| Andy Townsend | ||
| Personal information | ||
|---|---|---|
| Full name | Andrew David Townsend | |
| Date of birth | July 23 1963 | |
| Place of birth | Maidstone, Kent, England | |
| Height | 5 ft 11 in (1.80 m) | |
| Playing position | Midfielder | |
| Club information | ||
| Current club | Retired | |
| Youth clubs | ||
| 1980–1984 | Welling United | |
| Senior clubs1 | ||
| Years | Club | App (Gls)* |
| 1984–1985 1985–1988 1988–1990 1990–1993 1993–1997 1997–1999 1999–2000 |
Weymouth Southampton Norwich City Chelsea Aston Villa Middlesbrough West Bromwich Albion |
83 (5) 71 (8) 110 (12) 135 (8) 77 (3) 17 (0) |
| National team | ||
| 1989–1997 1994 |
Republic of Ireland Republic of Ireland B |
70 (7) 1 (0) |
|
1 Senior club appearances and goals |
||
Andrew David Townsend (born July 23 1963, Maidstone, Kent) is a former professional footballer who played in two World Cups for the Republic of Ireland and is now a television pundit.
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Playing career
Early days
He began his playing career in August 1980 with Welling United in the Athenian League whilst working as a computer operator for Greenwich Borough Council in southeast London. After making 105 appearances for Welling, he was signed by Weymouth in March 1984 for £13500.
Southampton
In January 1985, he was signed by Lawrie McMenemy at Southampton for £35,000 and made his professional debut at home to Aston Villa on 20 April 1985 as Southampton qualified for Europe only to be banned in the aftermath of the Heysel Stadium disaster. Over the next season, he was in and out of the team (then managed by Chris Nicholl) but in a pre-season friendly against his old club Weymouth in August 1986 he broke his leg. He fought his way back to fitness and rejoined the side in January 1987. In the 1987-88 season he was a virtual ever-present playing alongside Jimmy Case and Glenn Cockerill in Southampton's midfield. He was a hard-tackling, hard-working Midfielder with an eye for goal. It was a shock, therefore, when Chris Nicholl sold him to Division 1 rivals Norwich City in August 1988 for £300,000. Although he made a total of 101 appearances (with 5 goals) in his 3 seasons at Southampton, Saints never saw the best of him as he moved on to play for several other top-flight clubs and for the Republic of Ireland.
Norwich City
Under manager Dave Stringer, he was a member of the Canaries' 1988-89 side that finished 4th in Division 1 and reached the semi-final of the FA Cup. He made his debut as a substitute against Middlesbrough on 3 September 1988 before replacing the suspended Trevor Putney for his first full appearance in a 3-1 win over Spurs on 22 October. He retained his place in the Norwich midfield and ended the season with 36 league appearances (5 as substitute) with 5 goals. He also made 6 FA Cup appearances with 2 goals against Port Vale in the Third Round on 7 January 1989. At the end of that 1988-89 season, Townsend was shortlisted for the PFA Players' Player of the Year award, which was won by Mark Hughes. His contribution to Norwich's successful season saw Andy selected for the Republic of Ireland making his debut against France in February 1989. Norwich made a handsome profit when they let Andy join Chelsea for £1,200,000 in July 1990 just a month after a successful World Cup in Italy where he played in all 5 of Ireland's matches. In 2002, Norwich supporters voted Townsend into the Norwich City F.C. Hall of Fame.
Chelsea
After making a total of 138 appearances for Chelsea, scoring 12 goals but winning no trophies, he transferred to Aston Villa in July 1993 for the sum of £2,100,000.
Aston Villa
He finally won some silverware when Villa won the Coca-Cola Cup final (League Cup) against Manchester United in 1994. He captained Villa when they reclaimed the trophy in 1996 with a 3-0 victory over Leeds United. He was captain of the Republic of Ireland squad for the 1994 World Cup. In August 1997, he transferred to Bryan Robson's Middlesbrough for £500,000 having made 134 league appearances for the Villains, scoring 8 league goals.
Middlesbrough
He made 37 appearances in his first season on Teesside scoring twice as Boro won promotion to the Premiership. In the 1998-99 season, he formed a useful partnership with Paul Gascoigne as Middlesbrough finished comfortably in mid-table in their first Premiership season. In the following season, he found it harder to get in to the first team and in September 1999 he moved on to West Bromwich Albion for £50,000.
West Bromwich
In his one season at West Bromwich Albion he only made 17 league appearances before a recurrent knee injury forced his retirement in July 2000.
Honours
With Aston Villa
- 1994 Coca-Cola Cup
- 1996 Coca-Cola Cup
With Middlesbrough
- 1997-98 Division 1 (Level 2) Runners-up (Promotion Winners)
- 1998 Coca Cola Cup Runners-up
Charitable activities
He is patron of the George Coller Memorial Fund. He ran in the great north run in 2007 finishing in a time of 2 hours and 20 minutes. [1]
Football pundit
He was part of "ITV Sport's World Cup Squad" (2006), offering his insight into various 2006 World Cup games, during half-time analyses. Never short of an opinion, he frequently interrupts other guests with a preceding "Yep" or "yes", then explains his own views. He suffered much abuse when ITV acquired the rights to the premiership highlights and he did a slot called the Tactics Truck. It lasted for approximately three weeks. He can currently be seen as part of ITV Sport's live coverage, and reviewing the Football League Championship highlights programme. He also hosts talkSPORT's Weekend Sports Breakfast programme, alongside Mike Parry. Currently he co-hosts the station's drivetime show on Fridays, also alongside Mike Parry. He also hosts ITV1's regional progamme Soccer Night alongside Peter Beagrie. Townsend was vocal in his opposition to the development of the new Wembley Stadium stressing that the national stadium should be built in the Midlands, where he lives.
External links
- Andy Townsend at the Internet Movie Database
- Andy Townsend career stats at Soccerbase
- Andy Townsend at itv.com
- Andy Townsend at talkSPORT
- Career information at ex-canaries.co.uk
- Republic of Ireland profile
- Fire Andy Townsend - Humorous and Informative Critiques of Football Journalism
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| 1 Bonner • 2 Morris • 3 Staunton • 4 McCarthy • 5 Moran • 6 Whelan • 7 McGrath • 8 Houghton • 9 Aldridge • 10 Cascarino • 11 Sheedy • 12 O'Leary • 13 Townsend • 14 Hughton • 15 Slaven • 16 Sheridan • 17 Quinn • 18 Stapleton • 19 Kelly • 20 Byrne • 21 McLoughlin • 22 Peyton • Coach: Charlton |
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| 1 Bonner • 2 Irwin • 3 Phelan • 4 Moran • 5 McGrath • 6 Keane • 7 Townsend • 8 Houghton • 9 Aldridge • 10 Sheridan • 11 Staunton • 12 G. Kelly • 13 Kernaghan • 14 Babb • 15 Coyne • 16 Cascarino • 17 McGoldrick • 18 Whelan • 19 McLoughlin • 20 D. Kelly • 21 McAteer • 22 A. Kelly • Coach: Charlton |
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