| Bill Shorthouse | |
| Fullname: | William Henry Shorthouse |
| Birth Date: | 27 May 1922 |
| Birth Place: | Bilston, England |
| Death Place: | Wolverhampton, England |
| Position: | Defender |
| Years1: | 1941–1956 |
| Caps1: | 344 |
| Goals1: | 1 |
| Manageryears1: | 1970 |
| Managerclubs1: | Birmingham City (joint caretaker) |
William Henry Shorthouse (27 May 1922 – 6 September 2008) was an English professional football player and coach, who spent his playing career with Wolverhampton Wanderers.
Born in Bilston, Staffordshire, Shorthouse attended St Martin's School in nearby Bradley.[1] He served in the Royal Engineers in the Second World War, and was wounded in the arm during the Normandy landings.[2] He had joined Wolverhampton Wanderers as an amateur in 1941;[3] his senior debut came on 23 August 1947 in a 4–3 First Division defeat at Manchester City.[4]
He played as a defender, first at centre-half until replaced by Billy Wright, then at full-back.[3] He was part of the club's 1949 FA Cup-winning team and was a near ever-present as the club won their first league championship in the 1953–54 season.[1]
The defender remained a first choice player at Molineux until retiring in late 1956. In total, he played 376 senior games for the club – putting him among the club's top 20 appearance makers – before launching a career in coaching.[1]
Shorthouse went on to coach at Birmingham City,[5] and he and chief scout Don Dorman acted as caretaker managers at the end of the 1969–70 season while the club sought a replacement after Stan Cullis, Shorthouse's former manager at Wolves, retired.[6] He also briefly coached the England youth team during the following season and later worked as a youth team coach at Aston Villa, guiding them to victory in the 1980 FA Youth Cup.
Known as "The Baron" to his teammates, he died in a Wolverhampton nursing home on 6 September 2008 at the age of 86. He had been suffering from dementia.[7]
Wolverhampton Wanderers