Sydney Thomas Cann (30 October 1911 – 1 November 1996) was an English professional football defender and football manager. He was capped twice by

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 ...

at Schools level.

Playing career

Born in

Babbacombe Babbacombe is a district of Torquay, Devon, England. It is notable for Babbacombe Model Village, the Babbacombe Theatre and its clifftop green, Babbacombe Downs, from which Oddicombe Beach is accessed via Babbacombe Cliff Railway. Frequent b ...

Torquay Torquay ( ) is a seaside town in Devon, England, part of the unitary authority area of Torbay. It lies south of the county town of Exeter and east-north-east of Plymouth, on the north of Tor Bay, adjoining the neighbouring town of Paig ...

, Sid Cann joined

Torquay United Torquay United Football Club is a professional football club based in Torquay, Devon, England. The team currently compete in the , the fifth tier of English football. They have played their home matches at Plainmoor since 1921 and are nickna ...

from Babbacombe school in November 1928, making his league debut away to Crystal Palace. After battling for a first team place with Willie Brown, he began the following season as a first choice, missing only a handful of games before moving to

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 ...

in March 1930. He played 42 league games for the Maine Road side, appearing on the losing side in the 1933 FA Cup final, but was never a first team regular and moved to

Charlton Athletic Charlton Athletic Football Club is an English professional football club based in Charlton, south-east London, which compete in . Their home ground is The Valley, where the club have played since 1919. They have also played at The Mount in ...

in June 1935 and qualified as an FA Coach, making only 15 appearances as Charlton rose through the divisions prior to the onset of World War Two. He guested for Torquay United,

Aldershot Aldershot () is a town in Hampshire, England. It lies on heathland in the extreme northeast corner of the county, southwest of London. The area is administered by Rushmoor Borough Council. The town has a population of 37,131, while the Alder ...

and

Bristol City Bristol City Football Club is a professional football club based in Bristol, England, which compete in the , the second tier of English football. They have played their home games at Ashton Gate since moving from St John's Lane in 1904. The ...

during the war, serving in the Army Physical Training Corps. Later during the war he qualified as a masseur (at the Bristol College of Physiotherapy) and joined

Southampton Southampton () is a port city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. It is located approximately south-west of London and west of Portsmouth. The city forms part of the South Hampshire built-up area, which also covers Po ...

as a physio.

Management career

Southampton

In June 1946 he was appointed assistant manager of Southampton and in August 1949, after Bill Dodgin left for

Fulham Fulham () is an area of the London Borough of Hammersmith & Fulham in West London, England, southwest of Charing Cross. It lies on the north bank of the River Thames, bordering Hammersmith, Kensington and Chelsea. The area faces Wandswor ...

, he was appointed manager, almost taking them to promotion from Division Two in his first season in charge. He left the Dell in December 1951 after a fall-out with the board and took up a coaching role with

the Football Association The Football Association (also known as The FA) is the governing body of association football in England and the Crown Dependencies of Jersey, Guernsey and the Isle of Man. Formed in 1863, it is the oldest football association in the world a ...

Wycombe Wanderers

In August 1952, he was appointed manager of

Isthmian League The Isthmian League () is a regional men's football league covering Greater London, East and South East England, featuring mostly semi-professional clubs. Founded in 1905 by amateur clubs in the London area, the league now consists of 82 t ...

side

Wycombe Wanderers Wycombe Wanderers Football Club is an English professional association football club based in the town of High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire. The team compete in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. They play their home ...

and took them to third place at the end of this first season, their highest finishing position for 23 years. In his nine years in charge, he kept Wycombe constantly challenging for the league title, which they won in 1955–56 and 1956–57. They were also runners-up in 1957–58 and 1959–60, and reached the

FA Amateur Cup The FA Amateur Cup was an English football competition for amateur clubs. It commenced in 1893 and ended in 1974 when the Football Association abolished official amateur status. History Following the legalisation of professionalism within footba ...

final in 1957. He left Wycombe in July 1961 to take up a coaching position at Norwich City, which he held until March the following year.

Sutton United

In July 1962 he was appointed manager of Athenian League side Sutton United and made an immediate impact, leading Sutton to the final of the

Wembley Wembley () is a large suburbIn British English, "suburb" often refers to the secondary urban centres of a city. Wembley is not a suburb in the American sense, i.e. a single-family residential area outside of the city itself. in north-west Londo ...

, where Sutton had never played before. The first two seasons of Cann's reign in Sutton saw good finishes in the Athenian League, which led to an invitation for the club to join the

. Sutton confounded expectations in their first season by finishing in 4th place and remained in the top ten for the next two seasons, before winning the title in 1966–67. A second defeat at Wembley in the FA Amateur Cup Final followed in 1969, with Sutton once more finishing in the top three in the table. The following season again saw Sutton challenging for the title, but they gained national prominence with a run 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 compet ...

which ended with a 6–0 defeat at home to the reigning league champions Leeds United. He eventually left Sutton in the summer of 1973.

Honours

Manchester City *

runner-up:

1933 Events January * January 11 – Sir Charles Kingsford Smith makes the first commercial flight between Australia and New Zealand. * January 17 – The United States Congress votes in favour of Philippines independence, against the wis ...

External links

Management statistics on Soccerbase
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cann, Sid 1911 births Sportspeople from Torquay 1996 deaths English footballers Torquay United F.C. players Manchester City F.C. players Charlton Athletic F.C. players English football managers Southampton F.C. managers Wycombe Wanderers F.C. managers English Football League managers Sutton United F.C. managers Association football fullbacks FA Cup Final players