Pat Jennings

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Patrick Anthony Jennings OBE (born June 12, 1945 in Newry, County Down, Northern Ireland) is a former football player. He played 119 games for Northern Ireland as a goalkeeper, a figure which at the time was a world record (and is incidently still a Northern Ireland record), in an international career which lasted for over 22 years. Jennings is considered one of the greatest goalkeepers of all time. During his career Jennings played in over 1000 top level games, and even managed to score a goal in the 1967 Charity Shield match. What was even more spectacular about it was that he scored the kick from his hands--sending a large punt down the field that bounced over Manchester United goalkeeper Alex Stepney and landed in the net.

Jennings began his playing career with his hometown side Newry Town as a 16 year old. After impressing with the team he moved to English Third Division side Watford in May 1963. Jennings again impressed in his first season in English football, as he played every league game for his club, and was bought by Tottenham Hotspur for £27,000 at the end of it. Jennings spent 13 years at White Hart Lane, where he played in 472 league games for Spurs. He won the FA Cup in 1967, the League Cup in 1971 and 1973, and the UEFA Cup in 1972. In 1973 the Football Writers' Association named him as its footballer of the year, three years later he won PFA's version of the award.

In August 1977, he was sold to Tottenham's arch-rivals, Arsenal, with Tottenham thinking he was nearing the end of his career. However, Jennings saw off rivals for the goalkeeper's jersey to play for Arsenal for another eight years. Whilst at Highbury, he helped Arsenal to three successive FA Cup finals, in 1978, 1979, and 1980. However, Arsenal only managed to win the second of these finals, a 3-2 victory against Manchester United. In total, Jennings made 327 appearances for Arsenal, 237 of them in the League, between 1977 and his eventual retirement from first-team club football in 1985.

Jennings made his Northern Ireland debut as an 18 year old, whilst playing for Watford. This game was on April 15, 1964, and was a British Home Championship match against Wales, Northern Ireland won the game 3-2; George Best made his international debut in the same game. Jennings played his final international game on his 41st birthday, having returned to Tottenham Hotspur 6 months earlier, playing in their reserve side to maintain his match sharpness. This game was Northern Ireland's final group game in the 1986 World Cup, and was against Brazil, Brazil won the game 3-0. This was Jennings's second World Cup, he had previously played in the 1982 World Cup.

Following his retirement Jennings has worked as a goalkeeping coach. He has worked at Tottenham in this capacity since 1993. In 2003 Jennings was inducted into the English Football Hall of Fame in recognition of the skills he demonstrated in the English league.

His son, also named Pat, is also a goalkeeper. He has played for Eircom League clubs UCD and is playing for Derry.

Jennings now lives in Broxbourne, Herts.

Preceded by Gordon Banks	Football Writers' Association Footballer of the Year 1973	Succeeded by Ian Callaghan
Preceded by Colin Todd	PFA Players' Player of the Year 1976	Succeeded by Andy Gray

[edit] References

• Jennings, Pat (1983). Pat Jennings: An Autobiography. London, Willow Books, ISBN 0-00-218069-3.

[edit] External links

• English Football Hall of Fame Profile

	Northern Ireland squad - 1982 FIFA World Cup
1 Jennings | 2 J. Nicholl | 3 Donaghy | 4 McCreery | 5 C. Nicholl | 6 J. O'Neill | 7 Brotherston | 8 M. O'Neill | 9 Armstrong | 10 McIlroy | 11 Hamilton | 12 McClelland | 13 Nelson | 14 Cassidy | 15 Finney | 16 Whiteside | 17 Platt | 18 Jameson | 19 Healy | 20 Cleary | 21 Campbell | 22 Dunlop | Coach: Bingham

	Northern Ireland squad - 1986 FIFA World Cup
1 Jennings | 2 Nicholl | 3 Donaghy | 4 O'Neill | 5 McDonald | 6 McCreery | 7 Penney | 8 McIlroy | 9 Quinn | 10 Whiteside | 11 Stewart | 12 Platt | 13 Hughes | 14 Armstrong | 15 Worthington | 16 Ramsey | 17 Clarke | 18 McClelland | 19 Hamilton | 20 McNally | 21 Campbell | 22 Caughey | Coach: Bingham

Persondata
NAME	Jennings, Patrick Anthony
ALTERNATIVE NAMES	Jennings, Pat
SHORT DESCRIPTION	Northern Irish football player
DATE OF BIRTH	June 12, 1945
PLACE OF BIRTH	Newry, County Down, Northern Ireland
DATE OF DEATH
PLACE OF DEATH