Donald Harry Megson (born 12 June 1936) is an English former

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby ...

and

football manager ''Football Manager'' (also known as ''Worldwide Soccer Manager'' in North America from 2004 to 2008) is a series of football management simulation video games developed by British developer Sports Interactive and published by Sega. The game bega ...

. Don Megson is regarded as one of

Sheffield Wednesday Sheffield Wednesday Football Club is a professional association football club based in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England. The team competes in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. Formed in 1867 as an offshoot ...

's greatest servants. He was signed from Mossley in the Cheshire League by Wednesday in 1952. He made his first team debut in November 1959, becoming a regular in the side as a

left-back In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield position whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Centre-backs are usually positioned in pairs, with one full-back on either s ...

and eventually taking up the role of club captain. It was as captain that he led his team to a lap of honour (the first to do so as a losing captain) after Wednesday's 3–2 defeat to Everton at the

1966 FA Cup Final The 1966 FA Cup Final was a football match played on 14 May 1966. It was contested by Everton and Sheffield Wednesday at Wembley. Everton were the first team since Bury in 1903 to reach an FA Cup Final without conceding a goal, while Sheffield ...

. Don made 442 appearances (including 386 league appearances and scoring six goals) for Sheffield Wednesday before moving to

Bristol Rovers Bristol Rovers Football Club are a professional football club in Bristol, England. They compete in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. They play home matches at the Memorial Stadium in Horfield, they have been ...

in March 1970 for whom he made 31 league appearances and scored one goal. He managed

from 1972 to 1977, winning the 1972

Watney Cup The Watney Mann Invitation Cup (normally referred to as simply the Watney Cup) was a short-lived English football tournament held in the early 1970s. It was held before the start of the season, and was contested by the teams that had scored th ...

in only his third game in charge. He coached the Portland Timbers of the North American Soccer League from 1978 to 1980. He also coached at AFC Bournemouth for seven months in 1983. Both of his sons, Gary and

Neil Neil is a masculine name of Gaelic and Irish origin. The name is an anglicisation of the Irish ''Niall'' which is of disputed derivation. The Irish name may be derived from words meaning "cloud", "passionate", "victory", "honour" or "champion".. A ...

, have also played and managed professionally. He worked as a freelance scout for Bolton Wanderers, the club whom his son Gary managed until 30 December 2009. In October 2014, he released his biography, entitled, ''"Don Megson: A Life in Football"''.

External links

Don Megson
at Soccerbase (link broken)

(link broken)

1936 births Living people AFC Bournemouth managers Bristol Rovers F.C. managers English football managers English footballers Bristol Rovers F.C. players Sheffield Wednesday F.C. players People from Sale, Greater Manchester North American Soccer League (1968–1984) coaches Portland Timbers (NASL) coaches American soccer coaches English Football League players English Football League representative players Mossley A.F.C. players Association football defenders FA Cup Final players {{England-footy-defender-1930s-stub