John Francombe "Ian" Ure (born 7 December 1939) is a former Scottish

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

player and manager. Ure started his career with

Dundee Dundee (; sco, Dundee; gd, Dùn Dè or ) is Scotland's fourth-largest city and the 51st-most-populous built-up area in the United Kingdom. The mid-year population estimate for 2016 was , giving Dundee a population density of 2,478/km2 or ...

, before moving to

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

to play for

Arsenal An arsenal is a place where arms and ammunition are made, maintained and repaired, stored, or issued, in any combination, whether privately or publicly owned. Arsenal and armoury (British English) or armory (American English) are mostly ...

and

Manchester United Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of City of Salford, Salford to ...

. After eight years in England, Ure returned to Scotland to play for St Mirren, however, after two seasons with the Paisley club and only three league appearances, Ure went into football management with

East Stirlingshire East Stirlingshire Football Club is a Scotland, Scottish association football club based in the town of Falkirk. The club was founded in 1881 and competes in the , in the fifth tier of the Scottish football league system. The club's origins ca ...

. During his time with Dundee and Arsenal, Ure played on 12 occasions for the Scotland national team.

Career

Club

Ure started his career as a

centre-half In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield position whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Centre-backs are usually positioned in pairs, with one full-back on either s ...

with Ayr Albion. In 1958, after being scouted by the

Dens Park Dens Park, officially known as Kilmac Stadium for sponsorship reasons, is a football stadium in Dundee, Scotland, which is the home of club Dundee F.C. and has a capacity of . Tannadice Park, the home of rivals Dundee United, is just 200 yards ...

club, Ure signed for

where he remained for five seasons. During that time, the club won its one and only First Division title in 1961–62, and reached the semi-finals of the

European Cup The UEFA Champions League (abbreviated as UCL, or sometimes, UEFA CL) is an annual club football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) and contested by top-division European clubs, deciding the competit ...

in 1962–63, losing 5–2 on aggregate to eventual champions

Milan Milan ( , , Lombard: ; it, Milano ) is a city in northern Italy, capital of Lombardy, and the second-most populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of about 1.4 million, while its metropolitan city h ...

. He moved south of the border in 1963 for a transfer fee of £62,500 to play for

. He only missed one match for Arsenal in his first season, 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 line-up by

Bertie Mee Bertram Mee OBE (25 December 1918 – 21 October 2001) was an English footballer who played as a winger for Derby County and Mansfield Town. Mee was also a manager, noted for leading Arsenal to their first Double win in 1971. Playing career Bor ...

, however, and played 44 matches in 1966–67. Ure continued to feature regularly for Arsenal as the 1960s went on, but during this time made a couple of errors in big matches, exemplified by his mistake in the 1969 League Cup Final against

Swindon Town Swindon Town Football Club is a professional football club based in Swindon, Wiltshire, England. The team currently competes in , the fourth tier of the English football league system. The club has played home matches at the County Ground sin ...

, which allowed

Roger Smart Roger Smart (born 25 March 1943 in Swindon) is an English retired football inside forward. He made his way from schoolboy teams to work up through the youth ranks at Swindon Town before making his début in the reserves in April 1960. He s ...

to score Swindon's opening goal; Swindon went on to win 3–1 after

extra time Overtime or extra time is an additional period of play specified under the rules of a sport to bring a game to a decision and avoid declaring the match a tie or draw where the scores are the same. In some sports, this extra period is played onl ...

. 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 ( 1968 and 1969). He was famously involved in a number of clashes with

Denis Law Denis Law (born 24 February 1940) is a Scottish former footballer who played as a forward. His career as a football player began at Second Division Huddersfield Town in 1956. After four years at Huddersfield, he was signed by Manchester City ...

in the game against Manchester United in October 1967, that saw both players being sent off and subsequently receiving six-match bans. However, with

Frank McLintock Francis McLintock MBE (born 28 December 1939) is a former Scotland international footballer, football manager and businessman. He also worked as a sports agent and football pundit in his later life. He began his career in Scottish Junior footba ...

and

Terry Neill William John Terence Neill (8 May 1942 – 28 July 2022) was a Northern Irish football player and manager. A centre-back, he captained and later managed Arsenal, guiding the club to a European final in 1980 and three consecutive FA Cup final ...

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

. The only major signing made by manager

Wilf McGuinness Wilfred McGuinness (born 25 October 1937) is an English former football player and manager, who played twice for England in his short playing career. He succeeded Sir Matt Busby as manager of Manchester United in 1969. Following his tenure at ...

, Ure spent two seasons at Manchester United before returning to Scotland to play for St Mirren. After retiring from playing, he spent some time as a coach, including a spell as manager of East Stirlingshire, but later left the game completely, and was employed as a

social worker Social work is an academic discipline and practice-based profession concerned with meeting the basic needs of individuals, families, groups, communities, and society as a whole to enhance their individual and collective well-being. Social work ...

Kilmarnock Kilmarnock (, sco, Kilmaurnock; gd, Cill Mheàrnaig (IPA: ʰʲɪʎˈveaːɾnəkʲ, "Marnock's church") is a large town and former burgh in East Ayrshire, Scotland and is the administrative centre of East Ayrshire, East Ayrshire Council. ...

International

During his time with

, Ure won eight caps for

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

. He made his debut international debut on 8 November 1961, in a 2–0 win against

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the Wales–England border, east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the ...

. He made 12 appearances in total, with his last cap coming against

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ga, Tuaisceart Éireann ; sco, label= Ulster-Scots, Norlin Airlann) is a part of the United Kingdom, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, that is variously described as a country, province or region. Nort ...

on 21 October 1967. One of his appearances was during a 1967 overseas tour that the

Scottish Football Association The Scottish Football Association (also known as the SFA and the Scottish FA; sco, Scots Fitba Association; Scottish Gaelic: ''Comann Ball-coise na h-Alba'') is the Sport governing body, governing body of association football, football in Scot ...

decided in October 2021 to reclassify as a full international, which increased Ure's cap tally from 11 to 12.

Career statistics

''Source''

References

;General *

External links