George Frederick Curtis (3 December 1919 – 17 November 2004) 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 ...

and coach, who played as an

inside forward Forwards (also known as attackers) are outfield positions in an association football team who play the furthest up the pitch and are therefore most responsible for scoring goals as well as assisting them. As with any attacking player, the role ...

Playing career

Arsenal

Curtis played as a youth for Anglo (Purfleet) before signing for Arsenal in December 1936. He spent over a year at Arsenal's nursery club,

Margate Margate is a seaside town on the north coast of Kent in south-east England. The town is estimated to be 1.5 miles long, north-east of Canterbury and includes Cliftonville, Garlinge, Palm Bay and Westbrook. The town has been a significan ...

, before returning to Highbury in February 1938; he made his Arsenal debut in a 2–1 win 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 ...

against Blackpool on 10 April 1939. He went on to make only one other first team appearance during that season.

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 opposing ...

intervened that September and he spent the war serving in the

Royal Air Force The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the United Kingdom's air and space force. It was formed towards the end of the First World War on 1 April 1918, becoming the first independent air force in the world, by regrouping the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) an ...

stationed in India, but also played over 50 wartime matches for Arsenal. He also appeared as a guest player for

West Ham United West Ham United Football Club is an English professional football club that plays its home matches in Stratford, East London. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football. The club plays at the London Stadium, hav ...

later in World War II. After hostilities ended he played 12 times in the 1946–47 season, but was sold to

Southampton Southampton () is a port city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. It is located approximately south-west of London and west of Portsmouth. The city forms part of the South Hampshire built-up area, which also covers Po ...

in part-exchange for Don Roper in summer 1947; in all he played 14 times for the Gunners, never scoring.

Southampton

Curtis had impressed Southampton manager Bill Dodgin who valued him at £10,000, in an exchange transfer that also saw

Tom Rudkin Thomas William Rudkin (16 June 1919 – 30 April 1969) was an English professional footballer who played as a left winger. He made 50 appearances in the Football League in the years before and after the Second World War. Career Pre-war Born i ...

arrive at The Dell, with Don Roper moving to

. Nicknamed ''Twinkletoes'' by his teammates, Curtis was a clever, nimble player, whose feints and tricks were appreciated by the supporters, although they often frustrated his colleagues. 'Soccer Star' magazine described Curtis as an "inside-forward-cum-wing-half". During his five seasons at Southampton the club narrowly missed out on promotion to Division 1 for three seasons in a row; in 1947–48 they finished in third place, a feat repeated the following

season A season is a division of the year based on changes in weather, ecology, and the number of daylight hours in a given region. On Earth, seasons are the result of the axial parallelism of Earth's tilted orbit around the Sun. In temperate and ...

(despite having an 8-point lead with 8 games to play) whilst in 1949–50 they were to be denied promotion by 0.06 of a goal, missing out on second place to

Sheffield United Sheffield United Football Club is a professional football club in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England, which compete in the . They are nicknamed "the Blades" due to Sheffield's history of cutlery production. The team have played home games at ...

. After five memorable seasons at The Dell, he moved to the French second division. In all he played 183 games for Southampton, scoring 12 goals.

Later career

He then joined French team

Valenciennes Valenciennes (, also , , ; nl, label=also Dutch, Valencijn; pcd, Valincyinnes or ; la, Valentianae) is a commune in the Nord department, Hauts-de-France, France. It lies on the Scheldt () river. Although the city and region experienced a ...

for a fee of £1,500 staying for a year between 1952 and 1953, before returning to see out his playing days as player-coach at

Chelmsford City Chelmsford City Football Club is a semi-professional football club based in Chelmsford, Essex, England. Currently members of they play at the Melbourne Stadium. History Chelmsford Chelmsford Football Club was established in 1878 by members of ...

