Клиффорд Сэмюэл Бриттон: Футболшы және жаттықтырушы өмірі мен мансабы

English footballer (1909–1975)

Clifford Samuel Britton (29 August 1909 – 1 December 1975) was an English football player and manager.

After playing amateur football for a number of teams in the Bristol area, his professional playing career began when he signed for Bristol Rovers in 1928. He made over 50 appearances for Rovers, where he was a teammate of his brother Frank Britton. Britton was signed by Everton in 1930. At first he was deemed too frail and so he was playing in the reserves in the 1931–32 Championship season, but he was one of the stars of Everton's 1933 FA Cup win. He was one of the classiest playmakers of his era, who could produce miracles with short or long passes. Dixie Dean said that he was the best crosser of the ball that he played with. Dean joked that Britton's precision ensured that the laces on the ball were turned away when Dean had to head it. Britton made 242 appearances for Everton though only scoring three goals. Between 1934 and 1937 Britton also played nine times for England. However, in the summer of 1951, the board refused any more money for transfer fees and so Britton had to rely heavily on a policy of youth rather than on big money buys. Consequently, Everton spent three seasons in the Second Division finishing 7th and a worrying 16th before being promoted as runners up in 1953–54. The board continued to refuse transfer funds and Britton had disagreements with them. While Britton was abroad with the team the board wanted to appoint an acting manager. The board had also interfered with other decisions, but Britton had also made several mistakes such as dropping and then selling the talismanic Dave Hickson. Eventually Britton resigned from Everton in 1956 saying that "I want all managers to have the freedom to do the job for which they were appointed." A sub committee of the board unsuccessfully ran the Everton team for the remainder of the season until Ian Buchan was appointed.

After a six month gap Britton became manager of Preston North End. Again he relied on youth rather than the transfer market until an injection of cash in 1964 allowed him to bring in new players such as Ken Wagstaff. Consequently, Hull eventually won the Third Division championship in the 1965–66 season. He continued to trust the same group of players instead of bringing in new talent and so Hull's challenge for promotion to the First Division faltered. He became general manager of Hull City in 1970 and was instrumental in the recruitment of Terry Neill as his successor.