Nat Lofthouse
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| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Nathaniel Lofthouse | ||
| Date of birth | 27 August 1925 | ||
| Place of birth | Bolton, Lancashire, England | ||
| Date of death | 15 January 2011 (aged 85) | ||
| Place of death | Bolton, Greater Manchester, England | ||
| Height | 5 ft 9.25 in (1.76 m) | ||
| Playing position | Centre-forward | ||
| Youth career | |||
| 1939–1946 | Bolton Wanderers | ||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
| 1946–1960 | Bolton Wanderers | 452 | (255) |
| National team | |||
| 1950–1958 | England | 33 | (30) |
| Teams managed | |||
| 1968–1970 | Bolton Wanderers | ||
| 1971 | Bolton Wanderers | ||
| 1985 | Bolton Wanderers (caretaker) | ||
| * Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only. |
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Nathaniel "Nat" Lofthouse, OBE (27 August 1925 – 15 January 2011) was an English professional footballer who played for Bolton Wanderers for his whole career. He was capped 33 times for the England national football team between 1950 and 1958, scoring 30 goals and giving himself one of the greatest goals-per-game ratios of any player to represent England at the highest level.
Born in Bolton, Lancashire, in 1925, Lofthouse joined the town's main club on 4 September 1939 and made his debut in a wartime 5–1 win against Bury on 22 March 1941 when he scored two goals. It was then more than five years until he made his league debut for the club, but he eventually played against Chelsea on 31 August 1946, when he scored twice in a 4–3 defeat. Lofthouse would go on to play 33 games for England, but his debut on 22 November 1950 made him 25 when he finally broke into the team. He perhaps justified a claim to an earlier call-up by scoring both goals in a 2–2 draw against Yugoslavia at Highbury on his debut.
On 25 May 1952, Lofthouse earned the title 'Lion of Vienna' after scoring his second goal in England's 3–2 victory over Austria. In doing so he was elbowed in the face, tackled from behind, and finally brought down by the goalkeeper. Back from national team duty, he then scored six goals in a game for the Football League against the Irish League on 24 September 1952.
In 1952–53, he was named FWA Footballer of the Year. He scored a goal – but was on the losing side – in the famous 1953 FA Cup Final (aka 'The Matthews Final'), having previously scored in each round. That season he topped the First Division goalscoring charts with 30 goals. He featured in the 1954 World Cup side. Lofthouse scored twice against Belgium in a match that ended 4–4. Injured for the next match, in the quarter final game against Uruguay he equalized in the 16th minute, after receiving the ball in the 18 yard box.
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