Date / Year of birth: 28th December 1977

Position: Striker

Season of first appearance: 2003/04

Season of last appearance: 2003/04

Also played for: West Ham United (2+11,2), AFC Bournemouth (5+2,0), Dundee United (Scotland) (1+4,0), Leyton Orient (3+1,1), Gillingham (9+2,3), Scunthorpe United (7,1), Barnet (1+5,0), Oxford United (37+40,9), Gravesend & Northfleet, Lewes and Worthing

Pacy 5' 6" tall striker who was born in Lagos, Nigeria before moving to England. Manny joined West Ham as a youngster and played for England's schoolboys team in 1993 whilst progressing through the Hammers' youth ranks.

In May 1995 he signed professional forms and Manny was part of the West Ham youth team that won the South East Counties League title during the 1995/96 season.

In September 2006 he was loaned to Bournemouth and Manny made his Football League debut aged 18 in a 1-0 defeat against Walsall at Dean Court on 1.10.96. Two future Margate players took part in the match - striker Mark Watson came on as a sub for Bournemouth whilst midfielder John Keister was in the Walsall starting line-up. Manny made six more first team appearances for Bournemouth (two as sub) without scoring before returning to Upton Park at the end of October 1996.

As the 1996/97 season drew to a close he was on the fringes of West Ham's senior side and on 1.3.97 Manny made his first team debut as an 84th minute substitute as the Hammers lost 1-0 at Leeds in a Premier League game.

He couldn't break into the West Ham team again during the first half of the 1997/98 campaign and in February 1998 Manny joined Scottish Premier League club Dundee United on loan.

After making his debut as a late substitute in a 2-2 draw at Dunfermline on 21.2.98 Manny made four more appearances (three as sub) without scoring and then went back to West Ham at the end of March 1998.

On 30.3.98 he made his second senior appearance for the Hammers, over a year since his first, as a late substitute in a 3-0 win over Leeds at Upton Park and Manny then had three more sub outings in the weeks that followed. In the third of them - a Premier League game at Crystal Palace on 5.5.98 - he came on after 59 minutes and scored twice including an 89th minute equaliser as West Ham drew 3-3 after being 3-1 down. Having made such an impact at Selhurst Park Manny was given his first start in the Hammers' next game on 10.5.98 and played the full 90 minutes as West Ham beat Leicester 4-3 in a thriller at Upton Park.

During the early months of the 1998/99 season Manny made five sporadic sub appearances but only made one start for the Hammers - in a 1-0 defeat at Swansea in the FA Cup on 13.1.99 - before joining Leyton Orient on loan in March 1999.

His first game for the O's was a 2-0 defeat at Scunthorpe on 20.3.99 and future Margate striker Steve Watts came on as a second half sub for Orient whilst Manny was taken off with five minutes left. His next appearance was in a match at Halifax on 26.3.99 and Manny scored after only three minutes to set Orient on the way to a 2-1 win. He played twice more (once as sub) without scoring again before heading back to West Ham in April 1999.

At the start of September 1999 Manny embarked on another loan spell, this time with Gillingham, and scored six minutes into his debut for the Kent club as they beat Oldham 2-1 at Priestfield on 4.9.99. Once again there were people involved in the match who were later connected with Margate as the Gills line-up included Barry Ashby who briefly managed the club and midfielder Paul Smith who played for the Gate during Ashby's short spell in charge.

Manny also scored in his next outing for Gillingham - a 2-1 win at Oxford on 11.9.99 - and three days later he played as the Gills lost 4-1 at home to Bolton in the League Cup. He then featured in the return leg at Bolton on 21.9.99, a match the home side won 2-0. Manny scored once more during his spell with the Gills, finding the net in a 2-1 win at Brentford on 19.10.99, and by the time he returned to West Ham in November 1999 he'd scored three times in 11 outings (two as sub).

Shortly after his return to Upton Park Manny was at the heart of a notorious event that effectively ended his West Ham career. On 15.12.99 he was named amongst the Hammers' substitutes for a home game against Aston Villa and came on for the last seven minutes for his first senior outing of the season. Unfortunately the game was the quarter-final of the League Cup and Manny's brief cameo in extra time proved extremely costly to West Ham. They won the tie on 5-4 on penalties after a 2-2 draw but when it was discovered that Manny had already appeared for Gillingham in the competition the match had to be replayed. Villa won the rematch 3-1 after extra time. In the fall-out over Manny playing despite being cup-tied West Ham's secretary resigned and Manny himself received hate mail from angry Hammers supporters. Before the end of December 1999 he was loaned out to Scunthorpe.

Manny made his debut for the Iron in a 1-1 draw at Oldham on 26.12.99 and in his next outing on 28.12.99 he got the only goal of the game as Scunthorpe beat visitors Blackpool. Manny made five more appearances without adding to his goal tally before briefly returning to Upton Park at the start of February 2000.

Within weeks he was sent out on loan yet again and Manny's latest stop was at Barnet. He made his debut as a substitute in a 1-0 defeat at Northampton on 26.2.00 and made five more appearances (four as sub) without scoring before returning to Upton Park at the end of March 2000.

