Jesse Carver

The playing career of footballer Jesse Carver was an insignificant one. Despite 10 seasons playing with Blackburn Rovers and Newcastle United (1929-39) he won no domestic honours. However, his major claim to fame was that he had probably the longest throw-in in English League football. The War years brought an end to his playing career and he had a complete change of direction, when he joined the police force.

The end of the hostilities gave Carver the chance to resurrect his football career, but this time as a coach, after many of the leading figures in European football lost their lives during the War, and Carver had the opportunity to coach on the Continent, where he would soon establish himself as one of the top coaches.

Having been an assistant manager at Huddersfield Town, he obtained his first job abroad, as coach of the Dutch club RFC Xerxes. His ability soon attracted the attention of the Netherlands Football Association, and he was appointed coach to their 1948 Olympic team. Having beaten Ireland, Carver’s side was eliminated 4-3 after extra time by the hosts, coached by Matt Busby.

After the Olympics, Carver returned to England to manage Millwall, and was also appointed trainer to the England B team. Italian giants Juventus were monitoring Carver’s career, and they made him an offer he could not refuse, and in 1950 he went on to guide Juve to their first Serie A title in 15 years. However, a fall-out with the directors followed and Carver was off. He returned to England for a brief spell with West Brom before returning to Italy with Serie B side with AC Marzotto. Torino then appointed him technical director, and after that he was offered an attractive contract to join Roma. Carver helped re-established them as a leading Serie A team, and guided them to second place in the League in 1954/55.

Carver turned down the chance to manage the England national team, but did return to England as manager of third division Coventry City. However, midway through his first season, he returned to Italy after just six months away. Carver joined Lazio and led them to third place in the League, but his itchy feet got the better of him, and he was soon off again, this time to Inter Milan, but a ninth-place finish lead to his dismissal. A return to England as an assistant to Bill Nicholson at Tottenham Hotspur did not work out and, upon his release, was soon on his way back to his ‘spiritual home’, Italy. A season with Genoa nearly ended in relegation and he was dismissed, only to return to Lazio but Carver could not help them suffer their first ever relegation to Serie B in 1961. A spell in Cyprus with APOEL Nicosia yielded only his second piece of silverware, when they won the 1963 Cyprus Cup. Carver eventually retired in 1970, and after living in Italy, Portugal and the USA, returned to England where he died in 2003.