United plan tribute for Cantwell
The 73-year-old former Irish international died in Peterborough early yesterday after a long illness.
As captain of the Red Devils 1963 FA Cup-winning side and a cornerstone of Sir Matt Busby’s rebuilding work following the Munich Air Disaster, Corkman Cantwell holds a special place in United folklore although he was only a peripheral member of the squad which won the league in 1967.
“I knew Noel as a person and as a friend and the memories of that mean more to me than anything we did on a football field,” said former team-mate Harry Gregg, who spoke to his compatriot only last week.
“We used to have a joke about things because we both had treatment for cancer around the same time. In some ways, the illness brought us even closer together.
“We go back such a long way, right to the days when we both came over from Ireland and I just feel terribly sorry for his family. I have lost a great friend.”
Cantwell made 144 appearances in a seven-year stint at Old Trafford after Busby snapped him up from West Ham for £29,500 in 1960, before eventually taking up the manager’s job at Coventry.
“I met Noel a few times and he was quite a character, very approachable and very friendly,” recalled Alex Ferguson.
“He was a great servant to Manchester United and gave our fans so many wonderful memories in the 1960s. It is very sad news and our thoughts go out to his family and friends.”
The Mardyke-born defender also won 36 caps for the Republic of Ireland, scoring on an incredible 14 occasions, and narrowly missed out on leading his country to the 1966 World Cup Finals in England.
“Noel Cantwell was one of the great characters not only of football but of Irish sport in general,” said FAI chief executive John Delaney.
“He was a great inspiration to those who played alongside him whether for club or country.”
After leaving Coventry, he had two spells in charge of Peterborough, where he eventually returned to become a licensee after coaching in North America.
He also played cricket for Ireland, scoring 48 runs in two innings.
Knowledgeable judges say he would have been in the top-flight of international batsmen had he chosen to concentrate on that sport.
His family home is in situated in the Mardyke, within a stone’s throw of the City’s two main stadiums of football and cricket.
He was at home one Sunday afternoon when his older brother, Frankie, an established player with Cork Athletic at the time, called on him to pick up his football boots and report to the nearby Mardyke soccer ground.
Cork Athletic, the City’s only League of Ireland club at the time, found themselves in crisis and a man short for a League match after the late withdrawal of a number of injured players.
Noel, who was 18 at the time, played for Athletic that afternoon and within a couple of months he was in London and signed for West Ham United.
He was a member of a distinguished Hammers outfit that included established internationals like Frank O’Farrell, John Dick, John Gregory, John Bond, Malcolm Allison.
He helped them win the Second Division championship in 1957/58 and made 248 appearances for the club and scored 11 goals. He was captain for most of his years there.
The quality of the football they played led to West Ham being named the ‘Academy of Soccer’ at the time.
Cantwell was a natural leader and when he was signed, at 29 years of age, by Matt Busby for Manchester United in 1960 for a then-record fee of £29,000, he was immediately installed as club captain at Old Trafford.
There he captained a team that contained some of the biggest names in world football - Bobby Charlton, Denis Law, Harry Gregg, David Herd, Bill Foulkes. The highlight of his years at United was in May 1963 when he captained the team to an FA Cup final triumph over Leicester City.
His standing was such that up to recent years he worked for the FA as a talent scout, checking the form of players in the senior squad.
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