Bernhard Karl Troutmann (British as Burt Troutmann), probably one of the greatest goalkeepers in football history. Of course, most people have never heard his name. As for many people, they don't know who Buffon is, let alone Yashin, the door god. So it's normal for Troutman to be unknown. However, in the English-speaking world of sports, this is a big figure in football history that cannot be avoided. Two of his most famous points: the first is his interesting life experience in the big era; the second is the most well-known peak of his football and career, the "broken neck hero" in the 1956 FA Cup final!
The movie is a good sports biopic, of course, a historically real Troutman is a bit different from the movie, but it doesn't hide its flaws.
Burt Troutman was born in Bremerhaven in 1923, the son of a ship repairer. The year he was born was the year of the worst hyperinflation, and as a child he caught up with the economic crisis caused by the Great Depression of 1929. Forced to sell the small house and move to a rented apartment, he lived there until he enlisted in the army in 1941.
His family should be the kind of ordinary German working family who supported the Nazis to come to power. Because they were hit hard by the economic turmoil at the end of Weimar, they hoped that Hitler would come to a new world. This is also the reason why Bert Jr. joined the Hitler Youth Team (preparatory organization of the Hitler Youth League) in October 1933-a 10-year-old child is definitely not opposed to this family, and other children should also be together.
Burt's favorite thing is sports. He plays all kinds of balls. Later, I joined the YMCA, and I was not interested in the activities there, but I was interested in playing football together.
The 1930s under the Nazis were largely peaceful, and Bert was not old enough to serve in the military, so he had been working as an apprentice in a local machine shop. Is a technical talent. But the outbreak of war in 1939 broke this peace. By 1941, Barbarossa had started. At age Bert volunteered to join the Imperial Air Force. went. Here he stayed forever. First stationed in the Polish occupation area, in October, he was transferred to the 35th Infantry Division and thrown to the Eastern Front, Belarus.
Burt was a good soldier, and he fought on the Eastern Front for three years. It is really rare to get five or six medals, especially a first-class iron cross. He also rose to the rank of sergeant. Of course, his greatest strength is his wit. He was once captured by the Red Army in battle, but then ran back.
During the Normandy landings in 1944, Burt and his troops were transferred to the Western Front to fight with the Allies in France. He was accidentally captured by the Resistance's Inland Army - and then escaped, escaping reprisals from the French guerrillas. In 1945, the war moved to the Rhine and the German mainland. Burt's troops retreated to the Siegfried line of defense with little equipment. They were bombed by the Allies in Clive: Burt decided to be a deserter and go north to go home. (The movie says his company was ambushed there by the British and captured, but it wasn't). He avoided both armies along the way, but was eventually caught by the British. This time, Bert won't run away, let's go with the British.
Bert was held in Ostend, Belgium with other prisoners of war, before being transported to England. He was transferred to prisoner-of-war camps in Manchester and Liverpool. Initially he was classified as C (Nazi), but then the British re-screened: down to B (non-Nazi).
Burt returned to his hobby at the POW camp: there were regular football games. In the movie, he was portrayed as a goalkeeper (later at a press conference at Manchester City, he also said that when he was a child, he played goalkeepers who didn't work because he couldn't keep up with the group of friends). It's not true either: he was supposed to play in left midfield, but when he was injured, he switched positions with the goalkeeper. I will stay here from now on. Later, it turned out that he was indeed suitable for playing goalkeeper.
In fact, apart from some of the above-mentioned minor mistakes, the film is quite realistic as a whole. Bert married Margaret, daughter of the St. Helens township amateur team manager, and his eldest son, John, died in a car accident when he was five years old (Maggie later gave birth to two more sons, but never recovered from the death of her eldest son, 1971 The two divorced in 2008, which is not shown in the movie). The accident happened not long after the 1956 FA Cup, which caused Bert, who was injured at the time, to be in a low mood for a long time, and the injury missed many games next season.
