Dennis Sydney Viollet (20 September 1933 – 6 March 1999) was an English

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, rugb ...

who played for

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 Salford to the west. The ...

and

Stoke City Stoke City Football Club is a professional football club based in Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, England, which competes in the . Founded as Stoke Ramblers in 1863, it changed its name to Stoke in 1878 and then to Stoke City in 1925 after Stoke ...

as well as the England national team. He was famous as one of the

Busby Babes The "Busby Babes" were the group of footballers, recruited and trained by Manchester United F.C. chief scout Joe Armstrong and assistant manager Jimmy Murphy, who progressed from the club's youth team into the first team under the management of ...

and survived the Munich air disaster. After his retirement as player, he became a coach and spent most of his managerial career in the United States for various professional and school teams.

Club career

Manchester United

Viollet joined

on 1 September 1949. He came through the junior ranks at United and turned professional in 1950. His first game for the club came against

Newcastle United Newcastle United Football Club is an English professional football club, based in Newcastle upon Tyne, that plays in the Premier League – the top flight of English football. The club was founded in 1892 by the merger of Newcastle East En ...

on 11 April 1953. One of his most notable games came on 26 September 1956, in the second leg of United's

European Cup The UEFA Champions League (abbreviated as UCL, or sometimes, UEFA CL) is an annual club football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) and contested by top-division European clubs, deciding the competit ...

preliminary round tie against Belgian champions

Anderlecht Anderlecht (, ) is one of the 19 municipalities of the Brussels-Capital Region, Belgium. Located in the south-western part of the region, it is bordered by the City of Brussels, Forest, Molenbeek-Saint-Jean, and Saint-Gilles, as well as the ...

, in which he scored four goals in a 10–0 win that remains United's biggest competitive victory. In February 1958, Viollet was flying back from a European Cup match in Belgrade via Munich; attempting to take off in bad weather, the plane crashed, killing 21 people, including seven Manchester United players, in what would become known as the Munich air disaster. Viollet survived, suffering only injuries to his head and face, and he returned to action before the end of the season, less than three months later. He played in the

1958 FA Cup Final The 1958 FA Cup Final was contested on 3 May 1958 by Bolton Wanderers and Manchester United at Wembley Stadium, London, in front of a crowd of almost 100,000. The referee was J. Sherlock. Bolton won 2–0, with a double by Nat Lofthouse, who sc ...

against

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 Pik ...

, which United lost 2–0, and less than a week later, he scored the equalising goal in a 2–1 win over

Milan Milan ( , , Lombard: ; it, Milano ) is a city in northern Italy, capital of Lombardy, and the second-most populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of about 1.4 million, while its metropolitan city ...

in the first leg of their European Cup semi-final; Milan won the second leg 4–0 to deny United a place in the final. After scoring 21 goals in 37 league appearances in 1958–59, Viollet had his most prolific season to date in 1959–60, scoring 32 goals in 36 league appearances, a club record. In recognition of his scoring exploits, Viollet received his first call-up to the

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe ...

team in May 1960; after being left out for a 3–3 home draw with

Yugoslavia Yugoslavia (; sh-Latn-Cyrl, separator=" / ", Jugoslavija, Југославија ; sl, Jugoslavija ; mk, Југославија ;; rup, Iugoslavia; hu, Jugoszlávia; rue, label= Pannonian Rusyn, Югославия, translit=Juhoslavij ...

and a 3–0 away defeat to

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = '' Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , ...

on 15 May, he was named at inside left for a 2–0 away defeat to

Hungary Hungary ( hu, Magyarország ) is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning of the Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Cr ...

a week later. Despite missing three months of the 1960–61 season, he still scored 15 goals, behind only

Bobby Charlton Sir Robert Charlton (born 11 October 1937) is an English former footballer who played either as a midfielder or a forward. Considered one of the greatest players of all time, he was a member of the England team that won the 1966 FIFA World ...

and Alex Dawson as Manchester United's top scorer, and in September 1961, he was called up to the England squad again for a 1962 World Cup qualifier at home to

Luxembourg Luxembourg ( ; lb, Lëtzebuerg ; french: link=no, Luxembourg; german: link=no, Luxemburg), officially the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, ; french: link=no, Grand-Duché de Luxembourg ; german: link=no, Großherzogtum Luxemburg is a small lan ...

; Viollet scored England's second goal in a 4–1 win. In January 1962,

Matt Busby Sir Alexander Matthew Busby (26 May 1909 – 20 January 1994) was a Scottish football player and manager, who managed Manchester United between 1945 and 1969 and again for the second half of the 1970–71 season. He was the first manager of an ...

surprisingly sold the 28-year-old Viollet to

for £25,000 after scoring 179 goals in 293 appearances for United.

