JOHN BURRIDGE

'John' "'Budgie'" 'Burridge' (born December 3, 1951 in Workington, Cumbria) is a former English football goalkeeper who played for 26 different clubs in a career that lasted nearly 30 years. He is probably best remembered for his spells at Southampton and Newcastle in the late 1980s. Overall, Burridge played 771 league games in the English and Scottish leagues, and several more at non-league level. Burridge played for fifteen Football League teams, which is a still-existing record.^[1]

Contents

Playing career

Honours

See also

Notes

References

Playing career

Burridge began his professional career at his hometown club Workington in 1969. In 1971, he was transferred to Blackpool, where he spent four seasons. It was with the Seasiders that he won his first honour: the Anglo-Italian Cup. Blackpool beat Bologna 2-1, after extra time, at the latter's Stadio Comunale on June 12, 1971. Burridge's performance earned him the praise of the normally highly-critical Italian fans.^[2]
In 1975 Burridge joined Aston Villa. He spent two seasons at Villa Park, but eventually lost his place to Jimmy Rimmer. He had a short, but extremely successful loan spell at Southend United before joining Crystal Palace in 1977, where he became a fans' favourite. After two and a half seasons at Palace, he joined London rivals Queens Park Rangers.
In the summer of 1982, Burridge joined his seventh club, Wolverhampton, whom he helped gain promotion to the top flight, only to be relegated the following season. He left Wolves in 1984 to join Sheffield United. He also had a loan spell at Derby shortly before joining the Blades.
Burridge spent three seasons at Sheffield United before joining Southampton in 1987. Two years later, he moved to Newcastle. After two years at Newcastle, he moved north of the border to join Hibernian, where he won a Scottish League Cup winners' medal. After two years in Edinburgh, Burridge returned to Newcastle for a second spell at the club in 1993.
Despite being past 40, Burridge refused to hang up his gloves, and continued moving across the country for short spells at any club that requested his services. Between 1993 and 1997, Burridge played for no fewer than fourteen clubs. They were, in chronological order: Scarborough, Lincoln, Aberdeen, Dumbarton, Falkirk, Manchester City (with whom he became, at 43 years, 4 months and 26 days, the oldest player to appear in the Premier League^[3]). He also started three more games after this - his last appearance was for Manchester City v QPR on May 14 1995.
, Notts County, Witton Albion, Darlington, Grimsby, Gateshead, Northampton, Queen of the South, Blyth Spartans and finally Scarborough again. These spells usually lasted no more than one or two games as an emergency goalkeeper. Burridge finally retired from the game in late 1997, at the age of 45. While playing for Blyth Spartans he was guilty of a challenge that nearly ended the career of Lancaster City striker Stuart Diggle, a challenge not dissimilar to the one Harald Schumacher made on Patrick Battiston in the 1982 World Cup.
Burridge 'discovered' Oman international goalkeeper Ali Al-Habsi and was instrumental in the player's transfer to Bolton Wanderers in January 2006.
Burridge now works as a goal-keeping coach for Al-Ain football club in the UAE. He is also a part time guest for an English Premier League show on the regional sports channel ART Prime Sports.

Honours

'Blackpool'

★ Anglo-Italian Cup winner: 1971
'Aston Villa'

★ League Cup winner: 1977
'Hibernian'

★ Skol Cup winner: 1991

See also

★ Football journeymen.

Notes

1. FunTrivia.com
2. Calley, Roy (1992): ''Blackpool: A Complete Record 1887-1992'', p. 80. Breedon Books
3. Premiership Records at FootballNetwork.org

References

★

★ Profile at Neil Brown's statistics site