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 lea ...

and coach, who played as an

inside forward In the sport of association football, a forward (attacker or striker) is an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield position which primarily plays further up the pitch than Midfielder, midfielders and Defender (association football), d ...

Playing career

Arsenal

Curtis played as a youth for Anglo (Purfleet) before signing for

Arsenal An arsenal is a place where arms and ammunition are made, maintained and repaired, stored, or issued, in any combination, whether privately or publicly owned. Arsenal and armoury (British English) or armory (American English) are mostly ...

in December 1936. He spent over a year at Arsenal's nursery club,

Margate Margate is a seaside resort, seaside town in the Thanet District of Kent, England. It is located on the north coast of Kent and covers an area of long, north-east of Canterbury and includes Cliftonville, Garlinge, Palm Bay, UK, Palm Bay and W ...

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

Highbury Highbury is an area of North London, England, in the London Borough of Islington. Highbury Manor Highbury was once owned by Ranulf, brother of Ilger, and included all the areas north and east of Canonbury and Holloway Roads. The manor hou ...

against

Blackpool Blackpool is a seaside town in Lancashire, England. It is located on the Irish Sea coast of the Fylde peninsula, approximately north of Liverpool and west of Preston, Lancashire, Preston. It is the main settlement in the Borough of 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 (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

intervened that September and he spent the war serving in the

Royal Air Force The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the Air force, air and space force of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. It was formed towards the end of the World War I, First World War on 1 April 1918, on the merger of t ...

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 a professional Association football, football club based in Stratford, London, Stratford, East London, England. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football league system, English f ...

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 status in the United Kingdom, city and unitary authority in Hampshire, England. It is located approximately southwest of London, west of Portsmouth, and southeast of Salisbury. Southampton had a population of 253, ...

in part-exchange for

Don Roper Donald George Beaumont Roper (14 December 1922 – 8 June 2001) was an English footballer who played for Southampton and Arsenal, winning two league titles with the latter in the 1947–48 and 1952–53 seasons. Playing as a Midfielder#Winger ...

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 arrive at The Dell, with

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 promotion to Division 1 for three consecutive seasons; 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 axial tilt, tilted orbit around the Sun. In temperat ...

(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 based in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England. The club competes in the Championship, the second tier of English football. They are nicknamed "the Blades" due to Sheffield's history ...

. 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 , , ; ; or ; ) is a communes of France, commune in the Nord (French department), Nord Departments of France, department, Hauts-de-France, France. It lies on the Scheldt () river. Although the city and region experienced ...

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. Curtis' move to Chelmsford City 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 Telford and Wrekin borough of Shropshire, England. It lies between the towns of Telford and Newport, on the A518, in the Wrekin constituency. There is one school in the centre of the village. ...

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 r ...

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

Sunderland Sunderland () is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England. It is a port at the mouth of the River Wear on the North Sea, approximately south-east of Newcastle upon Tyne. It is the most p ...

Management career

Mohun Bagan

Before the beginning of his coaching career, Curtis went on to manage noted Indian club

Mohun Bagan Mohun Bagan Super Giant, commonly referred to as Mohun Bagan, is an Indian professional football club based in Kolkata, West Bengal. Founded in 1889, it is one of the oldest football clubs in Asia. The club competes in the Indian Super League, ...

for a while in 1945, during his wartime visit to the country.

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 as Brighton, is a professional football club based in Brighton and Hove, East Sussex, England. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football. Their home gr ...

. 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.

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, the University of Cambridge is the List of oldest universities in continuous operation, wo ...

and

Hastings Hastings ( ) is a seaside town and Borough status in the United Kingdom, borough in East Sussex on the south coast of England, east of Lewes and south east of London. The town gives its name to the Battle of Hastings, which took place to th ...

, before taking the managerial reins at

Stevenage Town F.C. Stevenage Town Football Club was a football club based in Stevenage, Hertfordshire, England. The club existed from 1894 until 1968, after which Stevenage Athletic were established. History The club were established in 1894 as Stevenage Town.

from January 1964 until 1967. He then had brief spells coaching at

Hull City Hull City Association Football Club is a professional association football club based in Kingston upon Hull, East Riding of Yorkshire, England. They compete in the , the second level of the English football league system. They play their home ...

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 the ...

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 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 The Inter-Cities Fairs Cup, most commonly referred to as the Fairs Cup and sometimes as the European Fairs Cup or Fairs Cities' Cup, was a European football competition played between 1955 and 1971. The Fairs Cup was the idea of FIFA vice-presid ...

, with Southampton going through 2–1 on aggregate, the goals coming from Ron Davies and

Terry Paine Terence Lionel Paine (born 23 March 1939) is an English former professional footballer. Originally from Winchester, Paine is best known for his career with Southampton, for whom he made a club-record 808 appearances across 18 seasons. He playe ...

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 Koninklijke Racing Club Mechelen, simply known as Racing Mechelen or KRC Mechelen, is a football in Belgium, Belgian association football club from Mechelen in the Antwerp (province), Antwerp province. It is a long-time rival of KV Mechelen. The ...

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 Municipality. Eggen was closely tied to Rosenborg, the club he managed for 23 years between 1970 and 2010. He is Norway's most s ...

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 name is ...

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, officially the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, is a landlocked country in Western Europe. It is bordered by Belgium to the west and north, Germany to the east, and France on the south. Its capital and most populous city, Luxembour ...

. 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 (town), Røros 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, officially the State of Qatar, is a country in West Asia. It occupies the Geography of Qatar, Qatar Peninsula on the northeastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula in the Middle East; it shares Qatar–Saudi Arabia border, its sole land b ...

from 1979 to 1981.

After football

He retired to live on the

Essex Essex ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East of England, and one of the home counties. It is bordered by Cambridgeshire and Suffolk to the north, the North Sea to the east, Kent across the Thames Estuary to the ...

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 Caravan or caravans may refer to: Transport and travel *Campervan, a type of vehicle also known as a motor caravan *Caravan (travellers), a group of travellers journeying together **Caravanserai, a place where a caravan could stop *Caravan (trail ...

Chelmsford Chelmsford () is a 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 Colchester and Southend-on-Sea. It is located north-east of London ...

Honours

Managerial

Rosenborg BK *

Eliteserien Eliteserien () is a professional association football league in Norway and the highest level of the Norwegian football league system. Contested by 16 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the Norwegian First Division ...

1969 1969 ( MCMLXIX) was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar, the 1969th year of the Common Era (CE) and ''Anno Domini'' (AD) designations, the 969th year of the 2nd millennium, the 69th year of the 20th century, and the ...

References

Bibliography

* *

External links

Profile on Arsenal A–Z
(archived 22 February 2014)
Obituary 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 men's footballers Arsenal F.C. players Southampton F.C. players Valenciennes FC players Margate F.C. players English football managers English expatriate men's footballers Brighton & Hove Albion F.C. managers Rosenborg BK managers Norway national football team managers North American Soccer League (1968–1984) head coaches English expatriate sportspeople in Norway Expatriate football managers in Norway West Ham United F.C. wartime guest players Chelmsford City F.C. players Men's association football inside forwards Chelmsford City F.C. non-playing staff Mohun Bagan Super Giant managers English football coaches Royal Air Force personnel of World War II Chelmsford City F.C. wartime guest players English Football League players 20th-century English sportsmen