Carey, Johnny

A native of Dublin , Jackie Carey (before moving to England, he was called Jackie, and only then he became better known as Johnny) began playing football for the Home Farm club ^[1] . In parallel, he played Gaelic football and represented in this sport. When it became known that he plays “both kinds” of football, according to the laws of those years he was disqualified from the Gaelic football association ^[1] . Before the start of the 1936/37 season, he signed a contract with the St. James Gate Football Club. During a couple of months of speaking for this Dublin club, he was noticed by Billy Bian , a scout for Manchester United in Ireland. Biane invited Luis Rocca , Manchester United's main scout, to watch Cary live. As a result, in November 1936, Johnny Carey moved to an English club for a record for the Irish League amount in the amount of £ 250. For about a year he played for the reserve team . On September 25, 1937, Carey made his debut for Manchester United in a match against Southampton ^[3] . Before the war, Carey played for United and for the national team in the position of the left insider ^[1] .

In wartime, official tournaments in England were suspended, but Carey continued to play for United in the military leagues, playing 112 matches and scoring 47 goals from 1939 to 1943. He spent several matches as a guest player for Cardiff City, Manchester City, Everton, Liverpool and Middlesbrough ^[4] . He also played two “away” matches for the Irish Shamrock Rovers : on April 6, 1941 against Limerick (scored one goal) and in April 1942 against Shelburne (scored two goals).

As a citizen of neutral Ireland , and not Britain, declaring war on Germany, Carey had the right not to participate in the war. However, he said: "The country that gives me the livelihood is worth fighting for it," and joined the ranks of the British Army . He served in Italy and the Middle East . After the war, he was invited to continue his football career in Italy, but he refused and returned to Manchester United ^[1] .

After returning to United, for which he had previously played as an insider, he began to play in other positions, including a right-back and midfielder. Throughout his career at United, he played in all positions on the football field, except for the right-handed forward ^[1] ; he even played one championship game as a goalkeeper (this happened on February 18, 1953 in the match against Sunderland , as the team’s two main goalkeepers were absent: Jack Crompton was called up for military training, and Jack Crompton fell ill) ^[5] . However, he spent most of his appearances for the club as a right-back ^[2] . Immediately after his return, Manchester United's new head coach Matt Babsi appointed Carey as team captain. After the war, the team performed generally successfully: in the seasons 1946/47 , 1947/48 and 1948/49 , United finished the championship in 2nd place. In 1948, Johnny Carey, as a right-back, helped his club win the first post-war FA Cup trophy by defeating Blackpool in the finals , played by the legendary Stanley Matthews and Stan Mortensen . He became the first non-UK captain to win the FA Cup ^[1] . In 1949, Carey was recognized as the best footballer of the year by the Association of Football Journalists , becoming the second recipient of this award after Stanley Matthews. In the 1950/51 season , United again took second place in the championship, until it finally won the league in the 1951/52 season . The 1953/54 season was the last in Carey's playing career. In total, he spent 344 matches for United and scored 17 goals ^[6] .

On October 10, 1937, Carey made his debut for the Irish national team in a match against the Norwegian national team . Before the war, he spent 8 matches for the national team. The last pre-war match of the Irish national team was a game against the Nazi Germany national team in Bremen on May 23, 1939, when Carey, like all other Irish national team players, was forced to make a Nazi salute ^[7] . In less than four months, Britain declared war on Germany, in which Johnny Carey himself took part ^[1] .

Carey is one of the few football players to have played for both Irish football teams, the Republic of Ireland (FAI) and the national team of Ireland (IFA) .

Ireland Football Association

From 1937 to 1953, Carey played 29 matches for the Irish national team under the supervision of the Football Association of Ireland , in which he scored 3 goals. In 19 matches, he was the captain of the team. On September 21, 1949, he was the captain of the team of the Irish national team, who beat the English national team with a 2-0 score at Goodison Park Stadium. March 25, 1953 spent his last match for the national team (against Austria ) ^[1] .

Irish Football Association

From 1946 to 1949, Carey spent 9 matches for the Irish national team under the control of the Irish Football Association . He made his debut for the national team on September 28, 1946 in a game against England; spent his last match for the national team on March 9, 1949 in a game against Wales ^[1] .

In 1948, Carey led the national team of Ireland at the 1948 Summer Olympics ^[8] . The Irish lost to the Netherlands national team with a score of 3: 1 in the first round and dropped out of the tournament ^[9] .

In 1953, Carey ended his career as a player and rejected Manchester United's offer to join Matt Busby's coaching staff. Instead, he decided to become the head coach himself by accepting the invitation of the Blackburn Rovers Second Division club to become the team’s new head coach. Like Matt Busby, he instilled in the team an attacking football and pass game, and also actively attracted young players to the team ^[2] . In the 1957/58 season , Blackburn, under his leadership, took 2nd place in the Second Division and entered the First Division . In October 1958, he was invited to Everton , where he became head coach. In the 1960/61 season, “Everton” took 5th place, which was the best indicator in the post-war history of the club (before that the team finished in 15th or 16th place), but the leadership of the club represented by John Moors considered this insufficient, and Carey was fired. He received the news of his dismissal from Everton, sitting in the passenger seat of a London taxi ^{[2] [8]} .

In 1961 he became the head coach of the Leighton Orient club and the very next year brought the club to the First Division, where the team spent the only season in its history.

From 1963 to 1968 he was the head coach of Nottingham Forest . In the 1966/67 season, the team under his leadership took second place in the championship (losing four points to the Manchester United champion) and reached the semifinal of the FA Cup ^[10] . In December 1968 he was dismissed ^[2] .

From 1955 to 1967, Carey combined coaching responsibilities in clubs with work as the head coach of the national team of Ireland .

In October 1970, he again became the head coach of Blackburn Rovers. In June 1971, he was dismissed when the Rovers retired to the Third Division ^[2] .

After 1971, he worked for the textile company and the Treasury Treasury ^[2] .

He died on August 22, 1995 in , Cheshire , at the age of 76. ^[2]

Team Achievements

Manchester United

• First Division Champion: 1951/52
• FA Cup Winner : 1948
• Super Bowl of England : 1952
• Total: 3 trophies

Personal Achievements

• Football Journalist Association of the Year : 1949
• Listed in the Football League 100 Legends : 1998

• Football profile on Nortern Ireland's Footballing Greats
• Soccer Player Profile on MUFCInfo.com
• Manchester United Performance Statistics at StretfordEnd.co.uk
• An article about John Carey on the Everton website
• An article about John Carey at ToffeeWeb.com