Andrew Cunningham (31 January 1891 – 8 May 1973) was a Scottish

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 ...

player and manager. He played for

Kilmarnock Kilmarnock (, sco, Kilmaurnock; gd, Cill Mheàrnaig (IPA: ʰʲɪʎˈveaːɾnəkʲ, "Marnock's church") is a large town and former burgh in East Ayrshire, Scotland and is the administrative centre of East Ayrshire, East Ayrshire Council. ...

, Rangers,

Newcastle United Newcastle United Football Club is an English professional football club, based in Newcastle upon Tyne, that plays in the Premier League – the top flight of English football. The club was founded in 1892 by the merger of Newcastle East En ...

and

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to ...

; his position was

inside forward Forwards (also known as attackers) are outfield positions in an association football team who play the furthest up the pitch and are therefore most responsible for scoring goals as well as assisting them. As with any attacking player, the role ...

Playing career

Born in

Galston, Ayrshire Galston ( Lowland Scots: ''Gauston'', Scottish Gaelic: ''Baile nan Gall'') is a municipality in East Ayrshire, Scotland, which has a population of 5,001 (2001) and is at the heart of the civil parish of the same name. It is situated in wooded co ...

, Cunningham began his career with local

Junior Junior or Juniors may refer to: Arts and entertainment Music * ''Junior'' (Junior Mance album), 1959 * ''Junior'' (Röyksopp album), 2009 * ''Junior'' (Kaki King album), 2010 * ''Junior'' (LaFontaines album), 2019 Films * ''Junior'' (1994 ...

side Newmilns before moving to

in 1909. After six seasons at

Rugby Park Rugby Park, also known as The BBSP Stadium Rugby Park for sponsorship reasons, is a football stadium situated in the Scottish town of Kilmarnock. It was first used in 1899 and is the home of Kilmarnock F.C. Rugby Park has also been used for co ...

he joined Rangers in 1915. He made his Rangers debut on 5 April 1915 in a 1–0 defeat to

Partick Thistle Partick Thistle Football Club are a professional football club from Glasgow, Scotland. Despite their name, the club are based at Firhill Stadium in the Maryhill area of the city, and have not played in Partick since 1908. The club have been m ...

, and made five appearances in his first season at Ibrox. Cunningham served as a

lieutenant A lieutenant ( , ; abbreviated Lt., Lt, LT, Lieut and similar) is a commissioned officer rank in the armed forces of many nations. The meaning of lieutenant differs in different militaries (see comparative military ranks), but it is often ...

in the

Royal Field Artillery The Royal Field Artillery (RFA) of the British Army provided close artillery support for the infantry. It came into being when created as a distinct arm of the Royal Regiment of Artillery on 1 July 1899, serving alongside the other two arms of ...

during the

First World War 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, ...

. Cunningham continued to be used infrequently by manager William Wilton before establishing himself in the Rangers team in 1918–19. He won seven League titles and played in Rangers' famous

1928 Scottish Cup Final The 1927–28 Scottish Cup was the 50th staging of Scotland's most prestigious football knockout competition. The Cup was won by Rangers who defeated Celtic 4–0 in an Old Firm final; it was their first victory in the competition for 25 years ...

triumph where they defeated

Celtic Celtic, Celtics or Keltic may refer to: Language and ethnicity *pertaining to Celts, a collection of Indo-European peoples in Europe and Anatolia **Celts (modern) *Celtic languages **Proto-Celtic language *Celtic music *Celtic nations Sports Foo ...

4–0 to win the trophy for the first time in 25 years. In total, he made 389 League and

Scottish Cup The Scottish Football Association Challenge Cup,Govan Govan ( ; Cumbric?: ''Gwovan'?''; Scots: ''Gouan''; Scottish Gaelic: ''Baile a' Ghobhainn'') is a district, parish, and former burgh now part of south-west City of Glasgow, Scotland. It is situated west of Glasgow city centre, on the south b ...

club.Rangers player Cunningham, Andy
FitbaStats Cunningham was also

capped In sport, a cap is a player's appearance in a game at international level. The term dates from the practice in the United Kingdom of awarding a cap to every player in an international match of rugby football and association football. In the ea ...

at international level, playing 12 times for

and scoring five goals; he lost just one of his matches for Scotland. Cunningham also represented the

Scottish League XI The Scottish League XI was a representative side of the Scottish Football League. The team regularly played against the (English) Football League and other national league select teams between 1892 and 1980. For a long period the annual fixture be ...

10 times.

Managerial career

Cunningham moved to

in 1928, becoming the then oldest player to make his debut in the

English football League The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, the league is the oldest such competition in the world. It was the top-level football league in Engla ...

at the age of thirty-eight. He began his Newcastle career as player/manager and then went on to become full-time manager of the club after retiring from playing. Technically, he was the first true manager of the club, as his predecessor Frank Watt had no control over team selection. He guided the club to

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 ...

success in 1932 after beating

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 mostl ...

2–1 in

the final Final, Finals or The Final may refer to: *Final (competition), the last or championship round of a sporting competition, match, game, or other contest which decides a winner for an event ** Another term for playoffs, describing a sequence of cont ...

. However, the club was also relegated 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 ...

whilst he was at the helm. Cunningham eventually left the club in 1935. He is remembered as a moderately successful manager of the club, having won 105 games out of 251. After his time with Newcastle, he returned to Scotland where he managed

Dundee Dundee (; sco, Dundee; gd, Dùn Dè or ) is Scotland's fourth-largest city and the 51st-most-populous built-up area in the United Kingdom. The mid-year population estimate for 2016 was , giving Dundee a population density of 2,478/km2 or ...

between 1937 and 1940 before becoming a sports writer after

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

Personal life

His younger brother

William William is a male given name of Germanic origin.Hanks, Hardcastle and Hodges, ''Oxford Dictionary of First Names'', Oxford University Press, 2nd edition, , p. 276. It became very popular in the English language after the Norman conquest of Engl ...

was also a footballer who played as a defender; the siblings were teammates at Kilmarnock for four seasons up to 1915,(Kilmarnock player) Cunningham, William
FitbaStats though William's career ended then after he qualified as a physician.

Honours

;Rangers *

Scottish League The Scottish Football League (SFL) was a league featuring professional and semi-professional football clubs mostly from Scotland.One club, Berwick Rangers, is based in the town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, which is located approximately 4 km sout ...

: 1918–19, 1919–20, 1920–21, 1922–23, 1923–24, 1924–25, 1927–28, 1927–28 *

Scottish Cup The Scottish Football Association Challenge Cup,1927–28 **Runner-up 1920–21, 1921–22 *

Glasgow Cup The Glasgow Cup is a football tournament open to teams from Glasgow, Scotland. Operated by the Glasgow Football Association, it was competed for annually by senior Glasgow clubs from 1887 until 1989. It is now (since the 2019–20 amended rule ...

: 1921–22, 1922–23, 1923–24, 1924–25 ;Newcastle United *

: 1931–32

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Cunningham, Andy 1891 births 1973 deaths Scottish men's footballers Scotland men's international footballers Scottish football managers Dundee F.C. managers Kilmarnock F.C. players Newcastle United F.C. managers Newcastle United F.C. players Rangers F.C. players Scottish Football League players English Football League players British Army personnel of World War I Royal Artillery officers Footballers from East Ayrshire Scottish Football League representative players Scottish Football League managers Men's association football forwards Scottish Junior Football Association players Scotland men's junior international footballers Royal Field Artillery officers Scottish sportswriters People from Galston, East Ayrshire