Stoke City

He joined a team being re-built by

Tony Waddington Anthony Waddington (9 November 1924 – 21 January 1994) was an English football manager at both Crewe Alexandra and Stoke City. Waddington had a seven-year playing career with Crewe Alexandra before becoming a coach at Stoke City. He progre ...

, containing experienced players such as

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 sti ...

, and

Jackie Mudie John Knight Mudie (10 April 1930 – 2 March 1992) was a Scottish international footballer who played as a forward. He won seventeen caps for his country, helping the Scotland national team to qualify for the 1958 FIFA World Cup. Starti ...

and also emerging talent such as John Ritchie and

Eric Skeels Eric Thomas Skeels (born 27 October 1939) is an English former footballer. He played 512 games in the Football League, 507 for Stoke City. He is Stoke's record appearance holder having played in 597 matches in all competitions. Skeels joined S ...

. His signing was viewed as a coup for Stoke as at 28 Viollet was still in his prime. He made a decent start to his Stoke career scoring five goals towards the end of the 1961–62 Stoke City F.C. season, 1961–62 season meaning that hopes were high for 1962–63. While six games without a win heralded another poor start for Stoke, Viollet kick-started Stoke's season with four goals against

Charlton Athletic Charlton Athletic Football Club is an English professional football club based in Charlton, south-east London, which compete in . Their home ground is The Valley, where the club have played since 1919. They have also played at The Mount in ...

on 12 September. That win gave Stoke the impetus to embark on an unbeaten run of 18, ended by

Leeds United Leeds United Football Club is a professional football club based in Leeds, West Yorkshire in England. The club competes in the Premier League, the highest level of England's football league system, and plays its home matches at Elland Road ...

on 15 December. The winter of 1962–63 saw no matches played for two months and once football resumed in March Stoke lost once in their next 13 matches and won the

Second Division In sport, the Second Division, also called Division 2 or Division II is usually the second highest division of a league, and will often have promotion and relegation with divisions above and below. Following the rise of Premier League style compet ...

title with Viollet scoring 23 goals. With Stoke back in the First Division after a ten-year absence Waddington decided to move Viollet into midfield. He played and scored in the

1964 Football League Cup Final The 1964 Football League Cup Final, the fourth to be staged since the competition's inception, was contested between Stoke City and Leicester City, both of the First Division, over two legs. Leicester City won 4–3 on aggregate. Match revie ...

as Stoke lost 4–3 to

Leicester City Leicester ( ) is a city, unitary authority and the county town of Leicestershire in the East Midlands of England. It is the largest settlement in the East Midlands. The city lies on the River Soar and close to the eastern end of the National ...

. He continued to play for Stoke until the summer of 1967 when he announced his retirement after scoring 66 goals in 207 matches for the "Potters". Shortly after his death in March 1999 he was honoured by the club having a street near the

Britannia Stadium The Bet365 Stadium (stylised as ''bet365 Stadium'') is an all-seater football stadium in Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, England and the home of EFL Championship club Stoke City. The stadium was previously called the Britannia Stadium but was ...

named 'Dennis Viollet Avenue'.

Later career

Shortly after leaving the

Victoria Ground The Victoria Ground was the home ground of Stoke City from 1878 until 1997, when the club relocated to the Britannia Stadium after 119 years. At the time of its demolition it was the oldest operational ground in the Football League. History ...

, he came out of retirement to join NASL team

Baltimore Bays The Baltimore Bays were a professional soccer team based in Baltimore, Maryland founded in 1967 as one of the ten charter members of the National Professional Soccer League (NPSL). When the NPSL and the rival United Soccer Association (USA) me ...

in the United States for a season. On returning to Britain, he played for non-league Witton Albion, before finishing his career at Linfield helping them to win the Irish cup in 1970. Once his playing career finished, he had spells coaching at

Preston North End Preston North End Football Club, commonly referred to as Preston, North End or PNE, is a professional football club in Preston, Lancashire, England, who currently play in the EFL Championship, the second tier of the English football league syste ...

, and

Crewe Alexandra Crewe Alexandra Football Club is an English professional association football club based in the town of Crewe, Cheshire, that competes in League Two, the fourth tier of the English football league system. Nicknamed 'The Railwaymen' because of ...

briefly in 1971.

