In 1936, local businessman Leonard P. Thompson threatened to lead a breakaway from the amateur club to create an entirely separate professional club, Ipswich United. John Murray Cobbold, the club President, called together rival factions for a meeting at the Town Hall on 1 May 1936, at which it was agreed that Ipswich Town should turn professional. The club was unanimously elected to the Southern League for the 1936–37 season and former Irish international footballer Mick O'Brien was appointed as the club's first professional manager.