Eddie Clamp
Encyclopedia
Harold Edwin Clamp was an English footballer
Football (soccer)
Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a sport played between two teams of eleven players with a spherical ball...

.

Career

Clamp joined Wolverhampton Wanderers
Wolverhampton Wanderers F.C.
Wolverhampton Wanderers Football Club is an English professional association football club that represents the city of Wolverhampton in the West Midlands region. They are members of the Premier League, the highest level of English football. The club was founded in 1877 and since 1889 has played at...

 in 1950, turning professional in April 1952, before breaking into the first team to make his debut on 6 March 1954, away at Manchester United. He made one further appearance that season as he club won their first league title. He later became an integral part of the first team and won League Championships
Football League First Division
The First Division was a division of The Football League between 1888 and 2004 and the highest division in English football until the creation of the Premier League in 1992. The secondary tier in English football has since become known as the Championship....

 in (1957-58
1957-58 in English football
The 1957–58 season was the 78th season of competitive football in England.-Overview:In this season, Sunderland was relegated for the first time in their history.This was the last season in which Division 3 was split, North and South...

 and 1958-59
1958-59 in English football
The 1958–59 season was the 79th season of competitive football in England.-Diary of the season:August 1958: The Football League season begins with the new national Third and Fourth divisions that have been created from the old Third Division North and Third Division South.September 1958: Manchester...

) and the 1960 FA Cup
FA Cup Final 1960
The 1960 FA Cup Final was the 79th final of the world's oldest domestic football cup competition, the FA Cup. It took place on 7 May 1960 at Wembley Stadium in London. The match was contested by Blackburn Rovers and Wolverhampton Wanderers....

.

He played over 200 matches for Wolves before signing for Arsenal
Arsenal F.C.
Arsenal Football Club is a professional English Premier League football club based in North London. One of the most successful clubs in English football, it has won 13 First Division and Premier League titles and 10 FA Cups...

 for £34,000 in November 1961. The last signing made by George Swindin
George Swindin
George Hedley Swindin was an English football player and manager.-Playing career:A goalkeeper, Swindin was born in Campsall, Doncaster, Yorkshire. He played as an amateur for various local clubs, including Rotherham United, before turning professional in 1934 with Bradford City...

, he made his debut against Nottingham Forest
Nottingham Forest F.C.
Nottingham Forest Football Club is an English Association Football club based in West Bridgford, Nottingham, that plays in the Football League Championship...

 on 18 November 1961 but stayed only ten months. His tough tackling style had failed to find favour with his former teammate, now Arsenal manager, Billy Wright, and so he was sold to Stoke City
Stoke City F.C.
Stoke City Football Club is an English professional football club based in Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire that plays in the Premier League. Founded in 1863, it is the oldest club in the Premier League, and considered to be the second oldest professional football club in the world, after Notts...

 in September 1962 for £14,000.

At Stoke, he won the Second Division
Football League Second Division
From 1892 until 1992, the Football League Second Division was the second highest division overall in English football.This ended with the creation of the FA Premier League, prior to the start of the 1992–93 season, which caused an administrative split between The Football League and the teams...

 title in 1962-63
1962-63 in English football
The 1962–63 season was the 83rd season of competitive football in England.-Overview:*Everton won the League Championship, their first post-war title.*Manchester United won the FA Cup, their first major trophy since the Munich Air Disaster in 1958....

, playing alongside Stanley Matthews
Stanley Matthews
Sir Stanley Matthews, CBE was an English footballer. Often regarded as one of the greatest players of the English game, he is the only player to have been knighted while still playing, as well as being the first winner of both the European Footballer of the Year and the Football Writers'...

. After Ron "Chopper" Harris
Ron Harris (footballer)
Ronald Edward Harris , better known as Ron "Chopper" Harris, is a former English footballer who played for Chelsea in the 1960s and 1970s. Harris is widely regarded as one of the toughest defenders of his era - along with players such as Tommy Smith MBE and Norman Hunter - hence the nickname...

 had poleaxed Matthews in one game Clamp threatened Harris, only to be admonished by the referee, an angry Clamp said "Thats the trouble with you referees. You don't care which side wins!" Matthews said in his autobiography that this was one of the greatest lines ever said on a football pitch. He finished his league career at Peterborough United
Peterborough United F.C.
Peterborough United Football Club are a professional English football club based in Peterborough. Peterborough United formed in 1934 and played in the old Midland League, which they won six times; eventually being admitted to the Football League in 1960, replacing Gateshead. Their home ground is...

, before dropping into the non-league with Worcester City
Worcester City F.C.
Worcester City Football Club is an English football club based in Worcester, Worcestershire. The club are currently members of the Conference North and play at St George's Lane.-History:...

 and Lower Gornal. He retired from football in 1969 to run a building and decorating business in Wednesfield
Wednesfield
Wednesfield lies at , and is located to the northeast of Wolverhampton city centre on the northern fringe of the West Midlands conurbation...

.

Clamp also played four times for the England national football team
England national football team
The England national football team represents England in association football and is controlled by the Football Association, the governing body for football in England. England is the joint oldest national football team in the world, alongside Scotland, whom they played in the world's first...

, including three matches in the 1958 FIFA World Cup
1958 FIFA World Cup
The 1958 FIFA World Cup, the sixth staging of the World Cup, was hosted by Sweden from 8 June to 29 June. The tournament was won by Brazil, who beat Sweden 5–2 in the final for their first title. To date, this marks the only occasion that a World Cup staged in Europe was not won by a European...

, after making his debut just before the tournament in a friendly draw in Russia on 18 May before 102,000 spectators.

His mother, Sarah, was the club's laundry lady for some 30 years beginning in the 1950s
1950s
The 1950s or The Fifties was the decade that began on January 1, 1950 and ended on December 31, 1959. The decade was the sixth decade of the 20th century...

 before retiring in the 1980s
1980s
File:1980s decade montage.png|thumb|400px|From left, clockwise: The first Space Shuttle, Columbia, lifted off in 1981; American President Ronald Reagan and Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev eased tensions between the two superpowers, leading to the end of the Cold War; The Fall of the Berlin Wall in...

. She outlived her son by 11 years, dying in November 2006 at the age of 94. She lived near the Molineux
Molineux stadium
Molineux Stadium is a Premier League football stadium situated in Whitmore Reans, Wolverhampton, England. It has been the home ground of Wolverhampton Wanderers Football Club since 1889, and has a long and illustrious history as the first 'new build' stadium in Football League history, one of the...

 ground in the Dunstall
Dunstall
Dunstall is a small village and civil parish in the borough of East Staffordshire, Staffordshire, England. It lies between Burton upon Trent and Barton-under-Needwood. The population of the parish at the 2001 census was 215....

area of Wolverhampton. http://www.expressandstar.com/2006/11/07/tributes-to-wolves-legend-mum/
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