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Leslie Lievesley

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Leslie Lievesley
Personal information
Date of birth 23 June 1911
Place of birth Staveley, Derbyshire, England
Date of death 4 May 1949(1949-05-04) (aged 37)
Place of death Superga, Italy
Height 5 ft 11 in (1.80 m)[1]
Position(s) Full-back
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
192?-1929 Rossington Colliery
1929–1931 Doncaster Rovers 66 (21)
1931–1932 Manchester United ? (?)
1932-1933 Chesterfield ? (?)
1933–1937 Torquay United 130 (3)
1937–1939 Crystal Palace 75 (3)
Managerial career
1945–1946 Heracles Almelo
1947–1948 Torino (youth team)
1948 Italy Olympic
1948–1949 Torino
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Leslie Lievesley (23 June 1911[2] – 4 May 1949)[3] was an English football player and manager. During his playing career, his regular position was at full-back.

Born in Staveley, Derbyshire, Lievesley started his career as an amateur with Rossington Main Colliery, where his father Joe was playing at the time while working at the nearby coal mine, following spells at Sheffield United and Arsenal.[4] Leslie moved to Doncaster Rovers in 1929. After scoring 21 goals in 66 games, he was signed by Manchester United, but played with them during one of their less successful eras, when they were a Football League Second Division side. He then went to Chesterfield in March 1933, spent four seasons at Torquay United and two at Crystal Palace.[5]

Following the start of the Second World War in 1939, Lievesley joined the Royal Air Force, where he became a parachute trainer[3] and dispatch officer.[6]

Following the war he became a coach in the Netherlands at Heracles Almelo, then in 1947, after turning down an offer from Marseille in France, transferred to Italian club Torino[6] as youth team coach.[3] He coached the Italy national team at the 1948 Summer Olympics and became first-team coach at Torino that year.[3] In 1949 he had been offered a contract to coach rival team Juventus,[3] when on 4 May he was one of 31 fatalities in the Superga air disaster that killed almost the entire Torino squad when they were in the process of winning the Serie A title.[3][5][6] He had previously survived two air crashes in the war and one in 1948 when travelling with the Torino youth team.[3][6]

As well as his father, Joe, Lievesley's brothers Ernest, and Harold, and uncle Wilf were all professional footballers.[5] His son, Bill, was a professional cyclist [7]

Honours

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Manager

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Torino

Individual

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References

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  1. ^ "Torquay United. 'Magpies will do better this time'". Sunday Dispatch Football Guide. London. 23 August 1936. p. xi – via Newspapers.com.
  2. ^ 1939 England and Wales Register
  3. ^ a b c d e f g Bliss, Dominic (2 May 2014). "Les Lievesley the mentor cut off in his prime". The Independent. Archived from the original on 14 June 2022.
  4. ^ Wilson, Glen (4 May 2013). "Remembering Les Lievesley - The former Main man who died at Superga". rossingtonmainfc.co.uk. Pitch Hero. Retrieved 19 February 2021.
  5. ^ a b c "Past players". Chesterfield FC. Archived from the original on 10 April 2020. Retrieved 21 June 2011.
  6. ^ a b c d Jennings, Patrick (8 January 2019). "The plane crash that killed Serie A's champions and their English coach". BBC Sport.
  7. ^ "William Lievesley".
  8. ^ "Museo del Toro, sabato la "Hall of fame granata": premiati Annoni, Policano e Bruno". Torino News (in Italian). 2 December 2019. Retrieved 20 February 2021.
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