Russell Charles Osman (born 14 February 1959) is an English former professional footballer who played as a centre back in the Football League for Ipswich Town, Leicester City, Southampton, Bristol City, Brighton & Hove Albion and Cardiff City. Osman played senior international football for England, for whom he received eleven caps. He is now a football pundit in the Indian Super League.[1]
| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Russell Charles Osman | ||
| Date of birth | (1959-02-14) 14 February 1959 (age 63) | ||
| Place of birth | Repton, England | ||
| Height | 6 ft 0 in (1.83 m) | ||
| Position(s) | Centre back | ||
| Youth career | |||
| 1975–1976 | Ipswich Town | ||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
| 1976–1985 | Ipswich Town | 294 | (17) |
| 1985–1988 | Leicester City | 108 | (8) |
| 1988–1991 | Southampton | 96 | (6) |
| 1991–1994 | Bristol City | 70 | (3) |
| 1995 | Sudbury Town | ||
| 1995 | Plymouth Argyle | 0 | (0) |
| 1995–1996 | Brighton & Hove Albion | 12 | (0) |
| 1996 | Cardiff City | 15 | (0) |
| Total | 595 | (34) | |
| National team | |||
| 1979–1980 | England U21 | 7 | (0) |
| 1980 | England B | 2 | (1) |
| 1980–1983 | England | 11 | (0) |
| Teams managed | |||
| 1993–1994 | Bristol City | ||
| 1995 | Plymouth Argyle (caretaker) | ||
| 1996 | Cardiff City | ||
| 2004 | Bristol Rovers (caretaker) | ||
| *Club domestic league appearances and goals | |||
Osman was born in Repton, Derbyshire, the son of Rex Osman who played a handful of games for Derby County in the early 1950s. Osman played nearly 400 games for Ipswich Town, winning the 1980–81 UEFA Cup. Osman also contributed to Ipswich's victorious 1977–78 FA Cup campaign, making four appearances during the run.[2] However he wasn't part of the squad for the final itself. Osman also represented his country 11 times.[3][4] His first England cap came against Australia in a friendly on 31 May 1980, his last on 21 September 1983 in England's 1–0 Euro 84 qualifying match defeat to Denmark.[5]
Later in his playing career he was player-manager of Bristol City, and had a brief spell as caretaker manager of Plymouth Argyle[6] before later managing Cardiff City. He had a brief role as joint caretaker manager of Bristol Rovers in 2004.[3] In November 2007, he was appointed as assistant manager to Paul Tisdale at Exeter City.[7] In February 2011 he was appointed coach of the Ipswich Town Under 18s.[8] He left the role in August 2013.[9] In July 2015 Osman joined Newport County as assistant manager to Terry Butcher.[10] Butcher, Osman and Steve Marsalla were sacked on 1 October 2015 with Newport bottom of league two after gaining just 5 points from the first 10 matches of the 2015–16 season.[11]
He played Doug Clure, one of the prisoner-of-war footballers, in the 1981 film Escape to Victory, which also included American actor Sylvester Stallone, British actor Michael Caine, Swedish actor Max von Sydow, and football stars Pelé, Ossie Ardiles, and Kazimierz Deyna. The film was based on a game between an Allied team and a Nazi German team during the Second World War.
| Club | Season | League | FA Cup | League Cup | Europe | Other | Total | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Division | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | ||
| Ipswich Town | ||||||||||||||
| 1977–78 | First Division | 28 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 4[lower-alpha 1] | 0 | — | 38 | 0 | ||
| 1978–79 | First Division | 39 | 2 | 5 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 6[lower-alpha 2] | 0 | 1[lower-alpha 3] | 0 | 52 | 2 | |
| 1979–80 | First Division | 42 | 2 | 4 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 4[lower-alpha 1] | 0 | — | 52 | 2 | ||
| 1980–81 | First Division | 42 | 1 | 7 | 0 | 5 | 2 | 12[lower-alpha 1] | 0 | — | 66 | 3 | ||
| 1981–82 | First Division | 39 | 2 | 3 | 0 | 7 | 0 | 2[lower-alpha 1] | 0 | — | 51 | 2 | ||
| 1982–83 | First Division | 38 | 4 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 2[lower-alpha 1] | 0 | — | 45 | 5 | ||
| 1983–84 | First Division | 37 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 3 | 0 | — | — | 42 | 3 | |||
| 1984–85 | First Division | 29 | 3 | 4 | 0 | 6 | 1 | — | — | 39 | 4 | |||
| Total | 294 | 17 | 32 | 1 | 28 | 3 | 30 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 385 | 21 | ||
| Leicester City | ||||||||||||||
| 1985–86 | First Division | 40 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | — | — | 42 | 0 | |||
| 1986–87 | First Division | 31 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | — | — | 34 | 3 | |||
| 1987–88 | Second Division | 37 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 0 | — | 2[lower-alpha 4] | 0 | 44 | 5 | ||
| Total | 108 | 8 | 2 | 0 | 8 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 120 | 8 | ||
| Southampton | ||||||||||||||
| 1988–89 | First Division | 36 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 6 | 0 | — | 2[lower-alpha 4] | 0 | 45 | 0 | ||
| 1989–90 | First Division | 35 | 5 | 3 | 0 | 7 | 0 | — | — | 45 | 5 | |||
| 1990–91 | First Division | 20 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 5 | 0 | — | 1[lower-alpha 4] | 0 | 29 | 1 | ||
| 1991–92 | First Division | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | — | 5 | 0 | |||
| Total | 96 | 6 | 7 | 0 | 18 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 124 | 6 | ||
| Bristol City | ||||||||||||||
| 1991–92 | Second Division | 31 | 2 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | — | 35 | 2 | |||
| 1992–93 | First Division | 34 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2[lower-alpha 5] | 0 | — | 38 | 0 | ||
| 1993–94 | First Division | 5 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 1[lower-alpha 5] | 0 | — | 8 | 1 | ||
| Total | 70 | 3 | 5 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 81 | 3 | ||
| Brighton & Hove Albion | 1995–96 | Second Division | 12 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | 3[lower-alpha 6] | 0 | 17 | 0 | |
| Cardiff City | 1995–96 | Third Division | 15 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | — | 15 | 0 | ||
| Career total | 595 | 34 | 48 | 1 | 57 | 3 | 33 | 0 | 9 | 0 | 742 | 38 | ||
Ipswich Town
Individual
1980–81 Football League First Division PFA Team of the Year | |
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Bristol City F.C. – managers | |
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Cardiff City F.C. – managers | |
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