John Francombe (Ian) Ure (born December 7 1939) is a Scottish former footballer. A centre half, Ure started his career at Dundee, playing for the club for five seasons, during which the club won its one and only First Division title, and reached the semi-finals of the European Cup. He transferred south of the border in 1963 for a transfer fee of £62,500 to play for Arsenal. A regular for Arsenal in his first few seasons, he lost his first-team place during the mid-1960s but regained his place towards the end of the decade; he played 202 times for Arsenal in total, scoring twice. Some observers considered his talents as a defender to be somewhat deficient, especially after Ure's errors in the 1969 League Cup final, which led to Arsenal's shock defeat at the hands of Swindon Town. Nick Hornby noted in his book, Fever Pitch:[1]
| “ | I was the only Arsenal supporter in the first year. QPR, the nearest First Division team, had Rodney Marsh; Chelsea had Peter Osgood, Tottenham had Greaves, West Ham had three World Cup heroes, Hurst, Moore and Peters. Arsenal's best-known player was probably Ian Ure, famous only for being hilariously useless and for his contributions to the television series Quiz Ball. | ” |
Ure left Arsenal in August 1969 to join Manchester United, where he spent two seasons before returning to Scotland to play for St Mirren and then East Stirling. He also played eleven times for Scotland, and acquired a further degree of fame as a celebrity guest on the BBC soccer quiz game Quiz Ball. After retiring from playing, he spent some time as a coach, including a spell as manager of East Stirling, but later left the game completely. He is currently employed as a social worker in Kilmarnock.
References
- ^ Hornby, Nick (1992). Fever Pitch. Indigo, p.22. ISBN 1-84018-900-2.
| Preceded by Alex Ferguson |
East Stirlingshire F.C. manager 1974-1975 |
Succeeded by Dan McLindon |
