Nobby Stiles, World Cup winner with England in 1966, dies aged 78...
Nobby Stiles, one of England’s 1966 World Cup winning heroes, has died aged 78 after a long period with prostate cancer and advanced dementia.
A European Cup winner with Manchester United in 1968, Stiles will be forever remembered for his victory jig at Wembley two years earlier, clutching the Jules Rimet trophy in one hand, the “Toothless Tiger’s” false teeth in the other.
“It’s still the biggest thing that happened to me,” Stiles, who also played for Middlesbrough and Preston, told the Guardian in 2002. “Everyone still wants a piece of you because of it. To be fair, I’m not as busy as some of the other lads. But wherever you go, what you did means so much to people. Not just lads of my age, you’d expect that. But kids of me grandkids’ age, they come up to me and go: ‘Hey, you, you’re the fella with no teeth who danced round Wembley, aren’t you?’ In a way, you end up belonging to everyone.”
A skilful and creative midfielder, Stiles was an uncompromising tackler and his robust style was the subject of some criticism during the 1966 tournament, particularly when his “rough play” against Jacques Simon put the French playmaker out of the game. But Alf Ramsey stayed loyal to his ever-present, bustling midfield terrier.
“By all accounts the [FA selection] committee told him in no uncertain terms I couldn’t play, that England needed to make an example of me. I was a liability, they said. Alf told them he’d resign if he couldn’t pick who he wanted. He was prepared to resign in the middle of a World Cup over me. I never found that out till he’d died, Alf. What a man.”
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