Joseph Thomas Corrigan (born 18 November 1948) 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 ...

who played as a

goalkeeper In many team sports that involve scoring goal (sport), goals, the goalkeeper (sometimes termed goaltender, netminder, GK, goalie, or keeper) is a designated player charged with directly preventing the opposing team from scoring by blocking or i ...

the Football League The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, it is the oldest football league in the world, and was the top-level football league in England from ...

for

Manchester City Manchester City Football Club is a professional association football, football club based in Manchester, England, that competes in the Premier League, the English football league system, top flight of Football in England, English footbal ...

Brighton & Hove Albion Brighton & Hove Albion Football Club, commonly referred to as Brighton, is a professional football club based in Brighton and Hove, East Sussex, England. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football. Their home gr ...

Norwich City Norwich City Football Club is a professional football club based in Norwich, Norfolk, England. The club competes in the Championship, the second tier of English football. The club was founded in 1902. Since 1935, Norwich have played their h ...

and

Stoke City Stoke City Football Club is a professional association football club based in Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, England. The team competes in the , the second level of the English football league system. Founded as Stoke Ramblers in 1863, the cl ...

as well as the England national team. Corrigan began his career at

making his professional debut in 1967. In the 1969–70 season, he established himself as the first choice keeper at

Maine Road Maine Road was a football stadium in Moss Side, Manchester, England, that was home to Manchester City from 1923 to 2003. It hosted FA Cup semi-finals, the Charity Shield, a League Cup final and England matches. Maine Road's highest attenda ...

, taking over from the ageing Harry Dowd. He spent 16 seasons at Manchester City, winning the

UEFA Cup Winners' Cup The UEFA Cup Winners' Cup was a European association football, football club competition contested annually by the winners of domestic cup competitions. The competition's official name was originally the European Cup Winners' Cup; it was renam ...

and League Cup twice, while also earning nine England caps. He left in 1983 to play for the

North American Soccer League The North American Soccer League (NASL) was the top-level major professional soccer league in the United States and Canada that operated from 1968 to 1984. It is considered the first soccer league to be successful on a national scale in the ...

's Seattle Sounders, then returned to England for spells with

and

. A neck injury forced him to retire in 1985.

Playing career

Corrigan joined Manchester City as a youth player in 1966. He made his debut in 1967, in a League Cup match against

Blackpool Blackpool is a seaside town in Lancashire, England. It is located on the Irish Sea coast of the Fylde peninsula, approximately north of Liverpool and west of Preston, Lancashire, Preston. It is the main settlement in the Borough of Blackpool ...

. Corrigan was an understudy to Harry Dowd in City's 1969

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 ...

win. Corrigan then established himself in the first team during the 1969–70 season, and was part of the Manchester City team which won a cup double of the

and the League Cup. He was also a member of the 1976 League Cup winning side. His debut appearance for England came on 28 May 1976 against

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

, the first of a total of 9 caps, and he was part of the England squad for the

1982 FIFA World Cup The 1982 FIFA World Cup was the 12th FIFA World Cup, a quadrennial Association football, football tournament for men's senior national teams, and was played in Spain from 13 June to 11 July 1982. The tournament was won by Italy national footbal ...

. He would undoubtedly have played more times for England if his chances had not been limited by

Peter Shilton Peter Leslie Shilton (born 18 September 1949) is an English former professional association football, footballer who played as a goalkeeper (association football), goalkeeper. His 31-year career included spells at 11 clubs and he has the uni ...

and

Ray Clemence Raymond Neal Clemence (5 August 1948 – 15 November 2020) was an English professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper. Regarded as one of the greatest goalkeepers of all time, he is one of the few players to have made over 1,000 career ...

. Corrigan also appeared for Manchester City in the 1981 FA Cup final defeat by

Tottenham Hotspur Tottenham Hotspur Football Club, commonly referred to as simply Tottenham (, , , ) or Spurs, is a professional Association football, football club based in Tottenham, North London, England. The club itself has stated that it should always ...

where he was named as man-of-the match. In total Corrigan made 592 appearances for Manchester City, a figure beaten only by

Alan Oakes Alan Arthur Oakes (born 7 September 1942) is an English former footballer who holds Manchester City's all-time record for appearances. Oakes is a midfielder who, in total, played 776 matches in the Football League – the tenth-most in history ...

, and a club record for a goalkeeper. He also won Manchester City's Player of the Year award three times, a feat matched only by

Richard Dunne Richard Patrick Dunne (born 21 September 1979) is an Irish former professional footballer and current television pundit for TNT Sports, who played as a centre-back. He made 431 Premier League appearances, including 253 for Manchester City. Du ...

. He is remembered as one of

's best goalkeepers along with

Frank Swift Frank Victor Swift (26 December 1913 – 6 February 1958) was an English footballer, who played as a goalkeeper for Manchester City and England. After starting his career with Fleetwood, near his hometown of Blackpool, in 1932 he was signed by ...

and

Bert Trautmann Bernhard Carl "Bert" Trautmann (22 October 1923 – 19 July 2013) was a German professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper. Born in Bremen in 1923, he joined the Jungvolk, the junior section of the Hitler Youth in August 1933. Trautmann ...

