Neil Franklin

In 1961 Franklin became player-manager at Wellington Town, Shropshire [renamed Telford United in 1969 after the new town Development], joining former England player, Johnny Hancocks. He returned to Europe in 1963 and managed APOEL in Cyprus where his time was cut short again due to civil war. He joined Colchester United in 1964 and got the club promoted in 1965–66, however relegation followed in 1967–68 and he was sacked.

Club

International

Managerial statistics

Stoke City

Franklin was born in Shelton, Stoke-on-Trent and emerged from Stoke City's nursery club Stoke Old Boys. At 15 he won schoolboy international honours as a right half and signed professional forms with Stoke in January 1939. The outbreak of World War II soon gave opportunities to Stoke's apprentices and Franklin made his senior debut at the end of 1939–40, before volunteering with the Royal Air Force in February 1941. He converted to centre back due to the absence of Billy Mould and also took his place of captain. Franklin thrived in his new-found position and his positioning and tackling ability was described by the press as 'perfection'. Franklin helped remove the stereotype of centre backs as being just stoppers as he was very comfortable on the ball and earned his first England cap in February 1945. His goalkeeper Dennis Herod was often left frustrated by Franklin's genius. "He was a great player, but so unpredictable. If he was under pressure he would shout to me Dennis, come on and I would come out expecting him to give me the ball. Nine times out of ten he would do a u-turn and trot off up the field. It was like playing in a minefield. He didn't believe he could have a bad game and was the only one who didn't suffer with nerves." Stoke narrowly missed out on their first league title in 1946–47 losing their must win match against Sheffield United 2–1. Stoke manager Bob McGrory was becoming frustrated with his side's best players, and after selling…

In August 2019, the story of Neil Franklin's life and career was published in a book entitled England's Greatest Defender: The Untold Story of Neil Franklin by author Alfie Potts Harmer; the creator of the YouTube channel HITC Sevens and a fan of Hull City, one of Franklin's former clubs.