Name: John Burridge
Nickname: "Budgie"



Country: England
Club: Aston Villa F.C.
Position: *GK
Side: RF/BS
Age: 25-26 years (03/12/1951)

Height: 180 cm
Weight: 83 kg


Attack: 30
Defence: 82
Balance: 78
Stamina: 68
Top Speed: 72
Acceleration: 72
Response: 86
Agility: 78
Dribble Accuracy: 52
Dribble Speed: 53
Short Pass Accuracy: 62
Short Pass Speed: 62
Long Pass Accuracy: 64
Long Pass Speed: 63
Shot Accuracy: 41
Shot Power: 78
Shot Technique: 44
Free Kick Accuracy: 45
Curling: 52
Header: 56
Jump: 88
Technique: 55
Aggression: 55
Mentality: 82
Goalkeeper Skills: 82
Team Work: 74

Injury Tolerance: B
Condition: 8
Weak Foot Accuracy: 4
Weak Foot Frequency: 4
Consistency: 5
Growth Type: Standard/Lasting

CARDS:

SPECIAL ABILITIES:

Attack/Defence Awareness Card: Defence Minded


INFO:
Very jumpy, in fantastic physical shape, fast. His preparations for the game included sleeping with the ball. In his senior career he played for 29 clubs, 18 of them in the Football League, in a career that lasted nearly 30 years. Overall, Burridge played 768 league games in the English and Scottish leagues, and several more at non-league level. Thanks to a supreme dedication to his craft – and a strict fitness and diet regime that was to prove years ahead of its time – Budgie’s playing career extended well into his 40s. On-field somersaults, handstands, sitting on top of a crossbar, wearing a Superman outfit underneath his kit… it was all in a day’s work for Burridge who was also to prove well ahead of the curve in terms of his appliance of football science.

He began his professional career in 1969 at his local club, Workington, signing-up at the age of 15. In 1971, he was transferred to Blackpool. It was with the Seasiders that he won his first honour: the Anglo-Italian Cup. Burridge's performance earned him the praise of the normally highly-critical Italian fans. In 1975, Burridge joined Aston Villa for £75,000. He was signed by Ron Saunders and spent two seasons at Villa Park, winning the League Cup with them, but eventually lost his place to Jimmy Rimmer. He had a short but successful loan spell at Southend United before joining Crystal Palace in 1978, signed by Terry Venables. In a 4–1 victory over Ipswich Town, after Palace went 4–0 up, Burridge, to entertain the fans, sat on the crossbar. After two and a half seasons at Palace, he joined London rivals Queens Park Rangers, again signed by Venables. He was dropped in favour of Peter Hucker for the 1982 FA Cup Final.

Burridge was inducted into the Hall of Fame at Bloomfield Road, when it was officially opened by former Blackpool player Jimmy Armfield in April 2006. Organised by the Blackpool Supporters Association, Blackpool fans around the world voted on their all-time heroes. Five players from each decade are inducted; Burridge is in the 1970s.

Unusually for a player in the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s, Burridge was a teetotaller. He also went against the grain with his diet. In the 1970s Burridge noted players would eat steaks, or even fish and chips for prematch meals, whereas Burridge, studying sport science, and the diets of African tribesmen, sensing something was not right with the way footballers generally fuelled and refuelled, and finding fault with the timing of their fuelling, would carb up with quick meals like baby food, pasta and potatoes. He would drink glasses of water instead of a cup of tea. Perplexing the people of the time period, Burridge would also make fruit smoothies before many had considered the concept of blending fruits for nutrition. In the 1980s, on winning runs, warming up he would do somersaults to entertain the fans, which Burridge noted was frowned upon by the echelons in the game though Burridge did not care for their sentiments, or their belief as to what was the correct way to warm up. In the 1970s Burridge would also be among the first goalkeepers to use Latex gloves; he would also introduce Peter Shilton and Pat Jennings to latex gloves.

John contends that his lack of inches denied him a cap: “I would have won more than 100 caps for England had I been a strapping six-footer.”