A GOALKEEPER with film star looks signed for Brighton from Arsenal just after England lifted the World Cup.

Tony Burns had kept goal for the Gunners in 31 top-flight matches and Albion boss Archie Macaulay, who had played for Arsenal himself, went back to his old club to sign a no.1 to challenge the emerging local lad, Brian Powney.

It wasn’t difficult for Burns to settle at the Goldstone because the dressing room included Northern Irish full-back Jimmy Magill and winger Brian Tawse, familiar faces from his time in north London who’d also made the switch to Brighton.

It also wasn’t long before female fans who admired his smouldering good looks were sending in letters to the office inquiring about his eligibility!

Burns relived his career in detail in 2020 when interviewed by 17-year-old would-be journalist Jed Vine, who watches games at the Amex with his mother, and games at the Emirates with his dad.

Born in Edenbridge, Kent, on 27 March 1944, Burns first showed his goalkeeping prowess during his schooldays in the town before he joined Southern League club Tonbridge (now Tonbridge Angels) who he returned to twice more and later managed three times.

He made his Southern League debut against Yiewsley (later to become Hillingdon Borough) in February 1963 and only his third game for Tonbridge was as an 18-year-old against Arsenal at Highbury.

With long term custodian Jack Kelsey retiring, Arsenal were looking around for likely successors and, liking what they saw of Burns, offered him a contract.

“In his early days at Highbury, he showed immense potential and, after benefitting from Kelsey`s coaching, made encouraging strides,” a 2020 Pitching In piece for the Southern League recalled.

Manager Billy Wright gave him his senior Arsenal debut in a friendly against Enschede in Holland in August 1963, with Magill in defence, and he got his first taste of South Africa on a five-game tour the following May when he was in goal for Arsenal’s 5-1 win over a Western Province XI and their 6-0 win over an Eastern Province XI.

But his big breakthrough came when he made his league debut in a 3-2 home win over Burnley in October 1964 (three days earlier he’d played in goal in a 7-0 friendly win over non-league Corinthian Casuals).

“I felt on top of the world. I had always wanted to play for the Gunners and here I was keeping goal for them, and on the winning side at that,” he told the Albion matchday programme. “There’s only one first match and I’ll never forget this one.”

Once he got the shirt, he had a run of 26 games (32 including friendlies) from October 1964 through to the end of March 1965.

He generally played in front of a defence featuring the likes of Don Howe, Frank McLintock and Ian Ure with John Radford and Joe Baker up front.

During the first half of the 1965-66 season, Burns appeared in seven league games and three friendlies, but his final Gunners first team appearance came on 27 December 1965 in a 4-0 defeat away to Sheffield Wednesday.

Jim Furnell was Wright’s preferred first choice, and, as the season wore on, the emerging Bob Wilson was getting the nod ahead of him as stand-in (although it wasn’t until 1968 that Wilson finally ousted Furnell).

Disappointed to leave, Burns nonetheless went in search of regular football by joining Third Division Brighton for £2,000 in July 1966.

He made his first appearance for the Albion on 17 September 1966, when he took over from the injured Powney, but Brighton went down 2-0 to Grimsby Town.

Powney returned the following week and Burns had to wait until January for his next games – two FA Cup ties against Aldershot.

He kept his place for the big fourth round FA Cup game against First Division Chelsea at the Goldstone which finished 1-1 when his former Arsenal teammate Tawse controversially had what he thought was a cracking late winner ruled out for a foul by Kit Napier.

Unfortunately, Burns conceded four in the replay at Stamford Bridge as the superior Chelsea side made the most of home advantage to ease their way through comfortably, 4-0. That was the season they went all the way to the final only to lose 2-1 to Tottenham Hotspur, whose ranks included Alan Mullery and Joe Kinnear.

By the end of the season, Burns had played 18 matches against Powney’s 37. But Burns had the upper hand in 1967-68 featuring in 29 games compared to Powney’s 21.

He also started the 1968-69 season as first choice but his 54^th and final game for the Albion was in the 2-1 home defeat to Northampton in the second round of the FA Cup on 20 December 1968.

New manager Freddie Goodwin brought in former Wolves and Aston Villa ‘keeper Geoff Sidebottom to challenge Powney and let Burns leave on a free transfer in March 1969.

He joined Charlton Athletic, where he made 10 appearances in their unsuccessful tilt at promotion, but declined what he saw as a derisory contract offer. He returned to Tonbridge briefly and in January 1971 headed off to play in South Africa, initially for Durban United, and later, Maritzburg.

In his interview with Jed, he recalls playing in an English All Stars team managed by Malcolm Allison who invited him to return to England with Crystal Palace when his contract was up.

Burns made the move in October 1973 after previous Palace no.1 (and later Albion youth coach) John Jackson had moved to Orient.

He shared goalkeeping duties with Paul Hammond, playing a total of 90 matches between the sticks for Palace over the next four years under Allison and his successor Terry Venables.

In 1977, Burns played half a dozen games on loan for Brentford before heading off to the States like a lot of ageing players did at that time.

The ‘keeper played a dozen games for Memphis Rogues in the North American Football League. They were coached by former Chelsea defender and manager Eddie McCreadie although Burns had gone there to team up with former boss Allison who was sacked without a ball being kicked because he hadn’t signed enough players!

Among Burns’ teammates were a young Neil Smillie, who’d been struggling for games at Palace, Phil Beal, who had left Brighton the year before, John Faulkner, the one-time Leeds and Luton defender, and the flamboyant Alan Birchenall, beloved by Leicester City supporters of many generations.

Back in the UK in 1978, Burns joined Plymouth Argyle as cover for Martin Hodge, and ended his league playing days in this country appearing in 11 games in the first half of the 1978-79 season.

However, he left Home Park to rejoin Tonbridge Angels for a third time and he also played for Hastings United and Dartford.

After his playing days were over, Burns had three spells in charge of Tonbridge, from August 1980 to December 1982, August 1989 to May 1990, and in a caretaker role from November 2001 to May 2002 (by which time he was goalkeeping coach at Millwall, who he joined in 1992 under Mick McCarthy.

He also spent seven years as manager of Gravesend and Northfleet (who became Ebbsfleet United) between 1982 and 1989.

But it was at Millwall where he finally found a permanent home, working under no fewer than 18 different managers, including Steve Gritt and Mark McGhee.

He was even at the helm himself for a while, working as co-caretaker manager with former Lions boss Alan McLeary after Dave Tuttle’s departure in April 2006, when Millwall’s relegation had already been confirmed.

The appointment of Nigel Spackman the following month led to Burns’ departure in July 2006, when he took up a similar role at his old club Palace, working under former Albion boss Peter Taylor coaching Julian Speroni and Scott Flinders.

He left Selhurst in November 2007 when Taylor lost his job, and Speroni told yourlocalguardian.co.uk: “It was sad to lose Tony Burns because we worked well with him. During last season when I wasn’t playing regular football, Tony was the one who kept me going which was very important.”

Burns moved with Taylor to Conference side Stevenage Borough but later returned to Millwall under Kenny Jackett before stepping down in 2012, when he was succeeded by Kevin Pressman.

Still, he wasn’t finished with the game, though, and at the age of 70, in the summer of 2014, he teamed up with Taylor yet again to become goalkeeping coach at Gillingham. He joined them on a part-time non-contract basis as a replacement for Carl Muggleton.