. Curtis' move to

was somewhat hindered due to a strike in France, but he eventually joined the Southern League side for 'a four-figure fee'. He then embarked on a coaching course at

Lilleshall Lilleshall is a village and civil parish in the county of Shropshire, England. It lies between the towns of Telford and Newport, on the A518, in the Telford and Wrekin borough and the Wrekin constituency. There is one school in the centre of ...

working with

Walter Winterbottom Sir Walter Winterbottom (31 March 1913 – 16 February 2002) was an English football player and coach. He was the first manager of the England national team (1946–1962) and Director of Coaching for The Football Association (the FA). He ...

. His coaching skills were quickly in demand and between 1957 and 1961 he was a coach with Sunderland.

Management career

Brighton and Hove Albion

His first managerial position came in June 1961 when he was appointed manager at

Brighton & Hove Albion Brighton & Hove Albion Football Club (), commonly referred to simply as Brighton, is an English professional football club based in the city of Brighton and Hove. They compete in the Premier League, the top tier of the English football league ...

. At the end of his first season in charge, Brighton were relegated from the Second division in last place. He stayed at Brighton until February 1963, when he was replaced by

Archie Macaulay Archibald Renwick Macaulay (30 July 1915 – 10 June 1993) was a Scottish football player and manager. Playing career Born in Falkirk, Macaulay started his playing career in junior football and joined Rangers in 1933, where he became a regular ...

Coaching

There followed spells as coach with

Cambridge University The University of Cambridge is a Public university, public collegiate university, collegiate research university in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1209 and granted a royal charter by Henry III of England, Henry III in 1231, Cambridge is the world' ...

and

Hastings Hastings () is a large seaside town and borough in East Sussex on the south coast of England, east to the county town of Lewes and south east of London. The town gives its name to the Battle of Hastings, which took place to the north-west ...

, before taking the managerial reins at Stevenage Town F.C. from January 1964 until 1967. He then had brief spells coaching at

Hull City Hull City Association Football Club is a professional football club based in Hull, East Riding of Yorkshire, England, that compete in the . They have played home games at the MKM Stadium since moving from Boothferry Park in 2002. The club's t ...

and with

San Diego Toros The San Diego Toros were a professional soccer team based in San Diego, California. Founded in 1967 as the Los Angeles Toros, the team was one of the ten charter members of the National Professional Soccer League (NPSL). When the NPSL and th ...

Rosenborg

He was appointed as head coach at Norwegian side Rosenborg ahead of the 1969 season replacing Knut Næss. His first meeting with the Rosenborg players is legendary:

''"This is a ball," Curtis stated whilst pointing to the round leather ball. "Don't go too fast, now!"
Odd Iversen Odd "Ivers" Iversen (6 November 1945 – 29 December 2014) was a Norwegian footballer who played as a striker; he is notable for his former record of 158 goals in Norwegian top tier football, as well as his still-standing record of 30 goals in ...
laughed.''

Curtis introduced modern defensive football to Norway, with a flat backline 4–4–2 formation, pressure on the ball carrier and tactical focus. The 1969 debut season ended with a premiership title for Rosenborg, with Odd Iversen scoring 26 of the team's 36 league goals. Despite this success, both the club leadership and the spectators disliked George Curtis's defensive style and pressure was put on Curtis to play a more attacking style. In September 1969, Rosenborg met Curtis's former club, Southampton, in the first round of the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup, with Southampton going through 2–1 on aggregate, the goals coming from Ron Davies and Terry Paine with Rosenborg's goal scored by Sunde. Curtis was allowed to continue for one more season. Despite coming second in the 1970 league season, it was an anti-climax. The dynamic duo of Iversen and Harald Sunde had been sold to Belgian Division 2 club Racing Mechelen before the start of the season and with them went all of Rosenborg's attacking play. 18 league games later, Rosenborg ended up with an almost unbelievable goal difference of 15–5! At the end of the season, George Curtis was dismissed and was replaced by

Nils Arne Eggen Nils Arne Eggen (17 September 1941 – 19 January 2022) was a Norwegian footballer, manager and teacher from Orkdal. Eggen was closely tied to Rosenborg, the club he managed for 23 years between 1970 and 2010. He is Norway's most successful clu ...

