William Eric Houghton (29 June 1910 – 1 May 1996) was an English footballer and manager. Eric Houghton was born in

Billingborough Billingborough is a village and civil parish in the South Kesteven district of Lincolnshire, England. It is situated approximately north of Bourne and 10 miles south of Sleaford, and on the B1177 between Horbling and Pointon just south of ...

Lincolnshire Lincolnshire (), abbreviated ''Lincs'', is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East Midlands and Yorkshire and the Humber regions of England. It is bordered by the East Riding of Yorkshire across the Humber estuary to th ...

, and educated at Donington Grammar School. Houghton signed for

Aston Villa Aston Villa Football Club (commonly referred to as simply Villa) is a professional football club based in Aston, Birmingham, England. The club, founded in 1874, compete in the Premier League, the top tier of English football. The team have p ...

as a seventeen-year-old and played in the Villa side for two decades, scoring 170 goals in 392 games. (The total including wartime matches was over 200 goals.) He also won seven

caps Caps are flat headgear. Caps or CAPS may also refer to: Science and technology Computing * CESG Assisted Products Service, provided by the U.K. Government Communications Headquarters * Composite Application Platform Suite, by Java Caps, a Java ...

for

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

. His formidable and powerful shot was regarded as the hardest shot of his era. Houghton converted 58 spot kicks and also scored direct from about 30 free-kicks. He is often referred to as 'Mr Aston Villa' in recognition of his long standing service and contribution to the club. Houghton scored 30 goals in the 1930–31 season, in which Villa scored 128 league goals, a First Division record. Houghton finished his playing career at

Notts County Notts County Football Club is a professional association football, football club in Nottingham, England, which competes in EFL League Two, the fourth tier of Football in England, English football, following promotion and relegation, promotion ...

. After managing Notts County, he went on to become Aston Villa manager, guiding Villa to a record seventh FA Cup triumph in 1957. He later returned to Villa as a director, the only person to do this at the club. He had four children. In 2006 the club announced the creation of an Aston Villa Hall of Fame. This was voted for by fans and the inaugural induction saw 12 former players, managers and directors named. Eric Houghton was chosen. He also played seven first-class matches as a right-handed batsman and a right-arm bowler for

Warwickshire County Cricket Club Warwickshire County Cricket Club is one of eighteen first-class cricket, first-class county cricket, county clubs within the domestic cricket structure of England and Wales. It represents the Historic counties of England, historic county of ...

(1946–1947) and also minor counties cricket for

Lincolnshire County Cricket Club Lincolnshire County Cricket Club is one of twenty minor county clubs within the domestic cricket structure of England and Wales. It represents the historic county of Lincolnshire. The team is currently a member of the Minor Counties Champi ...

. He also played club cricket for Sleaford, Aston Unity and Olton Cricket Clubs. His brother,

Roy Houghton Roy Houghton (born 31 March 1921) is an English former footballer who played as an outside-right in the Football League for Notts County. Houghton made eight appearances for Notts County during the 1937–38 season. After spells at Grantham a ...

, and cousin,

Reg Goodacre Reginald Goodacre (24 July 1908 – 28 September 1998) was an English footballer who played as a right-back in the Football League for West Ham United and Mansfield Town. Goodacre played non-league football with Boston Town before joining West ...

, were also footballers. His son Neil chaired

(2003–2011) and his great-nephew

Chris Woods Christopher Charles Eric Woods (born 14 November 1959) is an English football coach and former professional footballer, who is goalkeeping coach for the Scotland national team. As a player, he was a goalkeeper (association football), goalke ...

was a successful international footballer. He died in

Sutton Coldfield Sutton Coldfield or the Royal Town of Sutton Coldfield ( ), is a town and civil parish in the city of Birmingham, West Midlands County, West Midlands, England. The town lies around 8 miles northeast of Birmingham city centre, 9 miles south of L ...

on 1 May 1996, aged 85.

References

External links

Eric Houghton
at Cricket Archive

at Cricinfo

football career statistics {{DEFAULTSORT:Houghton, Eric 1910 births 1996 deaths People from Billingborough English men's footballers Footballers from Lincolnshire Men's association football wingers England men's international footballers English Football League players English Football League representative players Aston Villa F.C. players Notts County F.C. players Brentford F.C. wartime guest players English football managers English Football League managers Aston Villa F.C. managers Notts County F.C. managers English cricketers Warwickshire cricketers Lincolnshire cricketers Aston Villa F.C. directors and chairmen 20th-century English sportsmen