Michael "Mike" Flanagan (born Ilford

Ilford

Ilford is a large cosmopolitan town in East London, England and the administrative headquarters of the London Borough of Redbridge. It is located northeast of Charing Cross and is one of the major metropolitan centres identified in the London Plan. It forms a significant commercial and retail...

, Essex

Essex

Essex is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the East region of England, and one of the home counties. It is located to the northeast of Greater London. It borders with Cambridgeshire and Suffolk to the north, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent to the South and London to the south west...

, November 9, 1952) is an English

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

 former professional footballer and manager. He most recently worked as assistant manager of Margate

Margate F.C.

Margate Football Club is an English football team based in the seaside resort of Margate, Kent, currently playing in the Isthmian League Premier Division. The club was known for a number of years during the 1980s as Thanet United....

, a post he left in July 2007.

Flanagan made his debut for Charlton Athletic

Charlton Athletic F.C.

Charlton Athletic Football Club is an English professional football club based in Charlton, in the London Borough of Greenwich. They compete in Football League One, the third tier of English football. The club was founded on 9 June 1905, when a number of youth clubs in the southeast London area,...

 in the 1971-72 season and formed a successful partnership with Derek Hales

Derek Hales

Derek David Hales is an English former footballer.Hales joined Gillingham as a youth team player in 1968 but failed to gain a professional contract and drifted into non-League football, playing for Faversham Town and then Dartford...

, although the pair were once sent off in an FA Cup

FA Cup

The Football Association Challenge Cup, commonly known as the FA Cup, is a knockout cup competition in English football and is the oldest association football competition in the world. The "FA Cup" is run by and named after The Football Association and usually refers to the English men's...

 tie for fighting with each other.

During the summer of 1978 Flanagan crossed the Atlantic and signed for the New England Tea Men

New England Tea Men

The New England Tea Men were a soccer team based out of Foxboro, MA that played in the NASL from 1978 to 1980. Their home field was Schaefer Stadium....

 of the NASL

North American Soccer League

North American Soccer League was a professional soccer league with teams in the United States and Canada that operated from 1968 to 1984.-History:...

, and subsequently scored 30 goals in 28 league appearances. He also won the MVP award (Most Valuable Player) for the 1978 season.

In summer 1979 he joined Crystal Palace

Crystal Palace F.C.

Crystal Palace Football Club are an English Football league club based in South Norwood, London. The team plays its home matches at Selhurst Park, where they have been based since 1924. The club currently competes in the second tier of English Football, The Championship.Crystal Palace was formed in...

 for £650,000 where he played 56 games scoring 8 goals. December 1980 saw him join Queens Park Rangers

Queens Park Rangers F.C.

Queens Park Rangers Football Club is an English professional football club, based in White City, Hammersmith and Fulham, west London. As the 2010-11 Football League Championship champions, they now play in the top tier of English football the Premier League, for the first time in 15 years...

. He was capped three times by England 'B'

England B national football team

England B is a secondary football team run occasionally as support for the England national football team. At times they have played other nations' full teams; they have also played matches against 'B' teams from other football associations...

, scoring once. Whilst at QPR he played in the 1982 FA Cup Final

1982 FA Cup Final

The 1982 FA Cup Final took place on 22 May 1982 at Wembley Stadium. It was contested between Tottenham Hotspur and Queens Park Rangers.Spurs were the holders of the trophy, and were hot favourites, while unfancied QPR had just missed out on promotion from the Second Division.After three and a half...

.

In the 1990s after Flanagan had retired, he managed Gillingham

Gillingham F.C.

Gillingham Football Club is an English professional football club based in the town of Gillingham, Kent. The only Kent-based club in the Football League, they play their home matches at the Priestfield Stadium...

, and his manager at Margate was one of the players who played under him at Priestfield, Robin Trott

Robin Trott

Robin Francis Trott is an English football player and manager.Trott began his career at Gillingham, where he made ten league appearances but found himself unable to command a regular first team place...

. He also had a spell as manager of Waterford United.