Charles William Spencer (4 December 1899 – 9 February 1953) was an English

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby ...

and manager.

Club career

After service with the Royal Engineers during the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

, Spencer joined Newcastle United from non-league football in October 1921. He played for the club until 1928, making a total of 175 appearances and scored one goal. In January 1928, Spencer signed for Manchester United, and was given the captaincy upon his arrival. However, he was only there for 18 months, leaving the club for Tunbridge Wells Rangers in 1929, to become a player-coach at the Kent-based side. He then moved to

Wigan Athletic Wigan Athletic Football Club () is an English professional association football club based in Wigan, Greater Manchester, England. The team competes in the Championship, the second tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1932, ...

, where he became the club's first ever manager.

International career

Spencer played twice for

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

. His first game was against

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a Anglo-Scottish border, border with England to the southeast ...

on 12 April 1924 and his second, and last, cap came against

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the Bristol Channel to the south. It had a population in ...

on 28 February 1925.

Managerial career

Spencer became Wigan Athletic's first ever manager in August 1932. During his first four seasons at the club, he won the Cheshire County League Championship three times. He left Wigan in March 1937 to become manager of

Grimsby Town Grimsby Town Football Club is a professional football club based in Cleethorpes, North East Lincolnshire, England, that in the 2022–23 season will compete in , the fourth tier of the English football league system, following the victory in t ...

. Grimsby were then playing in the First Division and narrowly avoided relegation at the end of the 1937–38 season. The following season, Spencer had assembled a fine squad, including former

Liverpool Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a populat ...

centre forward Fred Howe,

Jimmy Boyd Jimmy Devon Boyd (January 9, 1939 – March 7, 2009) was an American singer, musician, and actor known for his 1952 recording of the song "I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus". Early years Jimmy Boyd was born in 1939 Mississippi into a musical fam ...

(who had won the FA Cup with Newcastle United in

1932 Events January * January 4 – The British authorities in India arrest and intern Mahatma Gandhi and Vallabhbhai Patel. * January 9 – Sakuradamon Incident: Korean nationalist Lee Bong-chang fails in his effort to assassinate Emperor Hiro ...

) and Tommy Jones from Blackpool. Grimsby performed far better in the league, finishing in tenth place in the table, whilst in the

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual knockout football competition in men's domestic English football. First played during the 1871–72 season, it is the oldest national football competi ...

, they reached the semi-final against

Wolverhampton Wanderers Wolverhampton Wanderers Football Club (), commonly known as Wolves, is a professional football club based in Wolverhampton, England, which compete in the . The club has played at Molineux Stadium since moving from Dudley Road in 1889. The club's ...

, having defeated fellow First Division team

Chelsea Chelsea or Chelsey may refer to: Places Australia * Chelsea, Victoria Canada * Chelsea, Nova Scotia * Chelsea, Quebec United Kingdom * Chelsea, London, an area of London, bounded to the south by the River Thames ** Chelsea (UK Parliament consti ...

in the previous round. The semi-final was played at Old Trafford on 25 March 1939 in front of a crowd of 76,962 spectators; this remains the record attendance at Old Trafford. In the semi-final, Grimsby were no match for Wolves and were "simply swept aside", going down 5–0. He was appointed as manager of

York City York City Football Club is a professional association football club based in the city of York, North Yorkshire, England. As of the 2022–23 season, the team compete in the National League, at the fifth tier of the English football league sys ...

in November 1952. However, he died less than three months into his reign at the club on 9 February 1953 at his home in Blackpool.

Managerial stats

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Spencer, Charlie 1899 births People from Washington, Tyne and Wear Footballers from Tyne and Wear 1953 deaths English footballers England international footballers Association football defenders Newcastle United F.C. players Manchester United F.C. players Tunbridge Wells F.C. players English Football League players English football managers Wigan Athletic F.C. managers Grimsby Town F.C. managers York City F.C. managers Hastings United F.C. (1948) managers English Football League managers English Football League representative players British Army personnel of World War I Royal Engineers soldiers FA Cup Final players