Dennis Viollet

Dennis Sydney Viollet (20 September 1933 – 6 March 1999) was an English footballer who played for Manchester United and Stoke City as well as the England national team.

He was famous as one of the Busby Babes and survived the Munich air disaster.

After his retirement as player, he became a coach and spent most of his managerial career in the United States for various professional and school teams.

Viollet joined Manchester United on 1 September 1949.

He came through the junior ranks at United and turned professional in 1950.

His first competitive game for the first team came against Newcastle United on 11 April 1953 and he was a key part of the United teams that won back to back First Division titles in 1956 and 1957.

One of his most notable games came on 26 September 1956, in the second leg of United's European Cup preliminary round tie against Belgian champions Anderlecht, in which he scored four goals in a 10–0 win that remains United's biggest competitive victory.

In February 1958, Viollet was flying back from a European Cup match in Belgrade via Munich; attempting to take off in bad weather, the plane crashed, killing 21 people, including seven Manchester United players, in what would become known as the Munich air disaster.

Viollet survived, suffering only injuries to his head and face, and he returned to action before the end of the season, less than three months later.

He played in the 1958 FA Cup Final against Bolton Wanderers, which United lost 2–0, and less than a week later, he scored the equalising goal in a 2–1 win over Milan in the first leg of their European Cup semi-final; Milan won the second leg 4–0 to deny United a place in the final.

After scoring 21 goals in 37 league appearances in 1958–59, Viollet had his most prolific season to date in 1959–60, scoring 32 goals in 36 league appearances, a club record.

In recognition of his scoring exploits, Viollet received his first call-up to the England team in May 1960; after being left out for a 3–3 home draw with Yugoslavia and a 3–0 away defeat to Spain on 15 May, he was named at inside left for a 2–0 away defeat to Hungary a week later.

Despite missing three months of the 1960–61 season, he still scored 15 goals, behind only Bobby Charlton and Alex Dawson as Manchester United's top scorer, and in September 1961, he was called up to the England squad again for a 1962 World Cup qualifier at home to Luxembourg; Viollet scored England's second goal in a 4–1 win.

On 22 May 1960, at the end of his record-breaking season with Manchester United, Viollet won his first full England cap in a 2–0 friendly defeat to Hungary in Budapest.

He made a decent start to his Stoke career scoring five goals towards the end of the 1961–62 season meaning that hopes were high for 1962–63.

While six games without a win heralded another poor start for Stoke, Viollet kick-started Stoke's season with four goals against Charlton Athletic on 12 September.

That win gave Stoke the impetus to embark on an unbeaten run of 18, ended by Leeds United on 15 December.

His second and final appearance came on 28 September 1961, in a qualifying game for the 1962 World Cup at Highbury, in which he scored in a 4–1 win over Luxembourg.

In January 1962, Matt Busby surprisingly sold the 28-year-old Viollet to Stoke City for £25,000 after scoring 179 goals in 293 appearances for United.

He joined a team being re-built by Tony Waddington, containing experienced players such as Stanley Matthews, and Jackie Mudie and also emerging talent such as John Ritchie and Eric Skeels.

His signing was viewed as a coup for Stoke as at 28 Viollet was still in his prime.

The winter of 1962–63 saw no matches played for two months and once football resumed in March Stoke lost once in their next 13 matches and won the Second Division title with Viollet scoring 23 goals.

With Stoke back in the First Division after a ten-year absence Waddington decided to move Viollet into midfield.

He played and scored in the 1964 Football League Cup Final as Stoke lost 4–3 to Leicester City.

He continued to play for Stoke until the summer of 1967 when he announced his retirement after scoring 66 goals in 207 matches for the "Potters".

On returning to Britain, he played for non-league Witton Albion, before finishing his career at Linfield helping them to win the Irish cup in 1970.

Once his playing career finished, he had spells coaching at Preston North End, and Crewe Alexandra briefly in 1971.

In 1974, Dennis Viollet became the first head coach for the Washington Diplomats of the NASL.

In 1978, Viollet was selected by his former United teammate, head coach Noel Cantwell, to serve as assistant coach of the New England Tea Men of the North American Soccer League.

After three seasons in the Boston area, the team relocated to Jacksonville, Florida in 1981 where Viollet continued as assistant coach, ultimately becoming head coach, of the Jacksonville Tea Men of the NASL, ASL and United Soccer League.

The Team Men won the ASL, bringing the city of Jacksonville its first ever professional sports championship.

Viollet in 1985 coached the varsity boys soccer team at St. Johns Country Day School located in Orange Park, Florida.

He also coached the Jacksonville Knights, a professional indoor soccer team, in 1989.

In 1990, Viollet took the reins of the Jacksonville University Dolphins, where he stayed until 1995.

Jacksonville University and their primary rivals, the University of North Florida, compete annually for the Dennis Viollet Cup.

He then took the USISL Richmond Kickers to the 1995 American Double (USISL Premier League and US Open Cup titles).

Shortly after his death in March 1999 he was honoured by the club having a street near the Britannia Stadium named 'Dennis Viollet Avenue'.

Shortly after leaving the Victoria Ground, he came out of retirement to join NASL team Baltimore Bays in the United States for a season.

He stayed with Richmond for 2 seasons, then served as coach of the A-League Jacksonville Cyclones before his death from cancer on 6 March 1999, aged 65, in his adopted home of Jacksonville.

In additional to his professional coaching career, Dennis Viollet made important volunteer contributions to youth soccer development in the Orange Park community near Jacksonville.