Joseph Michael Burnell (born 10 October 1980) is an English former professional

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby lea ...

. Having represented several clubs in the

Football League The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional association football, football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, it is the oldest football league in Association football around the world, the w ...

and

Football Conference The National League of English Football Clubs is a professional Association football, football league in England that consists of 72 teams, divided equally between the National League (division), National League North and National League South ...

, most notably

Bristol City Bristol City Football Club is a professional football club based in Bristol, England. The team compete in the , the second level of the English football league system. Founded in 1894, the club competed in the Southern League and Western L ...

and

Bath City Bath City Football Club is a semi-professional football club based in Bath, Somerset, England. The club is affiliated to the Somerset FA and currently competes in the National League South, the sixth tier of English football. Nicknamed the "R ...

, he moved away from football after his retirement in 2014 to work in property management. Burnell started his career with

and he became part of the first team squad at Ashton Gate halfway through the 1999–2000 season. Shortly after his debut he scored his first goal for the club in a

Football League Trophy The English Football League Trophy, officially known as the Vertu Trophy for sponsorship reasons, is an annual English football knockout competition open to all clubs in EFL League One and EFL League Two and U-21 teams from the Premier Le ...

tie against future club

Exeter City Exeter City Football Club is a professional association football club based in Exeter, Devon, England. The team play in , the third level of the English football league system. Known as "the Grecians", the origin of their nickname is subject to ...

. His displays were enough to earn him a long-term contract and a short spell as the club's captain. He was part of the side that won the

2003 Football League Trophy Final The 2003 Football League Trophy Final (known as the LDV Vans Trophy for sponsorship reasons) was the 20th final of the Football League Trophy – a domestic football cup competition for teams from the Football League Second and Third Division. ...

, and scored in the Southern Area final against

Cambridge United Cambridge United Football Club is a professional association football club based in the city of Cambridge, England. They currently compete in EFL League Two, the fourth tier of the English football league system. Nicknamed the U’s, the club h ...

. He scored his first and only league goal for City in a 1–1 draw with

Luton Town Luton Town Football Club is a professional association football, football club from Luton, Bedfordshire, England. The club currently competes in EFL League One, the third level of the English football league system. Nicknamed "The Hatters", L ...

in November 2003. Burnell joined

Wycombe Wanderers Wycombe Wanderers Football Club () is a professional association football club based in the town of High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire, England. The team competes in League One, the third level of the English football league system. Founded in 188 ...

in July 2004 after

Tony Adams Tony Alexander Adams (born 10 October 1966) is an English former football manager and player. Adams played for Arsenal and England, captaining both teams. Known as Mr. Arsenal, he spent his entire playing career of 19 years as a centre-back t ...

' summer clearout which saw the departure of Michael Simpson,

Dannie Bulman Dannie Mark Bulman (born 24 January 1979) is an English former professional footballer who played as a midfielder. He played in the English Football League with Wycombe Wanderers, Oxford United, Crawley Town and AFC Wimbledon. Prior to retiring, ...

, Steve Brown and

Darren Currie Darren Paul Currie (born 29 November 1974) is an English former footballer who made over 600 appearances in The Football League. He is assistant head coach of Southend United. Club career Currie, who is the nephew of former Sheffield United, ...

. Burnell was hoping to gain a regular first team place and after a season blighted by injury and illness he formed a midfield trio with

Matt Bloomfield Matthew James Bloomfield (born 8 February 1984) is an English professional football manager and former player who is the current manager of club Luton Town. A product of Ipswich Town's academy, Bloomfield would join Wycombe on a free transfer ...

and

Keith Ryan Keith Ryan (born 25 June 1970) is an English former professional footballer who played in the Football League as a midfielder for Wycombe Wanderers. In July 2009 he was appointed reserve team manager at Queens Park Rangers. Career Born in No ...

. Burnell scored his first and only goal for the club in an

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual Single-elimination tournament, knockout association football, football competition in domestic Football in England, English football. First played during ...

tie against future club

Northampton Town Northampton Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in the town of Northampton, England. The team competes in EFL League One, League One, the third level of the English football league system. Founded in 1897, the c ...

. Burnell was also a regular under John Gorman and consequently followed his manager when he left Wycombe to join

in July 2006. During his time at Northampton was constantly a good performer being named captain on occasions in the absence of Chris Doig and Mark Hughes. He scored two goals for Northampton; one in an

tie against

Grimsby Town Grimsby Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in Cleethorpes, North East Lincolnshire, England, that competes in , the fourth level of the English football league system. Nicknamed "the Mariners", the club was f ...

and the other in the league against

Huddersfield Town Huddersfield Town Association Football Club is a professional association football club based in Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, England. They compete in , the third tier of English football league system, English football. Huddersfield Town we ...

. On 21 April 2008, it was announced that he would be released at the end of the 2007–08 season, which was a surprise to most fans. Burnell signed for

Oxford Oxford () is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and non-metropolitan district in Oxfordshire, England, of which it is the county town. The city is home to the University of Oxford, the List of oldest universities in continuou ...

on 1 July 2008. Shortly afterwards he was named captain to replace Adam Murray in the role. However, in April 2009 it was announced that he no longer had a future at the club. After a successful trial at

Exeter Exeter ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and the county town of Devon in South West England. It is situated on the River Exe, approximately northeast of Plymouth and southwest of Bristol. In Roman Britain, Exeter w ...

he joined them on 9 July 2009 on a free transfer. It was announced on 14 May 2010 that he had been released by Exeter, along with 8 other players On 13 July 2010, Burnell joined Conference National side

Honours

Bristol City *

: 2002–03

External links

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Burnell, Joe 1980 births Living people Footballers from Bristol English men's footballers Men's association football midfielders Bristol City F.C. players Wycombe Wanderers F.C. players Northampton Town F.C. players Oxford United F.C. players Exeter City F.C. players Bath City F.C. players Shepton Mallet F.C. players English Football League players National League (English football) players 21st-century English sportsmen