A rare set of autographs of the provisional 27-man England 1966 World Cup squad assembled for pre-tournament training at Lilleshall, the signatures co

A rare set of autographs of the provisional 27-man England 1966 World Cup squad assembled for pre-tournament training at Lilleshall, the signatures collected on individual paper pasted onto a pre-printed background with title legend and player identification, mounted, framed & glazed; sold together with a photo print of the England squad for which these autographs were collected, framed & glazed, 25.5 by 32cm., 10 by 12 1/2in. (2) At the 1966 World Cup FIFA decreed that every nation should announce a list of 40 players before the end of May, to be reduced to a final squad of 22 players by July 3rd. On 6th June England manager Alf Ramsey reduced this number to 28 who were required to report for pre-tournament training at Lilleshall. Brian Labone was forced to withdraw through injury so 27 players joined Alf Ramsey, and trainers Harold Shepherdson, Les Cocker and Wilf McGuinness. It is the autographs of these 31 individuals that were taken in order to produce facsimiles for an official photograph of the 1966 World Cup squad. A copy of the final published print is included in the lot. After the close of a training session on 18th June, Alf Ramsey cut the squad to the final 22. The five players who narrowly missed out on participation, although were instructed to continue full training at their clubs in case they were needed as emergency replacements, were: Bobby Tambling of Chelsea, John Byrne of West Ham United, Peter Thompson and Gordon Milne of Liverpool and Keith Newton of Blackburn Rovers. On 3rd July Alf Ramsey formally submitted the details of his England squad to FIFA with the 22 players assigned squad numbers.