George Elder Burley (born 3 June 1956 in
Cumnock,
East Ayrshire) is a
Scottish football manager and former player and manager, formerly the
manager of
Crystal Palace Football Club. Burley had a professional career spanning 21 years as a player making 628 appearances and earning 11 Scotland caps. His most successful spell came while at
Ipswich Town making 394 senior appearances, and being part of the squad that won the FA Cup and UEFA Cup in
1978 and
1981 respectively. Burley's managerial career began officially in 1991 with
Ayr United and has since spent spells at seven different clubs. On 24 January 2008 he was appointed manager of the
Scotland national team. He was sacked on 16 November 2009, following a 3–0 defeat to Wales.
His nephew, Craig, is also a former footballer.
Playing career
Burley joined
Ipswich Town in 1972 as an apprentice and made his senior debut against
Manchester United at
Old Trafford in 1973, being given the job of marking
George Best. In 1978 he was a member of the Ipswich side which upset the odds to defeat
Arsenal 1–0 in the
FA Cup final. However, in 1981 injury forced him out of Ipswich's
UEFA Cup final triumph over
AZ Alkmaar. Town missed out on the First Division title on the last day of the season, finishing runners-up to
Aston Villa.
In 1985 he joined Sunderland after making 500 appearances for Ipswich, and was part of the Sunderland team that slipped into the Third Division in 1987, only to win promotion a year later.
He played for Gillingham in the 1988–89 season, but was unable to prevent them from being relegated to the Fourth Division. He moved back to Scotland in 1989 to play for Motherwell.
Burley received eleven Scotland caps.
Management career
Ayr United
Burley joined
Ayr United as a player-manager in 1991, succeeding
Ally MacLeod. In his first season he took United to the B&Q; Centenary Cup Final and again reached the final of the competition (by then renamed the
B&Q; Challenge Cup) the following season. However, he did not succeed in taking Ayr back to the Premier League and was dismissed in 1993 for adverse results with the side's place in the First Division in serious jeopardy.
Motherwell
Burley moved briefly to
Falkirk in 1993 as a player before returning to
Motherwell as player-coach.
Colchester United
In June 1994 Burley returned to
East Anglia as
player-manager of
Colchester United. He played seven first team games and managed the club for 20 matches, 8 of which they won, before returning to
Ipswich Town the following November.
Ipswich Town
Burley was appointed manager at his former club, with
Dale Roberts as his assistant, having had talks with Town without Colchester knowing and so compensation was duly paid. During an eight-year reign he took Ipswich to three play-offs semi finals before finally winning promotion to the
Premier League on the fourth attempt via the
play-offs at
Wembley beating
Barnsley 4–2. The following season he guided the club to fifth place and qualification for the
UEFA Cup. This earned him the 2000–01 Manager of the Year award. Relegation the following season saw Burley's side struggling at the foot of
Football League First Division and his contract was terminated by mutual agreement in 2002.
Derby County
In 2003, Burley became interim manager of
Derby County while permanent manager
John Gregory was suspended. Burley managed to halt Derby's alarming slide towards the relegation zone of the First Division (just one season after relegation from the Premier League) and kept the club up comfortably. Burley was then appointed manager permanently when Gregory was sacked. The following season (
2003–04) was often a struggle, with Derby actually finishing a place lower than the season before, but there were signs of improvement. This showed through in the
2004–05 season when, despite spending no money on new players, Burley transformed Derby from relegation contenders to a fourth place finish and play-off semi-finalists. However, things were not as happy as they seemed on the surface with Burley's relationship with
director of football Murdo Mackay and the club's board (who sold star player
Tom Huddlestone without informing Burley) being very strained. After days of speculation and
mudslinging, Burley announced his resignation from Derby in June 2005.
Heart of Midlothian
Burley was appointed manager of
Heart of Midlothian on 30 June 2005. A stunning start to his tenure as Hearts manager saw them top the
Scottish Premier League after the first ten games, winning eight of these, including a 4–0 victory over rivals
Hibernian – proving themselves to be genuine title challengers. However, he left the club the day after major shareholder
Vladimir Romanov, with whom Burley had a notoriously uneasy relationship, announced a bid to take private control of Hearts. A club statement declared his departure was by mutual consent because of irreconcilable differences.
