Keith Burkinshaw

Infobox Football biography
playername = Keith Burkinshaw


fullname = Harry Keith Burkinshaw
dateofbirth = birth date and age|1935|6|23
cityofbirth = Higham, Barnsley
countryofbirth = England
currentclub =
position = Defender (retired)
youthyears =
youthclubs = Wolves
years = 19??–1953
1953–1957
1957–1965
1965–1968
clubs = Denaby United Liverpool Workington Scunthorpe United
caps(goals) =
001 (0)
293 (9)
108 (3)
manageryears = 1964–1965
1976–1984
1984–1986
1987–1988
1988–1989
1993–1994
1997
managerclubs = afc|Workington
Tottenham Hotspur
Bahrain
Sporting Clube de Portugal
Gillingham
West Bromwich Albion
Aberdeen

Harry Keith Burkinshaw (born June 23, 1935 in Higham, near Barnsley, Yorkshire) is an English former professional footballer and football manager.

Playing career

Burkinshaw began his footballing career with Midland League side Denaby United while working at Dodworth Colliery. He had a brief spell as an amateur with Wolverhampton Wanderers before joining Liverpool in November 1953. He played just once for Liverpool, against Port Vale in April 1955, moving to Workington in December 1957 for a fee of £3,000. He was player-manager of Workington between November 1964 and March 1965, leaving to join Scunthorpe United in May 1965, having played 293 league games for Workington. He played a further 108 league games for Scunthorpe, and had a short spell as caretaker manager before retiring from playing in May 1968.

Coaching and managerial career

Shortly after announcing his retirement, Burkinshaw moved to Zambia where he coached for a few months before returning to England as coach of Newcastle United. He was sacked by Newcastle in May 1975 and joined Tottenham Hotspur as coach the same month.

He acted as manager of Tottenham Hotspur Football club from July 14 1976 to May 31 1984. He was their second most successful manager (after Bill Nicholson). Spurs were relegated in Burkinshaw's first year in charge but bounced straight back for promotion the following year. He signed two Argentine World Cup stars, Osvaldo Ardiles and Ricardo Villa, in 1978. It was considered a brave move but Ossie would become one of the Spurs greats and Villa would score one of the greatest goals ever seen at Wembley in the 1981 FA Cup Final replay. Burkinshaw's Spurs, with Ardiles, Villa and Glenn Hoddle, won two successive FA Cups (81 & 82).

In his final game in charge, Spurs won the UEFA Cup (1984) for a second time after a penalty shoot-out after the second leg at White Hart Lane. In doing so, they beat an R.S.C. Anderlecht team that included the future Spurs Sporting Director Frank Arnesen. On leaving White Hart Lane for the last time, brought about by a disagreement with the board, he remarked "There used to be a football club there".

In June 1984 he was appointed as coach to the Bahrain national side and later managed Sporting Clube de Portugal. In October 1988 he returned to England as manager of Gillingham, but resigned in April 1989 with the team on the verge of relegation to Division Four.

Burkinshaw was later Chief Scout for Glenn Hoddle and Ossie Ardiles at Swindon Town and in May 1992 became assistant to Ardiles at West Bromwich Albion. When Ardiles moved to managed Tottenham in the summer of 1993, Burkinshaw was promoted to Albion manager. However, his career as Albion manager lasted just one season (1993–94) and he was sacked after they narrowly avoided relegation back to Division Two.

He was later Director of Football at Aberdeen before briefly taking charge as caretaker-manager at Pittodrie when Roy Aitken was sacked in 1997, he left when Alex Miller was appointed as the club's new manager.

In March 2005 Burkinshaw was appointed assistant manager at Watford. He left this position in December 2007 due to a serious family illness, having helped the club reach promotion to the Premier League in 2006.

Honours

As a manager

Tottenham Hotspur
* FA Cup winner 1981
* FA Cup winner 1982
* UEFA Cup winner 1984

Sporting Lisbon

* Portuguese SuperCup winner in 1987/1988

ee also

* List of UEFA Cup winning managers

External links

*soccerbase (manager)|id=867|name=Keith Burkinshaw