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Norbert "Nobby" Peter Stiles Order of the British
Empire|MBE, (born Collyhurst, Manchester, 18th May
1942), was the toothless midfield ballwinner of
England national football team|England's Football
World Cup 1966|1966 World Cup winning side.

Stiles grew up supporting Manchester United
F.C.|Manchester United and his talent was swiftly
recognised when he played for England national
football team|England Schoolboys at the age of 15.
He achieved a childhood ambition when, in the same
year, the club he supported gave him an
apprenticeship.

He was an unlikely footballer in many ways - he
was very small, at a time when teenagers were
being rejected by clubs purely because of their
lack of height; he was also a wearer of dentures
(the removal of which prior to matches gave him a
gap-toothed expression which had the potential to
scare) after having his real teeth forcibly ripped
out during a match; and he suffered from severe
myopia|shortsightedness, meaning he needed strong
contact lenses when playing and wore thick
spectacles off the field.

Nevertheless, Manchester United manager Matt Busby
saw something in the tenacious youngster, and
Stiles was given his debut as a full back in
October 1960 against Bolton Wanderers F.C.|Bolton
Wanderers.

Stiles simple passing game and fearless
ball-winning skills saw his swift conversion into
a "holding" midfield player of a type now a
feature of all top teams but still a rarity at a
time when forward lines consisted of five players
and the midfield was restricted to covering
half-backs. Stiles was deployed in the middle of
the park to snuff out the flair and peril of
creative opponents, and this he did with much
success. His ability to gain and retain possession
also allowed his more skilled team-mates like
Bobby Charlton and, later, George Best more space
on the park to utilise.

That said, Busby was not afraid to sacrifice
Stiles when required and when United beat
Leicester City F.C.|Leicester City 3-1 in the 1963
FA Cup final, Stiles wasn't picked for the game.
He began to make more frequent appearance in the
seasons ahead, however, and won the Football
League Championship|First Division title in 1965.
The same year, his country came calling.

With England hosting the World Cup in 1966,
manager Alf Ramsey had no competitive qualifying
campaign to prepare, and therefore he spent the
prior two years meticulously assessing players in
friendly matches and British Home Championship
games. With Bobby Charlton the only certainty for
his World Cup midfield, he needed to create a trio
of players to complement the Manchester United
attacker and among those was the requirement for a
"spoiler". Stiles was tested out for this role in
a 2-2 draw against Scotland national football
team|Scotland at Wembley Stadium|Wembley on April
10 1965. He kept his place for eight of the next
nine internationals, scoring the only goal in a
Wembley win against Germany national football
team|West Germany along the way, and his place in
the starting XI for the tournament seemed set in
stone by the time Ramsey confirmed his 22.

Stiles won his 15th cap as England kicked off the
competition with a dour goalless draw against
Uruguay national football team|Uruguay and
maintained his place as the uncompromising hardman
playing ahead of the back four and making sure
there was space and time for the likes of Charlton
ahead of him. With Stiles not missing a minute,
England progressed through the group with wins
over Mexico national football team|Mexico and
France national football team|France and then
scraped past a violent Argentina national football
team|Argentina side in the last eight.

In the semi final, Stiles did a decidedly
effective man-marking job on the Portugal national
football team|Portugal playmaker and prolific
goalscorer Eusebio to the extent that the
enigmatic and immensely skilled player was
essentially nullified for the whole match, which
England won 2-1. Purists bemoaned the lack of
prettiness but realists congratulated Stiles on
his desire to win the battle without resorting to
dirtier tricks. Ramsey, on being asked by a
journalist about the way he'd instructed Stiles to
"deal with" Eusebio, questioned and objected to
the terminology used, though he knew exactly why
the reporter had referred to Stiles' display in
such a manner. When all was said and done, their
best opponent barely got a kick (except to score
Portugal's late penalty) and England were in the
final.

