Samuel Jennings (26 December 1898 – 21 August 1944) was an English

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 lea ...

and football

manager Management (or managing) is the administration of organizations, whether businesses, nonprofit organizations, or a government bodies through business administration, nonprofit management, or the political science sub-field of public administra ...

. A tall player, he was a goal-scoring centre-forward, with a ratio of a goal every two games. After playing for various amateur sides, he joined

Norwich City Norwich City Football Club is a professional football club based in Norwich, Norfolk, England. The club competes in the Championship, the second tier of English football. The club was founded in 1902. Since 1935, Norwich have played their h ...

in 1919, moving on to

Middlesbrough Middlesbrough ( ), colloquially known as Boro, is a port town in the Borough of Middlesbrough, North Yorkshire, England. Lying to the south of the River Tees, Middlesbrough forms part of the Teesside Built up area, built-up area and the Tees Va ...

the following year. In 1921, he signed with

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, where he would make his name over a three-year stay with 45 goals in 110 league games. After a season with

West Ham United West Ham United Football Club is a professional Association football, football club based in Stratford, London, Stratford, East London, England. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football league system, English f ...

, he signed with Brighton & Hove Albion in 1925. Again prolific, he scored 61 goals in 110 games and won a transfer to

Nottingham Forest Nottingham Forest Football Club is a professional association football club based in West Bridgford, Nottinghamshire, England. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football league system, English football. Founde ...

in 1928. Moving on to Port Vale in 1929, he bagged 42 goals in 63 league games. In the 1930s, he enjoyed short spells at Stockport County and

Burnley Burnley () is a town and the administrative centre of the wider Borough of Burnley in Lancashire, England, with a 2021 population of 78,266. It is north of Manchester and east of Preston, at the confluence of the River Calder and River B ...

before settling in France with

Olympique de Marseille Olympique de Marseille (, ; , ), also known simply as Marseille, or by the abbreviation OM (, ), is a French professional Association football, football club based in Marseille which competes in Ligue 1, the French football league system, top f ...

and Club Français. He later returned to England to turn out for

non-League Non-League football describes association football, football leagues played outside the top leagues of a country. Usually, it describes leagues which are not fully professional. The term is primarily used for football in England, where it is ...

sides

Scarborough Scarborough or Scarboro may refer to: People * Scarborough (surname) * Earl of Scarbrough Places Australia * Scarborough, Western Australia, suburb of Perth * Scarborough, New South Wales, suburb of Wollongong * Scarborough, Queensland, sub ...

and Wisbech Town. After retiring as a player, he took charge at

Glentoran Glentoran Football Club is a professional football club based in East Belfast, Northern Ireland, that plays in the NIFL Premiership. The club was founded in 1882 and has since won more than 130 major honours. They are one of three Northern Iris ...

in 1936 before taking charge of

Rochdale Rochdale ( ) is a town in Greater Manchester, England, and the administrative centre of the Metropolitan Borough of Rochdale. In the United Kingdom 2021 Census, 2021 Census, the town had a population of 111,261, compared to 223,773 for the wid ...

the following year. He also served as a coach across France and England.

Playing career

Jennings played for Highbury Vale Methodists, Basford United, 5th Reserve Battalion Coldstream Guards, and Basford National Ordnance Factory before joining

in 1919. The "Canaries" finished 12th in the Southern League in 1919–20. He then moved on to

and scored twice in ten First Division appearances in 1920–21. Jennings then signed with

, who went on to finish the 1921–22 campaign 13th in the Third Division South. The "Royals" then dropped to 19th and 18th in 1922–23 and 1923–24. In his three years at Elm Park, he scored 45 goals in 110 league games. He returned to the top flight with

but was limited to three goals in nine games in 1924–25. He quickly returned to the Third Division South with Brighton & Hove Albion, who posted a fifth-place finish in 1925–26. He finished as the club's top scorer in 1926–27 and 1927–28 with 20 and 27 goals respectively, as the "Seagulls" finished in fourth position. He spent 1928–29 with

