Malcolm Allison
"I'd been a professional for two and a half months and Malcolm had taught me everything I know.... When Malcolm was coaching schoolboys he took a liking to me when I don't think anyone else at West Ham saw anything special in me... I looked up to the man. It's not too strong to say I loved him."
Bobby Moore
Malcolm Alexander Allison (5 September 1927 – 14 October 2010) was an English football player and manager. Nicknamed "Big Mal", he was one of English football's most flamboyant and intriguing characters because of his panache, fedora and cigar, controversies off the pitch and outspoken nature.
Allison's managerial potential become apparent while in his youth at West Ham United, where he became a reliable defender and acted as a mentor to the younger players including future England World Cup winning captain Bobby Moore. His playing career was cut short in 1958 when he had to have a lung removed because of tuberculosis.
As a coach he is remembered for assisting manager Joe Mercer in the transformation of the team he supported as a young boy - Manchester City. And during the 1960s and early 70s, he won seven trophies in seven years with Joe Mercer. After Mercer left, he went on to manage the club on two occasions whilst offering his managerial services for a third time in 1989. He went on to manage several more English sides, as well as three in Portugal and the Kuwait national team.
Read more about Malcolm Allison: Early Life, Playing Career, Management Career, Personality, After Football, Quotes
Famous quotes containing the words malcolm and/or allison:
“Fidelity to the subject’s thought and to his characteristic way of expressing himself is the sine qua non of journalistic quotation.”
—Janet Malcolm (b. 1934)
“... we have the satisfaction of knowing that because all of us believed, we inspired, motivated, and liberated some of the most beautiful people on earth—young, gifted, and black.”
—Mary Allison Burch (b. 1906)