Anthony John Burns (born 27 March 1944 in Edenbridge, Kent, England) is an English goalkeeping coach and former football goalkeeper and manager.

Career

Club

Burns played for non-league

Tonbridge Angels Tonbridge Angels Football Club is a professional football club based in Tonbridge, Kent, England. The club was founded as Tonbridge Football Club in 1947 and became known as "The Angels" in 1949 when they started playing at the Angel Ground. S ...

before being signed by

Arsenal An arsenal is a place where arms and ammunition are made, maintained and repaired, stored, or issued, in any combination, whether privately or publicly owned. Arsenal and armoury (British English) or armory (American English) are mostly ...

in March 1963. He progressed through the Arsenal youth ranks, before making his league debut against

Burnley Burnley () is a town and the administrative centre of the wider Borough of Burnley in Lancashire, England, with a 2001 population of 73,021. It is north of Manchester and east of Preston, at the confluence of the River Calder and River Bru ...

on 17 October 1964. He went on to be a regular in the side, playing for 24 consecutive league games between October 1964 and March 1965, but conceded 47 goals in his time there and he was eventually dropped in favour of

Jim Furnell James Furnell (born 23 November 1937 in Clitheroe, Lancashire) is a former English association football, footballer, who played as a Goalkeeper (association football), goalkeeper. Career Furnell started his career at his local club Burnley F.C. ...

. He had sporadic appearances in the side from then on, before eventually leaving Arsenal in July 1966. He was sold to Brighton & Hove Albion and later on played for

Charlton Athletic Charlton Athletic Football Club is an English professional football club based in Charlton, south-east London, which compete in . Their home ground is The Valley, where the club have played since 1919. They have also played at The Mount in C ...

, Durban United, Crystal Palace,

Brentford Brentford is a suburban town in West London, England and part of the London Borough of Hounslow. It lies at the confluence of the River Brent and the Thames, west of Charing Cross. Its economy has diverse company headquarters buildings whi ...

(loan), Memphis Rogues and

Plymouth Argyle Plymouth Argyle Football Club is a professional football club based in the city of Plymouth, Devon, England. As of the 2021–22 season, the team are competing in League One, the third tier of English football. They have played at Home Park, ...

Managerial

Burns managed Tonbridge in three separate spells, from August 1980 to December 1982, August 1989 to May 1990, and in a caretaker role from November 2001 to May 2002. Between 1982 and 1985 he managed Gravesend & Northfleet. Burns was Millwall's goalkeeping coach for 14 years, between 1992 and 2006. He was appointed joint caretaker manager of Millwall with

Alan McLeary Alan McLeary (born 6 October 1964) is an English football former defender. He spent the majority of his career at Millwall, but also had spells at Charlton Athletic and Bristol City, as well as loan spells at Sheffield United and Wimbledon. I ...

in April 2006. The following month the duo stepped down to make way for a new permanent manager, Nigel Spackman. He moved to Crystal Palace in July 2006 to become their goalkeeping coach, but left the post in November 2007. In July 2014 he joined

Gillingham Football Club Gillingham Football Club is a professional association football club based in the town of Gillingham, Kent, England. The only Kent-based club in the Football League, the "Gills" play their home matches at Priestfield Stadium. The team compete ...

as Senior Goalkeeping Coach.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Burns, Tony 1944 births Living people People from Edenbridge, Kent English men's footballers Men's association football goalkeepers Tonbridge Angels F.C. players Arsenal F.C. players Brighton & Hove Albion F.C. players Charlton Athletic F.C. players Durban United F.C. players Maritzburg F.C. players Crystal Palace F.C. players Brentford F.C. players Memphis Rogues players Plymouth Argyle F.C. players English Football League players North American Soccer League (1968–1984) players English football managers Millwall F.C. managers English expatriate sportspeople in the United States Expatriate men's soccer players in the United States English expatriate men's footballers Association football goalkeeping coaches