. Corrigan was sold in 1983 to American club Seattle Sounders for £30,000. Corrigan stayed in the US only a few months, making 29 appearances before returning to England with

Brighton Brighton ( ) is a seaside resort in the city status in the United Kingdom, city of Brighton and Hove, East Sussex, England, south of London. Archaeological evidence of settlement in the area dates back to the Bronze Age Britain, Bronze Age, R ...

. At the end of his career he also had spells on loan at

and

Norwich Norwich () is a cathedral city and district of the county of Norfolk, England, of which it is the county town. It lies by the River Wensum, about north-east of London, north of Ipswich and east of Peterborough. The population of the Norwich ...

Coaching career

After retiring from football, Joe Corrigan was the Goalkeeping Coach at

Liverpool Liverpool is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. It is situated on the eastern side of the River Mersey, Mersey Estuary, near the Irish Sea, north-west of London. With a population ...

from 1994 until the arrival of

Rafael Benítez Rafael Benítez Maudes (born 16 April 1960) is a Spanish professional Manager (association football), football manager and former Football player, player. He was most recently the manager of La Liga club RC Celta de Vigo, Celta Vigo. Beníte ...

in 2004. On 21 September 2004, Corrigan joined the coaching team at Chester City but moved to become goalkeeping coach at

Stockport County Stockport County Football Club is a professional association football club based in Stockport, Greater Manchester, England. The team competes in EFL League One, the third tier of the English football league system. Formed in 1883 as Heaton ...

on 5 October 2004. In February 2005, Corrigan joined

West Bromwich Albion West Bromwich Albion Football Club (), commonly known as West Brom or The Albion, is a professional association football club based in West Bromwich, West Midlands, England. They compete in the EFL Championship, the second level of the Englis ...

. Joe Corrigan retired at the end of the 2008–09 season. In February 2011 Corrigan came out of retirement to join Hull City as goalkeeping coach, replacing Mark Prudhoe, who had been criticised by some Hull supporters for his coaching methods. Corrigan left his coaching role at Hull City in August 2011 after being involved in an unspecified incident with Jimmy Bullard on a pre season trip to Slovenia, the latter being sacked as a result.

International career

Born in England, Corrigan is of Irish descent. He played for the England national team 9 times between 1976 and 1982.

Personal life

Corrigan was appointed a

Member of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding valuable service in a wide range of useful activities. It comprises five classes of awards across both civil and military divisions, the most senior two o ...

(MBE) in

2025 New Year Honours The 2025 New Year Honours are appointments by King Charles III among the 15 Commonwealth realms to Orders and decorations of the Commonwealth realms, various orders and honours to recognise and reward good works by citizens of those countries. The ...

for services to Charitable Fundraising.

Honours

Manchester City *

1970 Events January * January 1 – Unix time epoch reached at 00:00:00 UTC. * January 5 – The 7.1 1970 Tonghai earthquake, Tonghai earthquake shakes Tonghai County, Yunnan province, China, with a maximum Mercalli intensity scale, Mercalli ...

Football League Cup The English Football League Cup, often referred to as the League Cup and currently known as the Carabao Cup for sponsorship reasons, is an annual Single-elimination tournament, knockout competition in men's domestic football in England. Orga ...

1976 Events January * January 2 – The International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights enters into force. * January 5 – The Pol Pot regime proclaims a new constitution for Democratic Kampuchea. * January 18 – Full diplomatic ...

FA Charity Shield The Football Association Community Shield (formerly the Charity Shield) is English football's annual match contested at Wembley Stadium between the champions of the previous Premier League season and the holders of the FA Cup. If the Premier ...

1972 Within the context of Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) it was the longest year ever, as two leap seconds were added during this 366-day year, an event which has not since been repeated. (If its start and end are defined using Solar time, ...

Individual * Manchester City Player of the Year: 1976, 1978, 1980

Career statistics

Club

International

References

External links

Seattle Sounders stats

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Corrigan, Joe Men's association football goalkeepers English men's footballers England men's international footballers England men's under-23 international footballers England men's under-21 international footballers England men's B international footballers English people of Irish descent English expatriate men's footballers Manchester City F.C. players Brighton & Hove Albion F.C. players Norwich City F.C. players Stoke City F.C. players Seattle Sounders (1974–1983) players North American Soccer League (1968–1984) players UEFA Euro 1980 players 1982 FIFA World Cup players Liverpool F.C. non-playing staff 1948 births Living people West Bromwich Albion F.C. non-playing staff English Football League players Chester City F.C. non-playing staff Stockport County F.C. non-playing staff Footballers from Manchester Hull City A.F.C. non-playing staff English expatriate sportspeople in the United States Expatriate men's soccer players in the United States Association football goalkeeping coaches Members of the Order of the British Empire