Coaching career in the United States

In 1974, Dennis Viollet became the first Head Coach for the Washington Diplomats of the NASL. In 1978, Viollet was selected by his former United teammate, head coach

Noel Cantwell Noel Euchuria Cornelius Cantwell (28 February 1932 – 8 September 2005) was an Irish footballer player and sometime cricketer. Club career Cantwell was born in Cork, Ireland, and was educated at the Roman Catholic Presentation Brothers College ...

, to serve as assistant coach of the

New England Tea Men The New England Tea Men were an American professional soccer team based in Greater Boston. They played in the North American Soccer League (NASL) from 1978 to 1980. Their home venues for outdoor play were Schaefer Stadium (shared with the NFL's ...

of the

North American Soccer League The North American Soccer League may refer to: *North American Soccer League (1968–1984), a former Division I league *North American Soccer League (2011–2017) The North American Soccer League (NASL) was a professional men's soccer league ba ...

. After three seasons in the Boston area, the team relocated to

Jacksonville, Florida Jacksonville is a city located on the Atlantic coast of northeast Florida, the most populous city proper in the state and is the largest city by area in the contiguous United States as of 2020. It is the seat of Duval County, with which th ...

in 1981 where Viollet continued as assistant coach, ultimately becoming head coach, of the

Jacksonville Tea Men The Jacksonville Tea Men were a soccer team based in Jacksonville, Florida, United States. Overall, the Tea Men played a total of four seasons in Jacksonville, first in the major league-level North American Soccer League (NASL) from 1980–1982, ...

of the NASL, ASL and

United Soccer League United Soccer League (USL), formerly known as United Soccer Leagues, is a soccer league in the United States and Canada. It organizes several men's and women's leagues, both professional and amateur. Men's leagues currently organized are the ...

. The Team Men won the ASL, bringing the City of Jacksonville its first ever professional sports championship. Viollet in 1985 coached the varsity boys soccer team at

St. Johns Country Day School St. Johns Country Day School is an independent, coeducational private college preparatory school founded in 1953 in Orange Park, Florida, U.S.. It offers a PK–12 education, including a preschool, an elementary school, a middle school, and a high ...

located in

Orange Park, Florida Orange Park is a town in Clay County, Florida, United States. It is a suburb of Jacksonville, in neighboring Duval County. The population was 8,412 at the 2010 census. The name "Orange Park" is additionally applied to a wider area of northern ...

. He also coached the Jacksonville Knights, a professional indoor soccer team, in 1989. In 1990, Viollet took the reins of the

Jacksonville University Jacksonville University (JU) is a private university in Jacksonville, Florida. Located in the city's Arlington district, the school was founded in 1934 as a two-year college and was known as Jacksonville Junior College until September 5, 1956, ...

Dolphins, where he stayed until 1995. Jacksonville University and their primary rivals, the

University of North Florida The University of North Florida (UNF) is a public research university in Jacksonville, Florida. It is part of the State University System of Florida and is accredited by the Commission on Colleges of the Southern Association of Colleges and Sc ...

, compete annually for the Dennis Viollet Cup. He then took the USISL

Richmond Kickers Richmond Kickers is an American professional soccer club based in Richmond, Virginia. The Kickers compete as a member of USL League One (USL-1). The club was established in 1993, and began play that same year as a United States Interregional ...

to the 1995 American Double (USISL Premier League and

US Open Cup The Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup, commonly known as the U.S. Open Cup (USOC), is a knockout cup competition in men's soccer in the United States of America. It is the oldest ongoing national soccer competition in that country. The 2023 U.S. Op ...

titles). He stayed with Richmond for 2 seasons, then served as coach of the A-League Jacksonville Cyclones before his death from cancer on 6 March 1999, aged 65, in his adopted home of

Jacksonville Jacksonville is a city located on the Atlantic coast of northeast Florida, the most populous city proper in the state and is the List of United States cities by area, largest city by area in the contiguous United States as of 2020. It is the co ...

International career

On 22 May 1960, at the end of his record-breaking season with Manchester United, Viollet won his first full England cap in a 2–0 friendly defeat to

Budapest Budapest (, ; ) is the capital and most populous city of Hungary. It is the ninth-largest city in the European Union by population within city limits and the second-largest city on the Danube river; the city has an estimated population o ...

. His second and final appearance came on 28 September 1961, in a qualifying game for the 1962 World Cup at

Highbury Highbury is a district in North London and part of the London Borough of Islington in Greater London that was owned by Ranulf brother of Ilger and included all the areas north and east of Canonbury and Holloway Roads. The manor house was sit ...

, in which he scored in a 4–1 win over

Personal life

Viollet was born in

Fallowfield Fallowfield is a suburb of Manchester, England, with a population at the 2011 census of 15,211. Historically in Lancashire, it lies south of Manchester city centre and is bisected east–west by Wilmslow Road and north–south by Wil ...

