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Sir Alfred Ernest Ramsey (born January 22, 1920 in
Dagenham, Essex; died April 28, 1999) was a
footballer and manager of the English national
football team from 1963 to 1974.  His greatest
achievement was winning the Football World Cup
1966|1966 World Cup with England on July 30, 1966.
They also came third in the 1968 European Football
Championship|1968 European Championship and
reached the quarter-final stage of the Football
World Cup 1970|1970 World Cup under his
management. He was knighted in 1970.

Having been a gifted amateur as a pupil and as a
player for his army regiment, he played for
Southampton F.C.|Southampton from 1943 to 1949
(since 1944 as a professional), and Tottenham
Hotspur F.C.|Tottenham Hotspur after that. He was
very successful with Spurs, playing as a
right-back in more than 250 cup and league games,
and in 1953 made his England debut; he went on to
captain his country three times. His coolness and
capability for analysis earned him the nickname
The General.

He retired from playing in 1955 to become manager
of Ipswich Town F.C.|Ipswich Town, which he
managed very successfully, taking the team from
the Football League Third Division South|Third
Division South to Football League Division
One|First Division champions. 

He was made England manager in 1963. After
predicting that England would win the 1966 World
Cup, he successfully fulfilled the prophecy.
Ramsey's "wingless wonders" dispatched Argentina
national football team|Argentina in a famously
dirty quarter-final match, and then Portugal
national football team|Portugal in the
semi-finals, before beating West Germany national
football team|West Germany 4-2 (after extra time)
in the final at Wembley Stadium|Wembley.

Despite famously losing to Scotland national
football team|Scotland 3-2 at home in qualifying,
England still qualified for the 1968 European
Championship, but lost narrowly 1-0 to Yugoslavia
national football team|Yugoslavia in the
semi-finals, and had to settle for third place
after beating the Soviet Union national football
team|Soviet Union.

However, England gradually declined in the 1970s;
they lost to the Germans 3-2 in the quarter-finals
of the 1970 World Cup, after having led 2-0 with
twenty minutes remaining. Part of the blame was
put on Sir Alf's cautious tactics, but also on the
stand-in England goalkeeper, Peter Bonetti. Ramsey
was sacked in 1974, after England failed to
qualify for the Football World Cup 1974|World Cup
tournament of that year; again while Ramsey's
tactics were partly to blame, England had also
been spectacularly denied a win over Poland
national football team|Poland that would have
secured qualification, by the Polish goalkeeper
Jan Tomaszewski.

The later stages of his career were as caretaker
manager of Birmingham City F.C.|Birmingham City
and then technical advisor to Panathinaikos
between 1979 and 1980.

==Quotes==
* "Never change a winning team."
* "Our best football will come against the right
type of opposition - a team who come to play
football, and not act as animals." - Ramsey's
indignant opinion of Argentina after England beat
them 1-0 in a bruising quarter final in the 1966
World Cup.
* "You've won it once. Now you'll have to go out
there and win it again." - Ramsey's brief team
talk prior to the extra-time period in the 1966
final.

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