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Sammy Chung

English footballer and manager (1932-2022)

Cyril Chung (16 July 1932, 28 August 2022), better known as Sammy Chung, was an English football player and manager, the second Anglo-Chinese player in English football.

01Playing career

Chung was born in Abingdon-on-Thames to a Chinese father and English mother. He began his career with local side Abingdon Town and then Southern League side Headington United. He joined Reading of the Third Division South in 1953 but did not sign professional forms until he had completed his national service. He made a good start to his professional career, scoring four goals in five appearances at the end of 1953-54. After scoring eight in the first 17 games of 1954-55, he moved to Norwich City on 1 January 1955. He played 16 times in 1955-56, and 11 times in 1956-57 as the Canaries finished bottom of the Third Division South. Chung moved to Watford for the 1957-58 season, where under Neil McBain the side were relegated to the Fourth Division. The Hornets secured a return to the Third Division with promotion in 1959-60 and narrowly missed out on promotion to the second tier in 1960-61 and 1963-64. Chung played a total of 242 times for Watford, scoring 24 goals.

02Managerial career

Chung gained his first coaching experience while still a player at Watford, under manager Bill McGarry. When McGarry left to become manager of Ipswich Town, he took Chung with him as assistant. At Ipswich, they won promotion to the First Division as champions in 1968.

Following a short period as manager of Swedish side IFK Västerås, he returned to join Bill McGarry, now at Wolverhampton Wanderers, as his assistant. As part of the management team, they guided Wolves to victory in the 1974 League Cup. The club were relegated in 1976 and McGarry departed, leaving Chung to be appointed manager.

He won promotion back to the top flight as Second Division champions in his first season. He led the club to a 15th-place finish in 1977-78, but the following season began with a run of 11 defeats in 14, leading to his dismissal following protests from the club's fans.

After a period coaching in the United Arab Emirates, he returned to England in 1985 as assistant manager to Mick Mills at Stoke City where he spent five years and was later in the backroom staff at Blackburn Rovers in 1991-92. He had a spell as manager of non-league side Tamworth between January 1992, and January 1993, before being appointed manager of Doncaster Rovers in July 1994, a post he held until August 1996. His Doncaster spell brought two promising seasons on the field, but promotion challenges gradually petered out into mid-table finishes.

In 1999, he was appointed director of football in Barbados.

In 2005, he joined the coaching staff at Minehead.

03Personal life and death

After retiring from football, Chung worked in a children's home. He later lived on the Somerset coast.

Chung died in a nursing home on 28 August 2022, at the age of 90.

04Career statistics

Appearances and goals by club, season and competition
Club Season League FA Cup League Cup Total
DivisionAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoals
Reading 1953-54 Third Division South 5400, 54
1954-55 Third Division South 17831, 209
Total 221231, 2513
Norwich City 1954-55 Third Division South 20600, 206
1955-56 Third Division South 16110, 171
1956-57 Third Division South 11200, 112
Total 47910, 489
Watford 1957-58 Third Division South 41710, 427
1958-59 Fourth Division 27600, 276
1959-60 Fourth Division 37170, 441
1960-61 Third Division 3715000421
1961-62 Third Division 1120010122
1962-63 Third Division 2645210325
1963-64 Third Division 2610010271
1964-65 Third Division 1401010160
Total 219221924024224
Career total 288432334031546

05Managerial statistics

Team From To Record
GWDLWin %
Wolverhampton Wanderers 19 June 1976 8 November 1978 107412739038.32
Doncaster Rovers 1 July 1994 31 July 1996 94332437035.11
Total 201745176036.82
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Sources and credits

This article is adapted from the Wikipedia article Sammy Chung, written by its contributors and licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Fathomly has changed the layout, removed citation markers, navigation and maintenance notices, and adjusted punctuation. This adapted version is shared under the same license. For references, see the original article.

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