Dave Mangnall was a Lancastrian to his boots - but he made his footballing mark in Yorkshire and London, with both Huddersfield Town and Saturday’s hosts QPR having cause to remember the prolific striker.
He was a hit at Leeds Road in the early thirties and a successful manager at Loftus Road in the forties, when he guided Rangers to an historic first promotion.
The nomadic former miner (he was born in Wigan and died in Cornwall) was nothing short of a frontline phenomenon, firing in 141 goals in 218 league appearances in a career which took him from Yorkshire (Doncaster Rovers, Leeds United and Town) to the Midlands (Birmingham City) then London (West Ham United, Millwall and QPR) and brought the friendship of American singer and film star Sophie Tucker, who became godmother to his son.
Mangnall was neither the tallest nor heaviest player in the game (his vital statistics being 5ft 10in and 11st) but he was both quick and athletic and refused to be intimidated by bigger opponents.
As well as being fearless in the air, he possessed a brilliantly deceptive body swerve which gave him room to shoot with both feet from a variety of angles.
Town, who had turned Mangnall down after he came on trial as a teenager, had his services between December 1929, when he was a £3,000 buy from Leeds, and February 1934, when with question marks over his recovery from an injury which kept him out for most of 1932/33, he signed for Birmingham.
Having chalked up 73 goals in 90 games in blue and white stripes, a Town-record 42 of them in 1931/32, he helped Millwall become the first club from outside the top two divisions to reach the FA Cup semi-finals in 1937, the Lions losing 2-1 to Sunderland at Leeds Road.
Mangnall might have been a favourite with the fans, as well as Hollywood star Tucker (the pair were introduced after she attended a pre-season friendly) but he fell foul of Millwall in a dispute over pay and gave up football to become a grocer.
He returned to the game two years later when he accepted an offer from QPR, scoring 96 goals in blue and white hoops in wartime football before becoming manager in 1944.
Mangnall guided Rangers to the Third Division South title in 1948, but gave up the hot seat after relegation from Division Two (now the Championship) in 1952.
He became a publican in Penzance, where in April 1962, he dies at the age of just 56.