Stiles, winning his 20th cap, had no man-marking
brief against West Germany but played a strong,
tough match as England saw a 2-1 lead levelled
with the last kick of the game before Geoff Hurst
completed football's most famous hat-trick to win
the competition in extra time. Though no abiding
memory of Stiles' on-pitch display lingers in the
memory (which, in his position, was a sign that
he'd played superbly), there was a post-match
image which lived on for decades - the sight of
him doing an involuntary, spontaneous jig with the
Jules Rimet Trophy in his hand while holding his
false teeth in the other. Thirty years later this
moment would be referred to by Frank Skinner and
David Baddiel in the lyrics to Three Lions, the
England theme song written with the Lightning
Seeds for 1996 European Football Championship|Euro
96.

Stiles played in the next four internationals but
was deemed to have performed poorly as England
lost infamously to Scotland at Wembley in 1967 and
was dropped by Ramsey. He won his second League
championship medal with Manchester United in the
same year, but greater club honours were to come.

United reached the European Cup final in 1968,
which was to be staged at Wembley, and Stiles' old
nemesis Eusebio was again someone he had to deal
with as part of a fearsome attacking potential
posed by opponents Benfica. Stiles' played well
without keeping Eusebio wholly quiet, and with the
score at 1-1 and just a few minutes left, the
Portuguese legend got away from the United defence
with just goalkeeper Alex Stepney to beat, yet
only managed to slam the ball straight into
Stepney's midriff. United won 4-1 and became the
first English club to lift Europe's main trophy.

Stiles was selected for the England squad which
contested the 1968 European Football
Championship|1968 European Championships but the
holding role in midfield had been taken by
Tottenham Hotspur F.C.|Tottenham Hotspur's Alan
Mullery. England went out to Yugoslavia national
football team|Yugoslavia in the semi finals,
during which Mullery became the first ever England
player to receive a red card. Stiles was recalled
for the otherwise meaningless third place play-off
game against the USSR national football team|USSR,
but it was clear that despite his misdemeanour,
Mullery was now Ramsey's first choice.

Stiles played just once for England in 1969 and
twice in 1970. He was selected by Ramsey for the
Football World Cup 1970|1970 World Cup in Mexico
but only as Mullery's understudy, and not only did
he not get a kick during the competition as
England surrendered the title in the quarter
final, he never played for his country again. He
ended with 28 caps - ultimately the least capped
member of the 1966 XI - and one goal.

After 392 matches and 19 goals, Manchester United
sold Stiles in 1971 to Middlesbrough
F.C.|Middlesbrough for 20,000 pounds. Two years
later, he became a player-coach at Preston North
End F.C.|Preston North End when Bobby Charlton was
manager, though this did not work out for
Charlton, and Stiles ended up as manager from 1977
to 1981. 

Stiles joined the exodus of ageing and
semi-retired European players to the North
American Soccer League|NASL in 1981, playing for
Vancouver Whitecaps. Three years on and he finally
gave up playing.

On September 29, 1985 Stiles took over as manager
of West Bromwich Albion; however, he was sacked
the following February after the sides managed
only three wins under his leadership, and this
would prove to be his final stab at management. He
later revealed his struggle with depression while
in the job, finding it tough to cope with working
in the Midlands and the daily commute from
Manchester, where his family lived.

Between 1989 and 1993 he worked for Manchester
United as their youth team coach, developing the
considerable skills of teenage prodigies such as
David Beckham, Nicky Butt, Ryan Giggs, Paul
Scholes and the Gary Neville|Neville brothers.

In 2000, Stiles was awarded his MBE after a
campaign by sections of the media who were
surprised that five of the 1966 team had never
been officially decorated for their achievements.
Stiles duly joined Alan Ball (footballer)|Alan
Ball, Roger Hunt, Ray Wilson (footballer)|Ray
Wilson and George Cohen in collecting his gong.

Stiles released his autobiography, After The Ball,
in 2003.