Ian Turner

Ian Turner (born 17 January 1953) is an English former professional footballer, who won the FA Cup when he played for Southampton as goalkeeper in the 1976 FA Cup final.

Club career

Early career Turner originally played at centre-half for his local team, South Bank. However, during a match against Huddersfield Reserves, he played as a goalkeeper and was noticed by Huddersfield Town manager, Ian Greaves, who signed him as a professional in October 1970.

He transferred to Grimsby Town in March 1972 where he first became acquainted with manager Lawrie McMenemy. Manchester United started stronger, and missed several early goalscoring opportunities, with Turner making a series of impressive saves to deny Gerry Daly and Gordon Hill.

He was a brave and reliable keeper, but at the start of the 1976–77 season he injured his left knee and required an operation to remove both cartilages. After his return to fitness he only made occasional appearances, including three appearances in European games against Olympique Marseille (twice) and Napoli. He started the following season as first-choice keeper, but after eight games he lost his place to Peter Wells in October 1977.