Wikipedia's first sentence called it “former professional footballer who made 274 appearances in the football league as a fullback for brighton & hov”. Today it says “professional football player and coach”.
Measured, not asserted. Every count, date and revision on this page was taken from Wikipedia's own history and checked against the live article. The words quoted are theirs.
Machine-checked against the full current article on 2026-08-03.
We saved snapshots of this article over twenty years; you are reading the October 6, 2023 one. Red dashes: removed from Wikipedia since.Pale dots: rewritten; the numbered note shows what it says now.Red text: written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot.1 tap a number or a side note to jump between them
The opening as it read in October 6, 2023
English football player and manager (1927–2016) John Mansell (22 August 1927 – 19 March 2016) was a professional football player and coach. He made 274 appearances in the Football League as a defender for Brighton & Hove Albion , Cardiff City and Portsmouth . After retiring as a player, he joined the coaching staff at Sheffield Wednesday . There, in early April 1964, he became interim manager after the sacking of Vic Buckingham . He coached many clubs with his longest spell being at Reading and had experience overseas with the likes of Blauw-Wit Amsterdam , Boston Beacons and the Israel national team . In 1982, Mansell was chosen to train Maccabi Haifa , after a year at the Israeli national team. Mansell died on 19 March 2016. "Jack Mansell 1927 – 2016" . readingfc.co.uk .
This is Wikipedia's own text, saved in our repository. Their copy of it is revision 1164050186.
The opening as it stood in 2010
Jack Mansell (born 22 August 1927 in Salford , England ) is a former professional footballer who made 274 appearances in the Football League as a fullback for Brighton & Hove Albion , Cardiff City and Portsmouth . After retiring as a player he joined the coaching staff at Sheffield Wednesday . He coached many clubs, such as Boston Beacons and the Israel national football team . In 1982, Mansell was chosen to train Maccabi Haifa , after a year at the Israeli national team.
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 353712983.
The opening as it stood in 2015
Jack Mansell (born 22 August 1927 in Salford , England ) is a former professional footballer who made 274 appearances in the Football League as a fullback for Brighton & Hove Albion , Cardiff City and Portsmouth . After retiring as a player he joined the coaching staff at Sheffield Wednesday . He coached many clubs with his longest spell being at Reading and had experience overseas with the likes of Blauw-Wit Amsterdam , Boston Beacons and the Israel national football team . In 1982, Mansell was chosen to train Maccabi Haifa , after a year at the Israeli national team.
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 662195786.
The opening as it stood in 2020
John Mansell (22 August 1927 – 19 March 2016) was a professional footballer who made 274 appearances in the Football League as a fullback for Brighton & Hove Albion , Cardiff City and Portsmouth . After retiring as a player he joined the coaching staff at Sheffield Wednesday . There, in early April 1964, he became interim manager after the sacking of Vic Buckingham . He coached many clubs with his longest spell being at Reading and had experience overseas with the likes of Blauw-Wit Amsterdam , Boston Beacons and the Israel national football team . In 1982, Mansell was chosen to train Maccabi Haifa , after a year at the Israeli national team. Mansell died on 19 March 2016.
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 948644955.
The opening as it stood in 2025
English football player and manager (1927–2016) Jack Mansell (22 August 1927 – 19 March 2016) was a professional football player and coach. He made 274 appearances in the Football League as a defender for Brighton & Hove Albion , Cardiff City and Portsmouth . After retiring as a player, he joined the coaching staff at Sheffield Wednesday . There, in early April 1964, he became interim manager after the sacking of Vic Buckingham . He coached many clubs with his longest spell being at Reading and had experience overseas with the likes of Blauw-Wit Amsterdam , Boston Beacons and the Israel national team . In 1982, Mansell was chosen to train Maccabi Haifa , after a year at the Israel national team. Mansell died on 19 March 2016. "Jack Mansell 1927 – 2016" . readingfc.co.uk .
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 1267602287. This is our newest snapshot; the live article may have moved again since.
Today
Wikipedia's first sentence called it “former professional footballer who made 274 appearances in the football league as a fullback for brighton & hov”. Today it says “professional football player and coach”. Read the current article and compare.
2010
2015
2020
Oct '23
2025
Counts in the opening at each snapshot. Green: the word gained ground. Red: it was cut. Grey: no change.
What Wikipedia says this is
Every article opens by defining its subject. This one was redefined since 2010, and today's defining sentence is their current revision.
Then
former professional footballer who made 274 appearances in the football league as a fullback for brighton & hov
Now
professional football player and coach
Struck red text is no longer in the article; dotted amber text was rewritten. Every revision id links to Wikipedia's copy; the text shown is our own saved copy. Data: /data. Wikipedia text is CC BY-SA; quoted for the record; not affiliated with Wikipedia.
