Frank Blunstone (born 17 October 1934) is an English former footballer who played as an outside left for Crewe Alexandra, Chelsea and the England national team.

Playing career

After surprisingly rejecting Wolverhampton Wanderers in favour of his home-town club, he signed professional terms with Crewe in early 1952. Following a string of impressive performances in Division Three North, he was signed by Chelsea manager Ted Drake for £7,500 a year later while still doing national service. He made his Chelsea debut in a 3–2 victory over Tottenham Hotspur, at White Hart Lane in February 1953, scoring the decisive third goal. His early years at the club saw little success for the team, but in 1954–55 Chelsea became First Division champions, with Blunstone an important part of the side, though he continued to juggle appearances for Chelsea with his national service. Between 1954 and 1956, Blunstone was capped on five occasions by England under-23's, scoring three goals, and also won five caps for the senior England team. He made his debut against Wales, creating two goals for teammate Roy Bentley in a 3–2 win. He also played in England's famous 7–2 win over Scotland at Wembley. He also won two caps for the Football League XI. Blunstone retired from playing in 1964 aged only 30, having made 347 appearances for Chelsea and scored 54 goals

Managerial career

Blunstone immediately joined the Chelsea coaching staff. He was later appointed

Brentford Brentford is a suburban town in West London, England and part of the London Borough of Hounslow. It lies at the confluence of the River Brent and the Thames, west of Charing Cross. Its economy has diverse company headquarters buildings whi ...

manager in 1969 and led the team to the 5th round of the FA Cup in 1971 and promotion to the

Third Division In sport, the Third Division, also called Division 3, Division Three, or Division III, is often the third-highest division of a league, and will often have promotion and relegation with divisions above and below. Association football *Belgian Thir ...

a year later. In 1973, after a disagreement with the Brentford chairman, he joined

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 ...

which reunited him with his old boss at Chelsea, Tommy Docherty. Blunstone officially became assistant manager at United in 1976 after the departure of Paddy Crerand, but he had been that in all but name since his arrival at Manchester United. Blunstone was also heavily involved in the reserve team at United, working alongside reserve team managers, Bill Foulkes from 1973 to 1974, and then alongside Foulkes' successor, Jack Crompton, from 1974 to 1977. Blunstone later had brief spells as assistant manager of Derby County and manager of Greek clubs Ethnikos and Aris.Profile at englandfc.com
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Personal life

As of 2005, Blunstone was living in Weston, near Crewe. As of 2022, Blunstone is the earliest-surviving England senior international.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Blunstone, Frank 1934 births Living people English footballers Association football wingers English Football League players England international footballers England under-23 international footballers Chelsea F.C. players Crewe Alexandra F.C. players English football managers Brentford F.C. managers Derby County F.C. non-playing staff Ethnikos Piraeus F.C. managers Aris Thessaloniki F.C. managers Chelsea F.C. non-playing staff Manchester United F.C. non-playing staff English Football League representative players English expatriate football managers Expatriate football managers in Greece English expatriate sportspeople in Greece Super League Greece managers