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Bert Trautmann
Trautmann's Journey
Andy Greeves
As another transfer window closes, more overseas talent has arrived in the Premier League, confirming the division's status as the most diverse in the world. Just a few decades ago, foreign players in English football were few and far between. And in the 1940's, they were near enough non-existent.
In 1949, Manchester City signed a German-born goalkeeper from non-league side St Helens Town. Such was the animosity to Germans and people from overseas in general following the Second World War that 20,000 Brits turned up at City's old Maine Road ground to protest against the transfer. The player concerned was none other than Bert Trautmann.
Trautmann was a former Axis paratrooper who fought on the Eastern Front for three years during World War Two. As the war closed, Trautmann was captured by the British and sent to a prisoner-of-war camp in Ashton-in-Makerfield, Lancashire. Following his release from a prisoner of war camp in 1948, he stayed in Lancashire and divided his time between agricultural work and playing non-league football before his big move to City a year later.
Despite the hostility surrounding his transfer, Trautmann had already embraced England and Lancashire as his home and it would not take long for the Maine Road faithful and English football to warm to the likeable German either. He would make a total of 508 appearances for the club between 1949 and 1964. His most famous start was of course in the 1956 FA Cup Final, where he played on the last 17 minutes of the match with a broken neck - helping secure a 3-1 win over Birmingham.
Soccerphile had a rare and unique opportunity to speak to Trautmann recently regarding his memories of that final and English football as a whole.
"I always followed the same routine before a match," begins Trautmann as he tells the tale of 1956, Wembley Stadium, broken necks and all that. "I had to put my right boot on first and my shirt last, then one more time to the toilets, and then I was ready to go."
Joe Hayes had fired Manchester City ahead just three minutes in to the cup final but Noel Kinsey replied some twelve minutes later for Birmingham. Throughout the second half, Trautmann was called upon time and time again to make a string of fine saves to keep Man City in the game. Just after the hour mark Bobby Johnstone restored their lead and Jack Dyson scored just two minutes later to swing the final firmly in Trautmann's team's favour.
With victory in sight, Trautmann came rushing out of his goal on 73 minutes to block an attack from Birmingham forward Peter Murphy. As the goalkeeper gathered the ball, Murphy landed awkwardly on Trautmann, with his knee colliding with the German's neck. The keeper was knocked unconscious and it looked doubtful he could continue playing. But play on he did, despite the fact it was later discovered Trautmann had broken his neck.
"To tell you the truth, I can't remember anything of those last sixteen minutes. I played by instinct really," he says. "In those days there was just the cold sponge to bring you round and that wasn't enough, so I played on, only half conscious. I do remember the pain. Terrible."
Anyone else would have gone off, but Bert, the German POW who fought the Russians in World War II and survived. "It wasn't till after the game that they found I'd broken my neck. So then it was straight into hospital and a plaster cast from head to waist. I looked like an alien from outer space."
Trautmann's career looked in serious doubt as soon as the discovery of the broken neck was made.
"It was the worst year of my life, being told that and trying to recover," he says. "I had to fight. The doctor said no, I couldn't do it, but my brain said yes and I insisted.
"So he (the doctor) gave me a plan of exercises, and I ran with a leather support for about three weeks and I trained every day, and I played my first game on Christmas Day 1956, for the Reserves. I played very badly, but I played. Manchester City stood by me, I'll always be grateful for that, because it took a long time. I had to start all over again, like a baby. I'd lost everything, my timing, my sense of anticipation, everything.
"City kept me there for two seasons while I was a totally indifferent player. They never criticised, never complained. There are moments in your life you're so down you really feel you can't carry on. But they said, carry on, stay. Magnificent. And from that moment my confidence came back, not all at once, but it did get better, step by step. Today I say that I was a better goalie later on than I had been before. I think so, yes."
One of his finest memories of City was the support the fans gave to him as soon as he returned to Manchester after the Cup Final. He was given a hero's welcome with the jubilant crowds chanting, 'We want Bert!'
"I was choked by that," recalls Trautmann. "I could hardly speak, it was so emotional. Remember, when I first played for Man City there were catcalls of 'Nazi!' and 'War Criminal!' from the stands, but they soon came round, and I found so much friendship and forgiveness in England that I decided to stay. And I'm glad I stayed."
Trautmann described the money Manchester City have been spending on new players as "incredible" on a visit to the club as guest of honour back in April. Aged 86 and fifty four years after that Cup Final, Bert was again the centre of attention, coming onto the pitch before kick-off to a thunderous welcome from a packed stadium.
Everyone cheering Bert Trautmann, the villain turned Manchester City legend.
Bert Trautmann's incredible life story is covered in the book Trautmann's Journey: From Hitler Youth to FA Cup Legend
One lucky Soccerphile reader can win a copy of the book, signed by the author, by answering this question.
Bert Trautmann broke which part of his anatomy in the 1956 FA Cup Final?
a) Foot b) Neck c) Ankle
Contact us to email your answer with the title "Trautmann" as the subject of the email
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