Dennis Violet

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Dennis Viollet

Dennis Sydney Viollet (20 September 1933 – 6 March 1999) was an English footballer best remembered for his time with Manchester United in the 1950s and early 1960s.

Club career

Viollet joined Manchester United on 1 September 1949. He came through the junior ranks at United and turned professional in 1950. His first game for the club came against arch-rivals Newcastle United on 11 April 1953. He is generally considered as one of the most underrated strikers of all time.

He was a striker, along with Tommy Taylor for the Busby Babes of the 1950s. He was a survivor of the Munich air disaster. Viollet was a big part of the two championships that were won by United in 1956 and 1957. Dennis scored 178 goals in 291 games for United. He was a lightning quick player, who combined well with Taylor's height to form a terrific strike force. After the Munich air disaster, Viollet proved his worth by scoring 32 goals in 36 games in 1960, a club record. It was during this season and the one following it that he received his two caps for England, in a defeat against Hungary and a victory over Luxembourg, in which he scored one goal.

In 1962, Matt Busby surprisingly sold 28-year-old Viollet to Stoke City for £25,000 after scoring 179 goals in 293 appearances for United. He joined a team being re-built by Tony Waddington, containing experienced players such as Stanley Matthews, and Jackie Mudie, and also emerging talent such as John Ritchie, and Eric Skeels. Although he joined Stoke as a striker, the majority of his appearances were as a midfield player. While at Stoke, he won a Second Division Championship medal in 1962–63 and a League Cup runners up medal in 1964, scoring in the second leg of the Final against Leicester City. In his time at Stoke he made 207 appearances (one as a substitute), and scored 66 goals. and was awarded a testimonial just before his retirement in 1967.

Shortly after leaving the Victoria Ground, he came out of retirement to join NASL team Baltimore Bays in the United States for a season.

On returning to the UK, he played for Witton Albion, before finishing his career at Linfield as player manager, leading them to win the Irish cup in 1970.

Once his playing career finished, he had spells coaching at Preston North End, and Crewe Alexandra briefly in 1971.

In 1978, Viollet was selected by his former United teammate, head coach Noel Cantwell, to serve as assistant coach of the New England Tea Men of the North American Soccer League. After three seasons in the Boston area, the team relocated to Jacksonville, Florida in 1981 where Viollet continued as assistant coach, ultimately becoming head coach, of the Jacksonville Tea Men of the NASL, ASL and United Soccer League. In 1990, Viollet took the reins of the Jacksonville University Dolphins, where he stayed until 1995. Jacksonville University and their primary riveals, the University of North Florida, compete annually for the Dennis Viollet Cup. He then took the USISL Richmond Kickers to the 1995 American Double (USISL Premier League and US Open Cup titles). He stayed with Richmond for 2 seasons, then served as coach of the A-League Jacksonville Cyclones before his death from cancer on 6 March 1999, aged 65, in his adopted home of Jacksonville, Florida. He had been ill for two years.

Honours

Viollet was inducted into the first class of the USL Hall of Fame in 2002. The annual University of North Florida/Jacksonville University soccer match has been contested for the Viollet Cup since 2001.

Personal life

Dennis Violett's daughter, Rachel Viollet, became the British number one ranked tennis player when she reached the second round of Wimbledon in 1996, and she lost in the first round in 2002.[1][2] During her tennis career, she won one ITF singles tournament and one ITF doubles tournament.

Source : http://en.wikipedia.org

[Andi Istiabudi]

Sekedar informasi, mantan striker Belanda, Dennis Bergkamp pernah mengakui bahwa orangtuanya memberikan nama Dennis kepadanya karena sangat mengagumi permainan Dennis Violet yang menjadi salah satu pemain legendaris Manchester United.



Dennis Violet

[Jerome Morrow]

aduh saya ga ngerti..

[Andi Istiabudi]

Dennis Violet



Many great strikers have graced the Old Trafford stage, but none has matched Dennis Viollet’s 32 league goals in the 1959/60 season.

Blessed with pace and positional sense, Viollet scored a remarkable 179 goals in 293 United appearances, making him the club’s joint-fourth highest goalscorer alongside George Best.

Moss Side-born Viollet joined United as an amateur in the 1949/50 season, turning professional at the age of 17 and making his debut two years later.

As part of the Busby Babes, he formed a formidable partnership with the physical Tommy Taylor. The marriage of subtlety and strength reaped dividends as United won back-to-back championships in 1956 and 1957.

