John Dempsey (born 15 March 1946) is a former

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 ...

who played from the 1960s to the 1980s as a defender.

Career

Starting his career with Fulham, making his debut in 1963 and 149 appearances over six years, Dempsey was signed for

West London West London is the western part of London, England, north of the River Thames, west of the City of London, and extending to the Greater London boundary. The term is used to differentiate the area from the other parts of London: North Londo ...

rivals

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 ...

Dave Sexton David James Sexton (6 April 1930 – 25 November 2012) was an English football manager and player. He was notable for managing Chelsea to their first ever major European trophy. Playing career Son of former professional boxer Archie Sex ...

in January 1969 for £70,000. He made his Chelsea debut against

Southampton Southampton () is a port city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. It is located approximately south-west of London and west of Portsmouth. The city forms part of the South Hampshire built-up area, which also covers Po ...

in February that year and established himself in the side for the remainder of the 1968-69 season. Dempsey featured in the successful Chelsea side of the early 1970s, winning 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 ...

with the club in 1970, playing in both fiercely contested final matches against

Leeds United Leeds United Football Club is a professional football club based in Leeds, West Yorkshire in England. The club competes in the Premier League, the highest level of England's football league system, and plays its home matches at Elland Road ...

as his side eventually ran out 2-1 winners. A year later, the

Cup Winners' Cup The UEFA Cup Winners' Cup was a European football club competition contested annually by the winners of domestic cup competitions. The cup was, chronologically, the second seasonal inter-European club competition organised by UEFA. The tournam ...

was added with a win against Real Madrid in another replay in

Athens Athens ( ; el, Αθήνα, Athína ; grc, Ἀθῆναι, Athênai (pl.) ) is both the capital and largest city of Greece. With a population close to four million, it is also the seventh largest city in the European Union. Athens dominates ...

, in which Dempsey scored the opening goal with a powerful volley following a corner (one of only five goals he scored for the club) as Chelsea won 2-1. He won a number of international caps for the

Republic of Ireland Ireland ( ga, Éire ), also known as the Republic of Ireland (), is a country in north-western Europe consisting of 26 of the 32 Counties of Ireland, counties of the island of Ireland. The capital and largest city is Dublin, on the eastern ...

(he qualified to play for Ireland through his parents). He had no further success with the club, but remained during the turbulent later 1970s, and eventually left in March 1978 with the club by then in Division Two, and moved to the Philadelphia Fury of the NASL, playing alongside fellow ex-Chelsea star

Peter Osgood Peter Leslie Osgood (20 February 1947 – 1 March 2006) was an English footballer who was active during the 1960s and 1970s. He is best remembered for representing Chelsea and Southampton at club level, and was also capped four times by Englan ...

.NASL statistics
''Nasljerseys.com''. Retrieved 1 June 2012. In 1979, he was voted the NASL's defender of the year, beating out Franz Beckenbauer who finished second."Chelsea legend Dempsey still a star"
''This is local London''. Retrieved 1 June 2012. In the summer of 1976 he played in the National Soccer League with the

Serbian White Eagles Serbian White Eagles Football Club ( sr, Фудбалски клуб Српски бели орлови / ''Fudbalski klub Srpski beli orlovi'') is a Canadian soccer team. The team is a member of the Canadian Soccer League, an unsanctioned soc ...

where he served as a

player-coach A player-coach (also playing coach, captain-coach, or player-manager) is a member of a sports team who simultaneously holds both playing and coaching duties. A player-coach may be a head coach or an assistant coach. They may make changes to the sq ...

. His stint with the White Eagles was cut short after a dispute in pay and housing accommodations. He was appointed player-manager of

Dundalk Dundalk ( ; ga, Dún Dealgan ), meaning "the fort of Dealgan", is the county town (the administrative centre) of County Louth, Ireland. The town is on the Castletown River, which flows into Dundalk Bay on the east coast of Ireland. It is h ...

in August 1983 making his

League of Ireland The League of Ireland ( ga, Sraith na hÉireann), together with the Football Association of Ireland, is one of the two main governing bodies responsible for organising association football in the Republic of Ireland. The term was originally use ...

debut on 9 October at Sligo Rovers but departed by mutual consent in March after a series of confrontations with referees.. Dundalk. Retrieved 1 June 2012. He also had spells managing Maidenhead and Egham Town before retiring from the game in 1984. He is now involved in local charity work and recently attended the tributes to Peter Osgood at Stamford Bridge following the latter's death. He currently works with adults with autism and learning difficulties in a daycentre in the London Borough of Barnet. John has been a care worker in the area for a number of years.

Trivia

Dempsey was the first Irish international player ever to be sent off in a 1970 FIFA World Cup qualification game, being that against

Hungary national football team The Hungary national football team ( hu, magyar labdarúgó-válogatott) represents Hungary in men's international Association football, football and is controlled by the Hungarian Football Federation. The team has made 9 appearances in the FIF ...

in the Ferenc Puskás Stadium

Honours

Chelsea *

1970 Events January * January 1 – Unix time epoch reached at 00:00:00 UTC. * January 5 – The 7.1 Tonghai earthquake shakes Tonghai County, Yunnan province, China, with a maximum Mercalli intensity of X (''Extreme''). Between 10,000 and ...

European Cup Winners' Cup The UEFA Cup Winners' Cup was a European football club competition contested annually by the winners of domestic cup competitions. The cup was, chronologically, the second seasonal inter-European club competition organised by UEFA. The tournam ...

: 1971

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Dempsey, John 1946 births Living people Chelsea F.C. players Fulham F.C. players North American Soccer League (1968–1984) players Philadelphia Fury (1978–1980) players Republic of Ireland association footballers Republic of Ireland international footballers Dundalk F.C. managers Republic of Ireland football managers League of Ireland managers Dundalk F.C. players League of Ireland players English Football League players Association football defenders Maidenhead United F.C. managers Egham Town F.C. managers English people of Irish descent Serbian White Eagles FC players Canadian National Soccer League players Serbian White Eagles FC managers Canadian National Soccer League coaches FA Cup Final players

Career

Trivia

Honours

See also

References

External links