Kenny Sansom

Kenneth Graham Sansom was born in Camberwell, London on 26 September 1958; the second youngest of five children. His father, George, was an itinerant who left the family home shortly after the birth of his youngest child. His mother, Rose, was a cleaner, and moved the family to Tulse Hill in 1960. He considered himself a goalkeeper in his early years, but while playing for a youth team called Spring Park Wolves he replaced an injured teammate at left-back, and remained a full-back for the rest of his career. He attended Beaufoy Secondary school, and was capped by England schoolboys.

Crystal Palace

Sansom was scouted by Arsenal, Queens Park Rangers and Tottenham Hotspur, but went on to join the youth team at Crystal Palace. He made his League debut against Tranmere Rovers on 7 May 1975. In 1977, he captained the Palace junior team to FA Youth Cup success while also skippering the England youth team at the same level, collecting Palace's "Player of the Year" award in his first season. Quick, calm, strong in the tackle and an excellent crosser of the ball, Sansom missed just one league game in a consecutive run of 156 games, starting in 1976, when Palace were in the Third Division. In the 1978–79 season Crystal Palace won the Second Division championship with Sansom integral to the young team. They were quickly labelled as the "Team of The '80s". and briefly topped the First Division at the start of the 1979–80 season although they ultimately finished in thirteenth…

On 23 May 1979, Sansom made his debut for the full England team, in a goalless draw against Wales. The following year he starred for England in Euro 1980 in Italy, though England did not progress beyond the group stage. Sansom was a regular starter playing in the 1982 World Cup in Spain, in which England exited in the second group phase. He was still the first-choice left-back for the 1986 World Cup in Mexico, playing in all of the matches up to and including the quarter-final defeat against Argentina, in which he was one of the England players left trailing behind by Diego Maradona as the Argentinian burst from inside his own half to score a solo goal and his second of the match. Sansom missed only a handful of England matches between 1980 and 1988; his record of 37 consecutive appearances between May 1984 and April 1987, has only been bettered by Billy Wright and Ron Flowers. He was occasionally rested in friendly matches so that coaches Ron Greenwood and then Bobby Robson could check on potential replacements Derek Statham, Alan Kennedy, Nick Pickering and Stuart Pearce in the event of losing Sansom either through serious injury or chronic loss of form. However, Sansom remained the regular left-back during England's UEFA Euro 1988 qualifying campaign. That summer, Sansom was Robson's first-choice left-back for the European Championships, but England lost all three of their group games, starting with a surprise 1–0 defeat to the Republic of Ireland in their first ever…

After retiring from playing, Sansom has battled with gambling addiction and alcoholism. In 2015 he said he had contemplated suicide after becoming homeless due to his problems. Sansom was a tour guide on the "Legend's Tour" of Arsenal's Emirates Stadium. He was a co-presenter of LBC Radio's Saturday afternoon football programme. Sansom was voted into Palace's Centenary XI. On 7 February 2014, Sansom appeared at court in Bromley, charged with assault following an alleged incident at his former partner's property. He was cleared of all charges. In May 2020 he was reportedly in hospital with an undisclosed illness. It was revealed six months later that he was diagnosed with Wernicke–Korsakoff syndrome, a type of dementia. Sansom's father George and uncle Terry were investigated but not charged as suspects in the Great Train Robbery. Sansom stated that he thought that they were innocent, but that his uncle Freddie, a well-known armed robber, was likely a member of the gang that committed the crime.

Crystal Palace

FA Youth Cup: 1977 Football League Second Division: 1978–79 Arsenal

Football League Cup: 1986–87 England

British Home Championship: 1981–82, 1982–83 Individual

Crystal Palace Player of the Year: 1977, 1979 Arsenal Player of the Season: 1980−81 PFA Third Division Team of the Year: 1976–77 PFA Second Division Team of the Year: 1977–78, 1978–79 PFA First Division Team of the Year (8): 1979–80, 1980–81, 1981–82, 1982–83, 1983–84, 1984–85, 1985–86, 1986–87