The following year, having scored in the quarter-final clash with Red Star Belgrade, Viollet escaped from the Munich air disaster with minor head injuries.

He missed the majority of the season and, although he recovered in time to take his place in the 1958 FA Cup final, was helpless as United were beaten by Bolton Wanderers.

In January 1962 Viollet left Old Trafford to join Second Division Stoke City, where he won a Second Division Championship medal (1962/63) and reached the League Cup final (1963/64).

After spells in America and the Irish League, Viollet emigrated to Baltimore in the early 1970s. He later moved to Florida, where he coached youngsters and was eventually granted the freedom of the city of Jacksonville in the late 1990s.

Dennis Viollet died on 6 March 1999 at his Florida home after battling against a malignant brain tumour.

Source : http://www.manutd.com

[Andi Istiabudi]

Dennis Violet ditemani istrinya, Barbara di rumah sakit setelah dirinya selamat dari musibah kecelakaan pesawat di Muenchen yang menewaskan 7 orang pemain Manchester United tanggal 7 Februari 1958.

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Beberapa galery Dennis Viollet :

[rondwisan]

Obituary: Dennis Viollet
By IVAN PONTING - Monday 08 March 1999


THERE IS a compelling case for citing the Busby Babes as the most joyously precocious collection of soccer talent ever drawn together under the banner of one English club. That Manchester United team, so savagely devastated by the Munich air disaster in 1958, boasted the likes of Duncan Edwards and Tommy Taylor, Roger Byrne and Eddie Colman, and there was a young fellow called Bobby Charlton who could play a bit, too. Yet one of the side's key performers was widely and peculiarly underrated, though not, it should be emphasised, by Matt Busby himself.
In terms of appearance, Dennis Viollet did not correspond with the popular image of a goal-scoring hero. Wan of countenance and slim to the point of scrawniness, he seemed pathetically equipped physically to mix it with strapping defenders. Yet the prolific Mancunian was a gem, both as a foil for the magnificent Taylor and as a marksman in his own right. Indeed, the fact that no one - not Law, not Best, not Cantona - has netted more times than he in a single season for the Red Devils offers telling evidence of his rare calibre.

Viollet was blessed with instinctive ball control, searing acceleration and the vision to use these attributes to full advantage. Arguably he was at his most effective when working in tandem with Taylor, the bold Yorkshireman who lost his life on that slushy German runway. Big Tommy was majestic in the air while his less conspicuous but formidably lethal partner was a steel dart at ground level. During the mid-1950s when the Babes were sweeping all before them, the duo struck up a seemingly telepathic understanding, creating space for each other by their imaginative movement and registering a river of goals that showed no signs of drying up.

Yet, while Taylor was rewarded by frequent international recognition, the equally if contrastingly talented Viollet had to wait until two years after the crash before winning the first of only two England caps, a circumstance rendered all the more mysterious by the uninspired nature of some of his rivals.

However, nothing could detract from Viollet's derring-do on the club scene. After captaining Manchester schoolboys - and also playing regularly for his country at that stage - he joined Manchester United as an amateur in 1949, turning professional a year later and making his first-team debut in 1952/53.

Thereafter he held his own against white-hot competition as Busby's youthful revolution gathered exhilarating momentum and he won a regular place during 1953/54. Settling brilliantly at inside-left and contributing at least 20 senior goals per season, Viollet went on to share in a succession of heady triumphs, notably the League Championships of 1955/56 and 1956/57. As United blazed a trail into Europe, his pedigree shone through ever more vividly and his evident relish for continental opposition made his sojourn in the international wilderness increasingly perplexing.

Cruelly, the United idyll was halted at Munich, on the way home from a European Cup trip to Belgrade, when the club's plane crashed on its third attempt at take-off. Eight players and 15 other passengers died but Viollet, seated next to Charlton, was thrown clear and survived.

As the extent of the tragedy sunk in, it was feared that even those footballers who had escaped with their lives would never be the same again, Viollet had suffered head injuries and took no part in United's immediate future, missing their emotional progress to the FA Cup Final. However, after a couple of League outings he was pronounced fit enough to play at Wembley, where he proved sadly unable to do himself justice in the defeat by Bolton Wanderers.

However, fears that Viollet might be diminished as a performer in the long term were banished rapidly during 1958/59 when, converted to Taylor's old role as centre-forward, he excelled as the depleted Red Devils confounded most predictions by finishing as First Division runners-up. Come the following campaign his form was even more remarkable as he notched 32 goals in 36 matches, which remains a club record despite the wealth of expensive strikers employed at Old Trafford over the subsequent four decades. As a result the long- awaited England call arrived, though Viollet was to be granted only a paltry two games among the elite.

