Terry Mancini

Infobox Football biography
playername = Terry Mancini


fullname = Terence John Mancini
dateofbirth = 4 October 1942
cityofbirth = Camden Town, London
countryofbirth = England
dateofdeath =
cityofdeath =
countryofdeath =
height =
position = Centre half
youthyears =
youthclubs =
years = 1960-1965 1965-1967 1967-1971 1971-1974 1974-1976 1976-1977
1977 1978
clubs = Watford Port Elizabeth City Leyton Orient Queens Park Rangers Arsenal Aldershot Los Angeles Aztecs
Barnet
caps(goals) = 067 0(0) 167 (16) 094 0(3) 052 0(1) 021 0(0)
? (?) ? (?)
nationalyears =
nationalteam = Republic of Ireland
nationalcaps(goals) = 005 0(0)

Terence John "Terry" Mancini (born on 4 October 1942 in Camden Town, London) is a former professional footballer. During his playing career, Terry appeared professionally (predominantly as a defender) for five different clubs and earned five international caps in the process for the Republic of Ireland.

Playing career

Mancini was born in London, and was originally named Terry Sealy. His father (who was Irish) died when Terry was seven and his mother remarried, changing his surname to that of his stepfather. He began his career with Watford, joining the club in 1960 before being released midway through the 1965-66 season. After a 20 month spell in South Africa playing for Port Elizabeth City, he returned to London in November 1967 to join Leyton Orient. He spent four seasons with Orient, winning a Third Division medal in 1969-70.

In October 1971 he signed for Queens Park Rangers, and helped them to promotion to the First Division in 1972-73. Although born and brought up in England, after a chance conversation with QPR team-mate Don Givens, Mancini found out his Irish father meant he could play for the Republic of Ireland. He won his first cap against Poland in 1973 and went on to win five in total. Mancini later reported that when he first appeared for the Republic of Ireland, he did not realize that the band was playing the Republic's national anthem, having never heard the tune before.

He was signed by Arsenal, as a replacement for Frank McLintock, in October 1974 for £20,000. He made his debut against West Ham United, on 26 October 1974 played for Arsenal for two seasons, recording 62 appearances. However, after Arsenal's worst performance in over forty years in the league (17th) in 1975-76, Arsenal manager Bertie Mee resigned. Mancini was deemed surplus to requirements (being nearly 34) by Mee's replacement Terry Neill, and he was released on a free transfer in September 1976. He joined Aldershot and played a single season with them. He ended his career in the NASL, playing one summer with the Los Angeles Aztecs before returning to England

As well as playing, during the early 1970s Mancini was an occasional presenter of London Weekend Television's "The Big Match" programme, in an attempt to distance itself from the more staid "Match of the Day", experimented with using current players as presenters. After retiring from the game in 1977, Mancini coached several teams, before eventually leaving football altogether and running a variety of businesses; he is now a manager in a travel company that specialises in holidays to Spain.

References

*cite book
author=Harris, Jeff & Hogg, Tony (ed.)
title=Arsenal Who's Who
publisher=Independent UK Sports
year=1995
id=ISBN 1-899429-03-4