Ralph Coates was an
English footballer who played at both professional and international levels as a
winger died from a stroke he was , 64. Coates played for
Burnley,
Tottenham Hotspur and
Leyton Orient, making 480 appearances in
the Football League.
[1] Coates also earned four caps for
England between 1970 and 1971 died from a stroke he was , 64.
[2]
(26 April 1946 – 17 December 2010) |
Club career

Coates was born in
Hetton-le-Hole,
County Durham. He was an apprentice colliery fitter and his footballing ability was spotted by Burnley's North-East scout
Jack Hixon.
[3] Coates joined Burnley on trial in 1961 and after a period as an apprentice turned professional in 1963.
[4] He made his first-team debut in December 1964 scoring his first goal in a 2-0 win against
Leicester City in March 1965.
[4]He would go on to make 261 appearances for Burnley in all competitions scoring 32 goals.
[4] After Burnley had been relegated from the
First Division in 1971 Coates was sold to Tottenham Hotspur for a fee of £190,000.
[4] He played over 300 games for Tottenham and earned winner's medals for the
1972 UEFA Cup and the
1973 Football League Cup Final where he scored the winning goal in
the final.
[4] Coates left Tottenham in 1978 and had a short period playing in
Australia before returning to play for Leyton Orient where he was also on the coaching staff.
[4] He played 84 games in all competitions for Orient scoring 12 goals.
[5]
He retired from professional football in 1982 but continued to play non-league football for Hertford Heath,
Ware and Nazeing.
[5]
[edit] International career
Coates played eight times for
England U-23[6] and four times for
England. He was a member of the initial squad for
the 1970 World Cup but was not selected for the final squad which travelled to
Mexico.
[4]
[edit] Later life and death
After his football career ended Coates moved into the leisure industry managing leisure centres in
Chelmsford and
Boreham Wood[5] and was involved with Tottenham Hotspur for over 20 years where he worked as a match-day host.
[4]
In early December 2010, he suffered a series of
strokes and was hospitalised.
[7] He died on 17 December 2010 at the
Luton and Dunstable Hospital NHS Trust aged 64.
[8][9][10]
[edit] References
To see more of who died in 2010
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