Footballers who have played league football for both PNE and Ipswich
A-K
426) Mick Burns
PNE 12 apps; 0 goals
Ipswich 157 apps; 0 goals
PNE debut 17/10/1936 v Stoke (A) Won 2-0
887) Ricardo Fuller
PNE 58 apps; 27 goals
Ipswich 3 apps; 2 goals
PNE debut 10/08/2002 v Crystal Palace (H) Lost 1-2
667) David Johnston
PNE 24 apps; 3 goals
Ipswich 136 apps; 35 goals
PNE debut 13/10/1984 v Reading (H) Lost 0-2
Player Profile Mick Burns
Michael Thomas Burns was born in Leeholme, County Durham on 7 June 1908.
After starting his football career with Chilton Collery he joined First Division Newcastle in September 1927. Although he was never an automatic choice as first team goalkeeper at Newcastle he did manager a total of 104 league appearances in nine seasons for the club. The last two seasons was in the second division following Newcastle's relegation in 1933/34.
In July 1936 Burns was signed by Preston manager Tommy Muirhead. He was signed as understudy to Harry Holdcroft who had been the Preston goalkeeper for the past four seasons. Burns made his debut on 17 October 1936 in a 2-0 victory at Stoke. He had to wait a further three months before he got his second game, also against the same opposition in the FA Cup Fourth Round as PNE won 5-1 at Deepdale. Burns then kept his place for the next four matches including the Fifth Round win against Exeter .
Holdcroft regained his place for the next 11 matches until injury caused him to miss the Semi Final victory against West Brom . After playing in the last three league of the 1936/37 season he finished the season playing in the most important match of his career in front of almost 93,500 spectators as Preston lost to Sunderland 3-1 at Wembley in the FA Cup Final.
The following season Burns only managed 5 appearances between October and November 1937 as he remained the understudy to Holdcroft and watched from the stands as Preston beat Huddersfield in the 1938 FA Cup Final.
At the end of the season Burns left Preston after making just 12 league appearances, although he only suffered one defeat in the league. Burns then joined Ipswich Town in May 1938. He became first choice goalkeeper in what was their inaugural season in the football league. The first match for Ipswich was a 4-2 home win against Southend as they finished seventh in the 1938/39 season.
During the war years he played matches for Norwich before returning to Portman Road in the 1946/47 season.
His 157 and last league game for Ipswich was on 6 October 1951 at the age of 43 in a 2-1 defeat at Exeter and is currently the sixteenth oldest player to play in the football league. His final match was in January 1952 against Gateshead in the FA Cup.
After leaving football, Burns became a caretaker in a school in Newcastle upon Tyne and passed away in September 1982 aged 74.