Tuesday 18th April 2000 : Wilf Mannion dies

There was sad news late last week as former U's star Wilf Mannion died on Friday. The BBC news report reads as follows:

The football world is mourning the death of former Middlesbrough and England legend Wilf Mannion. Mannion had been suffering from a long illness and died in the early hours of Friday. He was 81. The striker played for Middlesbrough 368 times between 1936 and 1954, scoring 110 goals. And he was also capped 26 times for England, including the 1950 World Cup, and scored 11 goals.

In 1947 Middlesbrough were the only club to provide two players for the Great Britain side against the Rest of Europe - Mannion and his great friend George Hardwicke. Until he became ill, the man once dubbed the "golden boy of football" rarely missed watching today's team at the Riverside Stadium.

Present day boss Bryan Robson led the tributes. He said: "It is a sad day for Middlesbrough Football Club. Wilf was a smashing bloke. He was always, right to the end, attending charity events and will be a sad loss to the area. When I was speaking to Bobby Charlton and Paddy Crerand when I was at Manchester United, they were schoolboys when he was playing and they spoke very highly of him. There were many great players around that time, and Wilf was certainly one of them."

Like Sir Stanley Matthews, who died in February, Mannion made little money from his career, but Robson said he was never bitter about the huge wages today's top stars can command. "When I spoke to him, there was never any remorse about playing when he did. He never showed any jealousy about the money which is in the game at the moment and that speaks volumes of the man."

Mannion's ability set him apart in his own generation and beyond, and Robson is confident that he could have more than held his own in the game today. "Great players like him could play any time, anywhere and in any decade. This is a sad time for the club and the area, and I would like to extend sympathy from the club to his family."

Mannion made his Boro debut at the age of 18 in January 1937 in a 2-2 draw against Portsmouth at Ayresome Park. He took hold of a regular slot as Boro challenged for honours at the top of the First Division. Just as success seemed just around the corner, war intervened and Mannion lost six seasons of top flight football. He continued to play for the team in the early years of the war while serving in the Auxiliary Fire Service before being called up. He earned his first international recognition in 1941 when he played in an unofficial international between England and Scotland. His first official England cap was awarded when he played against Scotland at Wembley in April 1947. He left Boro in the 1953/54 season and played for a season for Hull and non-league teams before finally retiring at the age of 44.

One of those non-league teams was Cambridge United of the Eastern Counties League who he joined in 1956, and who granted him a testimonial match in 1958 when Middlesbrough would not. The attendance of 9,500 to see Cambridge United take on a star-studded International XI was a new record.

CUSA Chairman Brian Attmore adds, "He signed for Cambridge United and left a lasting legacy for all those privileged to watch him. One of the biggest matches ever played at the Abbey was his testimonial when the U's took on a star-studded team in the first match played under floodlights (mounted on temporary poles alongside temporary stands erected especially for the occasion). Whilst in Cambridge he lived in a Club house in Newmarket Road to the east of Whitehill Road. A sad loss but good memories of United's glorious past."

Our sympathy goes out to his family.