John Burridge

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Personal information
John Burridge
Full name	Jonathan Burridge
Date of birth	December 3, 1951 (1951-12-03) (age 56)
Place of birth	Workington, England
Height	5 ft 11 in (1.80 m)
Playing position	Goalkeeper
Senior clubs¹
Years	Club	App (Gls)*
1970–1971 1971–1975 1975–1978 1978 1978–1980 1980–1982 1982–1984 1984 1984–1987 1987–1989 1989–1991 1991–1993 1993 1993 1993–1994 1994 1994 1994 1994 1994 1994 1994–1995 1995 1995 1995 1995–1996 1996 1996 1996 1996 1996 1996 1997	Workington Blackpool Aston Villa → Southend United (loan) Crystal Palace Queens Park Rangers Wolverhampton Wanderers → Derby County (loan) Sheffield United Southampton Newcastle United Hibernian Newcastle United Scarborough Lincoln City Enfield Aberdeen Newcastle United Dunfermline Athletic Dumbarton Falkirk Manchester City Notts County Witton Albion Darlington Grimsby Town Gateshead Northampton Town Queen of the South Purfleet Blyth Spartans Scarborough Blyth Spartans	027 (0) 134 (0) 065 (0) 006 (0) 088 (0) 039 (0) 074 (0) 006 (0) 109 (0) 062 (0) 067 (0) 065 (0) 000 (0) 003 (0) 004 (0) 003 (0) 000 (0) 000 (0) 003 (0) 003 (0) 004 (0) 000 (0) 003 (0) 000 (0) 000 (0) 006 (0) 000 (0) 000 (0)
¹ Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only. * Appearances (Goals)

Jonathan "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. 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]

1 Playing career
2 Honours
3 See also
4 Notes
5 References

[edit] 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 goalkeeping coach for Al-Ain Football Club in the United Arab Emirates. He is also a part-time guest for an English Premier League show on the regional sports channel ART Prime Sports and a regular pundit on Singapore's Football Channel. He is also a writer in the football column of Singapore newspaper, The New Paper.

Burridge currently is a backup commentator along with Rob Lee for Ten Sports UEFA Champions League fixtures.