, and was the club's top scorer in 1928–29 with 17 goals in league and cup competitions. He joined Port Vale in May 1929 and scored twice on his debut in a 2–1 win over Halifax Town at The Shay. He built up a successful partnership with Albert Pynegar despite the pair falling out off the pitch. He bagged a

hat-trick A hat-trick or hat trick is the achievement of a generally positive feat three times in a match, or another achievement based on the number three. Origin The term first appeared in 1858 in cricket, to describe H. H. Stephenson taking three Wick ...

in a 3–0 win over

South Shields South Shields () is a coastal town in South Tyneside, Tyne and Wear, England; it is on the south bank of the mouth of the River Tyne. The town was once known in Roman Britain, Roman times as ''Arbeia'' and as ''Caer Urfa'' by the Early Middle Ag ...

at the

Old Recreation Ground The Old Recreation Ground was a football stadium located in Hanley, Stoke-on-Trent, England, and home to Port Vale F.C. from 1913 to 1950. It was the sixth ground the club used. Structure and facilities The stadium was in rather bad conditi ...

on 8 March 1930. He finished as the club's top scorer for the 1929–30 season with 27 goals in just 33 games, helping the club to the Third Division North title. He scored four goals in an 8–2 thrashing of Bradford Park Avenue on 22 September 1930 and ended up with 17 goals in 32 games in 1930–31 to become club's leading marksman for a second successive campaign. He hit two goals on the opening day of the 1931–32 season, in a 3–1 win over Plymouth Argyle at Home Park. He would train by throwing the ball up the pitch and race his

greyhound The English Greyhound, or simply the Greyhound, is a dog breed, breed of dog, a sighthound which has been bred for coursing, greyhound racing and hunting. Some are kept as show dogs or pets. Greyhounds are defined as a tall, muscular, smooth-c ...

to where it landed. He was transferred to Third Division North side Stockport County in September 1931, later returning to the Second Division with

in 1931–32. He then travelled to France for the first ever season of the

Ligue de Football Professionnel The (, ''Professional Football League''), commonly known as the LFP, is a French governing body that runs the major professional football leagues in France and Monaco. It was founded in 1944 and serves under the authority of the French Footba ...

. He scored four goals in 14 games, as Marseilles finished second behind Olympique Lillois. Jennings moved on to Club Français of

Ligue 2 Ligue 2 (, League 2), also known as Ligue 2 BKT due to sponsorship reasons, is a French professional football league. The league serves as the second division of French football and is one of two divisions making up the Ligue de Football Prof ...

before returning to England to play for

and Wisbech Town.

Coaching and management career

Jennings became an instructor at

. He later became secretary- coach at Wisbech Town and a coach at

. He was also

, and led the club to a 17th-place finish in the Third Division North in 1937–38.

World War II

He fought in

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. He died at Darvel Hall in Robertsbridge on 21 August 1944 – he had two bouts of

pneumonia Pneumonia is an Inflammation, inflammatory condition of the lung primarily affecting the small air sacs known as Pulmonary alveolus, alveoli. Symptoms typically include some combination of Cough#Classification, productive or dry cough, ches ...

which made him prone to chills – and was buried at Hastings eight days later.

Career statistics

Playing statistics

Source:

Managerial statistics

Honours

Port Vale *

Football League Third Division North The Third Division North of the Football League was a tier in the English football league system from 1921 to 1958. It ran in parallel with the Third Division South with clubs elected to the League or relegated from a higher division allocated t ...

: 1929–30

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Jennings, Sam 1898 births 1944 deaths People from Nottingham (district) Footballers from Nottinghamshire People from Robertsbridge English men's footballers Men's association football forwards Norwich City F.C. players Middlesbrough F.C. players Reading F.C. players West Ham United F.C. players Brighton & Hove Albion F.C. players Nottingham Forest F.C. players Notts County F.C. wartime guest players Port Vale F.C. players Stockport County F.C. players Burnley F.C. players English expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in France Olympique de Marseille players Club Français players Scarborough F.C. players Wisbech Town F.C. players Southern Football League players English Football League players Ligue 1 players English football coaches English football managers Glentoran F.C. managers Rochdale A.F.C. managers English Football League managers Military personnel from Nottingham Burials in East Sussex British military personnel of World War II Deaths from pneumonia in England 20th-century English sportsmen NIFL Premiership managers