Jimmy Dickinson
James William " Jimmy" Dickinson ( born April 24, 1925 in Alton, England; † November 9, 1982 ) was an English football player and coach. He completed 845 games for the club Portsmouth and is equipped with 48 international matches most capped player of " Pompey ".
Sports career
Dickinson learned to play football in the domestic Alton Youth Club and was discovered by his mathematics and sports teacher Eddie Lever for FC Portsmouth, this was also his future coach there. After three years of military service in the Royal Navy he made his debut in 1946 in the First Division during the home game against Blackburn Rovers.
He established himself in the starting line- played mostly on the left or defensive midfield position and won in his third year for Portsmouth, the English Championship. With Jack Froggatt and Jimmy Scoular he made it a very effective series on the half position. Then he made his debut for England on May 18, 1949 in a 4-1 victory against Norway in Oslo.
In the following year, Dickinson was able to defend with Portsmouth the championship title and was subsequently nominated for the 1950 World Cup in Brazil in the squad. He graduated from all three group matches against Chile, the U.S. and Spain and then retired from the competition. Four years later - he had in qualifying denied all three games against Wales, Northern Ireland and Scotland - he also played the 1954 World Cup in Switzerland and retired there with his team in the quarter- final against Uruguay. Before the World Cup tournament in 1954 in Switzerland, he also belonged to the English team on 25 November 1953 at Wembley Stadium against the local guys around Ferenc Puskas and Nandor Hidegkuti with 3:6 goals and on 23 May 1954 in Budapest the return match at all with 1:7 gates lost two matches against Hungary.
In the period when Dickinson his last - on 15 December 1956 he was the World Cup qualifying match for the 1958 World Cup in Sweden against Denmark still in use, the remaining qualifying games played the young Duncan Edwards - Countries Match, the club went through in 1956 a sporting descent, then what in 1959 had to descend into the Second Division consequence. After another year in which the class could only be kept scarce, Dickinson rose with Portsmouth in 1961 even into the Third Division. According to the Direct resurgence Dickinson ended after the season 1964/65 at the age of 40 years and after almost secured league against Northampton Town ( with a 1:1 in the final game ) began his career as a football player.
After the football
After he then in public relations at Portsmouth FC worked and other club functions had held, he was coach of the club in 1977, playing now again in the third division in May. There he was first with only a dot pitch back up the class, giving him 1977/78 will no longer be managed in the following season. Only a year later he was replaced by Frank Burrows, after also increasingly health problems in Dickinson einstellten that were related to the stress during labor coach.
After three heart attacks Dickinson died in 1982 at the age of 57 years. In his honor, the club song of Portsmouth ( Pompey Chimes ) was played during the funeral service at St. Mary's Church.
Others
- Because of his contribution to the English football Dickinson in 1964 awarded the Order of the British Empire as MBE.
- Dickinson never received a warning, which earned him the nickname Gentleman Jim throughout his career.
- He was until 1980 record holder for most games for a single English professional club, until he was surpassed John Trollope of Swindon Town in this category.
Achievements
- English Champion: 1949, 1950