Tuesday, June 1, 2010

  Oldest Football Coach - world record set by Ivor Powell

  COLERNE, Wiltshire, UK -- Legendary former Port Vale player and Carlisle United manager Ivor Powell , has finally hung up his boots, after training more than 9,000 players over 37 years, at the age of 93 , setting the world record for the Oldest Football Coach .

 Photo: Ivor Powell, The World's Oldest Football Coach / Photo PA ( enlarge photo )

    Ivor, born in Bargoed, Caerphilly, who played 14 times for Wales, was part of Don Revie's backroom staff at Leeds United.

The World's Oldest Football Coach said: "I can't imagine life without football. I'll still be putting on my boots and popping in once a week to keep an eye on things."

   Ivor Powell, who worked in the mines before earning a career in football, began his career by signing for Queen's Park Rangers in 1933, over three-quarters of a century ago.

   He was forced to put his football career on hold when the Second World War broke out and the RAF posted him to India. While there he was reportedly introduced to spiritual leader Mahatma Gandhi.

   He went on to be the Wayne Rooney of his time, playing for Blackpool and Aston Villa, and setting a record transfer fee of £17,500 in 1946.

   Born in Bargoed, Caerphilly, Mr Powell also played 14 times as a Welsh international.

     For the past 37 years, The Oldest Football Coach in The Worl d has trained players for the Bath University team - coaching thousands of footballers, most of them just a quarter of his current age.

    In 2002, Mr Powell took Team Bath to the first round of the FA Cup, and six years later he was awarded the MBE for services to sport. In 2004 he was inducted into the Welsh Sports Hall of Fame and he was made an MBE in the 2008 New Year’s Honours List.

   The university have recognised Powell’s incredible contribution to the game by setting up a football scholarship in his name.

   Now living in Colerne, Wiltshire, he describes football is his life.

   He said: "I joke that I've been trying to get out (of the game) for years, but they won't let me. But really, I just can't get enough and can't imagine my life without football.

    "I feel so proud of what I've done. I've been very, very happy at the University of Bath and I mean that.

    "I'll still be putting on my boots and popping in once a week to keep an eye on things," The Oldest Football Coach in The Worl d told the The Daily Telegraph.

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Tuesday, June 1, 2010