Southampton
Burley was appointed as Head Coach of
Southampton on 23 December 2005 following the departure of
Harry Redknapp. The club's technical director,
Sir Clive Woodward, was moved sideways to a newly created post as director of football as part of restructuring following Burley's appointment, before eventually leaving the club in August 2006. Following the change in control of the club in July 2006, Burley's title was changed to that of "manager". He guided Southampton to the
2006–07 play-offs but lost on penalties in the second-leg of the semi-final after drawing 4–4 on aggregate against his former club Derby County, who went on to win the final.
Scotland
It was announced on 24 January 2008 that Burley had taken over the position of
Scotland manager. Burley signed a contract with the Scottish board until 2012. He became the third former Ipswich manager to manage his country, as
Alf Ramsey and
Bobby Robson had before him. In his first match in charge, Scotland drew 1–1 with
Croatia. In the following two friendlies, Scotland failed to register a victory, with a 3–1 loss against the
Czech Republic, and a goalless draw with
Northern Ireland.
Although winning 2–1 against Iceland in their second game of the 2010 World Cup qualifying campaign, Burley received heavy criticism for the 1–0 defeat to Macedonia in the opening match and a 0–0 home draw against Norway. Questions were raised about his choice of bringing on uncapped Chris Iwelumo (who missed an open goal from 3 yards) instead of proven-goal scorer Kris Boyd. The Rangers striker quickly announced his retirement from Scottish football while Burley was still in charge.
Scotland were defeated 3–0 in Amsterdam by Holland, but then recovered by beating Iceland 2–1 at home. The team lost 4–0 to Norway in their next match, putting Burley's bid to take Scotland to the World Cup for the first time since 1998 in jeopardy. Qualification to the play-offs remained in Scotland's hands, with the team needing to win the two remaining fixtures to be guaranteed second place. Scottish FA chief Gordon Smith moved to confirm that Burley's position was not under threat, but said that much depended on the final two matches.
In the end, a 2–0 home victory over Macedonia at Hampden on 5 September 2009 was followed four days later by a 0–1 defeat at home to the Netherlands, ending Scottish hopes of qualifying for the finals.
Despite failure to qualify for the 2010 World Cup, Burley was given the backing of the SFA at a meeting on 15 September 2009, to lead the country into the Euro 2012 qualifying campaign.
However, on 15 November 2009, Burley came under fire, with reports suggesting he would lose his job as Scotland manager. The following day, Burley was sacked as manager of Scotland after winning just three out of fourteen games. His final game was a 0–3 loss to Wales on 14 November 2009 in Cardiff.
Crystal Palace
On 17 June 2010, Burley took charge of
Crystal Palace, with fellow Scot
Dougie Freedman as his assistant. His first league match as Crystal Palace manager ended in a 3–2 victory over
Leicester City. He was sacked after a 3–0 defeat against
Millwall on New Year's Day, 2011.
Managerial statistics
All competitive league games (league and domestic cup) and international matches (including friendlies) are included.
:As of 1 January 2011
Honours
As a player
;
Ipswich Town
FA Cup winner 1978
UEFA Cup winner 1981
As a manager
;
Ipswich Town
Division One: Playoff Winner 1999-00
FA Premier League Manager of the Year: 2000–01
FA Premier League Manager of the Month: November 2000
LMA Manager of the Year: 2000–01
References
External links
Profile Goal.com
Scotland profile londonhearts.com
Scotland profile Scottish FA
Scotland management profile londonhearts.com
Category:1956 births
Category:Living people
Category:Scottish footballers
Category:Scottish Football League players
Category:The Football League players
Category:Scotland under-21 international footballers
Category:Scotland international footballers
Category:1982 FIFA World Cup players
Category:Ipswich Town F.C. players
Category:Sunderland A.F.C. players
Category:Gillingham F.C. players
Category:Colchester United F.C. players
Category:Motherwell F.C. players
Category:Falkirk F.C. players
Category:Ayr United F.C. players
Category:Scottish football managers
Category:Scotland national football team managers
Category:Scottish Premier League managers
Category:Ayr United F.C. managers
Category:Colchester United F.C. managers
Category:Ipswich Town F.C. managers
Category:Derby County F.C. managers
Category:Heart of Midlothian F.C. managers
Category:Southampton F.C. managers
Category:Crystal Palace F.C. managers
Category:UEFA Pro Licence holders
Category:Premier League managers
Category:People from Cumnock
Category:Association football fullbacks
Category:The Football League managers