At the end of the 1999/00 season Manny was released by West Ham and in July 2000 he signed for Oxford United. Their manager Denis Smith described Manny as being "the black Michael Owen" and he made his debut in a 1-0 home defeat at the hands of Peterborough on 12.8.00. On 24.3.01 Manny finally got his first goals for Oxford when he struck twice in a 4-3 home win over Rotherham and it was his 22nd outing for the club although he was often used as a substitute. He scored once more before the end of 2000/01.

During the 2001/02 campaign Manny played 25 times for Oxford and scored three goals. He then made 20 appearances during 2002/03 and again scored three times.

At the start of the 2003/04 season Manny couldn't break into Oxford's first team and in September 2003 he joined Margate on loan, initially for a month. Margate's Conference rivals Woking had also been interested in signing him.

Manny made an immediate impact by scoring on his debut as Margate lost 3-2 at Accrington on 13.9.03 and Margate manager Chris Kinnear told the Isle of Thanet Gazette "He looks a good player, but it's not down to us whether he stays. We couldn't pay what he gets at Oxford." Manny started each of the next five matches and the Thanet Times said he "had the home defence running scared" as Margate won 1-0 at Halifax on 20.9.03. The Gazette said he was "impressive" in a 1-0 defeat against Barnet at Dover on 23.9.03 and on 27.9.03 Manny got his second goal for the club in a 3-1 win over Northwich at Dover. The Thanet Times said he'd used his pace "to terrorize" the Northwich defence and Chris Kinnear told the paper "He's a great lad and he's tried as well as he can - you wouldn't think he was on loan."

Manny continued to impress and the Thanet Times said he was "sharp again in attack" in a 1-1 draw at Telford on 4.10.03. The Gazette then said he "clearly has talent which manager Chris Kinnear would do well to keep for as long as he can" in its report on a 4-0 defeat at Dagenham & Redbridge on 7.10.03. Shortly after that Manny's loan was extended but on 11.10.03 he arrived late for a game with Leigh at Dover after being stuck in traffic on the M25 and only featured as a substitute as Margate won 2-0.

On 15.10.03 he briefly returned to Oxford and came on as a sub as they lost 1-0 at home to Rushden & Diamonds in the Football League Trophy.

Manny was back in the Margate side for a trip to Scarborough on 18.10.03 and got the only goal of the game - his third for the club - before missing two matches due to a hamstring problem. He returned from injury as Margate drew 3-3 at Morecambe on 1.11.03 and the Thanet Times said Manny was "ever-dangerous". He played twice more before going back to Oxford at the end of November 2003.

In January 2004 Manny started a second loan spell at Margate and marked his comeback by scoring an injury time equaliser to secure a 1-1 draw at Exeter on 17.1.04. His goal was a brilliant curling 20-yard free-kick and the Thanet Times said Manny was "probably the best player on the pitch" whilst the headline for the match report was "Manny Happy Returns". On 24.1.04 he scored in a 3-1 defeat at Barnet and the goal - his 5th for Margate - turned out to be Manny's last for the club. He played twice more but after going off injured 17 minutes into a 3-0 win against Northwich at Witton Albion on 14.2.04 Manny returned to Oxford. In all he'd made 15 appearances (one as sub) for Margate.

On 21.2.04 he made a sub appearance as Oxford drew 1-1 with visitors Bury and a few days later Manny returned to Kent when he was loaned to Conference club Gravesend & Northfleet.

He made his debut for the Fleet in a 6-0 home win over Morecambe on 28.2.04 when he replaced future Margate player James Pinnock with 15 minutes left and Manny went on to score twice in seven outings (three as sub) before going back to Oxford towards the end of April 2004.

In May 2004 Manny was released by Oxford after scoring nine goals in a career total of 77 appearances (40 as sub) and joined Gravesend & Northfleet on a permanent basis.

He scored six times in 23 Conference appearances for the Fleet during the 2004/05 campaign but Manny struggled for form and goals at the start of 2005/06. At the start of December 2005 his contract was cancelled by mutual consent and manager Liam Daish said "For whatever reason things have not quite worked out for Manny so far this season." His career record for the Fleet was 12 goals from 40 appearances (15 as sub).

Manny joined Conference South club Lewes immediately after leaving Gravesend but only made a handful of appearances during the remainder of 2005/06.

Having been released by Lewes Manny made a surprise return to Margate in the summer of 2006 and came on as a substitute in a 1-1 draw at Chatham in a friendly played on 2.8.06. He also featured for the first 45 minutes of a friendly at Dover on 12.8.06 that ended 1-1. On 19.8.06 Manny was on the bench as Margate won 5-2 at Worthing in the opening Isthmian League game of the campaign but he didn't get used and shortly afterwards he left the club without making a competitive appearance.

In September 2006 Manny signed for Worthing having turned down an offer from Kingstonian but he only played twice before injury ended his season.

After almost two years out of football Manny returned to Worthing in the summer 2008 and featured in some friendlies before his injury problems flared up again. He then retired aged only 30.