Sporting Legends - Walter Winterbottom

Cliff Morgan talks to sporting personalities of the past. In this recording he is in conversation with the first full-time manager of the England football team, Walter Winterbottom. Walter Winterbottom was the first full-time manager of the England football team. He was appointed in 1946 and held the job for sixteen years. In the 1930s he played for Manchester United but his on-field career was cut short by a spinal condition. Under his management England had mixed fortunes, with impressive results statistics set against some spectacular failures, notably the defeat by the United States in the 1950 World Cup.

After leaving the FA he became director-general of the Sports Council. Sir Walter, who was knighted in 1978, died in 2002 at the age of 89.“Morgan the Magnificent” was the title given to Cliff Morgan by South African newspapers when he toured the country with the British Lions team in 1955. His success in that tour earned him the captaincy of Wales the following season. Cliff was born into a mining family in the Rhondda in 1930 and joined Cardiff Rugby Club straight from school, playing at fly-half. When his playing career ended in 1958 he joined the BBC, working as a TV commentator and producer. For the last ten years of his BBC career he was Head of Television Sport and Outside Broadcasts, with overall responsibility for the coverage of state occasions, as well as all major sporting events. After he retired from the staff of the BBC he became the presenter of the popular Radio 4 programme "Sport on Four".