Brian Hornsby
Encyclopedia
Brian Hornsby, born in Great Shelford
, Cambridgeshire
on 10 September 1954, is a former football player who played for Arsenal
, Shrewsbury Town
, Sheffield Wednesday
and Carlisle United
in the English league. He also had short spells playing abroad for Edmonton Drillers (Canada), IK Brage
(Sweden) and Falu FK (Sweden) for whom he was Player-manager. Hornsby was an attacking midfielder
playing 222 English league games and scoring 48 goals. His career was seriously curtailed by a hamstring injury when playing for Sheffield Wednesday in 1980.
Boys and earned England caps at School boy and Youth level.
in 1971, beating Cardiff City
2-0 over two legs. He signed as a professional for Arsenal in September 1971. Arsenal had just won The Double
in the 1970-71
season and had a very strong team. Hornsby’s chances of breaking into the first team were very rare and he did not make his debut until May 1973 in the final league game of the 1972-73
season in a 1-6 defeat at Leeds United
. He was very much a reserve and squad player for the Gunners making only 26 league appearances in his almost five seasons at Highbury
, scoring six goals. Hornsby was released by Arsenal at the end of Bertie Mee
’s reign as manager and he signed for Shrewsbury Town in May 1976 for £40,000.
and was a virtual ever present during his almost two years at Gay Meadow
playing in 75 league games and scoring 16 goals. He helped Town win the Welsh Cup
in 1977. In February 1978 Durban left to be manager of Stoke City
and the following month Hornsby signed for Sheffield Wednesday in a £45,000 deal.
had been tracking Hornsby for some time and he finally got his man. There is a famous anecdote regarding Hornsby which sums up Charlton’s laconic personality. Wednesday were playing Shrewsbury away at the end of February 1978, just before Hornsby’s move to Sheffield. Charlton was giving his pre-match team talk and midway through turned to Wednesday midfielder Jeff Johnson
and said, “You’re up against the lad Hornsby, he’s a very skilful player … I’m buying him to replace you”. As it happened there was room for both Hornsby and Johnson in the Wednesday team.
Hornsby made his debut for Wednesday on 18 March 1978 in a 1-3 away defeat to Lincoln City
, however after that Wednesday only suffered one more defeat in the remaining 12 matches that season. On signing, Hornsby had said on local radio that he would score plenty of goals from midfield, his first came on March 25 in a 2-0 away win at Rotherham
. It was a 25 yard volley into the roof of the net which was named as Goal of the Season on Yorkshire Television
by Martin Tyler
. Jeff Johnson scored the other goal that day.
The 1978–79
season saw Hornsby finish as top scorer for Wednesday with 21 goals in all competitions including three in the FA Cup
3rd round marathon against former club Arsenal. 1979–80
saw Wednesday promoted from Division Three but Hornsby’s goal contribution was only three, missing a third of the matches through injury. The following season (1980-81
) in Division Two started well for Hornsby scoring three goals in 12 matches, however in October 1980 he suffered a troublesome hamstring problem and missed the rest of the season. Brian only made only one more appearance for Wednesday, as a substitute at Chelsea
in December 1981. A few weeks earlier he had made four appearances for Chester City
on loan.
team Edmonton Drillers but returned to England after they hit financial trouble and folded. He signed for Carlisle United in the summer of 1982 and spent two years there, making only 10 appearances and scoring one goal against Newcastle United
, “a brilliant chip over Kevin Carr” in November 1982. After a brief spell on loan at Chesterfield, Hornsby moved to Sweden in 1984 to play for IK Brage for a season, making 20 appearances and scoring 1 goal. He then moved to the town of Falun
to be player-manager of Falu FK (Fotbollklubb). On returning to the U.K. he played non-League football
for Spalding United
and Holbeach United
.
and has his own summerhouse business. For more than 15 years he has been captain of the Arsenal F.C. ex-professionals and celebrity team raising money for charities and the Arsenal Trust. He is also involved with the charity Action Medical Research and along with friend Tony Hadley
undertook a trek to Machu Picchu
to raise funds for the charity.
Great Shelford
Great Shelford is a village located approximately four miles to the south of Cambridge, in the county of Cambridgeshire, in eastern England. In 1850 Great Shelford parish contained intersected by the river Cam. The population in 1841 was 803 people...
