 Shannon in 2006 | |||
| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Leslie Shannon[1] | ||
| Date of birth | (1926-03-12)12 March 1926 | ||
| Place of birth | Liverpool,Lancashire, England | ||
| Date of death | 2 December 2007(2007-12-02) (aged 81) | ||
| Place of death | Leighton Buzzard,Bedfordshire, England | ||
| Height | 5 ft 7 in (1.70 m)[2] | ||
| Position(s) | Centre forward,inside forward | ||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
| 1944–1949 | Liverpool | 11 | (1) |
| 1949–1958 | Burnley | 263 | (39) |
| Total | 274 | (40) | |
| International career | |||
| 1952–1956 | England B | 3 | (0) |
| Managerial career | |||
| 1966–1969 | Bury | ||
| 1969–1970 | Blackpool | ||
| 1971–1974 | PAOK | ||
| 1975–1976 | Iraklis | ||
| 1976–1977 | Olympiacos | ||
| 1977–1978 | Panachaiki | ||
| 1979–1980 | OFI Crete | ||
| 1980–1981 | Brann | ||
| 1982–1984 | OFI Crete | ||
| 1985 | Egaleo | ||
| *Club domestic league appearances and goals | |||
Leslie Shannon (12 March 1926 – 2 December 2007)[3] was an Englishfootball player andmanager.
As aforward, he scored 40 goals in 274 league games in theFootball League, playing forLiverpool between November 1944 and November 1949 and then forBurnley from November 1949 to August 1958 following a£6,000transfer. He also won three caps for theEngland B team.
Hecoached atEverton andArsenal before he embarked on an 18-year career in management in England,Greece, and Norway. He is considered by Greek fans and media to have been one of the most successful foreign managers to ever work in Greek football.[4] His first management role was atBury from 1966 to 1969; he tookthe Shakers topromotion out of the Third Division in 1967–68, though they were twicerelegated. He took charge atBlackpool, leadingthe Tangerines to promotion out of theSecond Division in 1969–70. He spent the 1970s in Greece and found most of his success withPAOK, taking the club to twoGreek Cup titles. He also won the Greek Cup withIraklis Thessaloniki. He also took charge atOlympiacos,Panachaiki, andOFI Crete. He also led the Norwegian sideBrann to promotion to the top flight in 1980. He returned to England in 1984 andscouted forLuton Town for 25 years.
Shannon was born inLiverpool, he was rejected byEverton for his short stature (5 ft 7 in (1.70 m)).[2] Acentre-forward, he instead started his playing career with his hometown club ofLiverpool in November 1944.[5] The next year he scored againstMerseyside rivals Everton in theLiverpool Senior Cup.[2] He made his debut forGeorge Kay's "Reds" in theFootball League four years later, againstManchester City atAnfield on17 April 1948.[5] His only goal for theMerseyside club came thefollowing season, in a 2–1 win atSheffield United on 30 August 1948.[5] This was his only goal in ten appearances, and he was dropped from the first team.[2]
He was sold toFirst Division rivalsBurnley for£6,000 November 1949.[2] He dropped back to the inside-forward position,[5] and was described as "a feistily competitive, yet subtly creative, inside-forward cum wing-half".[2] However, he disappointed in the1949–50 (one goal in eight games) and1950–51 seasons, before he showed his potential in the1951–52 (11 goals in 34 games) season.[2][6] He replacedBilly Morris asJimmy McIlroy's midfield partner in the1952–53 campaign, and scored 16 goals in 46 appearances as the "Clarets" posted a sixth-place finish under the stewardship ofFrank Hill.[6] Shannon claimed nine goals in 33 matches in the1953–54 campaign, but afterAlan Brown was installed asmanager he only found the net just once in 43 appearances in1954–55.[6] He scored twice in 44 games in1955–56, claimed two goals in 27 matches in the1956–57 season, and then scored two goals in 38 games in1957–58 underBilly Dougall's stewardship.[6] He fell out of the first-team picture under new bossHarry Potts in1958–59, playing just eight games.[6] Shannon retired from playing first-team football in August 1959,[2] andcaptained Burnley'sreserve team for a year. He scored 44 goals in 281 appearances atTurf Moor.
In 1959, Shannon moved into youth teamcoaching withEverton, and remained atGoodison Park for three years.[5] In 1962, he joinedBilly Wright's backroom staff atArsenal, rising to the rank of assistant manager.[7]
After four years atHighbury, Shannon took over as manager ofSecond DivisionBury. Bury finished bottom inhis first season in charge, and Shannon was sacked, only to be re-instated two months later following boardroom changes atGigg Lane.[2] He guided the "Shakers" out of theThird Divisionthe following season as runners-up toOxford United, only to see them make the drop again in1968–69.