Still, it seemed certain that he would retain a vital part in Busby's team-rebuilding process for the foreseeable future, but the great manager decreed otherwise. In came David Herd from Arsenal, plans were laid to capture Denis Law from Torino and Viollet - having scored 178 goals in 291 games and hardly a has-been at 28 - sold to Stoke City for pounds 25,000 in January 1962.

Happily, that was not the end of the footballing world for the popular, easy-going Viollet. Lining up alongside the amazing Stanley Matthews, who was old enough to be his father, he helped the Potters take the Second Division title in his first full season and he remained productively at the Victoria Ground until 1967.

After that Viollet joined British soccer's mini-exodus to the United States, serving two summers with Baltimore Bays, before recrossing the Atlantic for a brief stint with non-League Witton Albion in 1969. Later that year he joined Linfield as player-coach and did well in Ulster, pocketing an Irish Cup winner's medal for his pains in 1970.

There followed a coaching spell at Preston North End in 1970, an abortive flirtation with management at Crewe in 1971 - he was sacked after his side was knocked out of the FA Cup by non-League opposition - and a more fulfilling engagement in charge of football for Washington Diplomats between 1974 and 1977.

Viollet went on to achieve further coaching success in the States, settling in Jacksonville, Florida, his home at the time of his death.
- Ivan Ponting

Dennis Sydney Viollet, footballer;
born Manchester 30 September 1933;
played for Manchester United 1949-62, Stoke City 1962-67, Baltimore Bays, USA 1967-68, non-League Witton Albion 1969, Linfield, Northern Ireland 1969-70;
capped twice by England 1960-61;
managed Crewe Alexandra 1971;
twice married;
died Jacksonville, Florida 6 March 1999.

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Semoga suatu saat nanti bisa nonton filmnya



DENNIS VIOLLET FILM PREMIERES ON THURSDAY

Rachel Viollet, daughter of Manchester United legend Dennis Viollet, has written, produced and directed a highly-anticipated documentary about her iconic father.

The film is called Dennis Viollet: A United Man and it will premiere at the Manchester Film Festival on Thursday night. Ahead of its first showing, ManUtd.com sat down with her to discuss the finer details...

Firstly, Rachel, how would you describe the film to United fans?
It is really the story of my father’s life and soccer career, his role in helping Manchester United become the club it is today and his role as a Busby Babe, the impact that team and experience had on his life and then his transition to America. That was really my inspiration to make the film because I grew up in the States and, as I got older, I started to recognise the influence he had on soccer. We explore all of that in the film.

What is your role in the film?
I was the producer, director and writer so I was pretty busy! It is the second film I’ve made and the first was about Althea Gibson, a tennis player who was the first black Wimbledon champion. I’ve wanted to make this film about my dad since I got the idea 10 years ago. When I moved to LA four years ago, things starting coming into place, I met the right people and it was a lot of work as part of a three-year project, raising the money to post-production, but it was definitely a passion project.

Who can fans expect to see on screen?
I spoke to Sir Alex Ferguson, Denis Law, Nobby Stiles, Paddy Crerand, Johnny Giles, Bryan Robson, Mike Summerbee and also Jeff Whitefoot, which is a name that people don’t hear a lot about today but he was one of the original Busby Babes and also one of the youngest players to make a first-team appearance for Manchester United. He and my father had a lovely relationship when they were youngsters. I went to the States as well to interview some American players from the North American Soccer League and who played for the national team. There are big names and great interviews.

All these years on, how proud of your father's Manchester United career are you?
As a person and his daughter, I am extremely proud of his accomplishments and it is overwhelming when you sit back to think about it. To be honest, he was so humble and modest about it, he didn’t actually talk about it a lot when I was growing up, so when I got older I started to ask him more questions about it. I am more proud of who he was as a person; he was just an amazing man who gave so much of himself to the game of football and didn’t ask for anything in return. I am very proud of his role at United and helping pave the way for soccer becoming popular in the US.

What impact did the Munich Air Disaster have on him?
Honestly, it stayed with him for his whole life, as it did for most of the players who were involved. It certainly had an emotional effect on him afterwards; I think he realised life could be taken away in an instant. He did change and he really did choose to live his life to the fullest. Growing up, I remember him waking up one morning and asking my mother and I what date it was. It was 6 February and he said he had a funny feeling that morning. It stayed with him. Matt Busby and Jimmy Murphy were so influential and played such a huge role in his life. Those players, they were like brothers, they grew up together and there was a real bond there. It stayed with him.