, Cambridgeshire
Cambridgeshire
Cambridgeshire is a county in England, bordering Lincolnshire to the north, Norfolk to the northeast, Suffolk to the east, Essex and Hertfordshire to the south, and Bedfordshire and Northamptonshire to the west...
on 10 September 1954, is a former football player who played for Arsenal
Arsenal F.C.
Arsenal Football Club is a professional English Premier League football club based in North London. One of the most successful clubs in English football, it has won 13 First Division and Premier League titles and 10 FA Cups...
, Shrewsbury Town
Shrewsbury Town F.C.
Shrewsbury Town Football Club is an English Association football club based in Shrewsbury, Shropshire, who play in League Two, the fourth tier of English football. The club was formed in 1886 and has played in all the bottom three divisions in various guises since being elected into the Football...
, Sheffield Wednesday
Sheffield Wednesday F.C.
Sheffield Wednesday Football Club are a football club based in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England, who are currently competing in the Football League One in the 2011-12 season, in England. Sheffield Wednesday are one of the oldest professional clubs in the world and the fourth oldest in the...
and Carlisle United
Carlisle United F.C.
Carlisle United F.C. is an English football club based in Carlisle, Cumbria, where they play at Brunton Park. Formed in 1904, the club currently compete in League One, the third tier of the English football league system....
in the English league. He also had short spells playing abroad for Edmonton Drillers (Canada), IK Brage
IK Brage
IK Brage is a Swedish football club located in Borlänge. The club, formed 1925, has played 18 seasons in the highest Swedish league, Allsvenskan. The 2010 season will be played in the second highest Swedish league, Superettan...
(Sweden) and Falu FK (Sweden) for whom he was Player-manager. Hornsby was an attacking midfielder
Midfielder
A midfielder is an association football position. Some midfielders play a more defensive role, while others blur the boundaries between midfielders and forwards. The number of midfielders a team uses during a match may vary, depending on the team's formation and each individual player's role...
playing 222 English league games and scoring 48 goals. His career was seriously curtailed by a hamstring injury when playing for Sheffield Wednesday in 1980.
Playing career
As a schoolboy Brian captained PeterboroughPeterborough
Peterborough is a cathedral city and unitary authority area in the East of England, with an estimated population of in June 2007. For ceremonial purposes it is in the county of Cambridgeshire. Situated north of London, the city stands on the River Nene which flows into the North Sea...
Boys and earned England caps at School boy and Youth level.
Arsenal
Hornsby joined Arsenal straight from school in 1970, he was member of the Arsenal team which won the FA Youth CupFA Youth Cup
The Football Association Youth Challenge Cup is an English football competition run by The Football Association for under–18 sides. Only those players between the age of 15 and 18 on 31 August of the current season are eligible to take part...
in 1971, beating Cardiff City
Cardiff City F.C.
Cardiff City Football Club are a Welsh professional football club based in Cardiff, Wales. The club competes in the English football pyramid and is currently playing in the Football League Championship. Cardiff City is the best supported football club in Wales, averaging approximately 22,500 for...
2-0 over two legs. He signed as a professional for Arsenal in September 1971. Arsenal had just won The Double
The Double
The Double is a term in association football which refers to winning a country's top tier division and its primary cup competition in the same season...
in the 1970-71
1970-71 in English football
The 1970–71 season was the 91st season of competitive football in England.-First Division:Arsenal won the league championship at the end of a season which would soon be followed by their FA Cup final tie with Liverpool. Arsenal secured the league title at White Hart Lane, the home of bitter rivals...
season and had a very strong team. Hornsby’s chances of breaking into the first team were very rare and he did not make his debut until May 1973 in the final league game of the 1972-73
1972-73 in English football
The 1972–73 season was the 93rd season of competitive football in England.-Overview:The Football League announced that a three-up, three-down system would operate between the top two divisions from the following season, rather than the traditional two-up, two-down system...
season in a 1-6 defeat at Leeds United
Leeds United A.F.C.
Leeds United Association Football Club are an English professional association football club based in Beeston, Leeds, West Yorkshire, who play in the Football League Championship, the second tier of the English football league system...
. He was very much a reserve and squad player for the Gunners making only 26 league appearances in his almost five seasons at Highbury
Arsenal Stadium
Arsenal Stadium was a football stadium in Highbury, North London, which was the home ground of Arsenal Football Club between 6 September 1913 and 7 May 2006...
