Ian Ure

John Francombe "Ian" Ure (born 7 December 1939) is a former Scottish football player and manager. Ure started his career with Dundee, before moving to England to play for Arsenal and Manchester United. After eight years in England, Ure returned to Scotland to play for St Mirren, however, after two seasons with the Paisley club and only three league appearances, Ure went into football management with East Stirlingshire. During his time with Dundee and Arsenal, Ure played on 11 occasions for the Scotland national team.

Ian Ure
Personal information
Full name John Francombe Ure[1]
Date of birth (1939-12-07) 7 December 1939
Place of birth Ayr, Scotland
Position(s) Centre half
Youth career
Ayr Albion
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1958–1963 Dundee 107 (0)
1963–1969 Arsenal 168 (2)
1969–1971 Manchester United 47 (1)
1971–1973 St Mirren 3 (0)
National team
1961[2] Scotland U23 1 (0)
1961–1962[3] Scottish League XI 4 (0)
1961–1967[4] Scotland 11 (0)
1962[5] SFA trial v SFL 1 (0)
Teams managed
1974–1975 East Stirlingshire
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only

Career

Ure started his career as a centre half with Ayr Albion. In 1958, after being scouted by the Dens Park club, Ure signed for Dundee where he remained for five seasons. During that time, the club won its one and only First Division title in 1961–62, and reached the semi-finals of the European Cup in 1962–63, losing 5–2 on aggregate to eventual champions Milan. During this time Ure also won eight caps for Scotland, his debut coming against Wales on 8 November 1961, a game Scotland won 2–0.

He moved south of the border in 1963 for a transfer fee of £62,500 to play for Arsenal. He only missed one match for Arsenal in his first season (and won a further two caps for Scotland), but injury and a loss of form restricted his appearances in 1964–65 and 1965–66, although he still managed more than 20 matches each season. Ure was restored to the Arsenal lineup by Bertie Mee, however, and played 44 matches in 1966–67; he won his eleventh and final cap for Scotland against Northern Ireland on 21 October 1967.

Ure continued to feature regularly for Arsenal as the 1960s went on, but during this time made a couple of errors in 'big' matches, exemplified by his mistake in the 1969 League Cup Final versus Swindon Town, which allowed Roger Smart to score Swindon's opening goal; Swindon went on to win 3–1 after extra time.

Ure played 202 matches for Arsenal in defence over the course of six years, scoring two goals, and picking up two League Cup runners-up medals (1968 and 1969). Famously he was involved in a number of clashes with Denis Law in the game against Manchester United in October 1967, that saw both players receive a six match ban, as well as first use of the bath.[6]However, with Frank McLintock and Terry Neill competing for the centre half position, Ure found himself being squeezed out towards the end of that decade, and he left Arsenal in August 1969 to join Manchester United. The only major signing made by manager Wilf McGuinness, Ure spent two seasons at Manchester United before returning to Scotland to play for St Mirren.

After retiring from playing, he spent some time as a coach, including a spell as manager of East Stirlingshire, but later left the game completely, and was employed as a social worker in Kilmarnock.

Career statistics

Source [7]

Club performance League Cup League Cup Continental Total
SeasonClubLeague AppsGoals AppsGoals AppsGoals AppsGoals AppsGoals
Scotland League Scottish Cup League Cup Europe Total
1958–59DundeeDivision One20
1959–6070
1960–61320
1961–62340
1962–63320
England League FA Cup League Cup Europe Total
1963–64ArsenalFirst Division411
1964–65221
1965–66210
1966–67370
1967–68210
1968–69230
1969–7030
1969–70Manchester UnitedFirst Division341
1970–71130
1971–7200
Scotland League Scottish Cup League Cup Europe Total
1972–73St MirrenDivision Two30
1973–7400
Total Scotland 1100
England 2153
Career total 3253

References

  1. "Ian Ure". Barry Hugman's Footballers. Retrieved 25 March 2017.
  2. Scotland U23 player Ure, Ian, FitbaStats
  3. SFL player John Francombe (Ian) Ure, London Hearts Supporters Club
  4. Scotland player Ian Ure, London Hearts Supporters Club
  5. Ronnie McDevitt (2016). Scotland in the 60s: The Definitive Account of the Scottish National Football Side During the 1960s. Pitch Publishing. ISBN 9781785312458.
  6. "Classic Match: 1967 - Manchester United 1-0 Arsenal".
  7. "Ian Ure". National Football Teams. Benjamin Strack-Zimmerman.
General
  • Harris, Jeff; Hogg, Tony, eds. (1995). Arsenal Who's Who. Independent UK Sports. ISBN 1-899429-03-4.
  • Ian Ure at Post War English & Scottish Football League A–Z Player's Database
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