Joe Armstrong (1894–1975) succeeded Louis Rocca as chief scout of Manchester United F.C. after World War II. Many of the youth players that made their debut from the early 1950s onwards are a tribute to his scouting skills. United's teamsheet at that time consisted of such players as Eddie Colman, Liam Whelan, David Pegg and Albert Scanlon. Whelan and Pegg both gained international recognition, but along with Colman died in the Munich air disaster on 6 February 1958. Scanlon, meanwhile, survived and continued his playing career until well into the 1960s.
Early in 1953, Joe Armstrong signed 15-year-old Bobby Charlton, who went on to become one of the greatest players in the world, being part of Manchester United's European Cup winning team of 1968 and the 1966 England World Cup winning team.
Another notable signing was Duncan Edwards, who broke into the Manchester United first team at the age of 17, was capped for the England team at 18, and gained two Football League championship medals as well as 18 England caps before he died two weeks after being injured in the Munich crash.
| Persondata | |
|---|---|
| Name | Armstrong, Joe |
| Alternative names | |
| Short description | English football scout |
| Date of birth | 1894 |
| Place of birth | |
| Date of death | 1975 |
| Place of death | |
Famous quotes containing the words joe and/or armstrong:
“This might be the end of the world. If Joe lost we were back in slavery and beyond help. It would all be true, the accusations that we were lower types of human beings. Only a little higher than apes. True that we were stupid and ugly and lazy and dirty and, unlucky and worst of all, that God Himself hated us and ordained us to be hewers of wood and drawers of water, forever and ever, world without end.”
—Maya Angelou (b. 1928)
“I am black: I am the incarnation of a complete fusion with the world, an intuitive understanding of the earth, an abandonment of my ego in the heart of the cosmos, and no white man, no matter how intelligent he may be, can ever understand Louis Armstrong and the music of the Congo.”
—Frantz Fanon (1925–1961)