John Burckitt

John joined City as an apprentice at Highfield Road in 1962 and played his early football alongside youngsters such as Bobby Gould, Peter Denton and Dudley Roberts. 1964-65 was John’s golden season. He captained the City youth team and in October 1964 at the age of 17 he made his first team debut as a left back in a 2-2 home draw with Manchester City. He only played six games, five in the league and in a disastrous 8-1 League Cup defeat at the hands of Leicester City. He became a regular in the England Youth training squad and in April 1965 he was rewarded with five international caps as England Youth reached the final of the European Youth Championships. John was a regular for the reserves but amazingly did not get another chance in the first team for almost two years, mainly due to the outstanding form of Allan Harris and later Dietmar Bruck. John made one more appearance, in a 2-1 home League Cup win against Derby in September 1966. He went to Bradford City on loan in March 1967 and made nine appearances before brief spells at Walsall, Rugby Town and Nuneaton Borough.