Wilf Mannion

Middlesbrough

Mannion joined his local team Middlesbrough F.C. in 1936 and went on to make 341 Football League appearances for them, scoring 99 goals in the First and Second Divisions, over the next 18 years. However, his career was disrupted by World War II. He scored 110 goals in all competitions for Middlesbrough. Mannion fought in France and Italy during World War II, and in Italy his commanding officer was the England cricketer Hedley Verity. At the end of the 1947–48 season he wanted a transfer, but Middlesbrough refused. In protest he did not play for them for much of the following season but he eventually backed down and started playing for Middlesbrough again.

Later career

After initially retiring as a player in 1954, Mannion subsequently joined Hull City. However, the Football League suspended him for articles he had written, He then played non-league football with Cambridge United.

Mannion was capped on 26 occasions by the England national team between 1946 and 1951, and his final appearance came on 3 October 1951. He was a member of the England squad for the 1950 FIFA World Cup. Along with Middlesbrough and England teammate George Hardwick, he was also part of the Great Britain football team that beat the Rest of Europe 6–1 in 1947. He remains the only Middlesbrough player to score for England at the World Cup.

Mannion was born on 16 May 1918 in South Bank, the son of Irish immigrants Tommy and Mary Mannion, and one of ten children.