Alex Manninger, who has died aged 48 after his car was hit by a train, was an Austrian goalkeeper who played for more than a dozen clubs, including Liverpool and Juventus, chiefly as a reserve, but who was best remembered in Britain for stepping up splendidly in 1998 to help Arsenal to win the Double.
Manninger had been brought to Highbury the previous summer, aged 20 and after only a year as a professional, as part of Arsène Wenger’s drive to sign young foreign players identified as having high potential. During the five campaigns he spent in north London, however, Manninger was fated to remain David Seaman’s understudy in goal, except when emergency struck in February 1998.
Manchester United had headed the Premier League table for most of the season, but with Wenger’s French revolution underway, in what was his first full year in charge, Arsenal still hoped to haul in Alex Ferguson’s side’s 12-point lead. But disaster appeared to strike when Seaman, England’s goalkeeper, suffered a rib injury.
The tall, blond Manninger was largely untested aside from some outings in the FA Cup. None the less, he more than rose to the challenge, setting a Premier League (and joint club) record that still remains unsurpassed by not conceding a goal in any of his first six appearances for the club. The undoubted highlight of this was a 1-0 victory away at Old Trafford that began to tip the balance in favour of the pursuing Arsenal.
Later in his career, Manninger would be regarded as suspect under pressure and fallible when claiming crosses, but during his run in the side he showed great shot-stopping ability and agility, good positional sense and marked composure. With typical modesty, he ascribed much of his success to having Tony Adams patrolling the area in front of him.
He had to yield his place when Seaman returned after half a dozen matches. But so highly regarded was his contribution to Arsenal claiming their first league title since 1991 that the club successfully petitioned the authorities to waive the rule that players needed to have made 10 appearances to qualify for a winner’s medal.
Manninger also had a substantial hand in the other element of the Double that season, turning out five times during Arsenal’s run to the FA Cup final. In the sixth round against West Ham, which went to penalties, it was his save from Eyal Berkovic that saw the team through. He sat on the bench at Wembley as they prevailed over Newcastle with goals from Nicolas Anelka and Marc Overmars, but claimed another winner’s medal.
Alexander Manninger was born in Salzburg on June 4 1977. He began to train with his home town club as a boy and was on their books at 18 when he signed for Grazer AK. The Styrian side were then embarking on a golden period and his performances that season came to the attention of Arsenal.
Understandably keen to be first choice, he eventually grew frustrated at Highbury, and after 64 appearances for the Gunners, in 2001 he began the first of several brief stints at Italian clubs. He reflected later that it was a mistake to have moved to Fiorentina, then managed by Roberto Mancini, as the club was in chaos and he went unpaid for several months.
Manninger than had spells at Bologna, Torino, Brescia and back at Red Bull Salzburg before finding a measure of stability with Siena, where he played 64 matches between 2006 and 2008. He then moved to Udinese for a fortnight before being snapped up by Juventus as understudy to Gigi Buffon.
He was to spend four seasons in Turin, being thrust into the spotlight when he capably deputised for the Italy goalkeeper when Buffon was injured for some 35 matches in 2008 and 2009. Manninger made no appearances during his final season, when Antonio Conte was the manager, but was happy to pick up a Serie A winner’s medal that year.
There then followed four seasons with Augsburg in the Bundesliga before he had a season’s swansong under Jurgen Klopp at Anfield, as reserve to Loris Karius and Simon Mignolet. He retired in 2017, aged 40, having made 309 appearances in total and having won 33 caps for Austria.
Manninger had trained as a carpenter and thereafter turned to furniture restoration, as well as investing in hotels. In an interview with Gazzetta dello Sport earlier this month, he observed that contemporary football had become too much about money, with players worried as much about social media posts as their performance on the pitch.
He is survived by his wife and two children.
Alex Manninger, born June 4 1977, died April 16 2026
