The Longside Reference

Burnley Manager from August 1984 till May 1985

John Benson followed John Bond around like the proverbial bad smell!

Benson and Bond were both in the Torquay team in 1966, and when Bond went into management at Bournemouth it wasn't long before Benson joined him as a player, then when Bond left to go to Norwich in 1973 Benson again followed Bond as Player/Coach.

He did however leave John Bond in 1976 when he returned to Dean Court as Player/Manager until 1979, when he joined up again with Bond this time as a Youth Coach in the Carrow Road set up.

When John Bond got his big break at Manchester City he took Benson along as his new assistant manager, when City turned sour the came hand in hand to Burnley.

At Burnley he was mainly in the shadows of John Bond, that until Bond was sacked on the eve of the 1984/85 season.

Benson stepped in as Manager, and what a disatourous campaign that was, his team did have some good days, beating non-League Penrith 9-0, beating Rotherham United 7-0 at Turf Moor but he had too many bad days!  

Burnley under Benson were relegated to the fourth division for the first time in Burnley's great history.

After Burnley John Benson took coaching jobs in Dubai and with Naser in Kuwait before returning to England in 1990 where he was appointed Chief Scout at Barnsley, a post he held until April 1994

Then a return to Carrow Road and Norwich City assisting then manager John Deehan with administrative duties, whilst also coaching the Norwich goalkeepers. Deehan resigned in April 1995, and was replaced by Martin O'Neill, Deehan subsequently being appointed manager of Wigan Athletic.

In October 1995, Benson followed Deehan out of Norwich and to Wigan Atletic assistant. In the summer of 1998, Deehan left to coach at Sheffield United, with Benson taking over as caretaker.

He was offered the job after quite a successfull time as caretaker but declined on the grounds of ill-health, Ray Mathias taking over instead, with Benson remaining in an advisory capacity.

Matthias was sacked after promotion wasnt acheived, and on the 1st of June 1999 Benson was appointed as Wigan's manager. As Wigan settled into their new home at the JJB Stadium, Benson's side went 26 league games undefeated, before losing at home to Oldham Athletic in January 2000, Benson picking up 2 Manager of the Month awards in the process.

Towards the end of the 1999/00 season Wigan lost their form and found themselves in the play-off final at Wembley against Gillingham. A few days prior to the game, Benson had announced he was stepping down but remained to lead his team out at Wembley and ultimately a 3–2 defeat after being 2–1 up with only 7 minutes of extra time remaining.

In June 2000 Bruce Rioch took over as Wigan manager, with Benson appointed as general manager. In April 2001, Rioch was replaced by Steve Bruce and Benson's role changed to that of youth development officer.

A month later Bruce also left, and the consequent arrival as Paul Jewell resulted in Benson being given the title of Director of Football.

In December 2001 he resigned from his post at Wigan to link up again, this time as assistant manager, with Steve Bruce, when Bruce finally completed his acrimonius move from Crystal Palace to Birmingham City.

He later became General Manager at Birmingham, but left in June 2006 to rejoin Wigan Athletic on the coaching staff.  He left Wigan to join Sunderland in the summer of 2010.

On October 30 2010 John Benson passed away after a short illness.