James Ernest Mangnall (4 January 1866 – 13 January 1932) was an English

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly ...

manager who started his career with

Burnley Burnley () is a town and the administrative centre of the wider Borough of Burnley in Lancashire, England, with a 2001 population of 73,021. It is north of Manchester and east of Preston, at the confluence of the River Calder and River Br ...

and managed

Manchester United Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The ...

between 1903–1912 and then went on to manage

Manchester City Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The t ...

from 1912–1924, and is the only man to have managed both clubs.

Managerial career

Burnley

Born in

Bolton Bolton (, locally ) is a large town in Greater Manchester in North West England, formerly a part of Lancashire. A former mill town, Bolton has been a production centre for textiles since Flemish weavers settled in the area in the 14th ...

, Lancashire, Mangnall played amateur football as a

goalkeeper In many team sports which involve scoring goals, the goalkeeper (sometimes termed goaltender, netminder, GK, goalie or keeper) is a designated player charged with directly preventing the opposing team from scoring by blocking or intercepting ...

and was a director at

Bolton Wanderers Bolton Wanderers Football Club () is a professional football club based in Horwich, Bolton, Greater Manchester, England, which competes in . The club played at Burnden Park for 102 years from 1895 after moving from their original home at Pik ...

. He started his career in football management with

in March 1900, when he was hired as the club's second official manager following the departure of Harry Bradshaw almost a year earlier. The side were struggling when he joined the club, and with just one month of the 1899–1900 season remaining, relegation to the

Second Division In sport, the Second Division, also called Division 2 or Division II is usually the second highest division of a league, and will often have promotion and relegation with divisions above and below. Following the rise of Premier League style compet ...

seemed almost inevitable. Their relegation was confirmed on 28 April 1900 after a 4-0 defeat away at Nottingham Forest. He signed three players, Henry Collins, Jimmy Lindsay and George Lockhart, in the close season. The team achieved a third-placed finish in their first season in the Second Division and finished ninth the following year. The team's fortunes suffered a swift decline in the

1902–03 Nineteen or 19 may refer to: * 19 (number), the natural number following 18 and preceding 20 * one of the years 19 BC, AD 19, 1919, 2019 Films * ''19'' (film), a 2001 Japanese film * ''Nineteen'' (film), a 1987 science fiction film Music ...

season, and Burnley finished bottom of the Football League and were forced to apply for re-election. Burnley were re-elected and Mangnall started the next campaign as manager, but he left the club in October 1903 to join Second Division rivals

Manchester United

Mangnall was hired as the third secretary of

and the second after the club changed its name from Newton Heath (the term 'manager' was not used at United until the arrival of Jack Robson). He led the club to their first major trophy by winning the First Division title in 1908. With two First Division titles, one

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 compet ...

and two Charity Shield trophies, he remains the third most successful manager at the club. He started his management at Manchester United in 1903 and saw his team narrowly miss promotion in his first two seasons before success at the third attempt, as the club finished as runners-up in the

. In the first season in the First Division the club finished in mid-table. However, in only their second season in the First Division, he managed United to their first ever League Championship in 1907–08 by a nine-point margin over Aston Villa. The following year saw United drop below mid-table but the club won its first

with a 1–0 victory in the final against Bristol City, the winner scored by Sandy Turnbull. The following season saw no new silverware but the team improved its league position to fifth. In the 1910-11 season the club were champions again, beating Aston Villa into second place by just one point; it would be club's last league championship for over 40 years – its longest ever run without a league title. The next season was his last in charge at the club; he would eventually leave for a similar position at Manchester City.

Manchester City

Mangnall moved to Manchester City directly from United. His last game in charge of the Reds was the Manchester derby of September 1912 against City when it was already known he would become City manager. The Blues won 1–0 at Old Trafford and the media focused on Mangnall's delight. He managed City from 1912 until 1924, the interruption of

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...

would mean his spell there only covered eight Football League seasons however the Club did find success in wartime regional tournaments. His best season with the club was 1920–21, when City would finish runners up in the First Division, the top level of English football at the time. Mangnall's place in Mancunian football is significant as many believe he was the instigator behind United's move to Old Trafford and City's move to Maine Road.James, Gary (2008). ''Manchester – A Football History'', pp. 380–385 & 396–401.

Honours

Manager

;Manchester United * First Division (2): 1907–08, 1910–11 *

(1): 1908–09 *

FA Charity Shield The Football Association Community Shield (formerly the Charity Shield) is English football's annual match contested at Wembley Stadium between the champions of the previous Premier League season and the holders of the FA Cup. If the Premier L ...

(2): 1908,

1911 A notable ongoing event was the race for the South Pole. Events January * January 1 – A decade after federation, the Northern Territory and the Australian Capital Territory are added to the Commonwealth of Australia. * ...

Managerial statistics

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Mangnall, J. Ernest 1866 births Sportspeople from Bolton English football managers Burnley F.C. managers Manchester City F.C. managers Manchester United F.C. managers 1932 deaths