, scoring six goals. Hornsby was released by Arsenal at the end of Bertie Mee
Bertie Mee
Bertram "Bertie" Mee OBE was an English football player and manager, noted for managing Arsenal to their first Double win in 1971. He was the younger brother of fellow footballer Georgie Mee.-Early life:...
’s reign as manager and he signed for Shrewsbury Town in May 1976 for £40,000.
Shrewsbury Town
Hornsby signed for Shrewsbury boss Alan DurbanAlan Durban
William Alan Durban is a Welsh former international footballer and manager between the 1970s and 1990s.-Club career:...
and was a virtual ever present during his almost two years at Gay Meadow
Gay Meadow
The Gay Meadow is the former home ground of Shrewsbury Town FC, a football club in England. It was situated just outside the town centre of Shrewsbury, on the banks of the River Severn and it opened in August 1910....
playing in 75 league games and scoring 16 goals. He helped Town win the Welsh Cup
Welsh Cup
The Welsh Cup is a knock-out football competition contested annually by teams from Wales.The Football Association of Wales is the organising body of this competition, which has been run every year since its inception in 1877-78...
in 1977. In February 1978 Durban left to be manager of Stoke City
Stoke City F.C.
Stoke City Football Club is an English professional football club based in Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire that plays in the Premier League. Founded in 1863, it is the oldest club in the Premier League, and considered to be the second oldest professional football club in the world, after Notts...
and the following month Hornsby signed for Sheffield Wednesday in a £45,000 deal.
Sheffield Wednesday
Sheffield Wednesday manager Jack CharltonJack Charlton
John "Jack" Charlton, OBE, DL is a former footballer and manager who played for Leeds United in the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s, and was part of the England team who won the 1966 World Cup...
had been tracking Hornsby for some time and he finally got his man. There is a famous anecdote regarding Hornsby which sums up Charlton’s laconic personality. Wednesday were playing Shrewsbury away at the end of February 1978, just before Hornsby’s move to Sheffield. Charlton was giving his pre-match team talk and midway through turned to Wednesday midfielder Jeff Johnson
Jeff Johnson (footballer)
Jeffrey David Johnson is a Welsh former professional footballer. In addition to his club career- playing over 400 games in the Football League, he also represented his country at youth and under-23 level....
and said, “You’re up against the lad Hornsby, he’s a very skilful player … I’m buying him to replace you”. As it happened there was room for both Hornsby and Johnson in the Wednesday team.
Hornsby made his debut for Wednesday on 18 March 1978 in a 1-3 away defeat to Lincoln City
Lincoln City F.C.
Lincoln City Football Club is an English professional association football club based in Lincoln, Lincolnshire. The club are currently members of the Conference National in 2011–12 following relegation from the Football League....
, however after that Wednesday only suffered one more defeat in the remaining 12 matches that season. On signing, Hornsby had said on local radio that he would score plenty of goals from midfield, his first came on March 25 in a 2-0 away win at Rotherham
Rotherham United F.C.
Rotherham United Football Club are an English professional football club based in Rotherham, South Yorkshire, who compete in League Two, the fourth tier of English football. The club's colours have traditionally been red and white, although these have evolved through history...
. It was a 25 yard volley into the roof of the net which was named as Goal of the Season on Yorkshire Television
Yorkshire Television
Yorkshire Television, now officially known as ITV Yorkshire and sometimes unofficially abbreviated to YTV, is a British television broadcaster and the contractor for the Yorkshire franchise area on the ITV network...
by Martin Tyler
Martin Tyler
Martin Tyler is an English football commentator who was voted as the FA Premier League Commentator of The Decade...
. Jeff Johnson scored the other goal that day.
The 1978–79
1978-79 in English football
-FA Cup:Manchester United had seemingly pulled off a remarkable comeback against Arsenal in the 1979 FA Cup Final to make the score 2–2 after being two goals down, but a last-minute goal from Alan Sunderland saw Arsenal lift the trophy with a 3–2 scoreline...
season saw Hornsby finish as top scorer for Wednesday with 21 goals in all competitions including three in the FA Cup
FA Cup
The Football Association Challenge Cup, commonly known as the FA Cup, is a knockout cup competition in English football and is the oldest association football competition in the world. The "FA Cup" is run by and named after The Football Association and usually refers to the English men's...
