Full name John Reynolds Place of death Amsterdam, Netherlands Name Jack Reynolds Position Winger | Place of birth Manchester, England Playing position Role Football player | |
 | ||
Date of birth (1881-09-23)23 September 1881 Date of death 8 November 1962(1962-11-08) (aged 81) Died November 8, 1962, Amsterdam, Netherlands | ||
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.
Contents
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.
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.