Nobby Stiles, the former world champion with England and European champion with Manchester United, He has died at the age of 78 after struggling for years with prostate cancer and an acute case of dementia. The ‘Toothless Tiger’, as he was known at the time, will be remembered for being a creative midfielder who, however, did not hide his boot when he had to try to steal his opponent's boot. A life full of ups and downs that led him, according to his own biography published in 2003, of “being born as a half-blind dwarf who was bombed by the Germans and run over by a trolley bus when he was one year old”, to touch the sky in the beautiful game.
His greatest achievement was, how could it be otherwise, to elevate his country in the World Cup that was played in England in 66 and that was hosted by the mythical Wembley Stadium. “It is still the most important thing that has happened to me in life, everyone wants to have a piece of me thanks to that. To be honest, I'm not as busy as the rest of my peers, But wherever you go, you realize that it meant a lot to many people. Not only for people my age, one can expect that kind of thing, but also for my grandchildren's friends. They look at me and say: “Hey, you're that toothless guy who danced around Wembley, right?” Somehow you end up belonging to everyone, “he explained in an interview for The Guardian in 2002.
In fact, During that legendary tournament and after a very tough tackle on Frenchman Jacques Simon, Stiles was about to be excluded from the national team, but his coach, Alf Ramsey, intervened. “The federation committee had ruled, without saying so explicitly, that I could not play again, that England had to set an example with me because I was a drag. Alf, however, even threatened to resign in the middle of the tournament if they did not let him use the players he deemed necessary. I was prepared to resign in the middle of a World Cup just for me. I did not know until he died … what a great man he was “, he remembered in that interview.
Check out Álfredo Relaño's article on Nobby Stiles: 'Stiles, the man whose cards were removed'.