BLANCHFLOWER Robert Dennis
With the exception of the great George Best, Danny is arguably the most well known Irish footballer in the history of the game. He was always encouraged by his mother to play football as she herself had been a member of a Ladies football team in his hometown of Belfast. The young Blanchflower showed remarkable control of the ball from an early age, constantly practising with a tennis ball on the cobbled streets near his home, and this was the catalyst for the skills he would later show off to perfection in his professional career.
“Danny”, as he became known in the football world despite being christened Dennis started as an amateur with Glentoran before signing as a part time professional. After a spell in the RAF he resumed his football career in 1946 and within six months was selected for the Irish League against the Football League for what would be the first of many representative honours. He soon aspired to further his football career with a move to England being the natural progression but his slight build gave several club managers the impression that he would not be strong enough to cope with the demands of the English game. Angus Seed the then Barnsley manager obviously thought otherwise, and in April 1949 brought the 23 year old to Oakwell for a fee of £6500. His first game for the Reds was the very next day in a County Cup Semi-Final against Rotherham and such was his fine all round display that ten days later he was selected for his League debut in the final game of the season. He replaced local hero Skinner Normanton in the home game with Chesterfield and seldom can there have been a greater contrast in footballing styles. Many years later, he commented on his first encounter with the Barnsley hard man on the training ground just a few days after his transfer. Skinner was attacking with the ball and the every thoughtful Danny was trying to anticipate his opponent’s next move. “I was thinking now will he go right or will he go left but he just went straight on, right over the top of me”.
The following season saw him made an immediate impact as an attacking right half, so much so that within weeks he had won his first international cap for Northern Ireland against Scotland in Belfast. It was not the debut he would have hoped for as the Scots ran riot winning the game by a massive 8-2 score line. Danny along with several of his team mates were dropped from the next match but returned to duty against Wales at Wrexham. From that moment on, he was to remain an automatic choice in the green of Ireland for the next decade. His first full season at Oakwell saw him miss just a handful of games and score his first goal in a draw with Hull City. During this time he frequently questioned the training methods at Oakwell and at one point went to see the manager to request a football to train with. Mr Seeds response was that restricting ball contact throughout the week would make a player “more hungry for it on a Saturday”. “But if I don’t work with a ball during the week I may not recognise it, when I see it” was Dannys quick fire response. His final season at Oakwell saw him play in 32 of the first 33 games but further arguments about training saw him placed on the transfer list at his own request. Many offers came in for the gifted Irishmen which were turned down but despite this jewel on the pitch the side struggled. After a sequence of just one win in eleven games culminating in a 7-0 defeat at Preston it was obvious things had to change and in accepting Aston Villa’s £15000 offer the club had the cash to reshape the side. Tim Ward the ex England International was brought in as Danny’s direct replacement and Eddie Murphy joined from Northampton at Inside left. He was transferred on 15th March 1951 and the fee was substantial for a wing half in those days but he was still only a commodity. At a plush hotel he was left to eat with the chauffer in the kitchens as officials from both clubs tied up the details of his transfer in the dining room. In the West Midlands Blanchflower’s career expanded with another 11 Irish caps, 148 League games and 10 goals before he asked for a transfer as he felt the club “lacked ambition”. The request was granted and December 1954 he joined Tottenham Hotspur for £30000 where his silky footballing skills would captured the nations attention.
After a successful 1958 World Cup for Northern Ireland which culminated with him being voted Footballer of the Year he was re-appointed club captain by manager Bill Nicholson. Under his leadership Spurs went on to win the League and Cup Double in a style seldom seen before. It had been 64 years since the previous double, with many thinking it could not be done and at the end of the campaign he became one of a select band of players to be named as Footballer of the Year for a second time. A few years later when questioned about the “win at all costs” aspect of the game he made the following comment which epitomised the way the double was won “The game is about glory, it is about doing things in style and with a flourish, about going out and beating the other lot, not waiting for them to die of boredom”. The following season saw the possibility of a “Double, Double” but Ipswich and Burnley proved too strong but he did captain Spurs to a second FA Cup victory scoring a penalty in the 3-1 win. The subsequent year saw Danny win his final piece of silverware when the 37 year old lifted the “European Cup Winners Cup” in a defeat of Atletico Madrid. When he retired at Spurs the following year he had ammassed 337 games scoring 15 goals. With his country he had a total of 56 caps and 2 goals playing along side his brother Jackie in 12 matches. After retiring in 1964, he withdrew from football for many years, until he returned to manage Northern Ireland in 1978 and then spend a brief spell in charge of Chelsea. He later bore out a career in broadcasting and journalism using his intellegence, outspokenness and the Irish natual ability to talk a good game, to the full.
Although his time at Oakwell was limited, his class was there to see right from the first game. His thoughts on positional play and training were years ahead of what was going on at Barnsley (and elsewhere) at the time and he was always destined for a bigger stage. Always one to speak his mind and press home the point, Jackie Blanchflower was more than once was heard to say on the subject of his brothers liguistic skills. “Our Danny didn’t just kiss the Blarney Stone, he swallowed it!”.