John Benson

Who was John Benson?

John Harvey Benson was a Scottish football player and manager. Born in Arbroath, Benson started his career as an apprentice at Manchester City. He turned professional in 1961, and made 44 league appearances over the next three seasons before being sold to Fourth Division side Torquay United in 1964. He was a regular in the first team during his whole spell with Torquay, helping the club win promotion to the Third Division in the 1965–66 season.

In 1970, Benson joined John Bond's Fourth Division side Bournemouth, where he was part of another promotion winning side in the 1970–71 season. He had a short spell on loan with Exeter City in 1973, and later that year moved to Norwich City, who had recently appointed John Bond as their new manager. He spent just over a year at the club before returning to Bournemouth in January 1975 as player-manager, but couldn't prevent the club's relegation to the Fourth Division at the end of the season. In his first full season in charge, the club came close to regaining promotion to the Third Division, but two less successful seasons followed, and Benson resigned in 1978.

Over the next three decades, Benson worked in a wide variety of different coaching and scouting roles. He was appointed as caretaker manager of Manchester City in 1983, but was replaced at the end of the season after the club were relegated. He became manager at Burnley a year later, but was sacked after suffering another relegation. He was also in charge of Wigan Athletic during the 1999–2000 season, narrowly missing out on promotion after the team were defeated in the 2000 Second Division play-off Final. He died in October 2010, aged 67, following a short illness.