Nat Lofthouse OBE, 27 August 1925 - 15 January 2011                      

Nat Lofthouse died earlier this year at the grand old age of 85, he was an old fashioned centre forward who played for Bolton Wanderers where he made 452 league appearances, scoring 255 goals. He also made 33 appearances for England scoring an incredible 30 goals.

He was born in Bolton & lived there all his life, Nat remained loyal to his home town team throughout his career & indeed his life. He signed for the club in 1939 &, apart from a brief spell, worked for or represented Bolton Wanderers until the day he died (January 15^th 2011).

He appeared in two FA cup finals at Wembley, the first in 1953 against Blackpool (commonly known as the Matthews final) & he scored 2 goals but ended on the losing side (3-4). He was the First division’s top scorer that year & was also voted English Footballer of the year.

In 1958 he returned to Wembley & scored 2 more goals in the FA Cup final, but this time he finished on the winning side with Bolton Wanderers beating Manchester United 2-0.

Nat’s most famous moment whilst playing for England came in 1952 in a game against Austria, who were considered to be the unofficial world champions; with the game poised at 2 -2 & with time running out Nat scored the 2^nd of his two goals but in doing so he was elbowed in the face, tackled from behind, then brought down by the goalkeeper & knocked unconscious. He had to be carried off the pitch not knowing he had scored but England went on to win the game 3–2 in front of hoards of British servicemen who had been allowed time off from their duties to watch the match. At the end of the game they all cheered  Nat off the pitch & in the Daily Express the following day Nat was described as' The Lion of Vienna' due to the courage & bravery he had displayed, that nickname stuck with him & is still used to this day.

He was never booked or sent off whilst playing for England & the team only lost 5 times when he played, he was also England’s leading marksman in 4 seasons out of 5.

When he retired from playing he took on various roles at the club throughout the remaining years of his life: Assistant trainer, Chief Coach, Manager, Administrative manager, Chief scout, Caretaker manager, Executive manager & finally club President.

I, like most Wanderers fans who are still living, never saw Nat play, but it’s a testament to him that his aura & appeal to the common football fan, especially within Bolton, grew even more when he retired. Anyone who listened to him talk knew how passionate he was about Bolton Wanderers but also about football in general & whenever he spoke about his times playing for England he never failed to mention his England team mates. In fact he always deflected praise away from himself by saying he was totally reliant on the players around him to supply the passes & crosses for him to “simply nod the ball into the net”.

He often spoke warmly about Stan Matthews (Blackpool), Tom Finney (Preston), Billy Wright (Wolverhampton Wanderers), Len Shackleton (Sunderland) & many others, saying how much more skilful they were than him & how they made it easy for him to score goals for England.

Nat was often described as a true gentleman & that description could not have been more apt, in spite of his great achievements for Bolton & England, if you were lucky enough to spend time in his company within 2 minutes you would know how humble & modest he was. On 1^st January 1994, he received an OBE from Queen Elizabeth 11 and he was “as proud as punch” but he never forgot his roots; during the Second World War he was conscripted but instead of being sent to join the armed forces he was sent to work down the pits as a 'Bevan boy'  (Exactly the same thing happened to my father) & he used to play football for the Wanderers when he was free on Saturday's, travelling to Burnden Park on the bus with the fans.

At his funeral, thousands of people  lined the streets of Bolton to pay their last respects, those people were mainly from Bolton but there were fans from other teams & non-football people too, people who knew what Nat stood for, what he had done for the town of Bolton, what he had done whilst playing for England & how he was always so honest & dignified both on & off the pitch. If Nat could have seen what was happening I’m sure he would have been embarrassed at the fuss being made for him, but he would also have been very proud of the fans he always referred to as “the best fans in the world”.

There are lots more that could be said about Nat & if you’re interested, you could do a search on the internet where you will find many words & photos chronicling his life & career, however I want to finish my tribute to Nat by saying:

“Nat Lofthouse was one of the most feared centre forwards of his era; he was a proud Boltonian, a proud Bolton Wanderer & a proud Englishman. He was humble, honest & you could not wish to find a better ambassador for your club, or England. Nat was, & forever will be, a legend”.

“Nat Lofthouse I salute you & in your honour I will endeavour to cycle from John O’Groats to Lands End whilst raising money for Cancer Research UK”.