Burt did come under a lot of attack when he joined Manchester City, with an open letter from Manchester's rabbis and Jewish community leaders in the film giving him critical support, but despite that, he was often attacked on the road. He was a little unacceptable at first - poor away performance, but then on his first trip to London (against Fulham), Bert decisively changed the view: that Manchester City would get five or six, but only 0: 1 loss. At the end of the game, many boos turned into applause for a wonderful save.
In fact, in Bert's first season with Manchester City, the team's level was too poor and the result was relegated. But it came back in the second season. Then play better. At that time, the core of Manchester City's midfield was the future famous England coach Don Levy (the legendary coach of Leeds United in the 1960s and 1970s, who led Leeds to the Champions League final in 1975). Troutman is no less than his status on the team. Manchester City reached the FA Cup final in 1955, but lost 3-1 to Newcastle (the 1951 and 53 FA Cup winners). The Blue Moon in the subsequent season had the best results in recent years: the fourth in the league and the FA Cup final for the second consecutive year, the opponent was Birmingham City Club. This time people think Manchester City should be stable.
Manchester City were indeed stronger and scored first, but Birmingham equalised. After a half-time draw, City scored twice in the second half. 3:1, just like last year's final loss. But Birmingham was not willing to fail. A violent counterattack came. Then came Burt's highlight: he collided with Birmingham striker Peter Murphy: Murphy's knee broke his shin. He almost got paralyzed! But at the time, he only felt a pain in his neck, so he insisted. Later, they saved the opponent a good ball. At the final whistle, Manchester City won the FA Cup. It was one of the most glorious moments in the club's history. But what's really more fascinating is two days later - because the German went to the doctor with so much neck pain, and the X-ray showed the real situation. Now Burt Troutman is a complete celebrity - the kind of guy that British sports like most.
Burt is a good goalkeeper, and just weeks before the final, he was given the England Football Press Association's Player of the Year - the first goalkeeper, and the first foreigner. But without this final, Burt would be at best a player he once was. This final - especially the inspection afterwards - determined him to become one of the legends in football history.
His idol, the goalkeeper of Hungary's golden generation, Grossis (from whom he learned the habit of throwing the ball for the first time in England), was a hero but was ruined in the Berne final in 1954. shoot on. By contrast, Bert was more fortunate, and of course unfortunate - the winner of that final was the German. Herberger explained to him before that "because you play in England, you don't go to the World Cup. The national team only needs to play in their own country". If it wasn't for this reason, Herberger might have actually brought him - Bert was good friends with his fellow Adolf Dassler, and Herberger made Dassler's spikes shine in Bern Since then, Burt is the first athlete to wear Adidas shoes in England.
Then again: if he went, there probably wouldn't be that amazing Tony Turek. If Bernie's final is his goal, Puskas and Sidguti will not necessarily open with a two-goal lead.
As far as the status of the rivers and lakes is concerned, Bert was well-known in European football in the 1950s and 1960s. The legendary door god Yashin was his junior. Later, the Russian said, "I was two world-class at that time, and I was with him." England's legendary goalkeeper Banksy is also his junior and fan.
In the days following his rise to fame, the former Wehrmacht paratrooper sergeant who won the Führer's Iron Cross will also receive the OBE from the Queen (and another Federal Grand Cross of Honour from his home country, Of course this is the Federal Republic of Germany). In history, Burt Troutman may be the only one who can receive both the Iron Cross and the Order of the British Empire at the same time.
Of course, back to the movies: what's more fascinating are the lives of those families and individuals. The first marriage is mainly shown in the film, and the later ones are not mentioned. In fact, Burt had two marriages later. When he went to Myanmar to teach, he married a local German expatriate. After his divorce in 1986, he married for the third time. This wife is still a member of the "Troutman Foundation" founder. In fact, even before he married Maggie, Bert had an illegitimate daughter...he's portrayed decently in the movies, but he was actually a high-energy athlete: he didn't die until he was 90 years old, in 2013 Year - The following year the Germans won the World Cup for the fourth time in Brazil.
Back to the movie: The actor who played Margaret was a beautiful, quintessentially British beauty (Kate Beckinsale was the last one in my mind). This is probably my deepest impression.
View more about The Keeper reviews
