Born at 31 Lower Napier Street, Middlesbrough, Mannion was regarded as the equal of Pele as a footballer, and was a brilliant ball-player and goal-scorer for Middlesbrough after 1937. After one game against Blackpool, he was applauded off the pitch by a tunnel of players from both sides. He was capped 26 times for England and was in the side which played against the Rest of Europe in Glasgow in 1947. He scored twice in a 6-1 victory.
The great player in those days of the maximum wage made little from football, and was denied a transfer and even a testimonial by his own club. A one-man strike ended in defeat. When his career ended, he worked on building sites and factories as a tea-boy.