Leslie Lievesley

Leslie Lievesley (July 1911 – 4 May 1949), also known as Les Lievesley,[1] was an English footballer and football manager. His regular position was at full back.

He was born in Staveley, Derbyshire. He started his career as an amateur with Rossington Colliery before moving to Doncaster Rovers in 1929. After scoring 21 goals in 66 games, he was signed by Manchester United, but played with them during one of their less successful eras, when they were a Football League Second Division side. He then went to Chesterfield in March 1933, spent four seasons at Torquay United and two at Crystal Palace.[2]

With the outbreak of war in 1939, Lievesley joined the RAF, where he became a parachute trainer[1] and dispatch officer.[3]

Following the war he became a coach in the Netherlands at Heracles Almelo, then in 1947, after turning down an offer from Marseille in France, transferred to Italian club Torino[3] as youth team coach.[1] He coached the Italian national team at the 1948 summer Olympics and became first-team coach at Torino that year.[1] In 1949 he had been offered a contract to coach rival team Juventus,[1] when on 4 May he was one of 31 fatalities in the Superga air disaster that killed almost the entire Torino squad, when they were in the process of winning the Serie A title.[1][2][3] He had previously survived two air crashes in the war and one in 1948 when travelling with the Torino youth team.[1][3]

His father, Joe Lievesley, played for Sheffield United and Arsenal as well as the ill-fated Chesterfield Town club during the First World War, and brothers Dennis and Ernest and cousin Wilf were all professional footballers.[2]