DANNY AND JACKIE WERE BROTHERS

Danny Blanchflower was asked for by a couple of blog readers, so since Barnsley are in the ascendency, as are the Spurs and Northern Ireland, then it is appropriate to delve into his life.

Born in Belfast in 1926 he left school, despite being a bright lad, and worked at the local Gallaher Cigarette factory and joined the RAF, stationed in St Andrew's Scotland, where he signed up for the University College "Dundee XI" for some light relief. His mother played for a local ladies team, so football was in his blood.

In 1945 he returned home and signed for Glentoran until 1949, when he joined Barnsley for two years. He then moved to Aston Villa in 1951, where he played for three years before signing for Spurs after a £30,000 transfer. Danny played at Tottenham, from 1954-64 working under the great Arthur Rowe of "Push and Run" fame, a man I met when my school played Ardingly College in Sussex during the late 1960s. Rowe was employed as a coach to the school. Rowe retired in 1955 and under the new manager Jimmy Anderson, Blanchflower changed tactics on the pitch in the 1956 semi-final against Manchester City, which did not go down well, as Spurs lost to 0-1. His forthright and egotistical approach was not always popular with the hierarchy. Nevertheless, he was a leader and he took Spurs to the FA Cup again in 1962 and the European Cup Winners Cup in 1963 under Bill Nicholson.

Blanchflower was an intellectual footballer, wiry, not spectacular and was a clever supplier of passes to Cliff Jones, Bobby Smith and later Jimmy Greaves. During his ten years, Blanchflower won the FA Cup and the League in 1960-1, the first time in the 20th Century. During his career he played for Northern Ireland 56 times from 1949-62, including the appearance in the last 8 of the 1958 World Cup. He was voted Footballer of the Year in 1958 and 1961. Very briefly he went on loan to Toronto City with Stanley Matthews and Johnny Haynes. But this heralded his retirement from playing in 1964 at the age of 38. He had a spell with Yorkshire Television as a pundit, he worked for the Sunday Express and in February 1961, he refused Eammon Andrews' invitation, live on TV, to be the subject of "This is Your Life", which he said was an "invasion of privacy". In 2009 he was voted Spurs' best player in The Times.

Tactically astute, Blanchflower went into management with Northern Ireland (1976-79), Chelsea from 1978-9, he inevitably wrote his autobiography which stated that playing football was all about glory, style and flourish. He died in Cobham (near the Chelsea training ground) in December 1993 having suffered from Alzheimers, Parkinsons and finally pneumonia. A blue plaque marks his birthplace at 49 Grace Avenue, Belfast, his childhood home.

His brother Jackie was also a professional footballer playing in the 1957 FA Cup Final for Manchester United against Aston Villa. He took over in goal after Ray Wood, the United keeper was flattened by Peter McParland, who went on to score two goals that beat Matt Busby's side. Jackie then was injured in the Munich Air disaster in 1958 and eventually recovered but could not play football again, retiring at 24 years old, having played a 105 times for United and earning 12 caps for Northern Ireland. A career cut short.