Norway national team

Curtis returned to England, but in 1972 he returned to Norway to coach the

national team A national sports team (commonly known as a national team or a national side) is a team that represents a nation, rather than a particular club or region, in an international sport. The term is most commonly associated with team sports, for exa ...

. During the Euro 72 qualifying campaign, Norway picked up only one point in six games, and in a

World Cup A world cup is a global sporting competition in which the participant entities – usually international teams or individuals representing their countries – compete for the title of world champion. The event most associated with the concept i ...

qualifier against the Netherlands on 1 November 1972, Norway lost 9–0. The next year, they suffered a perhaps even more humiliating result by losing 2–1 against

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 ...

. Under his management, Norway played 17 international matche

(of which only 3 were won) before he was sacked in June 1974. Again, he was replaced by Eggen.

Rosenborg (again)

Before the 1976 season, he was once again appointed as head coach at Rosenborg. After a car accident in which his Norwegian wife died, Curtis's focus shifted elsewhere and Rosenborg quickly ended up struggling to avoid relegation. A 0–4 defeat against Division 3 side

Røros Røros ( sma, Plaassja, ) is a municipality in Trøndelag county, Norway. The administrative centre of the municipality is the town of Røros. Some of the villages in Røros include Brekken, Glåmos, Feragen, Galåa, and Hitterdalen. The min ...

in the 2nd round of the cup sealed his fate: Curtis was released from his contract on 27 August 1976. Again, his successor was

. His final coaching job was spent in

Qatar Qatar (, ; ar, قطر, Qaṭar ; local vernacular pronunciation: ), officially the State of Qatar,) is a country in Western Asia. It occupies the Qatar Peninsula on the northeastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula in the Middle East; it ...

from 1979 to 1981.

After football

He retired to live on the

Essex Essex () is a county in the East of England. One of the home counties, it borders Suffolk and Cambridgeshire to the north, the North Sea to the east, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent across the estuary of the River Thames to the south, and Grea ...

coast where he continued to coach youngsters as part of the FIFA coaching scheme, remaining as passionate about the game as ever. He died in 2004, reportedly spending the final years of his life living on his own in a caravan in

Chelmsford Chelmsford () is a City status in the United Kingdom, city in the City of Chelmsford district in the county of Essex, England. It is the county town of Essex and one of three cities in the county, along with Southend-on-Sea and Colchester. It ...

Honours

Managerial

Rosenborg BK *

Eliteserien Eliteserien () is a Norwegian professional league for association football clubs. At the top of the Norwegian football league system, it is the country's primary football competition. Contested by 16 clubs, it operates on a system of promotio ...

1969 This year is notable for Apollo 11's first landing on the moon. Events January * January 4 – The Government of Spain hands over Ifni to Morocco. * January 5 **Ariana Afghan Airlines Flight 701 crashes into a house on its approach to ...

References

Bibliography

* *

External links

Profile on Arsenal A-ZObituary in Southampton EchoSaints Legends You Have Never Heard Of !: George Curtis
{{DEFAULTSORT:Curtis, George 1919 births 2004 deaths Military personnel from Essex People from West Thurrock Royal Air Force airmen English footballers Arsenal F.C. players Southampton F.C. players Valenciennes FC players Margate F.C. players English football managers English expatriate footballers Brighton & Hove Albion F.C. managers Rosenborg BK managers Norway national football team managers North American Soccer League (1968–1984) coaches English expatriate sportspeople in Norway Expatriate football managers in Norway West Ham United F.C. wartime guest players Chelmsford City F.C. players Association football inside forwards Chelmsford City F.C. non-playing staff Association football coaches Royal Air Force personnel of World War II Chelmsford City F.C. wartime guest players