One of the amazing things is that the disaster didn’t affect him on the pitch, because he set the record for most league goals in a season two years afterwards…
It is amazing. The year after the crash, which was the 1958/59 season, he scored 21 goals and he set the record with 32 goals the year after. But he said the year immediately after the crash was his best all-round year – we have that on film in the documentary – even though he didn’t score the most goals. The following year, he set the goals record and they were seventh in the league. He was top scorer in Division One that year. I actually think the crash relaxed him more. Something so dramatic like that gives you perspective on life and I think he tried to enjoy himself on the pitch even more.

The likes of Ruud van Nistelrooy, Cristiano Ronaldo and Wayne Rooney – some of our greatest players – have all failed to break that record. That must make you proud?
It really does! What is more incredible is that he missed the last six games of the season though injury, so it could have been even higher. He said to my mum once that he just couldn’t do any wrong that season and everything he touched went in the back of the net. If he had played those last six games, maybe he would have scored 35 or 36 goals. Who knows?

Was it important for you to highlight his role in promoting football in the US?
It was, because he came over to America at a time when the game was in its infancy; it was just starting and he put everything he had into it. My dad saw the potential and that is one of the reasons why he stayed here. It was important for me to explore his role in the birth of professional soccer because now it is right up there with baseball, basketball and the top sports. He would be very proud of that. A lot of the youngsters in America were hungry to learn the game when my dad first came over and he relished that.

English football fans often point to David Beckham when discussing the growth of football in the US, but your dad was decades before him…
He was! He was one of the first big stars to come over. People ask me about Beckham and I always say my dad was well before! The difference was he stayed over here and he chose a different life to a lot of the players from his era, who ultimately went back home a short while after. He really enjoyed the lifestyle here and I was a tennis player at the time, which had something to do with it. He did love to go back to Manchester, though, and he loved going to the Former Players' Association dinners to see all of the lads. He loved that.

You actually saw a lot more of his work in America than you did in Manchester...
That’s true. I wasn’t born until 1972 and I was a year old when we left Manchester to move to America. I went back every summer with my parents, but that was largely the influence to do the film. He affected a lot of people in the States; he gave a lot of himself and it wasn’t about the money or the fame, he just wanted to grow the game. I was so wrapped up in my own tennis career when I was a youngster but, as I got older, I wanted to see more of what he had done. It was interesting to interview all of the players who he played with at Manchester United, who he had played against and his friends to get an insight into his career and that was fun for me because I wasn’t around then. I got the feeling from them all that he was a real players’ player and that was important to me.

When can fans watch the documentary in the UK?
It will premiere at the Manchester International Film Festival on 3 March and we are opening the festival. After that, it will be available on DVD and on digital platforms. Keep checking the website for more updates on when it will be available worldwide.

http://www.manutd.com/

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Oom @Rean; tayangkan donk filmnya di UITV, hehehe..



DALLAS REDS HOST SCREENING OF VIOLLET FILM

The Dallas branch of the Manchester United Supporters Club recently held a screening for an award-winning film about Reds legend Dennis Viollet, made by the striker’s daughter Rachel.

Viollet was widely regarded as one of the finest strikers of his era after scoring 179 times in 293 appearances for United and he still holds the club record for netting the most league goals in a single season (32).

A documentary about his Old Trafford career and legacy from coaching in America was released back in March, when it opened the Manchester International Film Festival to great acclaim from critics.

On 22 September, the Dallas branch arranged a special screening of the film for 150 fans at the Angelika film centre. It was also attended by Viollet’s daughter Rachel - a former British no.1 tennis player - and his friend Gordon Jago, the ex-QPR player who went on to work with the United icon at US club Baltimore Bays.

Reds supporter Arran Spencer was involved with the organisation of the event and he believes it was a great success. “After an opening speech and even a few United songs from those in attendance we watched the film, which everyone thoroughly enjoyed,” says Arran.

“The Dallas Reds were even mentioned in the credits for our contribution and donation. The movie was then followed by a question and answer session with Rachel, who had some fantastic stories to tell. We ended the night with Rachel signing movie posters in the theatre lobby and meeting those in attendance for some post-movie drinks at the pub next door, where our United flags hang proudly.

“The event was a huge success and everyone enjoyed the film. Many of our members in attendance learned more about the origins of football in the U.S. and Dennis Viollet’s contribution to it. We were extremely proud to honour a club hero and legend on the big screen in our home town.

