Johnny BYRNE | 1964-1966 | PES Stats Database (Golden Era Backup)

BYRNE PES STATS | 1964-1966

electric_trigger Johnny BYRNE | 1964-1966 Club: West Ham United Number: 8 Position: *SS, AM, Nationality: English Era: 1964-1966, aged 25-27 Foot: R Side: B Length: ? Weight: ? Attack: 83 Defence: 45 Balance: 78 Stamina: 83 Top Speed: 82 Acceleration: 86 Response: 83 Agility: 88 Dribble Accuracy: 83 Dribble Speed: 82 Short Pass Accuracy: 84 Short Pass Speed: 79 Long Pass Acc.: 71 Long Pass Speed: 76 Shot Accuracy: 85 Shot Power: 78 Shot Technique: 85 Free Kick Accuracy: 75 Curling: 78 Header: 81 Jump: 85 Technique: 84 Aggression: 85 Mentality: 75 Keeper Skills: 50 Team Work: 83 Injury Tolerance: B Condition/Fitness: 6 Weak Foot Accuracy: 5 Weak Foot frequency: 5 *Positioning *Reaction *Scoring *Passing John Joseph (Johnny) ''Budgie'' Byrne (13 May 1939 – 27 October 1999) was an English professional football player. Johnny Byrne is not, perhaps, a widely recognised name among the modern generation of football fans which is not too surprising given that his career only briefly touched the heights for which it seemed destined. If fate had played him a kinder hand, or had his personality been different, he could easily have become one of the nations' ultimate sporting heroes. Had a follower of English football been told in 1964, or even 1965, that England would win the 1966 World Cup and the goals would be supplied by a West Ham player there would have been no great surprise. The fan would simply have assumed that Johnny Byrne was the player in question. In the event Byrne did not actually make the final squad and his career quickly deteriorated thereafter. Byrne did not possess real pace and although he could certainly beat a man he did so more naturally in central positions, going past opponents with a subtle body swerve or change of pace rather than with pure dribbling. Inside forward suited this aspect of his game and his ability to spot and play a pass also made him highly effective in this role. The youngster also possessed a real eye for goal, however, which gave an obvious temptation to stick him straight into the centre forward position. Although Johnny Byrne settled in well enough mainly at inside forward this puzzle would not be fully resolved until football moved away from the traditional 2-3-5 formation and adopted the new 4-2-4 system. Playing as a second striker alongside an out and out centre forward with the freedom to roam was ideal for Byrne and with many sides favouring two out and out target men or mixing and matching with one big 'un and one little 'un his more rarefied talents helped him to stand out as special. After a steady first two seasons, Byrne became a first team regular at Crystal Palace and quickly became popular with the Palace faithful, setting the Fourth Division alight. In the 1960-61 season, Byrne scored 31 of Palace's 110 goals (his strike partner Roy Summersby netted 25), as Palace reached the Third Division. In the November of that first season in Division Three, Byrne was called up to the England team, despite playing outside the top two divisions at the time, one of only five people ever to achieve this. Byrne played the whole of the 1-1 draw against Northern Ireland, part of the 1962 British Home Championship, at Wembley Stadium. Following this, he did not stay a Third Division player for long, and the First Division beckoned, as Ron Greenwood paid a British record transfer fee of £65,000 and ex-Palace striker Ron Brett to take ''Budgie'' to West Ham United in 1961, having scored 96 goals for Palace, then a post-war record. At the Hammers, Byrne's career flourished. He got his first (and second) England goal in the 1-8 win over Switzerland, and he then pipped the likes of Bobby Moore, Geoff Hurst and Martin Peters (all would go on to win the 1966 FIFA World Cup) to the Hammer of the Year award for the 1963-64 season, as West Ham won the FA Cup. In May 1964, possibly Byrne's greatest achievement came, as he scored a hattrick in England's 4-3 win over a Portugal team that contained the likes of Eusébio. More silverware followed 1964-65, as the Hammers won the UEFA Cup Winners' Cup. However he missed out on a place in the eventually victorious England squad, at the 1966 FIFA World Cup. He scored for West Ham in the first leg of their 5-3 aggregate loss to West Bromwich Albion in the 1966 League Cup Final. Byrne left West Ham in 1967, returning to Crystal Palace. Just under a year later, having scored just five goals (though that did bring his Palace total to one over 100, putting him 4th on Palace's all-time scorers list; he is now 7th), he moved across London again, this time to Fulham. After another unnoteworthy year, Byrne moved to South Africa, to play for the now defunct Durban City, alongside some of his former Fulham teammates, such as Bobby Keats and Johnny Haynes. Johnny BYRNE | 1964-1966 | PES Stats Database (Golden Era Backup)