Ron Springett

Ronald Deryk George Springett (22 July 1935 – 12 September 2015) was an English professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper.

He began his career with QPR in 1953 where he made 147 appearances over two spells. He had a nine-year spell with Sheffield Wednesday between 1958 and 1967 and amassed 384 appearances for them before returning to QPR to finish his career.

He earned 33 caps for England between 1959 and 1966 and was part of the squad that won the 1966 FIFA World Cup.

Club career

Springett began his career at QPR in 1953. While at QPR, he was selected to play in the Third Division South representative team in 1957. He moved to Sheffield Wednesday for £10,000 in 1958 and made 384 appearances for Wednesday before returning to QPR in May 1967. As part of that deal, his brother Peter, also a goalkeeper, moved to Wednesday from QPR.

Springett was a member of the Sheffield Wednesday team beaten 3–2 by Everton in the 1966 FA Cup Final at Wembley. He had been the first choice goalkeeper during the 1962 World Cup in Chile.

+ England appearances Cap Date Home team Sc. Away team 1 18 November 1959 England 2-1 Northern Ireland 2 19 April 1960 Scotland 1-1 England 3 11 May 1960 England 3-3 Yugoslavia 4 15 May 1960 Spain 3-0 England 5 22 May 1960 Hungary 2-0 England 6 8 October 1960 Northern Ireland 2-5 England 7 19 October 1960 Luxembourg 0-9 England 8 26 October 1960 England 4-2 Spain 9 15 April 1961 England 9-3 Scotland 10 10 May 1961 England 8-0 Mexico 11 21 May 1961 Portugal 1-1 England 12 24 May 1961 Italy 2-3 England 13 27 May 1961 Austria 3-1 England 14 28 September 1961 England 4-1 Luxembourg 15 14 October 1961 Wales 1-1 England 16 25 October 1961 England 2-0 Portugal 17 22 November 1961 England 1-1 Northern Ireland 18 4 April 1962 England 3-1 Austria 19 14 April 1962 Scotland 0-2 England 20 9 May 1962 England 3-1 Switzerland 21 20 May 1962 Peru 0-4 England 22 31 May 1962 Hungary 2-1 England 23 2 June 1962 England 3-1 Argentina 24 7 June 1962 Bulgaria 0-0 England 25 10 June 1962 Brazil 3-1 England 26 3 October 1962 England 1-1 France 27 20 October 1962 Northern Ireland 1-3 England 28 21 November 1962 England 4-0 Wales 29 27 February 1963 France 5-2 England uc 24 May 1963 England 3-3 Football League 30 5 June 1963 Switzerland 1-8 England 31 2 October 1965 Wales 0-0 England 32 20 October 1965 England 2-3 Austria 33 29 June 1966 Norway 1-6 England

He was allocated the No.12 shirt as a member of the England squad that won the 1966 World Cup by beating West Germany by 4 goals to 2.

+ Football League appearances App. Date Home team Sc. Away team 1 23 September 1959 Irish Football League 0-5 Football League 2 4 November 1959 Football League 2-0 League of Ireland 3 1 November 1960 Italian League 4-2 Football League 4 22 March 1961 Scottish Football League 3-2 Football League 5 11 October 1961 Football League 5-2 League of Ireland 6 8 November 1961 Football League 0-2 Italian League 7 21 March 1962 Football League 3-4 Scottish Football League 8 29 November 1962 Football League 3-2 Italian League 9 16 March 1966 Football League 1-3 Scottish Football League

Testimonial Sheffield Wednesday held a testimonial for Ronald Springett on 25 September 1967 at Hillsborough Stadium. (A Sheffield United XI beat a Sheffield Wednesday XI 3–2) The game was watched by 23,070 fans. Following his death, Sheffield Wednesday honoured Ron by featuring him on the cover of the matchday programme and observing a minutes applause prior to the home game against Fulham on 19 September 2015. Wednesday won the game 3–2. In a post match interview, Owls head coach Carlos Carvalhal dedicated the win to Springett.

Style of play Springett has been described by The Independent as a clever, consistent, "brave and agile goalkeeper", with an excellent positional sense. Despite his small stature and lack of physicality, which gave him a slight disadvantage against larger, more physical centre-forwards, he was "adept at choosing the precise moment to smother shots at the feet of attackers, accepting that such plunges would result in occasional injuries. Swift of foot, deftly assured with his hands and adept at judging when to leave his goal-line, he could be a gloriously entertaining performer, though for all his acrobatics, his lack of height occasionally made him vulnerable to sudden long shots." Regarded as one of England's greatest ever goalkeepers, he was known for his determination, athleticism, and the "thoroughness of his preparation, as he kept a notebook in which recorded the preferred spot-kick methods of all his leading opponents".

England FIFA World Cup: 1966