Career
His position was striker. Born in Galston, Ayrshire, Cunningham began his career with Newmilns Football Club before moving to Kilmarnock in 1909. After six seasons at Rugby Park he joined Rangers in 1915.
He made his Rangers debut on 5 April 1915 in a 1–0 defeat to Partick Thistle.
He made 5 appearances in his first season at Ibrox. Cunningham continued to be used infrequently by manager William Wilton before establishing himself in the Rangers team in season 1918-1919.
In total, he made 389 appearances and scored 182 goals for Rangers. Cunningham was also capped at international level, playing 12 times for Scotland and scoring 5 goals.
He lost just one of his 12 games for Scotland.
Cunningham also represented the Scottish League XI 10 times. Cunningham moved to in 1928, becoming the then oldest player to make his debut in the English football League at the age of thirty-eight. He began his Newcastle career as player/manager and then went on to become full-time manager of the club after retiring from playing.
Technically, he was the first true manager of the club, as his predecessor Frank Watt had no control over team selection.
However the club was also relegated to the Second Division whilst he was at the helm. Cunningham eventually left the club in 1935.
After his time with Newcastle, he returned to Scotland where he managed Dundee between 1937–1940 before becoming a sports writer after World World War World War II As a manager.