3rd round marathon against former club Arsenal. 1979–80
1979-80 in English football
The 1979–80 season was the 100th season of competitive football in England.- FA Cup :Second Division West Ham United, managed by John Lyall, won the FA Cup, beating Arsenal 1–0 with a Trevor Brooking goal...
saw Wednesday promoted from Division Three but Hornsby’s goal contribution was only three, missing a third of the matches through injury. The following season (1980-81
1980-81 in English football
The 1980–81 season was the 101st season of competitive football in England.-Overview:The Football League introduced a three points for a win system in place of the two points for a win system which had operated since the league's formation in 1889...
) in Division Two started well for Hornsby scoring three goals in 12 matches, however in October 1980 he suffered a troublesome hamstring problem and missed the rest of the season. Brian only made only one more appearance for Wednesday, as a substitute at Chelsea
Chelsea F.C.
Chelsea Football Club are an English football club based in West London. Founded in 1905, they play in the Premier League and have spent most of their history in the top tier of English football. Chelsea have been English champions four times, FA Cup winners six times and League Cup winners four...
in December 1981. A few weeks earlier he had made four appearances for Chester City
Chester City F.C.
Chester City Football Club was an English football team from Chester. The club was founded as Chester F.C., and joined the Football League in 1931, spending most of their time in the lower divisions. They changed their name to Chester City in 1983. Chester won their first league title in 2004, the...
on loan.
Latter career
Brian spent part of 1982 playing for the Canadian NASLNorth American Soccer League
North American Soccer League was a professional soccer league with teams in the United States and Canada that operated from 1968 to 1984.-History:...
team Edmonton Drillers but returned to England after they hit financial trouble and folded. He signed for Carlisle United in the summer of 1982 and spent two years there, making only 10 appearances and scoring one goal against Newcastle United
Newcastle United F.C.
Newcastle United Football Club is an English professional association football club based in Newcastle upon Tyne, Tyne and Wear. The club was founded in 1892 by the merger of Newcastle East End and Newcastle West End, and has played at its current home ground, St James' Park, since the merger...
, “a brilliant chip over Kevin Carr” in November 1982. After a brief spell on loan at Chesterfield, Hornsby moved to Sweden in 1984 to play for IK Brage for a season, making 20 appearances and scoring 1 goal. He then moved to the town of Falun
Falun
Falun is a city and the seat of Falun Municipality in Dalarna County, Sweden, with 36,447 inhabitants in 2005. It is also the capital of Dalarna County...
to be player-manager of Falu FK (Fotbollklubb). On returning to the U.K. he played non-League football
Non-league football
Non-League football is football in England played at a level below that of the Premier League and The Football League. The term non-League was commonly used well before 1992 when the top football clubs in England all belonged to The Football League; all clubs who were not a part of The Football...
for Spalding United
Spalding United F.C.
Spalding United F.C. is an English football club based in Spalding, Lincolnshire. The club are currently members of Division One of the United Counties League and play at Sir Halley Stewart Field.-History:...
and Holbeach United
Holbeach United F.C.
Holbeach United F.C. is an English football club based in Holbeach, Lincolnshire. The club are currently members of the United Counties League Premier Division and play at Carters Park.-History:...
.
After football
Brian now lives in PeterboroughPeterborough
Peterborough is a cathedral city and unitary authority area in the East of England, with an estimated population of in June 2007. For ceremonial purposes it is in the county of Cambridgeshire. Situated north of London, the city stands on the River Nene which flows into the North Sea...
and has his own summerhouse business. For more than 15 years he has been captain of the Arsenal F.C. ex-professionals and celebrity team raising money for charities and the Arsenal Trust. He is also involved with the charity Action Medical Research and along with friend Tony Hadley
Tony Hadley
Tony Hadley is an English pop singer-songwriter, occasional stage actor and radio presenter who gained celebrity as the lead vocalist for the 1980s band Spandau Ballet.-Early life:...
undertook a trek to Machu Picchu
Machu Picchu
Machu Picchu is a pre-Columbian 15th-century Inca site located above sea level. It is situated on a mountain ridge above the Urubamba Valley in Peru, which is northwest of Cusco and through which the Urubamba River flows. Most archaeologists believe that Machu Picchu was built as an estate for...
to raise funds for the charity.
