Kenneth Burns (born 23 September 1953) is a former

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 ...

international

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 ...

. The peak of his playing career was

Nottingham Forest Nottingham Forest Football Club is a professional association football club based in West Bridgford, Nottinghamshire, England. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football league system, English football. Founde ...

, with whom he won the 1977–78 Football League title and the FWA Player of the Year award. He also won two

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 ...

s and two

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 ...

Playing career

Burns was born in

Glasgow Glasgow is the Cities of Scotland, most populous city in Scotland, located on the banks of the River Clyde in Strathclyde, west central Scotland. It is the List of cities in the United Kingdom, third-most-populous city in the United Kingdom ...

and started his career with Rangers as an apprentice, but did not play a senior match for the club. On being released in 1971, aged 17, he signed for

Birmingham City Birmingham City Football Club is a professional football club based in Birmingham, England. Formed in 1875 as Small Heath Alliance, it was renamed Small Heath in 1888, Birmingham in 1905, and Birmingham City in 1943. The team compete in the ...

. He arrived at the club as a defender, but was converted to striker after Bob Latchford left in 1974, and won the club's Player of the Year award that same year. He earned the first of his 20 international

cap A cap is a flat headgear, usually with a visor. Caps have crowns that fit very close to the head. They made their first appearance as early as 3200 BC. The origin of the word "cap" comes from the Old French word "chapeau" which means "head co ...

s in that role soon afterwards. After joining Nottingham Forest for £150,000 in 1977, he was converted back into a central defender by Brian Clough and Peter Taylor. He was one of three signings Forest made along with

Archie Gemmill Archibald Gemmill (born 24 March 1947) is a Scottish former footballer. During his career, he won the European Cup and three English league titles, and captained his national side. Gemmill scored the third Scotland goal in a 3–2 win again ...

and

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 ...

to add to the promotion-winning squad of the previous season. Burns was both FWA Footballer of the Year and Forest's player of the year in 1977–78 in his defensive role as Forest won the First Division title that season, in their first year after returning to the top flight. They also won that season's

with a 1–0 replay victory over Liverpool; Burns collected the trophy as captain deputising for the injured John McGovern. Burns was injured for the

final Final, Finals or The Final may refer to: *Final examination or finals, a test given at the end of a course of study or training *Final (competition), the last or championship round of a sporting competition, match, game, or other contest which d ...

when Forest retained the League Cup the following season. He was an influential figure in the side's European Cup campaigns over the next three seasons, his defensive partnership with Larry Lloyd instrumental to Forest's victory in the

1979 Events January * January 1 ** United Nations Secretary-General Kurt Waldheim heralds the start of the ''International Year of the Child''. Many musicians donate to the ''Music for UNICEF Concert'' fund, among them ABBA, who write the song ...

and

1980 Events January * January 4 – U.S. President Jimmy Carter proclaims a United States grain embargo against the Soviet Union, grain embargo against the USSR with the support of the European Commission. * January 6 – Global Positioning Sys ...

tournaments. He also scored in the second leg of the 1979 UEFA Super Cup final victory against

Barcelona Barcelona ( ; ; ) is a city on the northeastern coast of Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second-most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within c ...

. At one time he was renowned for his 'wild man' image and while maintaining an aggressive nature, he also possessed a shrewd football brain and was always likely to score vital goals. He was Forest's player of the year a second time in 1980–81, his last season at the

City Ground The City Ground is a association football, football stadium in West Bridgford, Nottinghamshire, England, on the banks of the River Trent. It has been home to Nottingham Forest F.C., Nottingham Forest since 1898 and has a capacity of 30,455. ...

Leeds United Leeds United Football Club is a professional football club based in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. The team compete in the Premier League, the top tier of the English football league system. Leeds United have won the League Championship th ...

paid Forest a £400,000 fee for Burns. He stayed with the

Yorkshire Yorkshire ( ) is an area of Northern England which was History of Yorkshire, historically a county. Despite no longer being used for administration, Yorkshire retains a strong regional identity. The county was named after its county town, the ...

side until 1984, and he was the club player of the year in 1982–83. Burns spent 1984–85 at Derby County, also playing a small number of games on loan at

Notts County Notts County Football Club is a professional association football, football club in Nottingham, England, which competes in EFL League Two, the fourth tier of Football in England, English football, following promotion and relegation, promotion ...

. His last season in the Football League was in 1985–86 at

Barnsley Barnsley () is a market town in South Yorkshire, England. It is the main settlement of the Metropolitan Borough of Barnsley and the fourth largest settlement in South Yorkshire. The town's population was 71,422 in 2021, while the wider boroug ...

, before a spell at Elfsborg in Sweden. He went on to represent a string of

non-league Non-League football describes association football, football leagues played outside the top leagues of a country. Usually, it describes leagues which are not fully professional. The term is primarily used for football in England, where it is ...

clubs as player or

player-coach A player–coach (also playing coach, captain–coach, or player–manager) is a member of a sports team who simultaneously holds both playing and coaching duties. Player–coaches may be head coaches or assistant coaches, and they may make chang ...

, finishing up as assistant manager of Telford United in 1993.

Honours

Nottingham Forest * First Division: 1977–78 * League Cup: 1977–78, 1978–79 *

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 ...

1978 Events January * January 1 – Air India Flight 855, a Boeing 747 passenger jet, crashes off the coast of Bombay, killing 213. * January 5 – Bülent Ecevit, of Republican People's Party, CHP, forms the new government of Turkey (42nd ...

: 1978–79, 1979–80 *

European Super Cup The UEFA Super Cup is an annual super cup football match organised by UEFA and contested by the winners of the two main European club competitions: the UEFA Champions League and UEFA Europa League. The competition's official name was original ...

Individual * Nottingham Forest Player of the Year: 1977–78, 1980–81 * FWA Footballer of the Year: 1977–78

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Burns, Kenny 1953 births Living people Footballers from Glasgow Scottish men's footballers Scotland men's international footballers Rangers F.C. players Birmingham City F.C. players Nottingham Forest F.C. players UEFA Champions League–winning players Leeds United F.C. players Derby County F.C. players Notts County F.C. players Barnsley F.C. players IF Elfsborg players Ashfield United F.C. players Stafford Rangers F.C. players Grantham Town F.C. players Gainsborough Trinity F.C. players Willenhall Town F.C. players Ilkeston Town F.C. (1945) players 1978 FIFA World Cup players English Football League players National League (English football) players Alfreton Town F.C. players Men's association football utility players Scottish expatriate men's footballers Scottish expatriate sportspeople in Sweden Expatriate men's footballers in Sweden Sutton Town A.F.C. players Oakham United F.C. (Nottinghamshire) players Scotland men's under-23 international footballers Men's association football defenders Men's association football forwards Scottish football coaches