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

(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 s ...

, 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, and ...

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. Th ...

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 association football, 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. Sin ...

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 solids for pouring (e.g., sugar, flour, grains, salt). Cups may be made of glass, metal, china, clay ...

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 Independ ...

(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 ...

(1976–77), the Detroit Express (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 soccer, indoor home matches at the neigh ...

(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 player Keith Furphy, while both were in Detroit. Furphy died on 17 January 2015 in a care home in Dawlish, where he had dementia.

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* {{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