George Hardwick - Match History
Club:   F.C. - x full caps Coach: x - x full capsx
Age x
1	-	x - x, x	x	x	x	x

Notes

George Francis Moutry Hardwick, the son of an electrician and a schoolmistress, was born at Saltburn on February 2 1920; many of his forebears were Scottish smugglers. He weighed 12lb at birth.

His father was employed by Pease and Partners, and worked in an ironstone pit on the edge of the Yorkshire moors. When the pit closed he lost his job. "Everyone was unemployed," George remembered. "My mother and father went without food so that I would have enough to eat. I remember getting up with my father at 3am to go out in the fields gathering mushrooms. That was our meal for the day. My grandfather on my mother's side was an engine driver. He was still in work, and he and his associates used to collect old children's clothes, shoes, boots, anything, and pass it on to us. Mother tore apart old woollen jumpers to re-knit them as red and white jerseys and stockings for us to play football in."

Hardwick signed for Middlesbrough (for a �5 fee) in April 1937, scoring an own goal on his debut. The outbreak of war saw him join the RAF; while training as an air gunner, he was nearly killed during a Luftwaffe attack on his base in Bedfordshire. He then became a sergeant in RAF Bomber Command.

During the war he turned out for Chelsea, appearing in two wartime Wembley cup finals; he also played 17 wartime internationals for England, games which did not earn a full cap and were intended as morale-boosting exercises.

Once, playing for Chelsea against Fulham, the sirens were sounded in the middle of the match; all the players threw themselves flat on the ground: "The Germans bombed the other side of the river, and the referee blew his whistle to carry on."

After the war, Chelsea wanted to sign Hardwick from Middlesbrough; the Chelsea chairman travelled to Teesside, placed a blank cheque in front of his opposite number and invited him to fill it in. Middlesbrough declined.

At Hampden Park in 1947, Hardwick captained Great Britain against a FIFA side, Great Britain winning 6-1. In all he went on to make 166 appearances for Middlesbrough, scoring five goals. In November 1950 he was transferred to Oldham Athletic, for whom, as player-manager, he made 190 appearances and scored 14 times.

After retiring as a player, Hardwick coached the United States 7th Army in Germany; he then coached PSV Eindhoven (1957-59) and the Dutch national side (1959-61), before rejoining Middlesbrough as youth team coach.

In November 1964 Hardwick was appointed manager of Sunderland. Despite guiding the Wearside club to what was then their highest post-war position, he was sacked after only 169 days. During this period he started Brian Clough on his managerial career, by appointing him coach to the youth team.

Hardwick never, of course, knew the lifestyle enjoyed by today's successful footballers. But he was a handsome man, and was friendly with actresses such as Kay Kendall, Shirley Eaton, Margaret Lockwood and Ava Gardner.

He was guest of honour at Wembley when England lost 2-0 to France in February 1999, and was not impressed by what he saw: "By God, they played without an atom of pride. I've never seen 11 players with less guts... My players would have walked home if they'd played like that."

He added: "For the players, it's all too quick and easy now. For us it was about pride. I wanted to be somebody, so I worked for it."

He is survived by his second wife Jennifer (nee Totterdell); they were together for 36 years and married in 1983. From his previous marriage he had two sons, who survive him. - The Telegraph obituary

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CG