Ian Ure
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| Ian Ure | ||
| Personal information | ||
|---|---|---|
| Full name | John Francombe Ure | |
| Date of birth | December 7, 1939 | |
| Place of birth | Ayr, Scotland | |
| Playing position | Centre half | |
| Senior clubs1 | ||
| Years | Club | App (Gls)* |
| 1958-1963 1963-1969 1969-1971 1971-? ? |
Dundee Arsenal Manchester United St Mirren East Stirling |
168 (2) 47 (1) |
| National team | ||
| 1961-1967 | Scotland | 11 (0) |
| Teams managed | ||
| 1974-1975 | East Stirling | |
|
1 Senior club appearances and goals |
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John Francombe (Ian) Ure (born December 7, 1939 in Ayr) is a Scottish former footballer.
A centre half, Ure started his career at Dundee, playing for the club for five seasons, during which the club won its one and only First Division title in 1962-62, and reached the semi-finals of the European Cup in 1962-63, losing 5-2 on aggregate to eventual champions AC Milan. During this time Ure also won eight caps for Scotland, his debut coming against Wales on 8 November 1961, a game Scotland won 2-0.
He moved south of the border in 1963 for a transfer fee of £62,500 to play for Arsenal. He only missed one match for Arsenal in his first season (and won a further two caps for Scotland), but injury and a loss of form restricted his appearances in 1964-65 and 1965-66, although he still managed more than 20 matches each season. Ure was restored to the Arsenal lineup by Bertie Mee, however, and played 44 matches in 1966-67; he won his eleventh and final cap for Scotland against Northern Ireland on October 21, 1967.
Ure continued to feature regularly for Arsenal as the 1960s went on, but during this time built a reputation for errors, exemplified by his mistake in the 1969 League Cup final against Swindon Town, which allowed Roger Smart to score Swindon's opening goal; Swindon went on to win 3-1 after extra time. Ure's reputation was sufficient enough to be noted by Nick Hornby in his book, Fever Pitch:[1]
| “ | I was the only Arsenal supporter in the first year. QPR, the nearest First Division team, had Rodney Marsh; Chelsea had Peter Osgood, Tottenham had Greaves, West Ham had three World Cup heroes, Hurst, Moore and Peters. Arsenal's best-known player was probably Ian Ure, famous only for being hilariously useless and for his contributions to the television series Quiz Ball. | ” |
Despite his reputation, Ure played 202 matches for Arsenal in defence over the course of six years, scoring two goals, and picking up two League Cup runners-up medals (having also played in the 1968 Final as well). However, with Frank McLintock and Terry Neill competing for the centre half position, Ure found himself being squeezed out towards the end of that decade, and he left Arsenal in August 1969 to join Manchester United. The only major signing made by manager Wilf McGuinness, Ure spent two seasons at Manchester United before returning to Scotland to play for St Mirren and then East Stirling.
After retiring from playing, he spent some time as a coach, including a spell as manager of East Stirling, but later left the game completely. He is currently employed as a social worker in Kilmarnock.
[edit] References
- General
- Harris, Jeff & Hogg, Tony (ed.) (1995). Arsenal Who's Who. Independent UK Sports. ISBN 1-899429-03-4.
- Specific
- ^ Hornby, Nick (1992). Fever Pitch. Indigo, p.22. ISBN 1-84018-900-2.
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