Alan Finney (born 31 October 1933) is a former footballer who played for

Sheffield Wednesday Sheffield Wednesday Football Club is a professional association football club based in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England. The team competes in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. Formed in 1867 as an offshoot of ...

and

Doncaster Rovers Doncaster Rovers Football Club is a professional association football club based in Doncaster, South Yorkshire, England. The team compete in League Two, the fourth tier of the English football league system. The club play their home games at ...

, featuring in over 500 games during his time at

Hillsborough Hillsborough may refer to: Australia *Hillsborough, New South Wales, a suburb of Lake Macquarie Canada *Hillsborough, New Brunswick *Hillsborough Parish, New Brunswick * Hillsborough, Nova Scotia, in Inverness County *Hillsborough (electoral d ...

and the consistency of his performances made a popular member of the team among the Club's supporters.

Football career

Alan Finney joined Wednesday from amateur football in 1949 and made his first team debut at the age of 17, against

Chelsea Chelsea or Chelsey may refer to: Places Australia * Chelsea, Victoria Canada * Chelsea, Nova Scotia * Chelsea, Quebec United Kingdom * Chelsea, London, an area of London, bounded to the south by the River Thames ** Chelsea (UK Parliament consti ...

in 1951. His first League goal came in a famous clash with Everton in May that year - the Owls thumped the Toffees 6-0 but both clubs were relegated to the second division having inferior goal averages to Chelsea. However, SWFC bounced straight back to the top flight as Division Two champions the following season, with Finney supplying the chances for a local discovery named Derek Dooley. Finney was a regular as the Club again won the Second Division Championship in 1955/56 and 1958/59 and also featured in every game of the

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual knockout football competition in men's domestic English football. First played during the 1871–72 season, it is the oldest national football competi ...

runs of 1954 and 1960, which saw Wednesday stumble at the semi-final hurdle. He was an ever-present during the 1960/61 campaign in which SWFC finished runners-up. Finney had the ability to play on both wings and although he was chiefly a provider contributed his fair share in terms of goalscoring too. His form brought recognition for England at 'B' and Under-23 levels. He signed for

in January 1966 for £5,000, scoring one goal in their

Division 4 ''Division 4'' is an Australian television police drama series made by Crawford Productions for the Nine Network between 1969 and 1975 for 301 episodes. Synopsis The series was one of the first dramas to follow up on the enormous success o ...

championship winning season, and two in the following relegation season before moving to

Alfreton Town Alfreton Town Football Club is a football club based in Alfreton, Derbyshire, England. The club are currently members of and play at North Street. History The club was formed in 1959 following the merger of Alfreton Miners Welfare and Alfr ...

Trivia

*It is of interest to note that Alan made his debut in the same game as

Albert Quixall Albert Quixall (9 August 1933 – 12 November 2020) was an English professional footballer who played as an inside-forward. He joined Sheffield Wednesday as a youth and debuted in their professional side in 1951. He played almost 250 league game ...

and not only were the two players partners on the right flank, they were also in the same unit while serving their national service.

References

External links

Profile at swfc.co.uk
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Finney, Alan 1933 births Living people English men's footballers England men's under-23 international footballers Sheffield Wednesday F.C. players Doncaster Rovers F.C. players Alfreton Town F.C. players Men's association football wingers People from Bolsover District