Eric Westwood (25 September 1917 – 2001) was an English professional

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 le ...

who played 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 ...

Career

Born in

Manchester 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 t ...

, Westwood began his career as an amateur at

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 ...

, but turned professional with city rivals

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 1938, making 248 appearances in

the Football League The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, the league is the oldest such competition in the world. It was the top-level football league in Engla ...

for them over the next 15 seasons. During

World War II 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 ...

, while serving with the British, Westwood guested for

Chelsea Chelsea or Chelsey may refer to: Places Australia * Chelsea, Victoria Canada * Chelsea, Nova Scotia * Chelsea, Quebec United Kingdom * Chelsea, London, an area of London, bounded to the south by the River Thames ** Chelsea (UK Parliament consti ...

, and played for them in the 1944 War Cup Final. Westwood's active wartime service with 1st Battalion, Manchester Regiment saw him serve as a Sergeant the in North West European campaign, landing in Normandy three weeks after D-Day. As Manchester City's captain postwar he accepted, despite privately expressed doubts, the then publicly controversial signing in 1949 of former German prisoner of war

Bert Trautmann Bernhard Carl "Bert" Trautmann EK OBE BVO (22 October 1923 – 19 July 2013) was a German professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper for Manchester City from 1949 to 1964. In August 1933, (aged 9), he joined the Jungvolk, the junio ...

as goalkeeper, making a public display of welcoming Trautmann by announcing, "There's no war in this dressing room". After leaving Manchester City in May 1953, Westwood played two seasons of non-league football with

Altrincham Altrincham ( , locally ) is a market town in Trafford, Greater Manchester, England, south of the River Mersey. It is southwest of Manchester city centre, southwest of Sale and east of Warrington. At the 2011 Census, it had a population o ...

.Altrincham F.C. official website

References

1917 births 2001 deaths Footballers from Manchester English men's footballers Manchester United F.C. players Manchester City F.C. players Chelsea F.C. wartime guest players Altrincham F.C. players English Football League players English Football League representative players Men's association football fullbacks {{England-footy-defender-1910s-stub