John Osborne (1 December 1940 – 7 November 1998) was an English football

goalkeeper In many team sports which involve scoring goals, the goalkeeper (sometimes termed goaltender, netminder, GK, goalie or keeper) is a designated player charged with directly preventing the opposing team from scoring by blocking or intercepting o ...

. He played for Chesterfield,

West Bromwich Albion West Bromwich Albion Football Club () is an English professional football club based in West Bromwich, West Midlands, England. They compete in the EFL Championship, the second tier of English football. The club was formed in 1878 and has pl ...

and Shamrock Rovers. Osborne was a member of Albion's great cup side of the late 1960s which played in 5 cup finals from 1966 to 1970, including the

1968 FA Cup final The 1968 FA Cup Final was the 87th final of the FA Cup. It took place on 18 May 1968 at Wembley Stadium and was contested between West Bromwich Albion and Everton. West Brom won 1–0 after extra time. Jeff Astle scored the winning goal, thus a ...

. His nickname was Bionic due to the plastic joint inserted in his finger. He made his Rovers debut at Milltown under his old teammate

Johnny Giles Michael John Giles (born 6 November 1940) is an Irish former association football player and manager best remembered for his time as a midfielder with Leeds United in the 1960s and 1970s. After retiring from management in 1985, Giles served as t ...

on 10 September 1978. He played 3 games in the

1978–79 European Cup Winners' Cup The 1978–79 season of the European Cup Winners' Cup was won by FC Barcelona in the final in Basel against Fortuna Düsseldorf. It was the first of four occasions that the Spanish club won the tournament. No club from Finland, Albania and Turkey ...

keeping 2 clean sheets giving him a total of 4 appearances for the Hoops. In 2004, he was named as one of West Bromwich Albion's 16 greatest players, in a poll organised as part of the club's 125th anniversary celebrations. Osborne was the commercial manager of

Worcestershire County Cricket Club Worcestershire County Cricket Club is one of eighteen first-class county clubs within the domestic cricket structure of England and Wales. It represents the historic county of Worcestershire. Its Vitality Blast T20 team has been rebrande ...

from 1986 to 1995, and played a significant part in the county's signing of long-time major sponsor MEB. "Obituaries". ''1999 Yearbook'',

Honours

West Bromwich Albion *

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 ...

(1):

1968 The year was highlighted by protests and other unrests that occurred worldwide. Events January–February * January 5 – " Prague Spring": Alexander Dubček is chosen as leader of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia. * Janu ...

* Football League Cup (1): 1966

References

External links

Superstars in Stripes - John Osborne
West Bromwich Albion F.C. Official Site 1940 births 1998 deaths People from Barlborough Footballers from Derbyshire English footballers Association football goalkeepers Chesterfield F.C. players West Bromwich Albion F.C. players Walsall F.C. players Shamrock Rovers F.C. players League of Ireland players FA Cup Final players {{England-footy-goalkeeper-stub