Plaque will be unveiled to former England and Tottenham footballer

The plaque will commemorate the life of Bill Nicholson, the Tottenham Hotspur and England footballer, who won the then First Division title twice, as player and then manager, and is sponsored by the Tottenham Hotspur Supporters’ Trust.

The initiative follows an enquiry by Scarborough-born Jack Kirby-Lowe, a Spurs supporter now living in London, who bought a copy of the civic society publication, Blue Plaques in Scarborough, and was surprised to find that Bill Nicholson did not feature there among notable figures such as Anne Bronte and Max Jaffa.

Bill Nicholson was born on January 26, 1919 at 15 Vine Street, which is now part of Duggleby’s Auctioneers warehouse premises.

He left school at 16 to work for a local laundry. However, in February 1936, he received a letter out of the blue inviting him for a trial at the north London club.

He only played 11 games before his career was interrupted by the Second World War, which saw him enlist with the Durham Light Infantry.

He returned to Spurs in 1946 aged 27 with possibly half his playing career over. With Bill playing at right-back, the club won the league championship for the first time in their history in the 1950-51 season.

Bill only played for England once on 19th May 1951, during the injury of Billy Wright who played in the same position. However, he scored after only 19 seconds with his first touch of the ball.

Bill’s playing career came to an end in 1955, and he joined Spurs coaching staff. Skills gained from his service in the army put him in good stead for the role. He was later appointed assistant manager and Spurs asked him to take over as their manager in October 1958 at the age of 39.

In the 1960-61 season Spurs completed the double, winning the league title for the second time and the FA Cup. Spurs won the FA Cup again in 1961-62.

In 1963, Spurs had success in Europe, winning the Cup Winners Cup, beating Athletico Madrid 5-1.

They won the FA Cup for a third time in seven years at the end of the 1966-67 season, won the league cup in 1971 and 1973, and a second European trophy (the UEFA Cup) in 1972. Bill announced his retirement as manager in 1974.

Civic Society Secretary Paul Riley said: “We are grateful to the Tottenham Hotspur Supporters’ Trust, who arranged crowdfunding to pay for the plaque.

“We hope to have representatives of the trust and the club present at the unveiling.

“Bill’s daughters, Jean and Linda will also be there, along with his nephew Paul, son of Bill’s youngest brother Edwin/Ted, who still lives in Scarborough, his nephew and great-nephew Jimmy Beadle, a former Scarborough Athletic player, now on the club’s coaching staff.”

The unveiling will take place on Wednesday, July 1 at 1pm.