“We want to say a huge thanks to Rachel for partnering with us on this event. We were truly humbled by her charm and professionalism and congratulate her on such a great documentary.”

http://www.manutd.com/

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Hundreds of people gathered outside Old Trafford on Wednesday afternoon to commemorate the 61st anniversary of the Munich Air Disaster, and among them was Rachel Viollet, the daughter of United great and crash survivor Dennis Viollet.

After the short memorial service, we caught up with the Los Angeles-based filmmaker to speak about her dad and a day that shaped the rest of his life.

“This is the first time I’ve been here,” explained Rachel. “I’ve obviously been here to Old Trafford a few times with my dad over the years, which was always a great experience, but to be here for the anniversary itself with all the fans was the best thing, and it was quite emotional.

“I met a 90-year-old gentleman and he had tears in his eyes during the ceremony, so just meeting people from the past and the present – the older generation here with the younger generation – and to see what it means to the fans was very touching.

“You’ve got little babies here with their fathers, their mothers, their uncles and their grandparents, from generation to generation, passing down the legacy of the Busby Babes and keeping it in the family. There’s something very poignant about that.“

For Rachel, who was brought up in the United States, Munich was something she learned about gradually.

“I grew up in the States, and my dad didn’t really talk about it much, unless I asked questions. I think he quite enjoyed living an anonymous life in the States, to be honest, but obviously when we would come over here that was a different story. We could barely make it to the ground without him being mobbed. I would say I was around 12 or 13 when I started to understand the magnitude of it and started asking questions about it, but like I said, he didn’t talk about it unless I asked questions, and then he was very open with me.

“It had a huge impact on his life. Throughout his life, it stayed with him. After Munich, he couldn’t sleep at night, so he was going out a lot, going out on the town, just because he couldn’t get to sleep. But certainly, after Munich, he valued life even more, lived it to the fullest and those memories certainly stayed with him. He spoke so fondly of those years with the Busby Babes under Sir Matt and they stayed with him and they affected his career as well -– the way he managed his teams [Dennis later managed in Ireland and the US].”

Dennis fell ill in 1997, on the way home from a final journey with his surviving team-mates, who were invited to that year’s Champions League final, in Munich, at the behest of UEFA.

“I remember when he received the letter [from UEFA]. He was very touched by it,” Viollet remembers. “It was the last time that he saw his surviving team-mates. It was also the first time he met Sir Alex, and he really enjoyed his company!

“But it meant an awful lot to him, that UEFA took the time to do that, to come over and honour the surviving players. I’m so glad he got to experience that, because he got ill shortly after – actually, he got ill on that trip.”

The Manchester-born forward left the club in 1962 to join Stoke City, and missed out on the club’s ‘60s rebirth, which began in 1963 with the FA Cup final win over Leicester City. But he left a strong legacy, which Rachel highlighted with her 2016 film Dennis Viollet: A United Man.

Viollet remains joint-fifth on the club’s all-time goalscoring list alongside George Best, with 179 goals, and still holds the record for most league goals scored in a season (32 goals in 36 games in 1959/60 – one better than Cristiano Ronaldo’s efforts in 2007/08).

“The impression I got after interviewing players that played with him, and also those that played against him, was that you could never read what he was going to do,“ said Rachel. ”And he had an exceptional ability to read others. He was a very unselfish player; he was a players’ player.

“His team-mates loved playing with him, and he could read situations before other players could – that was my impression. There wasn’t a lot of footage around for me to watch, so a lot of my film was made of the testimonials and research, and talking to my father and his family. He was a special player and he had an eye for goal, that’s for sure. In the two seasons after Munich he scored 53 goals and he didn’t have the players around him that he had before Munich, so I think that was pretty exceptional.“

Rachel herself has taken the club to heart, and her next planned project is a film biopic on the life of Sir Matt Busby – who she was introduced to by her dad when visiting Old Trafford as a youngster.

“Probably my two fondest memories were sitting in the stands with my dad, both watching a match and when he was interviewed – we were sitting in the stands together. The second was him introducing me to Sir Matt. I have very fond memories, and I think that’s why I’m such a supporter today. I’m from America, so if I hadn’t had that experience, I’m not sure I would be as big a supporter.

“I’ve got a film about Sir Matt in the works, so I’m over here doing some research and having a chat with people. I think it will be a film that United fans, especially, will be very proud of. Stay tuned!”

www.manutd.com