Kenny Sansom

Kenny Sansom
Kenny Sansom (2011)
Personnel
Surname	Kenneth Graham Sansom
birthday	September 26, 1958
place of birth	Camberwell , London ,  England
position	Full-back (left)
Men's
Years	station	Games (goals) 1
1974-1980	Crystal Palace	172 (3)
1980-1988	Arsenal FC	314 (6)
1988-1989	Newcastle United	20 (0)
1989-1991	Queens Park Rangers	64 (0)
1991-1993	Coventry City	51 (0)
1993	Everton FC	7 (1)
1993	Brentford FC	8 (0)
1994	Watford FC	1 (0)
National team
Years	selection	Games (goals)
1978-1980	England U-21	8 (0)
1979-1988	England	86 (1)
1 Only league games are given.

Kenneth "Kenny" Graham Sansom (* 26. September 1958 in Camberwell , London ) is an English former football player and, with 86 caps, most full-back -Inserts for the English national team .

Athletic career

Sansom began his career as a left-back in high school with the Crystal Palace youth teams and made his debut for the first team at the age of just 16, making him the second youngest debutant in Crystal Palace history to date. In 1977 he was both captain of the Palace youth team, which won the FA Youth Cup , and for the English youth team in his age group.

Sansom's calm style of play was also characterized by an above-average acceleration as well as strengths in duels and flanks. From 1976 on, he was with the Crystal Palace team almost continuously and missed only one of 156 championship games. By 1979, Palace got two successive promotions from the Third Division to the First Division with Sansom , with Palace's stay in the English elite class only until his descent in 1981.

In the summer of 1980, which provided Arsenal a million pounds transfer fee for Sansom and made an exchange with only a few weeks earlier by the Queens Park Rangers committed striker talent Clive Allen in view. Palace accepted the offer, so that Sansom played in the future at Highbury and Allen moved to Crystal Palace in return. In the same summer, after his debut the year before against Wales (0-0), he played during the European Championship in Italy in 1980 , when England were eliminated after the preliminary round.

It took Sansom seven years at Arsenal to win a trophy as the club consistently underperformed in the early and mid-1980s. Sansom was able to develop his potential more in the national team when he first reached the second group stage with England at the 1982 World Cup in Spain . Even at the 1986 World Cup in Mexico , Sansom was still a regular in the position of left full-back and played all games, including the quarter-final defeat against Argentina , in which the hand of God goal fell.

When Sansom was not even 30 years old, he had only missed a few international matches between 1980 and 1988 under coaches Ron Greenwood and later Bobby Robson and was rarely seen in friendly matches by the potential alternatives to his position Derek Statham , Alan Kennedy and Nick Pickering replaced.

Until 1987 Sansom was the seeded regular for England's jersey with the number 3, until then Stuart Pearce , team captain and left defender of Nottingham Forest , was able to convince in his first appearance against Brazil , even preparing England's goal through Gary Lineker , and henceforth to one very serious competitor. Nevertheless, Sansom was intended to be the first choice in his position for the upcoming European Championship in Germany .

In 1987 Sansom won his first FA Cup when he Arsenal to a win in the final of the League Cup against Liverpool in the Wembley led as captain. He was instrumental in the late winning goal by Charlie Nicholas .

In the following season, the relationship between Sansom and Arsenal coach George Graham worsened , who also passed on the task of team captain to the newcomer Tony Adams , who was just 21 years old. Sansom was still a regular, although Graham had recently signed Nigel Winterburn with a long-term contract. Arsenal reached the final of the League Cup again and lost it 3-2 to Luton Town after a dramatic game .

At the European Championship, Sansom Robsons was a regular on the left full-back position, with England disappointed with three defeats and defeated Ireland 0-1 in their European championship debut in their first game, Ireland being coached by the former England international and World Champion from 1966, Jack Charlton .

Sansom made a momentous mistake on the only goal of the game when he shot the ball high into the air in a defensive effort. The subsequent header duel was won by Irish player John Aldridge , with whose submission Ray Houghton was able to overcome English goalkeeper Peter Shilton . Sansom also played in the other two group encounters, but it was now clear that Pearce, who was absent from the tournament only because of an injury and was replaced by Tony Dorigo , was the future solution on the left after a good season at Nottingham Forest under Brian Clough Defensive side would represent. After nine years and 86 internationals in which Sansom scored a goal in the World Cup qualifier against Finland in 1984, Sansom's national team career ended just months before his 30th birthday.

To this day, Sansom is England's record international player for a full-back position, with Pearce staying only slightly below the mark with his 78 international appearances until 1999. In addition, with Peter Shilton, Bobby Moore , Bobby Charlton , Billy Wright , David Beckham and Bryan Robson, only six players currently have more international matches than Sansom, with Gary Neville ousting him from seventh place in the near future and, in his case, even as the record full-back could overtake.

Sansom's career ended at Arsenal after 394 games and six goals. After that, he never again reached the level of performance he had previously shown at his subsequent club stations. After he moved to Newcastle United for one season, he then joined the clubs Queens Park Rangers , Coventry City , Everton , Brentford and Watford . At the end of his professional career, he was active in amateur football for two more years. After Sansom's departure from Arsenal, Winterburn took over the position of left defender for the next 13 years and won three English championships, three FA Cups , a league cup and, once, the European Cup Winners' Cup .

After his gaming career, Sansom experienced significant financial problems caused by his business activities and a gambling addiction . Sansom is currently back as a player in senior teams and tournaments and is occasionally active as an expert and commentator on football matches, mostly with the participation of Crystal Palace and Arsenal FC.

successes

• English League Cup: 1987

Web links

• Statistics in the Post War English & Scottish Football League A - Z Player's Database
• Photo by Kenny Sansom