Kenneth Furphy (28 May 1931 – 17 January 2015) was an English

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. Despite being on the books at Everton between 1950 and 1951, Furphy was a lower league player with

Runcorn Runcorn is an industrial town and cargo port in the Borough of Halton in Cheshire, England. Its population in 2011 was 61,789. The town is in the southeast of the Liverpool City Region, with Liverpool to the northwest across the River Mersey. ...

(1951–53)

Darlington Darlington is a market town in the Borough of Darlington, County Durham, England. The River Skerne flows through the town; it is a tributary of the River Tees. The Tees itself flows south of the town. In the 19th century, Darlington underwen ...

(1953–62) and then

Workington Workington is a coastal town and civil parish at the mouth of the River Derwent on the west coast in the Allerdale borough of Cumbria, England. The town was historically in Cumberland. At the 2011 census it had a population of 25,207. Loca ...

(1962–64). He was selected to play for the Third Division North representative side in 1954–55. In 1964, as Workington's

player-manager 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 ...

, he led them into the Third Division and left to become player-manager at

Watford Watford () is a town and borough in Hertfordshire, England, 15 miles northwest of Central London, on the River Colne. Initially a small market town, the Grand Junction Canal encouraged the construction of paper-making mills, print works, a ...

where he remained for several years, winning promotion to the Second Division for the first time in the club's history in 1969, and reaching 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 ...

semi-final a year later. He moved to

Blackburn Rovers Blackburn Rovers Football Club is a professional football club, based in Blackburn, Lancashire, England, which competes in the , the second tier of the English football league system. They have played home matches at Ewood Park since 1890. T ...

as manager in 1971 for two seasons before being announced as the new manager of

Sheffield United Sheffield United Football Club is a professional football club in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England, which compete in the . They are nicknamed "the Blades" due to Sheffield's history of cutlery production. The team have played home games at ...

on 9 December 1973. Despite financial difficulties due to the building of the new South Stand, he led United to sixth place in the First Division; a 0–0 draw away to

Birmingham City Birmingham City Football Club is a professional football club based in Birmingham, England. Formed in 1875 as Small Heath Alliance, it was renamed Small Heath in 1888, Birmingham in 1905, and Birmingham City in 1943. Since 2011, the first te ...

on the last day of the 1974–75 season left them just one point short of a

UEFA Cup A cup is an open-top used to hold hot or cold liquids for pouring or drinking; while mainly used for drinking, it also can be used to store Solid, solids for pouring (e.g., sugar, flour, grains, salt). Cups may be made of glass, metal, porcela ...

place. However, the following season started disastrously with just one win from 11 games and his contract was terminated on 6 October 1975. Furphy left for America to manage the

New York Cosmos New York Cosmos may refer to * New York Cosmos (1970–1985), a team in the North American Soccer League (then the top-tier soccer league in the United States and Canada) * New York Cosmos (2010), a team playing since 2020 in the National Independe ...

(1975–76) in the NASL. He also coached the

Miami Toros The Miami Toros was a professional soccer team in the North American Soccer League from 1972 to 1976. The club was founded in 1967 as the Washington Darts, and moved to Miami, where they played the 1972 season in the NASL's Southern Division as ...

(1976–77), the

Detroit Express The Detroit Express was a soccer team based in suburban Detroit that played in the now defunct North American Soccer League (NASL) from 1978 to 1980. Its home field was the Pontiac Silverdome. The Express were co-owned by Jimmy Hill, Roger Fa ...

(1977–80) and the

Washington Diplomats The Washington Diplomats were an American soccer club representing Washington, D.C. Throughout their playing existence, the club played their home games at Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Stadium and indoor home matches at the neighboring D.C. Arm ...

(1981). He has also managed the national team of Bermuda and the Cleveland Force. During the 2000–01 season he was appointed as Technical Director of

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 ...

, to help then manager Noel Blake as the club battled against relegation; this tenure was short-lived, and he left the club after just six days in the job. He also worked for BBC Radio Devon's sports department, commentating on local football matches. He coached his son, former NASL and

MISL The Misls (derived from an Arabic word wikt:مثل#Etymology_3, مِثْل meaning 'equal') were the twelve sovereign states of the Sikh Confederacy, which rose during the 18th century in the Punjab region in the northern part of the Indian ...

player

Keith Furphy Keith Furphy (born 30 July 1958) is an English-American former professional footballer who played forward or winger, spending most of his career in the United States. He played four seasons in the North American Soccer League, seven in the M ...

, while both were in Detroit. Furphy died on 17 January 2015 in a care home in

Dawlish Dawlish is an English seaside resort town and civil parish in Teignbridge on the south coast of Devon, from the county town of Exeter and from the larger resort of Torquay. Its 2011 population of 11,312 was estimated at 13,355 in 2019. It is t ...

, where he had dementia.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Furphy, Ken 1931 births 2015 deaths Footballers from Stockton-on-Tees Footballers from County Durham English footballers Association football defenders Everton F.C. players Runcorn F.C. Halton players Darlington F.C. players Workington A.F.C. players Watford F.C. players English football managers Workington A.F.C. managers Watford F.C. managers Blackburn Rovers F.C. managers Sheffield United F.C. managers North American Soccer League (1968–1984) coaches Expatriate soccer managers in the United States Exeter City F.C. non-playing staff