Stadium , and in 2003 he was inducted into the English Football Hall Of Fame in recognition of his impact as a manager. EXTERNAL LINKS |
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