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Jack Rowley

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Jack Rowley
Rowley in 1963
Personal information
Full name John Frederick Rowley
Date of birth (1918-10-07)7 October 1918[1][2]
Place of birth Wolverhampton, England
Date of death 28 June 1998(1998-06-28) (aged 79)
Place of death Shaw and Crompton, England
Height 5 ft 9 in (1.75 m)
Position(s) Forward
Youth career
Wolverhampton Wanderers
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1935–1937 Wolverhampton Wanderers 0 (0)
1936 → Cradley Heath (loan)
1937 Bournemouth & Boscombe Athletic 22 (12)
1937–1954 Manchester United 380 (182)
1954–1957 Plymouth Argyle 56 (14)
Total 458 (208)
International career
1948–1952 England 6 (6)
1949 England B 1 (3)
Managerial career
1955–1960 Plymouth Argyle
1960–1963 Oldham Athletic
1963–1964 Ajax
1966–1967 Wrexham
1967–1968 Bradford Park Avenue
1968–1969 Oldham Athletic
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

John Frederick Rowley (7 October 1918 – 28 June 1998) was an English footballer who played as a forward from the 1930s to the 1950s, mainly remembered for a 17-year spell with Manchester United. He was nicknamed "The Gunner" because of his prolific goalscoring and explosive shooting, scoring 211 goals in 424 appearances for United. His younger brother, Arthur, still holds the record for the highest number of career goals scored in the Football League with 434.

Career

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Rowley started his professional career in 1935 with Wolverhampton Wanderers, although he never found a place in the first team. He soon moved on to Birmingham & District League club Cradley Heath, from where, in February 1937, he signed for Bournemouth & Boscombe Athletic,[3] scoring ten goals in his first 11 games. His talent soon brought him to the attention of larger clubs and Rowley was purchased eight months later by Manchester United for £3,000. Still only 17, his debut for the club came on 23 October 1937 against Sheffield Wednesday. In his second game, he scored four goals against Swansea Town. By the time senior football was suspended due to the outbreak of World War II in September 1939, he had played 58 times for United, scoring 18 goals and helping them win promotion back to the First Division in his first season.

Initially bought as an outside left, he was to develop into a highly effective centre-forward in Matt Busby's first United team. He was part of the team that won the FA Cup in 1948, scoring two goals in the final, and the 1951–52 Football League. He became one of the club's few players to have scored five goals in a single game, when in February 1949 he scored five goals in an 8–0 win over Yeovil Town in an FA Cup tie.

Rowley is one of only four players in the history of Manchester United to score over 200 goals for the club, the others being Bobby Charlton, Denis Law and Wayne Rooney. He left the club in 1955 to become player–manager of Plymouth Argyle.[4]

He later went on to manage Oldham Athletic, gaining promotion to the Third Division in 1963. From there, he went on to manage Dutch club Ajax for the 1963–64 season, before returning to Britain to manage Wrexham and Bradford (Park Avenue) F.C., followed by a second spell at Oldham, where he finished his managerial career in December 1969.

Rowley was also capped six times for England scoring six goals, four of which came against Northern Ireland on 16 November 1949

Rowley died in June 1998, at the age of 79.

Career statistics

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Player

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Appearances and goals by club, season and competition
Club Season League FA Cup Other[5] Total
Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals
Bournemouth & Boscombe Athletic 1936–37
1937–38
Total 22 12 22 12
Manchester United 1937–38 29 9 4 0 0 0 29 9
1938–39 38 10 1 0 0 0 39 10
1945–46 0 0 4 2 0 0 4 2
1946–47 37 26 2 2 0 0 39 28
1947–48 39 23 6 5 0 0 45 28
1948–49 39 20 8 9 1 1 48 30
1949–50 39 20 5 3 0 0 44 23
1950–51 39 14 3 1 0 0 42 15
1951–52 40 30 1 0 0 0 41 30
1952–53 26 11 4 3 1 2 31 16
1953–54 36 12 1 0 0 0 37 12
1954–55 22 7 3 1 0 0 25 8
Total 380 182 42 26 2 3 424 211
Plymouth Argyle 1954–55 13 2 0 0 0 0 13 2
1955–56 16 6 0 0 0 0 16 6
1956–57 27 6 2 1 0 0 29 7
Total 56 14 2 1 0 0 58 15
Career total 458 208 44 27 2 3 504 238

Manager

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[6]

Team Nat From To Record
G W D L Win %
Plymouth Argyle England February 1955 March 1960 238 93 52 93 39.08
Oldham Athletic England July 1960 May 1963 151 66 33 52 43.71
Ajax Netherlands 1963 1964
Wrexham Wales January 1966 April 1967 58 19 22 17 32.76
Bradford Park Avenue England March 1967 September 1968
Oldham Athletic England October 1968 December 1969 57 16 14 27 28.07

Honours

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Player

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Manchester United

Manager

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Plymouth Argyle

Oldham Athletic

References

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  1. ^ "Jack Rowley". England Football Online. Chris Goodwin & Glen Isherwood. 1 October 2017. Retrieved 8 November 2018. Not born in 1920, as stated in many history books.
  2. ^ "Jack Rowley". Barry Hugman's Footballers. Retrieved 8 November 2018.
  3. ^ "Second half goal foils Walsall at home". Sports Argus. Birmingham. 27 February 1937. p. 4. Bournemouth had a new outside right, Redfern, from Cradley Heath, in place of Jones. Rowley, also signed from Cradley Heath during the week, was on the left wing.
  4. ^ Argyle Managers Archived 4 November 2014 at the Wayback Machine Greens on Screen. Retrieved 4 February 2010.
  5. ^ Includes other competitive competitions, including the FA Community Shield, UEFA Super Cup, Intercontinental Cup, FIFA Club World Cup
  6. ^ Jack Rowley management career statistics at Soccerbase
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