John Francombe "Ian" Ure (born 7 December 1939) is a Scottish former

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

player and manager. Ure started his career with

Dundee Dundee (; ; or , ) is the List of towns and cities in Scotland by population, fourth-largest city in Scotland. The mid-year population estimate for the locality was . It lies within the eastern central Lowlands on the north bank of the Firt ...

, before moving to England to play for

Arsenal An arsenal is a place where arms and ammunition are made, maintained and repaired, stored, or issued, in any combination, whether privately or publicly owned. Arsenal and armoury (British English) or armory (American English) are mostly ...

and

Manchester United Manchester United Football Club, commonly referred to as Man United (often stylised as Man Utd) or simply United, is a professional association football, football club based in Old Trafford (area), Old Trafford, Greater Manchester, Engl ...

. After eight years in England, Ure returned to Scotland to play for St Mirren, however, after two seasons with the club and only three league appearances, Ure went into football management with East Stirlingshire. During his time with Dundee and Arsenal, Ure played on 12 occasions for the Scotland national team.

Club career

Ure started his career as a centre-half with Ayr Albion. In 1958, after being scouted by the

Dens Park Dens Park is a football stadium in Dundee, Scotland, which is the home of club Dundee F.C. and has a capacity of . Tannadice Park, the home of rivals Dundee United, is just 200 yards (183 metres) away. History Dundee moved to "Dens" from the ...

club, Ure signed for

where he remained for five seasons. During that time, the club won its one and only First Division title in 1961–62, and reached the semi-finals of the

European Cup The UEFA Champions League (UCL) is an annual club association football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) that is contested by top-division European clubs. The competition begins with a round robi ...

in 1962–63, losing 5–2 on aggregate to eventual champions

Milan Milan ( , , ; ) is a city in northern Italy, regional capital of Lombardy, the largest city in Italy by urban area and the List of cities in Italy, second-most-populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of nea ...

. He moved south of the border in 1963 for a transfer fee of £62,500 to play for

. He only missed one match for Arsenal in his first season, but injury and a loss of form restricted his appearances in 1964–65 and 1965–66, although he still managed more than 20 matches each season. Ure was restored to the Arsenal line-up by Bertie Mee, however, and played 44 matches in 1966–67. Ure continued to feature regularly for Arsenal as the 1960s went on, but during this time made a couple of errors in big matches, exemplified by his mistake in the 1969 League Cup Final against

Swindon Town Swindon Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in Swindon, Wiltshire, England. The team, known as the "Robins", currently compete in , the fourth level of the English football league system. Founded as Swindon A ...

, which allowed Roger Smart to score Swindon's opening goal; Swindon went on to win 3–1 after

extra time Overtime (OT) or extra time (ET) is an additional period of play to bring a game to a decision and avoid declaring the match a tie or draw where the scores are the same. In some sports, this extra period is played only if the game is required t ...

. Ure played 202 matches for Arsenal in defence over the course of six years, scoring two goals, and picking up two League Cup runners-up medals (

1968 Events January–February * January 1968, January – The I'm Backing Britain, I'm Backing Britain campaign starts spontaneously. * January 5 – Prague Spring: Alexander Dubček is chosen as leader of the Communist Party of Cze ...

and 1969). He was famously involved in a number of clashes with

Denis Law Denis Law (24 February 1940 – 17 January 2025) was a Scottish footballer who played as a forward. His career as a football player began at Second Division Huddersfield Town in 1956. After four years at Huddersfield, he was signed by Manchest ...

in the game against Manchester United in October 1967, that saw both players being sent off and subsequently receiving six-match bans. However, with Frank McLintock and Terry Neill competing for the centre half position, Ure found himself being squeezed out towards the end of that decade, and he left Arsenal in August 1969 to join

. The only major signing made by manager Wilf McGuinness, Ure spent two seasons at Manchester United before returning to Scotland to play for St Mirren. After retiring from playing, he spent some time as a coach, including a spell as manager of East Stirlingshire, but later left the game completely, and was employed as a

social worker Social work is an academic discipline and practice-based profession concerned with meeting the basic needs of individuals, families, groups, communities, and society as a whole to enhance their individual and collective well-being. Social wo ...

Kilmarnock Kilmarnock ( ; ; , ), meaning "the church of Mernóc", is a town and former burgh in East Ayrshire situated in southwest Scotland. The town has served as the administrative centre of East Ayrshire Council since 1996 and is the region's main ...

International career

During his time with

, Ure won eight caps for

Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...

. He made his debut international debut on 8 November 1961, in a 2–0 win against

Wales Wales ( ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by the Irish Sea to the north and west, England to the England–Wales border, east, the Bristol Channel to the south, and the Celtic ...

. He made 12 appearances in total, with his last cap coming against

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ; ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, part of the United Kingdom in the north-east of the island of Ireland. It has been #Descriptions, variously described as a country, province or region. Northern Ireland shares Repub ...

on 21 October 1967. One of his appearances was during a 1967 overseas tour that the

Scottish Football Association The Scottish Football Association (; also known as the Scottish FA and the SFA) is the governing body of football in Scotland and has the ultimate responsibility for the control and development of football in Scotland. Members of the SFA incl ...

decided in October 2021 to reclassify as a full international, which increased Ure's cap tally from 11 to 12.

Career statistics

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Ure, Ian 1939 births Living people Scottish men's footballers Men's association football central defenders Scotland men's international footballers Arsenal F.C. players Manchester United F.C. players Dundee F.C. players St Mirren F.C. players Scottish football managers East Stirlingshire F.C. managers People educated at Ayr Academy Scottish Football League players English Football League players Scottish Football League representative players Scotland men's under-23 international footballers Scottish Football League managers

Club career

International career

Career statistics

See also

References

External links