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Jimmy Armfield
| Category: | Male Player |
| Year Inducted: | 2008 |
Profile by Robert Galvin, the author of The Football Hall of Fame, the official book of the National Football Museum Hall of Fame:
Jimmy Armfield earned the respect of his peers during a distinguished career at club and international level, collecting 43 caps at right-back and coming agonisingly close to lifting the World Cup in 1966 as England captain.
Four years after leading his country into the quarter-finals of the 1962 World Cup in Chile, the veteran Blackpool defender and pioneer ‘overlapping' full-back was recalled by Alf Ramsey in the run-up to the tournament on home soil.
Armfield was named captain for two vital warm-up games, evidence that he enjoyed the full confidence of his manager despite a two-year absence from international football. Once the tournament began, had full-back George Cohen and then skipper Bobby Moore been sidelined by injury or untimely loss of form, Armfield was almost certainly the man Ramsey had in mind for the leadership role. As it was, circumstances took a turn against him: during the tour match against Finland, Armfield took a bad knock on his toe. His chance had gone.
During the World Cup, the immensely popular Armfield assumed the role of unofficial leader of the reserve players, a ‘link man', as he put it, ‘between them and the manager.' On the final whistle of a warm-up practice game against Arsenal at the club's training ground, he was carried off the field on the shoulders of his team-mates. It was a light-hearted moment, but the gesture illustrating a depth of respect for his contribution to England and the game as a whole. Tellingly, Ramsey sought his opinion on a number of occasions during the tournament.
His football education had begun at Bloomfield Road in the mid-1950s, playing behind the great Stanley Matthews. And it was Matthews' presence that gave the young full-back an opportunity to attack. Noting the fact that opposition teams put two markers on the veteran right-winger, Armfield saw the wide open spaces down the flank, as he recalled in his autobiography, published in 2004. In those days, remember, full-backs concentrated on defending and rarely ventured beyond the half-way line.
‘We were playing Wolves at Bloomfield Road and, sure enough, there were two players marking the great man. So I went for it. I skipped past their left-half and left-back, called for the ball and Stanley provided the perfect pass.'
Blackpool, then a top-flight side, won the game. But that was not the end of the matter. Back in the dressing-room, Joe Smith, the Blackpool manager, wanted a word. ‘What was all that about?' he demanded. ‘All that running up and down. Now listen, if I wanted you to be a right-winger you would have a number seven on your back, not a number two. And in case you hadn't noticed, the number seven we've got is plenty good enough.'
Armfield would not be deterred, however. ‘The overlapping full-back had arrived ... and, in fairness to Joe, he soon came round to the idea, and so did the crowd.'
A turning point in his career occurred during the game against Ipswich Town on 25 April, 1964. Alf Ramsey was sitting in the stands at Portman Road that day, and he saw Armfield sustain a severely torn groin muscle (‘the most painful injury I ever suffered'). The year before, Armfield had led England onto the field at Wembley for the prestigious FA centenary fixture against a FIFA Rest of the World XI, a star-studded side that included the likes of Alfredo di Stefano, Ferenc Puskas, Eusebio and Denis Law. Now, in his absence, others grabbed their chance.
It didn't help either that Blackpool were then a club in decline. A prominent club when he broke into the first team in the 1950s, Blackpool's results gradually deteriorated. In 1957, Armfield had attracted the interest of Manchester United, but Blackpool refused to sell. He would remain a one-club man throughout his playing career. Others, notably goalkeeper Gordon West, Alan Ball and Emlyn Hughes would be sold, however, in order to balance the books, and their fortunes inevitably suffered. Though they would remain in the top flight for all but one of his seasons at Bloomfield Road, Armfield's retirement, in 1971, coincided with relegation from Division One; and the Seasiders have not featured in the top flight of English football since.
Armfield was captain of the side for 13 years. ‘In my playing days, people used to call me Gentlemen Jim, probably because I was never sent off in 626 games for Blackpool, 43 appearances for England and nine Under-23 internationals I was booked just once, for two successive fouls in an FA Cup tie against Norwich,' Armfield wrote. ‘I had played more than 500 League games by then and the referee was almost apologetic.'