Joe Kinnear

Kinnear made an impression as a player with St Albans City. His talent as a defender was recognised and, in 1963, aged 17, he moved to Tottenham Hotspur as an amateur footballer. Learning his footballing skills under the managership of Bill Nicholson, Kinnear made his Tottenham debut on 8 April 1966 in a 4–1 home defeat by West Ham United. Kinnear had just played his first international game and three days later, in February 1967, Phil Beal broke his arm, which put him out of the rest of the season. This allowed Kinnear to play more regular football for Tottenham in the right back position and, by the end of the season, he went on to play in the 1967 FA Cup final, beating Chelsea, a game Tottenham won 2–1. Kinnear made almost 200 league appearances for Tottenham, scoring two league goals. He won four major honours during his time at the club: the FA Cup in 1967; the UEFA Cup in 1972 and the Football League Cup on two occasions (in 1971 and 1973). In 1975, he moved to Brighton, where he made 16 appearances before retiring aged 30.

Kinnear was capped 26 times by the Republic of Ireland, scoring no goals. His debut came in the 2–1 defeat by Turkey on 22 February 1967.

Asia

After his retirement from football in 1977, Kinnear spent five years in Sharjah in the United Arab Emirates managing Sharjah and Al-Shabab (alongside Dave Mackay), also spending time coaching in Malaysia. He spent three months coaching India and one year coaching Nepal, later returning to England to assist Mackay at Doncaster Rovers.

Wimbledon

Kinnear briefly took charge of Doncaster after Mackay's departure in 1989, but was replaced by Billy Bremner after a consortium completed their takeover of the club. Kinnear was appointed reserve team manager of Wimbledon later that year before being appointed manager at the club following Peter Withe's dismissal in January 1992. Kinnear led the Dons to a 6th-place finish in the Premier League in the 1993–94 season. He was voted Premier League Manager of the Month three times by the end of the season as Wimbledon finished above more established teams including Liverpool, Aston Villa, Everton and Tottenham Hotspur. The next season Kinnear continued to defy the odds and Wimbledon finished 9th in the league. It was reported that Kinnear turned down the chance to replace Jack Charlton as manager of the Republic of Ireland national team in 1996 because the FAI did not offer him enough money. Kinnear then guided Wimbledon to semi-finals in both of the major domestic cup competitions in 1997 as well as finishing 8th in the Premier League. When Wimbledon were taken over by new Norwegian owners after the end of that…

Kinnear moved to England at the age of eight. His father died when Kinnear was young and his mother brought up five children on a council estate in Watford. Kinnear captained his school and the Hertfordshire team and was noticed by St Albans City.