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Robert Dennis Blanchflower, known as Danny
Blanchflower (February 10, 1926 in Belfast -
December 9, 1993) was a soccer|footballer who
captained Tottenham Hotspur F.C.|Spurs during
their double-winning season of 1961.

He began his professional football career at the
end of the World War II|Second World War when he
was signed by Belfast side Glentoran FC|Glentoran.
In 1949, Barnsley F.C. paid £6,000 to transfer
him to England, and two years later Aston Villa
bought him for £15,000. His time at Aston Villa
didn't go well, unhappy with the club and the way
training was conducted, instead becoming one of
the first to propose that players should train
with a ball as opposed to merely undertaking
physical exercise. In 1954 he was bought by Spurs
for the huge fee of £30,000, and during his ten
years at White Hart Lane he made 337 league
appearances.

The highlight of his time at Spurs came with the
1960-61 season. With Blanchflower as captain Spurs
won their first 11 games, and eventually ran out
as league champions by 8 points. They then beat
Leicester City in the final of the FA Cup to
become the first team to win the league and cup
double since Aston Villa in 1897.

In 1962 he again captained Spurs to victory in the
FA Cup, only narrowly missing out on a second
double when they finished second in the league to
Ipswich Town, and in 1963 he captained his side to
victory over Atletico Madrid in the final of the
Cup Winners' Cup|European Cup Winners' Cup, the
first British side to win a European trophy.

Between 1949 and 1963, he earned 56 caps for
Northern Ireland national football team|Northern
Ireland, often playing alongside his brother
Jackie Blanchflower|Jackie, and in 1958 captained
his country when they reached the quarter-finals
of the Football World Cup 1958|World Cup.

After retiring as a player in April 1964, he
withdrew from football for several years,
returning briefly as manager of Northern Ireland
in the 1970s, and as manager of Chelsea
F.C.|Chelsea in 1978-9.

He was one of only a handful of players to have
been awarded the title of English Footballer of
the Year on two occasions, winning in both 1958
and 1961. In 1961, he also became the first person
to turn down the invitation to appear on This Is
Your Life, simply walking away from host Eamonn
Andrews live on air.

In the later years of his life, he suffered from
Alzheimer's Disease, and died at his home in
December 1993 aged 67. He is remembered as one of
the great tacticians in the history the game,
renowned for his passing and as an outstanding
right-half.

=== Quotes ===

* "Everything in our favour was against us."
* "Football is about glory; it is about doing
things in style and with a flourish, about going
out and beating the lot, not waiting for them to
die of boredom."
* "Ice in his veins, warmth in his heart, and
timing and balance in his feet" (on George Best)

start box
succession box|title=FWA Footballer of the
Year|Football Writers' Association Footballer of
the Year|before=Tom Finney |after=Syd
Owen|years=1958
succession box|title=FWA Footballer of the
Year|Football Writers' Association Footballer of
the Year|before=Bill Slater |after=Jimmy
Adamson|years=1961

succession box|
 before=Ken Shellito|
 title=Chelsea F.C. Manager|
 years=1978-1979|
 after=Geoff Hurst

end box