Bill Nicholson: Football's Perfectionist

Bill Nicholson was revered as one of the most honest football managers in the business. Between 1960 and 1964 he turned Tottenham Hotspur into the finest team in Britain. This book, the first biography of Nicholson, commemorates the 50th anniversary of Tottenham's pioneering 1961 Double, which Nicholson followed up in 1963 by becoming the first manager to win a European trophy. By molding great players like Dave Mackay, Danny Blanchflower, John White, Cliff Jones, and Jimmy Greaves into an almost perfectly balanced team, he set new standards of attacking play. Nicholson was born in Scarborough in 1919. At the age of 17 he took the night train alone to London, signed for Spurs, and spent the rest of his life with the club as player, coach, manager, scout, and President. He never had a contract, spurned bonuses, and lived ten minutes' walk from the ground with his remarkable wife, who was known as Darkie, until his death in 2004. He is still revered by Tottenham fans as one of the most important figures in the club's history. This well-researched book offers a new, kinder impression of this much-loved man.