John Burridge

Born in Workington, Burridge grew up in the Cumbrian mining village of Great Clifton. He began his professional career at his local club, Workington, signing-up at the age of 15. He played his first league game in 1969. In 1971, he was transferred to Blackpool, initially on loan at the end of the 1970–71 season, then permanently for the start of 1971–72. It was with the Seasiders that he won his first honour: the Anglo-Italian Cup. Blackpool beat Bologna 2–1, after extra time, at the latter's Stadio Comunale on 12 June 1971. Burridge's performance earned him the praise of the normally highly-critical Italian fans.

In 1975, Burridge joined Aston Villa for £75,000. He was signed by Ron Saunders and spent two seasons at Villa Park, winning the League Cup with them, but eventually lost his place to Jimmy Rimmer. He had a short but successful loan spell at Southend United before joining Crystal Palace in 1978, signed by Terry Venables. In a 4–1 victory over Ipswich Town, after Palace went 4–0 up, Burridge, to entertain the fans, sat on the crossbar. After two and a half seasons at Palace, he joined London rivals Queens Park Rangers, again signed by Venables. He was dropped in favour of Peter Hucker for the 1982 FA Cup Final. In July 1982, Burridge joined his seventh club, Wolverhampton Wanderers. In the 1982–83 season in a game at Molineux, Wolves entertained Newcastle United. Prior to the game Burridge had made a bet with a stake of £100, with Kevin Keegan that Burridge would…

In his second spell with Blyth Spartans, Burridge was the club's player-manager. On 15 November 1997, he took Spartans to his first club, Blackpool, in the first round of the FA Cup. The hosts won 4–3. Burridge 'discovered' Oman national team goalkeeper Ali Al-Habsi aged 16 in his first spell on the coaching staff of the Oman national team and was instrumental in the player's transfer to Bolton Wanderers in January 2006. He has also coached English national goalkeepers Tim Flowers, Nigel Martyn and Paul Robinson. Burridge worked as a goalkeeping coach for Al Ain in the United Arab Emirates. He was a regular guest for the launch of English Premier League show on the regional sports channel ART Prime Sports and a regular pundit on Starhub, Singapore's Football Channel. He is also a writer in the football column of Singapore newspaper, The New Paper. Burridge had a spell as a backup commentator along with Rob Lee for Ten Sports UEFA Champions League fixtures and resident pundit on The Football Channel in Singapore, before returning to work for the Oman national team as goalkeeper coach. He was dismissed by Oman in January 2011. As of January 2012, Burridge is working as a television pundit for Ten Sports on their football show C2K on TEN Action along with Joe Morrison and Carlton Palmer. Together they cover UEFA Champions League and UEFA Europa League football from Dubai. in September 2015, he was the goalkeeping coach for the LionsXII which plays in the Malaysian Super…

Burridge is married to Janet, whom he met while with Blackpool. His son, Tom, played ice hockey for Blackburn Hawks. John Burridge's autobiography, entitled "Budgie" was released on 4 April 2011.

Blackpool

Anglo-Italian Cup: 1971 Aston Villa

Football League Cup: 1976–77 Crystal Palace

Football League Second Division: 1978–79 Wolverhampton Wanderers

Football League Second Division runner-up: 1982–83 Hibernian

Scottish League Cup: 1990–91 Individual

Newcastle United Player of the Year: 1990–91