Ian Turner (footballer, born 1953)

English former footballer

Not to be confused with Iain Turner or Ian Turner (Irish footballer).

Ian Turner

Turner in 2006

Personal information
Date of birth|  (1953-01-17) 17 January 1953 (age 71)
Place of birth|  Middlesbrough, England
Height|  6 ft 0 in (1.83 m)[1]
Position(s)|  Goalkeeper
Youth career
|  South Bank
Senior career*
Years|  Team|  Apps|  (Gls)
1970–1972|  Huddersfield Town|  0|  (0)
1972–1974|  Grimsby Town|  26|  (0)
1973|  → Walsall (loan)|  3|  (0)
1974–1979|  Southampton|  77|  (0)
1978|  → Newport County (loan)|  7|  (0)
1978|  → Fort Lauderdale Strikers (loan)|  |
1978|  → Lincoln City (loan)|  7|  (0)
1979–1982|  Walsall|  39|  (0)
1980|  → Luton Town (loan)|  0|  (0)
1981|  → Halifax Town (loan)|  5|  (0)
1982–1984|  Witney Town|  |
1984–1985|  Salisbury City|  |
1985|  Totton|  |
1985|  Road-Sea Southampton|  |
1985–1986|  Waterlooville|  |
Total|  |  164|  (0)
Managerial career
1987|  Romsey Town
1987–1988|  Brockenhurst
1992–1993|  Romsey Town
1993|  Totton
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Ian Turner (born 17 January 1953) is an English former professional footballer, who won the FA Cup when he played for Southampton as goalkeeper in the 1976 FA Cup final.

## Club career

[edit]

### Early career

[edit]

Turner originally played at centre-half for his local team, South Bank.[2] However, during a match against Huddersfield Reserves, he played as a goalkeeper and was noticed by Huddersfield Town manager, Ian Greaves, who signed him as a professional in October 1970.[3]

He transferred to Grimsby Town in March 1972 where he first became acquainted with manager Lawrie McMenemy.[3]

### Southampton

[edit]

In March 1974, Southampton were seeking a replacement for long-time goalkeeper, Eric Martin, so McMenemy, who was by now Southampton's manager, went back to his former club, Grimsby, to sign Turner.[3]

He was the first choice keeper for the next few seasons, and in May 1976 was part of the Southampton team who beat Manchester United 1–0 in the FA Cup final.[4] Manchester United started stronger, and missed several early goalscoring opportunities, with Turner making a series of impressive saves to deny Gerry Daly and Gordon Hill.[5][6]

He was a brave and reliable keeper, but at the start of the 1976–77 season he injured his left knee and required an operation to remove both cartilages.[1][4][7] After his return to fitness he only made occasional appearances, including three appearances in European games against Olympique Marseille (twice) and Napoli.[8][9][10] He started the following season as first-choice keeper, but after eight games he lost his place to Peter Wells in October 1977.[1]

He left Southampton in the summer of 1978 to play for Fort Lauderdale.[4] In his five years at The Dell, he made 107 first team appearances for Southampton.[1]

### Other clubs

[edit]

During his career, he played on loan at various clubs, including Walsall, Newport County, Lincoln City, Luton Town and Halifax Town and spells at various non-league clubs including Witney Town, Salisbury City, Waterlooville.[1]

## Coaching career

[edit]

In 1987, Turner became manager of Romsey Town before becoming manager of Brockenhurst several months later.[2][1] In 1992, he had a second stint with Romsey Town.[1][2] He also managed AFC Totton in 1993.[1][2]

## After football

[edit]

After leaving football, he worked as an engineer in the oil industry in the North Sea and Middle East, and later worked for UK Construction.[7]

## Honours

[edit]

### As a player

[edit]

Southampton

* FA Cup: 1975–76[11]

## References

[edit]

1. ^ a b c d e f g h Chalk, Gary; Holley, Duncan; Bull, David (2013). All the Saints: A Complete Players' Who's Who of Southampton FC. Southampton: Hagiology Publishing. p. 485\. ISBN 978-0-9926-8640-6.
2. ^ a b c d Whitney, Steve (26 March 2021). "Whatever happened too…Waterlooville FC?". Southern Football League. Retrieved 17 November 2023.
3. ^ a b c Phelan, John (20 February 2021). "The best North-East footballers who left the region to find success". The Northern Echo. Retrieved 17 November 2023.
4. ^ a b c Bevan, Chris (2 January 2009). "When Saints shocked Man Utd". BBC Sport. Retrieved 17 November 2023.
5. ^ Leach, Tom (1 May 2021). "45 years on: The inside story of Southampton's 1976 FA Cup win and Lawrie McMenemy's genius call". Hampshire Live. Retrieved 17 November 2023.
6. ^ "Wembley upsets that shocked the football world". Wales Online. 29 March 2013. Retrieved 17 November 2023.
7. ^ a b Struthers, Greg (4 January 2009). "Caught in time: Stokes lights up Wembley". The Times. Retrieved 17 November 2023.
8. ^ "Southampton 4–0 Marseille". Archived from the original on 1 October 2013.
9. ^ "Marseille 2–1 Southampton". Archived from the original on 1 October 2013.
10. ^ "Anglo-Italian League Cup". Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation. Retrieved 17 November 2023.
11. ^ Vernon, Leslie; Rollin, Jack (1977). Rothmans Football Yearbook 1977–78. London: Brickfield Publications Ltd. p. 491\. ISBN 0354 09018 6.

### Bibliography

[edit]

* Duncan Holley & Gary Chalk (2003). In That Number – A post-war chronicle of Southampton FC. Hagiology Publishing. ISBN 0-9534474-3-X.
* Tim Manns (2006). Tie a Yellow Ribbon: How the Saints Won the Cup. Hagiology Publishing. ISBN 0-9534474-6-4.

*[Apps]: League appearances
*[Gls]: League goals