Wilf Mannion
Statue outside the Riverside Stadium of Middlesbrough F.C.
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| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Wilfred James Mannion | ||
| Date of birth | 16 May 1918 | ||
| Place of birth | South Bank, Middlesbrough, England | ||
| Date of death | 14 April 2000 (aged 81) | ||
| Place of death | Teesside, England | ||
| Playing position | Inside forward | ||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
| 1936–1954 | Middlesbrough | 341 | (99) |
| 1954–1956 | Hull City | 16 | (1) |
| 1956–1958 | Cambridge United | ||
| – | Poole Town | ||
| – | Earlestown (player/manager) | ||
| National team | |||
| 1939–1946 | → England wartime team | 4 | (0) |
| 1948 | England B | 1 | (0) |
| 1946–1951 | England | 26 | (11) |
| * Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only. |
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Wilfred James "Wilf" Mannion (16 May 1918 – 14 April 2000) was an English professional footballer who played as an inside forward, making over 350 senior appearances for Middlesbrough. He also played international football for England. With his blonde hair, he was nicknamed "The Golden Boy". He was arguably Middlesbrough's greatest ever player.
Mannion was born on 16 May 1918 in South Bank, the son of Irish immigrants Tommy and Mary Mannion, and one of 10 children.
He joined his local team Middlesbrough F.C. in 1936 and went on to make 341 Football League appearances for them, scoring on 99 occasions. He scored 110 goals in all competitions for Middlesbrough.
Mannion fought in France and Italy during World War II.
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.
He was capped on 26 occasions by the England national football 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 team-mate George Hardwick, he was also part of the Great Britain football team that beat the Rest of Europe 6-1 in 1947.
After initially retiring as a player in 1954, Mannion subsequently joined Hull City. However, the Football League suspended him for articles he had written, and he left to play non-league football with Poole Town. He also had an unsuccessful spell as manager of Cambridge United.
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