The footballer Tommy Banks, who has died aged 94, was a quintessential Lancastrian full-back of the Fifties and early 60s – rugged, ebullient, no nonsense, powerful, but admirably good tempered. His massive yr got here in 1958, when he not solely helped his beloved Bolton Wanderers win the FA Cup last towards Manchester United, however performed for England within the World Cup finals in Sweden, showing in all 4 matches.
For England he had taken the place at left-back of Manchester United’s captain, Roger Byrne, who had died within the Munich air catastrophe earlier that yr. They have been very completely different gamers: Byrne composed and stylish, Banks a pressure of nature. However within the World Cup group stage recreation in Sweden towards Brazil, Banks confirmed he may play cultured soccer with one of the best of them. At one level England’s right-back, Don Howe, mis-kicked and skied the ball, creating on the spot confusion. However there was Tommy, able to step in nearly casually, stretching out his left foot and coolly bringing the ball down from the air, as if to say: “Something you Brazilians can do, I can do too.”
England drew 0-0 with Brazil, and have been unbeaten of their first three video games of that World Cup. Nevertheless, a 1-0 defeat to the USSR in a gaggle stage play-off put them out of the match, and Banks would play only one extra match for his nation – a 3-3 draw towards Northern Eire in October 1958. He had made his worldwide debut (additionally towards the USSR) in Might of that yr, so all of his six caps have been squeezed into an unusually brief interval of 139 days.
Born within the Farnworth space of Bolton, Banks stood at 5ft 8in however weighed in at comfortably greater than 12st – “granite-like” as Gordon Taylor, chief govt of the Skilled Footballers’ Affiliation, as soon as described him – and was subsequently admirably suited to the type of rough-and-tumble soccer he greatest appreciated. After initially working as a coal miner and rejecting overtures from Manchester United’s supervisor Matt Busby, in 1947 he signed for Bolton, which might be his solely league membership.
Thanks partly to the interruption of nationwide service he took time to ascertain himself within the first group and so it was that his older brother Ralph, not he, performed at left-back within the well-known Matthews last for Bolton towards Blackpool in 1953, notable for the excellent efficiency of Stanley Matthews for Blackpool, and which Bolton misplaced 4-3.
A spot for Tommy within the group that gained the 1958 FA Cup last, thanks to 2 objectives from Nat Lofthouse, was greater than sufficient comfort. Though it was the one honour he would win on the membership, Bolton have been a very good group within the First Division for his total taking part in spell there, and Banks was broadly admired for his honesty and belligerent management qualities. “You would hear him all around the area, roaring out directions and reward,” stated his team-mate Dennis Stevens, whereas Bobby Charlton noticed ruefully: “In the event you had any delicate spot in your make up then he’d exploit it, and few if any acquired the higher of him.” Regardless of his uncompromising perspective, Banks was by no means booked.
In 1961 he was a distinguished voice within the profitable footballers’ marketing campaign for the abolition of the utmost wage. In the identical yr – after 255 video games for Bolton – he joined non-league Altrincham persevering with to show the identical wholehearted dedication within the Cheshire League that had made him an England worldwide with Bolton. After two seasons at Moss Lane he moved to Bangor Metropolis, the place he noticed out his remaining taking part in days till 1965.
He continued to reside in Farnworth, and labored variously as a bricklayer, a constructing contractor and a newsagent. He was upset to see the gradual decline in fortunes of Bolton Wanderers after he left the membership, however remained loyal to his group and to his dwelling city, with the ability to say that he had moved not more than 500 yards from his childhood dwelling throughout his life.
So geographically constrained had his household upbringing been earlier than his taking part in days that he usually discovered it troublesome to make his dad and mom admire the vistas that had opened as much as him on his taking part in excursions across the nation, not to mention the journeys to Europe that he typically made. “My mom used to say to me, ‘The place are you taking part in at this time, Thomas?’” he recalled. “If it was, say, Wolverhampton, she wouldn’t have identified the place it was. So I simply used to say ‘t’different facet of Manchester’”.
In 1952 Banks married Margaret Charles, they usually had two sons, David and Lee. She died in 1977 and in 1981 he married Rita Morris.
