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Kenny Sansom (born September 26, 1958 in
Camberwell, London) was an England|English
football (soccer)|footballer who remains his
country's most capped full back.

Sansom shone at left back in the youth team at
Crystal Palace F.C.|Crystal Palace, whom he joined
while still at school, and was deemed good enough
to make his first team debut at the age of just 16
- remaining to this day Palace's second youngest
ever debutant. In 1977 he captained the Palace
juniors team to FA Youth Cup success while also
skippering the England national football
team|England at the same level.

Quick, calm, strong in the tackle and an excellent
crosser of the ball, Sansom had a comfort in
high-profile match situations which led to a
remarkable feat of missing just one League game in
156, starting back in 1976, when Palace were in
the old Football League Third Division|Third
Division and were about to be labelled,
infamously, the Team Of The Decade. Palace
progressed through the divisions with this young
side and briefly topped the old Football League
First Division|First Division at the end of 1979,
though the heights predicted for the club never
materialised, and honours eluded them.

Palace's youngsters started to look for their next
challenge and Arsenal F.C.|Arsenal put in a bid of
one million pounds for Sansom in the summer of
1980, using striker Clive Allen as bait (this was
unusual, as Allen was an equally prized young
player and had only joined Arsenal weeks earlier,
and had yet to play for the club). Palace accepted
the bid and Sansom left for Arsenal
Stadium|Highbury. The same summer he had starred
for England in the 1980 European Football
Championship|1980 European Championships in Italy,
though England did not make progress. Sansom had
made his debut the previous year in a goalless
draw against Wales national football team|Wales.

At Arsenal, it took Sansom a whole seven years to
win a trophy, with the Gunners largely
underachieving through the early and mid-1980s,
therefore it was for his England career for which
Sansom gained plaudits and recognition. He was
rarely out of the team and played in the 1982
World Cup in Spain, which England exited in the
second group phase; and was still the first choice
left back for the Football World Cup 1986|1986
World Cup in Mexico, playing in all of the matches
up to and including the quarter final defeat
against Argentina national football
team|Argentina, aided by the Hand_of_God_goal|Hand
Of God goal.

Still not yet 30, Sansom missed only a handful of
England matches between 1980 and 1988, with only
the odd rest given to him in friendly matches so
that coaches Ron Greenwood and then Bobby Robson
could check on potential replacements (Derek
Statham, Alan Kennedy, Nick Pickering) in the
event of Sansom suffering from either injury or
chronic loss of form. Neither happened.

Sansom was still a firm fixture in the No.3 shirt
in 1987 but the first genuine sign of competition
came in the same year, when the Nottingham Forest
F.C.|Nottingham Forest left back and captain
Stuart Pearce was given his England debut against
Brazil national football team|Brazil and played
well, setting up England's goal for Gary Lineker.
But Sansom was still in the side when the business
of qualifying for the 1988 European Football
Championship|1988 European Championships in West
Germany was on the agenda.

Also in 1987, Sansom finally won some domestic
silverware, captaining Arsenal to a League Cup
final victory over Liverpool F.C.|Liverpool at
Wembley Stadium|Wembley. Sansom had started the
move which had led to Arsenal's late winner,
scored by Charlie Nicholas.

The following season, Sansom's relationship with
his Arsenal manager George Graham
(footballer)|George Graham soured and he was
replaced as captain by fledgling defender Tony
Adams (footballer)|Tony Adams, who was just 21.
Sansom did, however, keep his place in the side
(even though Graham had just signed a long term
replacement in Nigel Winterburn) and Arsenal
reached the League Cup final again, only to lose
3-2 to Luton Town F.C.|Luton Town in a dramatic
and exciting match.

That summer, Sansom was Robson's first choice left
back for the European Championships, but England
were a disaster, losing all three of their group
games, starting with a humiliating 1-0 defeat to
Republic of Ireland national football team|the
Republic of Ireland in their first ever finals
match, having qualified under the management of
Englishman and Football World Cup 1966|1966 World
Cup winner Jack Charlton.

Sansom made a horrible error for the only goal of
the game, toeing an attempted clearance high into
the air and putting pressure on his fellow
defenders, from which John Aldridge won a header
for Ray Houghton to nod the ball past Peter
Shilton. Sansom played in the other two group
fixtures but it was obvious that Pearce (who
wasn't at the tournament due to injury - the
uncapped Tony Dorigo was Sansom's covering left
back in the squad) was now ready, after a season
of achievement and leadership at Brian Clough's
Forest, to become England's first choice No.3.
After nine years and 86 caps (plus one goal -
scored in a World Cup qualifier against Finland
national football team|Finland in 1984) Sansom's
international career was at an end, months before
his 30th birthday.

To this day, Sansom is England's most capped full
back (replacement Pearce came close, ending his
international career in 1999 with 78 caps) and
only five players - Shilton, Bobby Moore, Bobby
Charlton, Billy Wright and Bryan Robson - have
appeared more times for England than Sansom. That
said, David Beckham is posied to overtake Sansom,
while Gary Neville is also set to overhaul him
both in England appearances total and in status as
the country's most capped full back.

His Arsenal career at an end too, after 394
matches and six goals, Sansom rapidly fell from
grace as a footballer but continued to play
without the spotlight on him for many years. He
initially joined Newcastle United F.C.|Newcastle
United, then continued with Queens Park Rangers
F.C.|QPR, Coventry City F.C.|Coventry City,
Everton F.C.|Everton, Brentford F.C.|Brentford and
Watford F.C.|Watford, as well as two short spells
in the non-league game. Winterburn took over as
Arsenal left back upon Sansom's departure, and
stayed there for 13 years, winning four FA Premier
League|League championships (including two in its
previous pre-Premiership form), three FA Cups, a
League Cup and a European Cup Winners Cup.

After playing, Sansom fell on hard financial times
with business and gamble|gambling problems but has
rceently been back in football as a player on the
veterans' circuit. He is frequently called upon as
a pundit to make comments on the game, especially
with matters concerning Crystal Palace or Arsenal.