John Alexander Christie (26 September 1929 – 9 March 2014) was a football goalkeeper who played for

Southampton F.C. Southampton Football Club () is an English professional football club based in Southampton, Hampshire, which competes in the . Their home ground since 2001 has been St Mary's Stadium, before which they were based at The Dell. The club play in ...

for most of the 1950s.

Playing career

A product of the Scottish Highland Football League, Christie was born in Fraserburgh, Aberdeenshire, and played as an amateur with

Auchenblae Auchenblae (, gd, Achadh nam Blàth) (historically known as Auchinblae) is a village in the Kincardine and Mearns area of Aberdeenshire, formerly in Kincardineshire, Scotland. The village was known for its weavers, a whisky distillery and the ann ...

and then transferred to the senior ranks with Highland Football League club Inverness Thistle. He left Inverness Thistle in May 1949 to join Ayr United in the Scottish Football League. He came to the notice of Southampton's manager

Sid Cann Sydney Thomas Cann (30 October 1911 – 1 November 1996) was an English professional football defender and football manager. He was capped twice by England at Schools level. Playing career Born in Babbacombe, Torquay, Sid Cann joined Torquay U ...

whilst doing his

National Service National service is the system of voluntary government service, usually military service. Conscription is mandatory national service. The term ''national service'' comes from the United Kingdom's National Service (Armed Forces) Act 1939. The l ...

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and in January 1951 he signed him for Southampton. He made his debut for the "Saints" at Swansea Town on 3 February 1951 replacing first choice keeper Hugh Kelly. In 1950–51 Southampton had problems with the goalkeeping position and in all used four different custodians (the others were Eddie Thomas and Len Stansbridge). Described by Holley & Chalk as "agile and brave" he spent most of his time at The Dell jostling for the No. 1 shirt with

Fred Kiernan Frederick William Kiernan (7 July 1919 – December 1981) was an Irish professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper in the 1940s and 1950s. Playing career He was born in Dublin and his first senior club was Shelbourne, though he initial ...

until 1956, when Christie established himself as the first choice 'keeper. In 1956–57 he played in all but the last two games of the season as Saints had the best defence in the

Third Division South The Third Division South of The Football League was a tier in the English football league system from 1921 to 1958. It ran in parallel with the Third Division North with clubs elected to the League or relegated from Division Two allocated to on ...

, but were unable to secure promotion, finishing in fourth place in the table. He started the following season as first choice 'keeper before losing his place to Brian Stevens after a 4–0 defeat at

Port Vale Port Vale Football Club are a professional football club based in Burslem, Stoke-on-Trent, England, which compete in . Vale are the only English Football League club not to be named after a place; their name being a reference to the valley o ...

on 16 September. Stevens retained the No. 1 shirt for ten games before Christie regained it, keeping it for the rest of the season. He continued into the following season until after a run of 50 league and cup games a knee injury forced him to give way to 19-year-old Tony Godfrey, who had come up through the ranks from the youth team. Although Christie regained the shirt in March for a further seven games, he made his final appearance for the Saints on 11 April 1959, away to Tranmere Rovers. After making 217 appearances for Southampton in just over 8 years, he moved to

Walsall Walsall (, or ; locally ) is a market town and administrative centre in the West Midlands (county), West Midlands County, England. Historic counties of England, Historically part of Staffordshire, it is located north-west of Birmingham, east ...

in June 1959. At Walsall, he won a

Football League Fourth Division The Football League Fourth Division was the fourth-highest division in the English football league system from the 1958–59 season until the creation of the Premier League prior to the 1992–93 season. Whilst the division disappeared in name ...

championship medal in

1960 It is also known as the "Year of Africa" because of major events—particularly the independence of seventeen African nations—that focused global attention on the continent and intensified feelings of Pan-Africanism. Events January * Ja ...

and the following season he was part of the team that gained a successive promotion to the Second Division. In August 1962, he left Walsall and then had spells at Burton Albion and Rugby Town before retiring.

Later career

After retirement from football in 1964, he was a sales representative for Columbus Dixon industrial cleaners for 27 years, and then site supervisor at

Henry Beaufort School Henry Beaufort School is a secondary school in Harestock, a suburb of Winchester, in the county of Hampshire in England. History The school was built in 1971 as the first purpose-built, co-educational, comprehensive school in Winchester to ...

Winchester Winchester is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city in Hampshire, England. The city lies at the heart of the wider City of Winchester, a local government Districts of England, district, at the western end of the South Downs Nation ...

. He died on 9 March 2014, aged 84.

Honours

Walsall *

championship: 1959–60 *

Football League Third Division The Football League Third Division was the third tier of the English football league system in 1920–21 and again from 1958 until 1992. When the FA Premier League was formed, the division become the fourth tier level. In 2004, following the f ...

runners-up: 1960–61

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Christie, John 1929 births 2014 deaths Sportspeople from Fraserburgh Scottish men's footballers Men's association football goalkeepers Inverness Thistle F.C. players Ayr United F.C. players Southampton F.C. players Walsall F.C. players Scottish Football League players Burton Albion F.C. players Rugby Town F.C. (1945) players English Football League players Footballers from Aberdeenshire