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Stan Cullis |
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Stan Cullis was 50 years old when he was appointed manager of Birmingham City. He had served wolves for over 30 years, as player, assistant manager and manager, and was one of the greatest centre-halfs in England during the period 1935-45, winning 12 full and 20 wartime and victory international caps and skippering both club and country. He played in over 300 senior games for Wolves but an appearance in their losing FA Cup Final team in 1939 was as near as he came to winning a medal. As a manager though, he guided Wolves to three League Championships in the 1950s and two FA Cup Final victories, in 1949 and 1960. Blues hoped that his experience would guide them back into the First Division, but it was not to be. Perfromances certainly improved and the players loved his coaching methods and good humour, yet the end product was not there. There were two excellent Cup runs, Birmingham reached the semi-finals of the League Cup and FA Cup in successive seasons, 1967 and 1968 - but in his five years in office, they finished tenth, tenth, fourth and seventh, and were at the wrong end of the table when he left. Over 30 transfer deals took place during the Cullis reign. He intorduced the Latchford brothers and Garry Pendrey, and there is no doubt that he sowed the seeds from which grew the promotion-winning side of 1972.. Cullis was born in Ellesmere Port, Cheshire on 25 October 1915. He played for Ellesmere Port Wednesday and Bolton Wanderers as an amateur before joining Wolves in 1934. After leaving St.Andrew he worked in a travel agency amd later wrote a column in a Midlands sports paper, occasionally taking part in local radio programmes. Cullis died in 2001 at the age of 84. Tributes to Cullis include the naming of a stand (the Stan Cullis Stand) at Wolves' Molineux stadium, and in 2003 he was inducted into the English Football Hall of Fame in recognition of his impact as a manager. | |
| Managerial Career | |||||||
| Competition | Played | Won | Lost | Drawn | For | Against | Perf % |
| League | TK | TK | TK | TK | TK | TK | xx.x% |
| FA Cup | xx | xx | xx | xx | xx | xx | xx.x% |
| League Cup | xx | xx | xx | xx | xx | xx | xx.x% |
| Other | xx | xx | xx | xx | xx | xx | xx.x% |