Heroes & Villains, the Aston Villa fanzine
Heroes & Villains => Heroes Discussion => Topic started by: VillaZogmariner on January 15, 2011, 11:49:48 PM
-
Can't find anything official yet, but Kevin Davies has just posted on his twitter that Nat Lofthouse has died.
-
Confirmed on Bolton's OS (http://www.bwfc.co.uk/page/General/0,,1004~2268038,00.html)
It is with great sadness and deep regret that Bolton Wanderers Football Club announce that Nat Lofthouse OBE has passed away, aged 85.
Nat died peacefully in his sleep at his nursing home in Bolton on Saturday night.
Chairman Phil Gartside said: "On behalf of everyone at Bolton Wanderers Football Club, I would like to extend our deepest condolences to Nat's family, who are very much in our thoughts at this time.
"Nat undoubtedly is a Bolton Wanderers legend. He was a one-club man and our football club meant as much to him as he did to us.
"We will miss him but we will celebrate his life, his legacy and great times that he brought to Bolton Wanderers."
Nat, who was voted the club's greatest ever player in a poll conducted in 2006, amassed over 450 appearances in the Bolton Wanderers shirt, scoring 255 goals between the years of 1946 and 1960.
On the international stage, he proudly represented England on 33 occasions, scoring 30 goals.
After hanging up his boots, he continued his association with the club by occupying a variety of different positions including chief coach, chief scout, caretaker manager and club president, in which he remained up until passing away.
-
RIP Nat. What a player.
-
30 goals in 33 international appearances. That's quite a record.
RIP Nathaneal Lofthouse.
-
Another of the greats has gone.
-
Condolences to his family, and congratulations to Mr. Lofthouse on a great life and phenomenal career. One of those names which is not forgotten.
-
Really sad news. One of the greats.
-
Yep R.I.P. legend.....
-
Very sad, my old man used to describe him as the best player he ever saw. RIP
-
RIP Nat, a great player.
-
RIP
-
What a career and legacy for Bolton. A true footballing legend and the absolute opposite of the overpaid, under achieving prima donners that have lbeen leading the line for England over the last few years.
RIP Nat.
-
RIP.
-
Really sad news. One of the greats.
Indeed it is. Even if you know anything about his record, just the name alone tells you he was right up there amongst the greats.
RIP.
-
One of the best.
One club man.
30 goals in 33 England games is an incredible scoring rate.
-
RIP.
-
A name synonymous with the game of yesteryear.
RIP.
-
RIP Nat.
-
They use the expression "legend" far too much these days........but Nat Lofthouse WAS a legend.
Great player, and like many of his generation, a true gentleman........RIP Mr Lofthouse.
-
One less great to remind of us of the immediate post-war years and 1950s, which I think really were football's golden period.
For those who band the word around far too readily, read the career statistics: that's the definition of a legend.
A Bolton fan I know (bearing in mind what many of them really do hate "them lot down the road"), once told me that Nat Lofthouse's greatest legacy to football was preventing Man Utd fours months after Munich from winning the FA Cup. As he said, imagine how much more insufferable the Man Utd myth would be to everyone else if that had happened.
As it was Bolton, and Lofthouse, never really got the credit for their last major honour. I remember seeing Lofthouse interviewed once and he seemed rather bitter that in comparison he'd seen hundred times more footage of the other Wembley goal he scored for his club - in the defeat to Blackpool in the Matthews Final.
-
RIP.
-
RIP.
-
RIP. We'll never see the like of that generation again.
Always came over as a nice bloke too
-
Imagine a player who plays for one club only now, a very rare breed
-
I have never heard anyone with a bad word to say about the man. Bolton must be a very sad place at the moment. A real football man through and through, you get the impression that he would've wanted to play whatever level Bolton were at, professional or amateur. He must have balked at the prima donnas and mercernaries of today who don't realise how lucky they are to be playing professional football. The only thing wrong with NL is that he didn't play for Villa :-)
What a great man and a great footballer.
-
RIP "The Lion of Vienna."
-
R.I.P
-
Before my time but like Finney, Matthews et al you just know there was a true titan of the game. Personally I think Nat's quite a cool name for a man as well.
-
R.I.P Nat, hope your in heavens team already
-
Only just heard about this. RIP.
-
RIP. Someone who's poster you wouldn't mind on your boys wall. Not many current players would measure up.
-
They use the expression "legend" far too much these days........but Nat Lofthouse WAS a legend.
Great player, and like many of his generation, a true gentleman........RIP Mr Lofthouse.
Are you Chris Kamara as they were pretty much his exact words this morning on Goals on Sunday at about 10am.
But RIP Nat. Never saw you play but knew the name as a great from back in the day.
-
Nat lived close to me in Chapeltown, Bolton. My Wife (a die hard trotter) knew him pretty well and has only good things to say about him. A few years ago and after a few pints I plucked up the courage to introduce myself in the pub to regale Nat with some of my late fathers stories of Wolves of the 50's and talk about the Villa. Even though he was being accosted by a drunken brummie in his local he was friendly, chatted for a while and shook my hand, a genuinely nice guy and a true gent. A Bolton legend. RIP.
-
A legend indeed.
RIP