Management Career
In June 1948, aged just 31, Cullis became manager of Wolves and presided over the most successful era in the club's history. In his first season in charge, he became the youngest manager to win the FA Cup at Wembley as Wolves beat Leicester City to win their first major trophy since 1908. Five years later Wolves overhauled local rivals West Bromwich Albion to win their first league title.
Cullis' team restored some pride to English football after the national team's thrashings at the hands of Hungary when they beat the star-studded Honvéd side in a friendly, and Cullis's comments that his team were "champions of the world" played a large part in the formation of European club competitions.
Cullis led Wolves to two more league titles, in 1958 and 1959, and they narrowly missed the hat-trick in 1960 by losing by 1 point to Burnley, while also winning the FA Cup again in 1960 avoiding a repeat of the 1939 Double Horror season, sealing their position as one of the dominant teams of the era. The 1960s saw Wolves begin to struggle, and Cullis was surprisingly sacked in September 1964, declaring that he would not work in football again, despite an offer from Juventus.
After a short spell working as a sales representative, he did return to the game as manager of Birmingham City in December 1965, but could not reproduce the success he had enjoyed at Wolves. Cullis retired from football in March 1970, and took up a post with a travel agency in Malvern, his adopted home town.
Read more about this topic: Stan Cullis
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