Johnny Byrne (footballer)
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John Joseph (Johnny) "Budgie" Byrne (born 20 May 1939 in West Horsley, England, died 27 October 1999 in South Africa) was an English professional football player.
Johnny started his career playing for Epsom Town, and then Guildford City Youth, before moving to Football League club Crystal Palace, signing a professional contract on his 17th birthday. After a steady first two seasons, Byrne became a first team regular, and quickly became popular with the Palace faithful, setting the Fourth Division alight. In the 1960-61 season, Byrne scored 31 of Palace's 110 goals (his strike partner Roy Summersby netted 25), as Palace reached the Third Division. In the November of that first season in Division Three, Byrne was called up to the England team, despite playing outside the top two divisions at the time, one of only five people ever to achieve this. Byrne played the whole of the 1-1 draw against Northern Ireland, part of the 1962 British Home Championship, at Wembley Stadium.
Following this, he did not stay a Third Division player for long, and the First Division beckoned, as Ron Greenwood paid a British record transfer fee of £65,000 and ex-Palace striker Ron Brett to take "Budgie" to West Ham United in 1961, having scored 96 goals for Palace, then a post-war record.
At the Hammers, Byrne's career flourished. He got his first (and second) England goal in the 1-8 win over Switzerland, and he then pipped the likes of Bobby Moore, Geoff Hurst and Martin Peters (all would go on to win the 1966 FIFA World Cup) to the "Hammer of the Year" award for the 1963-64 season, as West Ham won the FA Cup. In May 1964, possibly Byrne's greatest achievement came, as he scored a hattrick in England's 4-3 win over a Portugal team that contained the likes of Eusébio. More silverware followed 1964-65, as the Hammers won the UEFA Cup Winners' Cup.
Having missed out on a place in the eventually victorious England squad, at the 1966 FIFA World Cup, Byrne left West Ham in 1967, returning to Crystal Palace.
Just under a year later, having scored just five goals (though that did bring his Palace total to one over 100, putting him 4th on Palace's all-time scorers list; he is now 7th), he moved across London again, this time to Fulham. After another unnoteworthy year, Byrne moved to South Africa, to play for the now defunct Durban City, alongside some of his former Fulham teammates, such as Bobby Keats and Johnny Haynes. Byrne went on to become manager of Durban, and coach there for the remainder of his career.
He died there peacefully in 1999, aged 60.
