Jim Furnell

Jim Furnell
Jim Furnell, November 1967
Personnel
Surname	James Furnell
birthday	November 23, 1937
place of birth	Clitheroe ,  England
position	goalkeeper
Men's
Years	station	Games (goals) 1
1954-1952	Burnley FC	2 (0)
1962-1963	Liverpool FC	28 (0)
1963-1968	Arsenal FC	141 (0)
1968-1970	Rotherham United	76 (0)
1970-1976	Plymouth Argyle	183 (0)
1 Only league games are given.

James "Jim" Furnell (born November 23, 1937 in Clitheroe ) is a former English football goalkeeper . After starting out as a substitute goalkeeper for Burnley FC , he was instrumental in helping Liverpool to return to the first division in 1962 . He was later a regular goalkeeper at Arsenal FC and Plymouth Argyle for a long time .

Athletic career

Furnell began his professional career as a substitute goalkeeper for Burnley FC , which was considered one of the best English clubs at the time and won the English championship in 1960 . He played in the shadow of Adam Blacklaw only three competitive games in the first team in eight years, including one in the 1959/60 title season. After a possible move to Everton had failed, Bill Shankly from Liverpool FC expressed his interest in signing the 24-year-old.

The "Reds" were only active in the second division at the time, but were preparing to return to the first division. After his commitment in February 1962 Furnell helped the club with 13 inserts to win the second division championship and promotion . He had replaced the previous goalkeeper Bert Slater , who had previously played 96 games in a row. Another 13 league games completed Furnell in the following season 1962/63 before he broke a complicated finger during training. The injury was so unfortunate that he had to spend a week in the hospital and even undergo a bone transplant. He was thus incapacitated for several months and the 22-year-old Tommy Lawrence used the time to conquer the regular place in the gate at Furnell's expense. He only stood twice for Liverpool in September 1963 and before his team won the English championship later in the season , he moved on to London for Arsenal in November 1963 .

As in Liverpool, Furnell was the new "number 1" at Arsenal immediately after his arrival and the day after he signed his contract he made his debut against Blackpool FC (5-3). He inherited from then on the longtime keeper Jack Kelsey and for the next five years he was Arsenal's goalkeeper - with the exception of the 1964/65 season, in which he shared the place with Tony Burns . The team performances under coach Billy Wright left a lot to be desired and only when Bertie Mee Wright inherited in 1966, the form improved. The highlight was for Furnell in March 1968 reaching the final in the League Cup , which was lost 1-0 to Leeds United . In the following match against Birmingham City he made a mistake that led to an equalization. He should not make a game for the first team and Bob Wilson replaced him. In September 1968 he moved to Rotherham United after a total of 167 competitive games for Arsenal .

Furnell stayed in Rotherham for two years before hiring Plymouth Argyle in December 1970 and was the undisputed regular goalkeeper there for another five and a half years until he retired in the summer of 1976 - in a poll in Plymouth in 2007 he was even named the club's best goalkeeper elected at all times. After the end of his active career, he moved to the coaching staff of Plymouth Argyle before joining the Blackburn Rovers in 1981 . There, too, he performed various coaching duties and only when he began his retirement in 1998 did he turn his back on football.

Web links

• Statistical data from the Post War English & Scottish Football League AZ Player's Database
• Jim Furnell in the barryhugmansfootballers.com database. Retrieved August 16, 2020.

Individual references / footnotes

1. ^ "Jim Furnell" (Liverpoolfc.com)
2. ↑ "Jim Furnell" ( Memento of the original from August 9, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (Arsenal.com)