Jack Reynolds (footballer, born 1881)

Jack Reynolds

Personal information
Full name	John Reynolds
Date of birth	(1881-09-23)23 September 1881
Place of birth	Manchester, England
Date of death
Place of death	Amsterdam, Netherlands
Position(s)	Winger
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
1902	Manchester City	0	(0)
1903	Burton United	32	(3)
1904–1905	Grimsby Town	29	(3)
1905–1907	Sheffield Wednesday	2	(0)
1907–1908	Watford	27	(4)
1908–1911	New Brompton	108	(16)
	Rochdale
Managerial career
1912–1914	St. Gallen
1915–1925	Ajax
1919	Netherlands
1925–1928	Blauw Wit
1928–1940	Ajax
1945–1947	Ajax
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

John "Jack" Reynolds (23 September 1881 in Manchester, England – 8 November 1962 in Amsterdam, Netherlands) was an English football manager and player. He was the manager of Ajax Amsterdam from 1915–1925, 1928–1940, and 1945–1947. He was one of the pioneers of the Total Football system of playing and is considered to be among the best managers the team has had. He was also the manager of the Swiss side St. Gallen.

Playing career

Reynolds was not highly regarded as a player and played for several clubs without much success, the high point being a season in the Second Division with Grimsby Town in 1904-05.

Managerial career

F.C. St. Gallen

Reynolds started his career as a coach with St. Gallen in 1912, and after a two-year stay he left to become coach of the German national football team. The outbreak of World War I prevented that, and he moved to the Netherlands instead.

Ajax Amsterdam

In 1915, Reynolds started his 27-year association with Ajax, during which he set the bases of the Total Football system of playing later developed by Rinus Michels. During his three spells with the club they won the Eredivisie (the Dutch top division) 8 times and the KNVB Cup (Dutch FA cup) once; Ajax had not won either prize before. After Reynolds retired in 1947, he lived in Amsterdam until his death in 1962. Three years later in 1965 a stand at the De Meer Stadion was named after him.

Netherlands national football team

In 1919, Reynolds became the first manager to coach the Netherlands since the suspension of international football due to World War I. He assumed the honours for the match against Sweden on 9 June 1919. The Dutch won the match 3–1. After this match, the Royal Dutch Football Association appointed Fred Warburton as the coach of the national team.

Personal life

When the Nazis invaded The Netherlands in 1940 during World War II, Reynolds was interned in Tost (now Toszek) in Upper Silesia (now in Poland), along with other foreign nationals including P. G. Wodehouse.

Reynolds' older brother Billy was also a footballer.

Honours

Ajax Amsterdam

• Netherlands Football League Championship: 8

1918, 1919, 1931, 1932, 1934, 1937, 1939, 1947

• KNVB Cup: 1

1917

References

General

• Kuper, Simon, Ajax, The Dutch, The War. Football in Europe during the Second World War, Orion Books, London (Translation of: Ajax, de Joden en Nederland ("Ajax, the Jews, The Netherlands)", 2003, ISBN 0-7528-4274-9

Specific

External links

• El Bombín - Jack Reynolds, The Founder Of The ‘Ajax-Style’
• Ajax USA - 1915 - 1949: The Jack Reynolds Era
• electronicfishcake.com - The Jack Reynolds Story