John Sydenham
| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | John Sydenham | ||
| Date of birth | 15 September 1939 | ||
| Place of birth | Southampton, England | ||
| Height | 5 ft 6 in (1.68 m) | ||
| Playing position | Forward | ||
| Youth career | |||
| 1955–1957 | CPC Sports | ||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
| 1957–1969 | Southampton | 342 | (37) |
| 1969–1971 | Aldershot | 59 | (4) |
| 1972–1974 | Bath City | 69 | (9) |
| 1974–19?? | Inglewood Kiev | ||
| 19??–1981 | Floreat Athena | ||
| * Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only. |
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John Sydenham (born 15 September 1939) is a former footballer, who spent most of his career with Southampton.
Born in Southampton, John was educated at St. Mary’s College, Southampton and, at 13, he became their first pupil to play for the Southampton Schools XI. By playing his part in the side that reached the final of the 1954 English Schools trophy, only to lose out to Liverpool, he came to the notice of Saints. In August 1955 he joined CPC Sports who doubled as a Saints’ nursery side.
In due course John became part of the successful 1956-57 Southampton Youth side which did so well in the FA Youth Cup. Saints lost out 7-5 to Manchester United on aggregate but Sydenham's lasting memory of the cup adventure was of Manchester United manager Matt Busby going into the Old Trafford dressing room and congratulating them on their performance. The young Saints side had just won 3-2, becoming the first side to beat United in the Youth Cup, but the damage had already been done in front of a 20,000 crowd at The Dell where the Busby Babes had won the first leg 5-2.
He was now well on his way to a successful career in football and having been selected for England Youth five times, he joined Southampton as a professional in April 1957. John made his debut for the Southampton first team on 4 May 1957 at home to Newport County. At this time John first joined forces with another young winger, Terry Paine, and before long both players were regulars in Saints’ first team, tearing Third Division defences to pieces.
He became famous for having an incredible burst of speed and would simply knock the ball past an opposing defender and then outsprint him to reach the ball first.
He first received International honours in the 1959-60 season being twice selected for the England Under-23 team including against Scotland, which match ended 4-4. A young Denis Law netted all four goals for the Scots while Jimmy Greaves converted a hat-trick for the English.
Like most players at this time, his progress was interrupted by National Service in July 1960.
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