Vivian Dennis Busby (born 19 June 1949) is an English former professional

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 ...

and manager. He played for

Wycombe Wanderers Wycombe Wanderers Football Club is an English professional association football club based in the town of High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire. The team compete in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. They play their ho ...

Luton Town Luton Town Football Club () is a professional association football club based in the town of Luton, Bedfordshire, England, that competes in the Championship, the second tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1885, it is nicknam ...

, Newcastle United, Fulham

Norwich City Norwich City Football Club (also known as The Canaries or The Yellows) is an English professional football club based in Norwich, Norfolk. The club competes in the EFL Championship following their relegation from the Premier League in the 20 ...

, Stoke City,

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 ...

Tulsa Roughnecks Tulsa Roughnecks may refer to any of four distinct professional soccer teams: *Tulsa Roughnecks (1978–1984), the original top-flight team that played in the North American Soccer League from 1978 to 1984. *Tulsa Roughnecks (1993–2000), the team ...

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. Th ...

and

York City York City Football Club is a professional association football club based in the city of York, North Yorkshire, England. As of the 2022–23 season, the team compete in the National League, at the fifth tier of the English football league sys ...

Playing career

Born in Slough, Buckinghamshire, Busby started his playing career at

in 1966, but was unable to hold down a regular place in their team, despite his emerging talent. He moved to

in January 1970. At

Kenilworth Road Kenilworth Road is an association football stadium in Luton, Bedfordshire, England. It has been the home ground of Luton Town Football Club since 1905. The stadium has also hosted women's and youth international matches, including the second ...

Busby scored four goals in his first nine matches helping the club gain promotion to the Second Division in 1969–70. He scored eight goals in 1970–71 but struggled to find form in 1971–72 and spent time out on loan at Newcastle United. He was sold to Fulham in August 1973 where he had the most prolific spell of his career. He scored 12 goals in 1973–74 and 18 in 1974–75 of which six were in 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 ...

helping Fulham reach the

1975 FA Cup Final The 1975 FA Cup Final was the 94th final of the FA Cup. It took place on 3 May 1975 at Wembley Stadium and was contested by London clubs West Ham United and Fulham. The Fulham team contained two former England captains in former West Ham cap ...

, losing 2–0 against

West Ham United West Ham United Football Club is an English professional football club that plays its home matches in Stratford, East London. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football. The club plays at the London Stadium, hav ...

. After scoring 38 goals in 155 matches for the Cottagers, he moved to First Division

where he made a fine start, scoring 11 goals in his first 18 matches for the Canaries, including a hat-trick against

Leicester City Leicester ( ) is a city, unitary authority and the county town of Leicestershire in the East Midlands of England. It is the largest settlement in the East Midlands. The city lies on the River Soar and close to the eastern end of the National ...

on New Year's Day 1977. However, he fell out of favour in 1977–78 and moved on to Stoke City. He was never a prolific goalscorer at the

Victoria Ground The Victoria Ground was the home ground of Stoke City from 1878 until 1997, when the club relocated to the Britannia Stadium after 119 years. At the time of its demolition it was the oldest operational ground in the Football League. History ...

but made up for it with his effort in 1978–79, helping Stoke gain promotion to the First Division. He scored 12 goals for Stoke in 60 matches and spent a short time out on loan at

before moving to the United States to play for

. He stayed in

Tulsa, Oklahoma Tulsa () is the second-largest city in the state of Oklahoma and 47th-most populous city in the United States. The population was 413,066 as of the 2020 census. It is the principal municipality of the Tulsa Metropolitan Area, a region with ...

for the

1980 North American Soccer League season Statistics of North American Soccer League in season 1980. This was the 13th season of the NASL. Overview The league comprised 24 teams; for the only time in NASL history, the lineup of teams was identical to the year before, with no clubs joining ...

before returning to England with

and then ended his playing career with

Managerial and coaching career

Busby worked as a coach at

between 1982 and 1987. Busby became manager of

Hartlepool United Hartlepool United Football Club is a professional association football club based in Hartlepool, County Durham, England. The team competes in EFL League Two, League Two, the fourth tier of the English football league system. They were founded i ...

on 15 February 1993 and left the position on 24 November 1993. Busby had been youth-team coach at

Swindon Town Swindon Town Football Club is a professional football club based in Swindon, Wiltshire, England. The team currently competes in , the fourth tier of the English football league system. The club has played home matches at the County Ground sin ...

, where he suffered a six-month battle against

leukaemia Leukemia ( also spelled leukaemia and pronounced ) is a group of blood cancers that usually begin in the bone marrow and result in high numbers of abnormal blood cells. These blood cells are not fully developed and are called ''blasts'' or ...

. He was named as assistant manager at York City in September 2004. Busby was placed as caretaker manager at York City in November 2004 following the sacking of Chris Brass. He left his position as caretaker manager at York by mutual consent on 10 February 2005, when he was replaced by Billy McEwan. Busby worked as Youth Academy Manager at Gretna, but left after a change to the backroom staff. He was appointed as assistant manager at

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. Locat ...

in September 2007. He left in October 2011 to emigrate to Spain.

Personal life

He is the older brother of former

Queens Park Rangers Queens Park Rangers Football Club, commonly abbreviated to QPR, is a professional football club based in Shepherd's Bush, West London, England, which compete in the . After a nomadic early existence, they have played home matches at Loftus Ro ...

midfielder

Martyn Busby Martyn George Busby (born 24 March 1953) is an English former professional footballer who played mainly with Queens Park Rangers. Born in High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire, Busby signed professional forms with QPR in 1970 and made his debut in a 2 ...

Career statistics

Managerial statistics

Honours

Luton Town *

Football League Third Division The Football League Third Division was the third tier of the English football league system in 1920–21 and again from 1958 until 1992. When the FA Premier League was formed, the division become the fourth tier level. In 2004, following th ...

runner-up: 1969–70 Fulham *

runner-up:

1975 It was also declared the ''International Women's Year'' by the United Nations and the European Architectural Heritage Year by the Council of Europe. Events January * January 1 - Watergate scandal (United States): John N. Mitchell, H. R. ...

Anglo-Scottish Cup The Anglo-Scottish Cup was a tournament arranged for teams in the English and Scottish football leagues during the summer for several years during the 1970s. It was created in 1975 as a new incarnation of the Texaco Cup, with a similar format t ...

runner-up: 1975–76 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 t ...

third-place promotion: 1978–79 York City * Football League Fourth Division champion: 1983–84

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Busby, Viv 1949 births Living people Footballers from Slough English men's footballers Men's association football forwards Wycombe Wanderers F.C. players Luton Town F.C. players Newcastle United F.C. players Fulham F.C. players Norwich City F.C. players Stoke City F.C. players Sheffield United F.C. players Tulsa Roughnecks (1978–1984) players Blackburn Rovers F.C. players York City F.C. players Isthmian League players English Football League players North American Soccer League (1968–1984) players English football managers Hartlepool United F.C. managers York City F.C. managers English Football League managers National League (English football) managers York City F.C. non-playing staff English expatriate sportspeople in the United States Expatriate men's soccer players in the United States English expatriate men's footballers