Jesse Carver

Carver started out in football as a player, joining Blackburn Rovers as an 18-year-old groundstaff boy and spent seven years at Ewood Park, becoming the first choice centre-half in 1931, playing almost 150 games for the First Division side. Although under six foot and short for a stopper his strong tackling and intelligent reading of the game more than made up for his lack of inches. In 1936, he joined Newcastle United for £2,000, making his debut against Barnsley in August, and with Carver playing the Toon's highest finish was 4th in the Second Division. After playing 70 times in the league and six in the FA Cup between 1936 and 1939 for Newcastle United, Carver's playing career was cut short by the Second World War. During the war years, he worked as a policeman.

After the war, Carver became an assistant trainer at Huddersfield, and he began to realise that he had more talent as a coach than as a player. He successfully applied to coach Dutch club Xerxes in Rotterdam. He built his training routines around using the ball, instead of boring repetitive lapping, Xerxes flourished, and heading the championship and he was asked to coach the national team, a position he held for two years. After one season coaching at Millwall, he was appointed trainer to the England 'B' team on the successful 1949 tour of Holland and Finland. A job at the FA looked likely, but as the FA hesitated, Juventus jumped in and offered him the coach's job. He led Juve to the championship in his first season at the club. Carver still wanted to prove himself in England, however, and in the summer of 1952, he was persuaded to return to coach West Brom. He had an immediate impact, with the team playing attacking football and up among the league leaders. Carver left late January 1954, as he wasn't appointed manager, despite his success, leaving the job to his assistant Vic Buckingham. Torino lured him back to Italy, and he ultimately saved the club from relegation. He only stayed at Torino a year, before moving to Roma. His salary at Roma was £5,000; he and his wife had an apartment in the Via Archemedes, where his neighbours included ex-King Farouk and Ingrid Bergman. Several English First Division clubs coveted him, but in early 1955, Coventry City tempted him with a…

Manager

Juventus

Serie A: 1949–50