, Manchester, in September 1933, the youngest of three children born to Charles Sydney Viollet (1890–1961) and Hannah Tomlinson (1893–1992); he had two older sisters, Vera (born 1917) and Audrey (born 1930). He grew up as a

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 t ...

supporter. He married Barbara Mavis Southern at St Edmund's Church, Manchester, in 1951, when he was 17 years old. Their daughter Stephanie was born later that year, and they later had two sons, Roger (born 1957) and Malcolm (born 1961), and another daughter, Deborah (born 1958). They divorced in 1969, and in June that year, Viollet married Helen B. Greeph; they were married until his death nearly 30 years later. Their daughter

Rachel Rachel () was a Biblical figure, the favorite of Jacob's two wives, and the mother of Joseph and Benjamin, two of the twelve progenitors of the tribes of Israel. Rachel's father was Laban. Her older sister was Leah, Jacob's first wife. Her aun ...

(born 1972) became the British number one ranked tennis player when she reached the second round of Wimbledon in 1996. During her tennis career, she won one ITF singles tournament and one ITF doubles tournament. Viollet died in March 1999 after a two-year battle against cancer, with a

brain tumour A brain tumor occurs when abnormal cells form within the brain. There are two main types of tumors: malignant tumors and benign (non-cancerous) tumors. These can be further classified as primary tumors, which start within the brain, and second ...

first being diagnosed during 1997, despite treatment and surgery during that time to combat the illness. In 2010, Viollet was inducted into the Washington, D.C. Soccer Hall of Fame. Viollet was also inducted into the first class of the United Soccer League Hall of Fame in 2002. The annual

soccer match has been contested for the Viollet Cup since 2001. The Dennis Viollet Soccer Training Center was dedicated in 2006 and located at the Complete Soccer Academy in

Longwood, Florida Longwood is a city in Seminole County, Florida, United States. The population was 15,087 at the 2020 census. It is part of the Orlando–Kissimmee–Sanford, Florida Metropolitan Statistical Area. Geography Longwood is located at . According t ...

Career statistics

Club

Source: :A. The "Other" column constitutes appearances and goals in the

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 L ...

International

Source:

Managerial career

Honours

Manchester United

Football League First Division The Football League First Division was a division of the Football League in England from 1888 until 2004. It was the top division in the English football league system from the season 1888–89 until 1991–92, a century in which the First ...

: 1955–56, 1956–57 *

1956 Events January * January 1 – The Anglo-Egyptian Condominium ends in Sudan. * January 8 – Operation Auca: Five U.S. evangelical Christian missionaries, Nate Saint, Roger Youderian, Ed McCully, Jim Elliot and Pete Fleming, are kille ...

1957 1957 ( MCMLVII) was a common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar, the 1957th year of the Common Era (CE) and ''Anno Domini'' (AD) designations, the 957th year of the 2nd millennium, the 57th year of the 20th century, and the 8th year ...

Stoke City

Football League Second Division The Football League Second Division was the second level division in the English football league system between 1892 and 1992. Following the foundation of the FA Premier League, the Football League divisions were renumbered and the third t ...

: 1962–63

Linfield

Irish Cup The Irish Football Association Challenge Cup, commonly referred to as the Irish Cup (currently known as the Samuel Gelston's Whiskey Irish Cup for sponsorship purposes) is the primary football knock-out cup competition in Northern Ireland. Ina ...

: 1969–70

Individual

* European Cup Top Scorer: 1956–57 *

Top Scorer: 1959–60

References

External links

Dennis Viollet official site

Dennis Viollet Documentary
{{DEFAULTSORT:Viollet, Dennis American Soccer League (1933–1983) coaches Baltimore Bays players Crewe Alexandra F.C. managers English footballers English football managers England international footballers Linfield F.C. players Manchester United F.C. players National Professional Soccer League (1967) players College men's soccer coaches in the United States North American Soccer League (1968–1984) players Footballers from Manchester Survivors of aviation accidents or incidents Stoke City F.C. players English Football League players First Division/Premier League top scorers United Soccer League (1984–85) coaches USISL coaches USL First Division coaches North American Soccer League (1968–1984) coaches Witton Albion F.C. players 1933 births 1999 deaths English Football League managers Jacksonville Dolphins coaches English Football League representative players People from Fallowfield Association football forwards Richmond Kickers coaches English expatriate sportspeople in the United States Expatriate soccer players in the United States English expatriate footballers English expatriate football managers Expatriate soccer managers in the United States Washington Diplomats FA Cup Final players UEFA Champions League top scorers