After Bury's relegation, Shannon replacedStan Mortensen as manager ofBlackpool, with whom he had instant success, finishing as runners-up toHuddersfield Town and winningpromotion back to theFirst Division. This was achieved without the services of the club's star player,Tony Green, who sat out the entire1969–70 season due to injury. However, in1970–71, Blackpool finished bottom and were relegated to the league's second tier again. Shannon had left his position only two months into the season and after only seventeen months in charge. He was replaced, in acaretaker role, byJimmy Meadows; his permanent successor atBloomfield Road wasBob Stokoe.
Shannon accepted an offer to work inGreece in 1971, where he coachedPAOK to fifth inAlpha Ethniki in1971–72. He also led the club to victory in theGreek Cup in1972 with a 2–1 win overPanathinaikos at theKaraiskakis Stadium;Giorgos Koudas scored both goals. He then took the club to second place in1972–73, just two points behindrivalsOlympiacos. They also had to settle for second place in the Greek Cup, as they lost 1–0 to Olympiacos inthe final. In theEuropean Cup-Winners' Cup, they reached the quarter-finals, bowing out to Italian giantsAC Milan. He departed theToumba Stadium following a fourth-place finish in1973–74. Before leaving, he guided the club to another Greek Cup title, asthey beat Olympiacos on penalties.[citation needed]
He moved on to anotherSalonica club,Iraklis Thessaloniki, with whom he won their first and only major trophy to date, the Greek Cup, in1976, as they beat Olympiacos on penalties at theNikos Goumas Stadium. They posted an eighth-place finish in the league in1975–76, before he departed theKaftanzoglio Stadium.[citation needed]
Shannon moved on toPiraeus club Olympiacos, taking them to a second-place finish in1976–77. He then spent six months at theKostas Davourlis Stadium coachingPanachaiki inPatras, who finished 15th in1978–79. He then ledCrete clubOFI Crete to 11th place in1979–80. He then had an interlude back in England as an adviser withPort Vale.[8]
He had a two-year stay withBrann in Norway, leading Brann to promotion out of2. divisjon in1980, and then to tenth place in the1. divisjon in1981. He then departedBrann Stadion.
He returned to theTheodoros Vardinogiannis Stadium, leading OFI to seventh and eighth-place finishes in1982–83 and1983–84. After this, he returned permanently to Britain, where he settled inBedfordshire. He became ascout forLuton Town in 1986 and remained atKenilworth Road until 2001.[5]
Shannon's knowledge of football led to his working alongsidePelé in co-ordinating the football sequences of the 1981 war movieEscape to Victory.[9] He was also enlisted as an advisor on theChannel 4 seriesThe Manageress in 1989.[3]
Shannon died after a long battle withAlzheimer's disease. At his memorial service at the Square Methodist Church,Dunstable, formerManchester United managerWilf McGuinness gave a speech. One of the songs chosen was "You'll Never Walk Alone", sung by two of his great nephews, Tom Wing and James Wing, a homage to his beginnings in football.
Source:[10]
| Club | Season | Division | League | FA Cup | Total | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | |||
| Liverpool | 1947–48 | First Division | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| 1948–49 | First Division | 10 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 10 | 1 | |
| Total | 11 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 11 | 1 | ||
| Burnley | 1949–50 | First Division | 8 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 8 | 1 |
| 1950–51 | First Division | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| 1951–52 | First Division | 30 | 9 | 4 | 2 | 34 | 11 | |
| 1952–53 | First Division | 42 | 15 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 0 | |
| 1953–54 | First Division | 30 | 7 | 3 | 2 | 33 | 9 | |
| 1954–55 | First Division | 42 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 43 | 1 | |
| 1955–56 | First Division | 41 | 2 | 3 | 0 | 44 | 2 | |
| 1956–57 | First Division | 26 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 27 | 1 | |
| 1957–58 | First Division | 35 | 2 | 3 | 0 | 38 | 2 | |
| 1958–59 | First Division | 8 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 8 | 0 | |
| Total | 262 | 39 | 19 | 5 | 281 | 44 | ||
| Career total | 273 | 40 | 19 | 5 | 292 | 45 | ||
| Team | From | To | Record | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| P | W | D | L | Win % | |||
| Bury | 11 July 1966 | 29 May 1969 | 144 | 52 | 24 | 68 | 036.1 |
| Blackpool | 29 May 1969 | 26 October 1970 | 64 | 25 | 19 | 20 | 039.1 |
| PAOK | 23 February 1971 | 15 October 1974 | 152 | 90 | 35 | 27 | 059.2 |
| Iraklis | 3 September 1975 | 10 June 1976 | 36 | 13 | 11 | 12 | 036.1 |
| Olympiacos | 11 June 1976 | 31 May 1977 | 41 | 29 | 6 | 6 | 070.7 |
| Total | 437 | 209 | 95 | 133 | 047.8 | ||
Bury
Blackpool
PAOK
Iraklis Thessaloniki
Olympiacos
Brann