Noel Cantwell

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Noel Euchuria Cornelius Cantwell (February 28, 1932 – September 8, 2005) was an Irish cricketer and football player born in County Cork, Irish Free State. He was educated at the Roman Catholic Presentation Brothers College in Cork.

Contents 1 Club career 2 International career 3 Management career 4 Cricket career 5 Death

[edit] Club career

Cantwell played as a full-back for Western Rovers, Cork Athletic, West Ham United (1952-1960) (248 appearances and 11 goals), and Manchester United (1960-1967).

While at West Ham, he featured in the London XI side that competed in the 1955-58 Inter-Cities Fairs Cup final on 1 May 1958. He captained the Hammers to winning the Division Two championship in the 1957-58 season and thereby leading the club into the top flight for the first time since 1930.

In November 1960, Cantwell joined Manchester United. He helped the club win the 1965 and 1967 league titles and captained United when winning the 1963 FA Cup. He joined United in 1960 and left the club in 1967 after scoring eight goals.

He also served as Chairman of the Professional Footballers Association.

[edit] International career

He won 36 full International caps for Ireland (typically playing at left full back and on several occasions at centre forward), scoring 14 goals and also captained the Republic on several occasions including a match against England at Wembley.

[edit] Management career

In his first managerial role at Coventry City he had the onerous task of following Jimmy Hill who had taken the club into the First Division for the first time in their history. Cantwell kept the Sky Blues in the top flight by the skin of their teeth in his first two seasons before taking them to a sixth place finish in 1969-70, earning them qualification for the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup (a year before it was replaced by the UEFA Cup).

He departed from Highfield Road on 12 March 1972 to take charge of the New England Tea Men in the United States of America, but within seven months was back in English football as manager of Peterborough United.

He helped Peterborough win the Fourth Division title in his first full season as manager, before leaving on 10 May 1977 for a second spell with the Tea Men. This time he spent a year in the States.

He returned to Peterborough on 19 November 1986 for a second spell as manager, remaining in this role until he became general manager on 12 July 1988. He was general manager at London Road for a year until he quit football to become licensee of the New Inn at Peterborough, where he remained for 10 years until he retired in 1999.

[edit] Cricket career

He also played cricket for Cork Bohemians Cricket Club and Ireland as a left-handed batsman and a right-arm medium bowler. He played five times for Ireland [1] making his debut in what was his sole first-class match [2] versus Scotland at Edinburgh in 1956, scoring 31 and 17. [3] His last match for Ireland was against Lancashire in July 1959. [4]

[edit] Death

Noel Cantwell died on September 8, 2005, after a battle against cancer at the age of 72. He left a widow Maggie and two children.

His former teams each held a minute of silence for him before their next matches.

v • d • e Republic of Ireland national football team – Managers Harris (193?–3?*) · Lacey (193?–??*) · Livingstone (1951–53) · Stevenson (1953–55) · Carey (1955–67) · Cantwell (1967) · Hurley (1967–69) · Meagan (1969–71) · Tuohy (1971–73) · Thomas (1973**) · Giles (1973–80) · Kelly (1980**) · Hand (1980–85) · Charlton (1986–95) · McCarthy (1996–2002) · Givens (2002**) · Kerr (2003–2005) · Staunton (2006–07) · Givens (2007–08**) · Trapattoni (2008–) * =Between 1924 and 1936 the team was known as the Irish Free State **=In a caretaker role

v • d • e Coventry City F.C. – Managers Stanley (1883–85s) · Hathaway (1885–87s) · Morgan (1887–92s) · Kirk (1893–s) · Maley (1893–s) · Collins (1893–95s) · Cashmore (1895–1900s) · Newhall (1900–02s) · O'Shea (1902–05s) · Beaman (1905–08s) · Harris (1908–09s) · Buckle (1909–10) · Wallace (1910–13) · Scott-Walford (1913–15) · Howard (1915–17c) · Clayton (1919–19) · Pollitt (1919–20) · Evans (1920–24) · Harbourne (1924c) · Kerr (1924–28) · McIntyre (1928–31) · Slade (1931c) · Storer (1931–45) · Bayliss (1945–47) · Frith (1947–48) · Storer (1948–53) · Fairbrother (1953–54) · Elliott (1954–55c) · Carver (1955–56) · Raynor (1956) · Warren (1956–57) · Frith (1957–61) · Hill (1961–67) · Cantwell (1967–72) · Dennison (1972c) · Mercer (1972–74) · Milne (1974–81) · Sexton (1981–83) · Gould (1983–84) · Mackay (1984–86) · Curtis (1986–87) · Sillett (1987–90) · Butcher (1990–92) · Howe (1992c) · Gould (1992–93) · Neal (1993–95) · Atkinson (1995–96) · Strachan (1996–01) · Nilsson (2001–02) · Peake (2002c) · McAllister (2002–03) · Black (2003–04) · Ogrizovic (2004c) · Reid (2004–05) · Heath (2005c) · Adams (2005–07) · Heath (2007c) · Dowie (2007–08) · Harbin & Bunn (2008c) · Coleman (2008–) (s) secretary (c) caretaker

v • d • e Peterborough United F.C. – Managers Porter (1934–36) · Taylor (1936–37) · Poulter (1937–38) · Madden (1938–48) · Blood (1948–50) · Gurney (1950–52) · Fairbrother (1952–54) · Swindin (1954–58) · Hagan (1958–62) · Anderson (caretaker) (1962) · Fairbrother (1962–64) · Anderson (caretaker) (1964) · Clark (1964–67) · Rigby (caretaker) (1967) · Rigby (1967–69) · Iley (1969–72) · Cantwell (1972–77) · Barnwell (1977–78) · Hails (caretaker) (1978–79) · Morris (1979–82) · Wilkinson (1982–83) · Wile (1983–86) · Cantwell (1986–88) · Jones (1988–89) · Booth (caretaker) (1989) · Lawrenson (1989–90) · Booth (caretaker) (1990–91) · Turner (1991–92) · Fuccillo (caretaker) (1992–93) · Turner (caretaker) (1993–94) · Still (1994–95) · Halsall (caretaker) (1995) · Halsall (1995–1996) · Fry (1996–2005) · Wright (2005–06) · Bleasdale (2006) · Atkinson and Fry (caretakers) (2006) · Alexander (2006–07) · Taylor (caretaker) (2007) · Ferguson (2007–)