Samuel Irvine (born 7 January 1956) is a Scottish 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 le ...

who played as a

midfielder A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

the Football League The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, the league is the oldest such competition in the world. It was the top-level football league in Engla ...

for Shrewsbury Town and

Stoke City Stoke City Football Club is a professional football club based in Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, England, which competes in the . Founded as Stoke Ramblers in 1863, it changed its name to Stoke in 1878 and then to Stoke City in 1925 after Stoke ...

Career

Irvine was born in

Glasgow Glasgow ( ; sco, Glesca or ; gd, Glaschu ) is the most populous city in Scotland and the fourth-most populous city in the United Kingdom, as well as being the 27th largest city by population in Europe. In 2020, it had an estimated popul ...

but started his career at English side Shrewsbury Town where he made 229 league appearances for the club, scoring 19 goals in six seasons.*Jones, Mike: "Breathe on 'em Salop - The Second Coming" (Salop Sporting Services, ). Under the guidance of

Alan Durban William Alan Durban (born 7 July 1941) is a Welsh former international footballer and manager, whose career was at its peak between the 1970s and 1990s. He played in the Football League for Cardiff City, Derby County and was player-manager of ...

the "Shrews" gained promotion from the Fourth Division in 1974–75 and were able to establish themselves in the third tier. In January 1978

joined Second Division

and less than six months later he signed Irvine for £60,000. His first season with Stoke was full of promise for Irvine as he played well as Stoke finished in 3rd position and gained promotion back to the First Division. In 1979–80 with Stoke playing at the highest level and Irvine's career seemingly improving it came as a shock when in February 1980 he was involved in a near fatal car crash when his Triumph TR7 collided into a tree. His injuries meant that he had to bring an end to his professional football career at the age of 24.

Career statistics

Honours

Shrewsbury Town *

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 ...

runner-up: 1974–75 Stoke City *

Football League Second Division The Football League Second Division was the second level division in the English football league system between 1892 and 1992. Following the foundation of the FA Premier League, the Football League divisions were renumbered and the third ti ...

third-place promotion: 1978–79

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Irvine, Sammy Living people 1956 births Men's association football midfielders English men's footballers English Football League players Shrewsbury Town F.C. players Stoke City F.C. players Footballers from Glasgow