John Jennings (27 August 1902 – 14 April 1997) was an English professional

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 le ...

who played as a

right half A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

Career

Born in

Platt Bridge Platt Bridge, colloquially known as Platt Wazz, is a settlement in the Metropolitan Borough of Wigan, Greater Manchester, England, south of Wigan town centre along the spine of the A573 road. Historically part of the Hindley Urban District, i ...

, Jennings had worked as a railway fireman before beginning his footballing career with Wigan Borough.Hayes, p. 99 He joined First Division side

Cardiff City Cardiff City Football Club ( cy, Clwb Pêl-droed Dinas Caerdydd) is a professional association football club based in Cardiff, Wales. It competes in the Championship, the second tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1899 as R ...

in 1925, making his debut in a 3–2 defeat to

Birmingham City Birmingham City Football Club is a professional football club based in Birmingham, England. Formed in 1875 as Small Heath Alliance, it was renamed Small Heath in 1888, Birmingham in 1905, and Birmingham City in 1943. Since 2011, the first te ...

on 10 October 1925. However, due to competition from several established players including

Billy Hardy Billy Hardy (born 5 September 1964 in Sunderland) is a former bantamweight and featherweight boxer champion. He held the British championship at bantamweight and featherweight, as well as the European and Commonwealth featherweight titles. Th ...

and

Harry Wake Henry Williamson Wake (born 21 January 1901 — 1981) was an English people, English professional footballer. He is most famous for playing for Cardiff City F.C., Cardiff City in the 1925 FA Cup Final and being part of the team that won the 1927 ...

, he made just one further appearance during the 1925–26 season in a 0–0 draw with

Arsenal An arsenal is a place where arms and ammunition are made, maintained and repaired, stored, or issued, in any combination, whether privately or publicly owned. Arsenal and armoury (British English) or armory (American English) are mostly ...

on 31 February 1926. The following season, Jennings did not make an appearance until the final three months of the season, being handed a chance at full back following an injury to Tom Watson, but impressed enough to eventually displace Watson from the side. He became a permanent fixture in the first team at

Ninian Park Ninian Park was a football stadium in the Leckwith area of Cardiff, Wales, that was the home of Cardiff City F.C. for 99 years. Opened in 1910 with a single wooden stand, it underwent numerous renovations during its lifespan and hosted fixture ...

, featuring in every league match that the club played for nearly two years between February 1928 and January 1930, before he was sold to

Middlesbrough Middlesbrough ( ) is a town on the southern bank of the River Tees in North Yorkshire, England. It is near the North York Moors national park. It is the namesake and main town of its local borough council area. Until the early 1800s, the a ...

as part of a triple transfer that included Joe Hillier and

Fred Warren Frederick Windsor Warren (23 December 1907 – 1986) was a Welsh professional footballer and Wales international. Club career Warren began his career at his home town club Cardiff City, spending time as understudy to George McLachlan befo ...

. Jennings spent several years as club captain at Middlesbrough, eventually relinquishing the role to Tom Griffiths following his arrival from

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 Pike's ...

in 1933, and was selected in an FA XI for a tour of Canada in 1931. He signed for

Bradford City Bradford City Association Football Club is an English professional football club in Bradford, West Yorkshire. The team competes in League Two, the fourth tier of the English football league system and are currently managed by Mark Hughes. Th ...

in February 1937 from

Preston North End Preston North End Football Club, commonly referred to as Preston, North End or PNE, is a professional football club in Preston, Lancashire, England, who currently play in the EFL Championship, the second tier of the English football league syste ...

, leaving the club in 1945 to become a trainer at

Northampton Town Northampton Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in the town of Northampton, England. The team plays in , the fourth tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1897, the club competed in the Midland ...

. During his time with Bradford City he made 28 appearances in the Football League, and 3 appearances in the FA Cup. He later worked as a coach for the

England national amateur football team The England national amateur football team was the amateur representative team for England at football. It was formed in 1901, due to the growth of the professional game which meant that amateur players could no longer easily find places in the ...

and the

Great Britain Olympic football team The Great Britain men's Olympic football team is the men's football team that represents the United Kingdom at the Summer Olympic Games (where it competes as Great Britain, currently branded Team GB). The team is organised by the English Footb ...

, working as a trainer for Norman Creek, Charles Hughes and

Walter Winterbottom Sir Walter Winterbottom (31 March 1913 – 16 February 2002) was an English football player and coach. He was the first manager of the England national team (1946–1962) and Director of Coaching for The Football Association (the FA). He ...

between 1952 and 1971. He also worked as a trainer for player-manager

Jimmy Armfield James Christopher Armfield, (21 September 1935 – 22 January 2018) was an English professional football player and manager who latterly worked as a football pundit for BBC Radio Five Live. He played the whole of his Football League career at B ...

on an FA XI tour of Tahiti, New Zealand, Singapore, Hong Kong and Thailand in 1969.

Sources

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References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Jennings, Jack 1902 births 1997 deaths English men's footballers Wigan Borough F.C. players Cardiff City F.C. players Middlesbrough F.C. players Preston North End F.C. players Bradford City A.F.C. players Northampton Town F.C. non-playing staff English Football League players Men's association football wing halves Footballers from Wigan