Joseph Michael Burnell (born 10 October 1980) is an English former professional

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby ...

. Having represented several clubs in the Football League and

Football Conference The National League (named Vanarama National League for sponsorship reasons) is an association football league in England consisting of three divisions, the National League, National League North, and National League South. It was called the ...

, most notably

Bristol City Bristol City Football Club is a professional football club based in Bristol, England, which compete in the , the second tier of English football. They have played their home games at Ashton Gate since moving from St John's Lane in 1904. The ...

and

Bath City Bath City Football Club is a semi-professional football club based in Bath, Somerset, England. The club is affiliated to the Somerset FA and currently competes in the National League South, the sixth tier of English football. The club have ...

, he moved away from football after his retirement in 2014 to work in property management. Burnell started his career with

and he became part of the first team squad at Ashton Gate halfway through the 1999–2000 season. Shortly after his debut he scored his first goal for the club in a

Football League Trophy The English Football League Trophy, known for sponsorship purposes as the Papa Johns Trophy after restaurant chain Papa John's Pizza, is an annual English association football knockout competition open to all clubs in EFL League One and EFL Le ...

tie against future club

Exeter City Exeter City Football Club is a professional association football club based in Exeter, Devon, England. The team play in , the third tier of the English football league system. Known as "the Grecians", the origin of their nickname is subject to ...

. His displays were enough to earn him a long-term contract and a short spell as the club's captain. He was part of the side that won the 2003 Football League Trophy Final, and scored in the Southern Area final against

Cambridge United Cambridge United Football Club is a professional association football club based in the city of Cambridge, England. They compete in EFL League one , the 3rd tier of the English football league system. The club is based at the Abbey Stadium on Ne ...

. He scored his first and only league goal for City in a 1–1 draw with

Luton Town Luton Town Football Club () is a professional association football club based in the town of Luton, Bedfordshire, England, that competes in the Championship, the second tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1885, it is nicknam ...

in November 2003. Burnell joined

Wycombe Wanderers Wycombe Wanderers Football Club is an English professional association football club based in the town of High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire. The team compete in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. They play their ho ...

in July 2004 after

Tony Adams Tony Alexander Adams (born 10 October 1966) is an English former football manager and player. Adams played for Arsenal and England, captaining both teams. He spent his entire playing career of 19 years as a centre back at Arsenal, making 672 t ...

' summer clearout which saw the departure of Michael Simpson,

Dannie Bulman Dannie Mark Bulman (born 24 January 1979) is an English former professional footballer who played as a midfielder. He played in the English Football League with Wycombe Wanderers, Oxford United, Crawley Town and AFC Wimbledon. Prior to retiring ...

, Steve Brown and

Darren Currie Darren Paul Currie (born 29 November 1974) is an English former footballer who made over 600 appearances in The Football League. He is assistant head coach of Southend United. Club career Currie, who is the nephew of former Sheffield United, L ...

. Burnell was hoping to gain a regular first team place and after a season blighted by injury and illness he formed a midfield trio with Matt Bloomfield and Keith Ryan. Burnell scored his first and only goal for the club in an

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 ...

tie against future club

Northampton Town Northampton Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in the town of Northampton, England. The team plays in , the fourth tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1897, the club competed in the Midland ...

. Burnell was also a regular under John Gorman and consequently followed his manager when he left Wycombe to join

in July 2006. During his time at Northampton was constantly a good performer being named captain on occasions in the absence of Chris Doig and Mark Hughes. He scored two goals for Northampton; one in an

tie against

Grimsby Town Grimsby Town Football Club is a professional football club based in Cleethorpes, North East Lincolnshire, England, that in the 2022–23 season will compete in , the fourth tier of the English football league system, following the victory in t ...

and the other in the league against

Huddersfield Town Huddersfield Town Association Football Club is a professional football club based in Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, England, which compete in the . The team have played home games at the Kirklees Stadium since moving from Leeds Road in 1994. Th ...

. On 21 April 2008, it was announced that he would be released at the end of the 2007–08 season, which was a surprise to most fans. Burnell signed for

Oxford Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...

on 1 July 2008. Shortly afterwards he was named captain to replace Adam Murray in the role. However, in April 2009 it was announced that he no longer had a future at the club. After a successful trial at Exeter he joined them on 9 July 2009 on a free transfer. It was announced on 14 May 2010 that he had been released by Exeter, along with 8 other players On 13 July 2010, Burnell joined Conference National side

External links

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Burnell, Joe 1980 births Living people Footballers from Bristol English men's footballers Men's association football midfielders Bristol City F.C. players Wycombe Wanderers F.C. players Northampton Town F.C. players Oxford United F.C. players Exeter City F.C. players Bath City F.C. players Shepton Mallet F.C. players English Football League players National League (English football) players