William Ridding (4 April 1911 – 20 September 1981)
[England & Wales, National Probate Calendar (Index of Wills and Administrations)] also known as Nibbler Ridding, was an English
football
Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...
player and manager, most notably in a 17-year period managing
Bolton Wanderers
Bolton Wanderers Football Club () is a professional football club based in Horwich, Bolton, Greater Manchester, England, which competes in . The club played at Burnden Park for 102 years from 1895 after moving from their original home at Pike's ...
between 1951 and 1968, during which time the club won the
1958 FA Cup.
Playing career
Ridding started his playing career at
Tranmere Rovers
Tranmere Rovers Football Club is a professional association football club based in Birkenhead, Merseyside, England. The team compete in , the fourth tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1884 as Belmont Football Club, they ado ...
in 1928, where he had his most successful run, scoring 12 goals in 13 games, before being transferred to
Manchester City
Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The tw ...
in early 1930, for £3,500. He only made a handful of appearances for City before, in 1931, he was transferred to cross-town rivals
Manchester United
Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of City of Salford, Salford to ...
, then playing in the Second Division.
In the
1932–33 season he was United's top scorer with eleven goals. He would go on to score league 14 goals for United in 42 matches before retiring due to injury in 1934 (aged 23), although he subsequently had brief spells at
Northampton Town
Northampton Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in the town of Northampton, England. The team plays in , the fourth tier of the English football league system.
Founded in 1897, the club competed in the Midland ...
in 1934, Tranmere Rovers and
Oldham Athletic
Oldham Athletic Association Football Club is a professional football club in Oldham, Greater Manchester, England, which competes in the National League, the fifth tier of the English football league system.
The history of Oldham Athletic ...
in 1935.
Management career
Tranmere Rovers
In 1942, Ridding was appointed manager of
Tranmere Rovers
Tranmere Rovers Football Club is a professional association football club based in Birkenhead, Merseyside, England. The team compete in , the fourth tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1884 as Belmont Football Club, they ado ...
.
However, due to the
Second World War
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
he only took charge of twenty matches in his four-year spell as manager.
Bolton Wanderers
Ridding replaced
Walter Rowley
Walter James Rowley (14 April 1891 – 22 March 1976) was an English Association football, footballer around World War I and a Manager (association football), manager during and after World War II. He spent some 47 years playing and Coach (spor ...
, who resigned due to ill health, in October 1950 as manager of
Bolton Wanderers
Bolton Wanderers Football Club () is a professional football club based in Horwich, Bolton, Greater Manchester, England, which competes in . The club played at Burnden Park for 102 years from 1895 after moving from their original home at Pike's ...
. The
1950–51 season saw a significant improvement in Bolton's league performance, finishing eighth, six places higher than the previous season. The following season
1951–52 they finished three places higher in fifth. An
FA Cup Final
The FA Cup Final, commonly referred to in England as just the Cup Final, is the last match in the FA Cup, Football Association Challenge Cup. It has regularly been one of the List of sports attendance figures, most attended domestic football ev ...
appearance followed a year later; however they lost a thrilling encounter against a
Stanley Matthews
Sir Stanley Matthews, CBE (1 February 1915 – 23 February 2000) was an English footballer who played as an outside right. Often regarded as one of the greatest players of the British game, he is the only player to have been knighted while stil ...
inspired
Blackpool
Blackpool is a seaside resort in Lancashire, England. Located on the North West England, northwest coast of England, it is the main settlement within the Borough of Blackpool, borough also called Blackpool. The town is by the Irish Sea, betw ...
team 4–3. Another fifth-place finish came in the
1953–54 league season as well as a run to the quarter finals of the cup. The
1954–55 season saw Bolton struggle for form in the league, narrowly escaping relegation, finishing the season in eighteenth place. Bill Ridding's men bounced back the
following season to finish in a respectful eighth position, following that up with a ninth place in
1956–57.
The
1957–58 season saw Bolton win their fourth and, to date, last
FA Cup
The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual knockout football competition in men's domestic English football. First played during the 1871–72 season, it is the oldest national football competi ...
with a victory over a post
Munich
Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the States of Germany, German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the List of cities in Germany by popu ...
Manchester United
Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of City of Salford, Salford to ...
.
Nat Lofthouse
Nathaniel Lofthouse (27 August 1925 – 15 January 2011) was an English professional footballer who played as a forward for Bolton Wanderers for his entire career. He won 33 caps for England between 1950 and 1958, scoring 30 goals, with o ...
scored twice in a
2–0 win. The team that won the cup had cost just £110 in signing-on fees.
The FA Cup victory inspired Bolton in the league as they embarked on their finest league performance in 33 years, finishing the
1958–59 season in fourth position. The
1959–60 season saw Bolton finish sixth, a position it would take another forty five years to replicate.
A slow and gradual demise in Bolton's fortunes started from here, linked somewhat to Lofthouse's retirement and respective finishes of eighteenth, eleventh and eighteenth foreshadowed what was to come. Ridding also missed out on signing
Alan Ball, who joined Bolton on a trial in 1961. Ridding rejected Ball on the grounds that, at 5 ft 6 ins, he was too small to make the grade as a footballer, advising him that "You'll make a good little jockey!"
The
1963–64 season proved to be the nadir of Ridding's times at the club as a twenty first-place finish condemned Bolton to relegation, their first time out of the top flight since 1935. In the
1964–65 season Bolton narrowly missed out on promotion back to the top flight, finishing the season in third position. Positions became gradually worse, with Bolton finishing ninth, twice, and then twelfth, at the time the club's worst ever position. Ridding left Bolton just before the start of the next season and was replaced by Lofthouse.
Honours
Manager
;Bolton Wanderers
*
FA Cup
The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual knockout football competition in men's domestic English football. First played during the 1871–72 season, it is the oldest national football competi ...
(1):
1957–58
*
FA Charity Shield
The Football Association Community Shield (formerly the Charity Shield) is English football's annual match contested at Wembley Stadium between the champions of the previous Premier League season and the holders of the FA Cup. If the Premier Le ...
(1):
1958
Events
January
* January 1 – The European Economic Community (EEC) comes into being.
* January 3 – The West Indies Federation is formed.
* January 4
** Edmund Hillary's Commonwealth Trans-Antarctic Expedition completes the third ...
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ridding, Bill
1911 births
1981 deaths
People from Heswall
English footballers
Tranmere Rovers F.C. players
Manchester City F.C. players
Manchester United F.C. players
Oldham Athletic A.F.C. players
English football managers
Bolton Wanderers F.C. managers
Tranmere Rovers F.C. managers
Northampton Town F.C. players
Association football forwards