| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Charles William Spencer | ||
| Date of birth | (1899-12-04)4 December 1899 | ||
| Place of birth | Washington, England | ||
| Date of death | 9 February 1953(1953-02-09) (aged 53) | ||
| Place of death | York, England | ||
| Height | 5 ft 10 in (1.78 m) | ||
| Position(s) | Full-back | ||
| Youth career | |||
| Glebe Rovers (Washington) | |||
| Washington Chemical Works | |||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
| 1921–1928 | Newcastle United | 161 | (8) |
| 1928–1930 | Manchester United | 46 | (0) |
| 1930–1932 | Tunbridge Wells Rangers | ? | (?) |
| 1932–1937 | Wigan Athletic | ||
| International career | |||
| 1924–1925 | England | 2 | (0) |
| Managerial career | |||
| 1932–1937 | Wigan Athletic (player-manager) | ||
| 1937–1951 | Grimsby Town | ||
| 1951–1952 | Hastings United | ||
| 1952–1953 | York City | ||
| *Club domestic league appearances and goals | |||
Charles William Spencer (4 December 1899 – 9 February 1953) was an Englishfootball player and manager.
After service with theRoyal Engineers during theFirst World War,[1] Spencer joinedNewcastle United from non-league football in October 1921.[2] He played for the club until 1928, making a total of 175 appearances and scored one goal.[3]
In January 1928, Spencer signed forManchester United, and was given the captaincy upon his arrival. However, he was only there for 18 months, leaving the club forTunbridge Wells Rangers in 1929, to become a player-coach at the Kent-based side. He then moved toWigan Athletic, where he became the club's first ever manager.
Spencer played twice forEngland. His first game was againstScotland on 12 April 1924 and his second, and last, cap came againstWales on 28 February 1925.[4]
Spencer becameWigan Athletic's first ever manager in August 1932.[5][6] During his first four seasons at the club, he won the Cheshire County League Championship three times.
He left Wigan in March 1937 to become manager ofGrimsby Town.[5] Grimsby were then playing in theFirst Division and narrowly avoided relegation at the end of the1937–38 season.
The following season, Spencer had assembled a fine squad, including formerLiverpool centre forwardFred Howe,Jimmy Boyd (who had won the FA Cup withNewcastle United in1932) andTommy Jones fromBlackpool. Grimsby performed far better in the league, finishing in tenth place inthe table, whilst in theFA Cup, they reached thesemi-final againstWolverhampton Wanderers, having defeated fellow First Division teamChelsea in the previous round. The semi-final was played atOld Trafford on 25 March 1939 in front of a crowd of 76,962 spectators; this remains the record attendance at Old Trafford.[7] In the semi-final, Grimsby were no match for Wolves and were "simply swept aside",[8] going down 5–0.
He was appointed as manager ofYork City in November 1952.[9] However, he died less than three months into his reign at the club on 9 February 1953 at his home inBlackpool.[5][9]
| Team | Nat | From | To | Record | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| G | W | L | D | Win % | ||||
| Wigan Athletic |  | 1 August 1932 | 30 April 1937 | 418 | 293 | 87 | 38 | 70% |
| Grimsby Town | | 1 May 1937 | 1 May 1951 | 326 | 102 | 148 | 76 | 31.28 |
| York City | | 1 November 1952 | 1 February 1953 | 13 | 5 | 5 | 3 | 38.46 |
