Tommy Cavanagh

Last updated

Tommy Cavanagh
Personal information
Full name Thomas Henry Cavanagh [1]
Date of birth(1928-06-29)29 June 1928
Place of birth Liverpool, England
Date of death 14 March 2007(2007-03-14) (aged 78)
Place of death Driffield, England [1]
Position(s) Inside forward
Senior career*
YearsTeamApps(Gls)
1948–1950 Preston North End 0 (0)
1950–1952 Stockport County 32 (2)
1952–1956 Huddersfield Town 93 (29)
1956–1959 Doncaster Rovers 119 (16)
1959–1960 Bristol City 24 (6)
1960–1961 Carlisle United 33 (4)
Total301(57)
Managerial career
1961 Cheltenham Town
1965–1966 Brentford
1983 Rosenborg
1985–1986 Burnley
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Thomas Henry Cavanagh (29 June 1928 – 14 March 2007) was an English footballer and coach. As a player, he was an inside-forward at six professional clubs, most notably Huddersfield Town, Doncaster Rovers and was player manager at Cheltenham Town, where he was sacked as manager for swearing during matches after complaints by two supporters' club members. [2]

Contents

Career

After retiring as a player, Cavanagh coached and later managed Brentford. [3] He coached at Nottingham Forest from 1966 until 1972. He then linked up with his former Preston teammate Tommy Docherty as a coach at Manchester United. During this time he worked with George Best, who notably bought him a white television for being late for training Cavanagh stayed at United when Docherty was sacked in 1977 and became assistant manager under Docherty's successor, Dave Sexton, [3] but he left the club following Ron Atkinson's appointment in 1981. From 1976 to 1979 he was also Northern Ireland assistant manager to Danny Blanchflower. [4] He later had a spell as coach at Newcastle United. [3]

Ahead of the 1983 season, Cavanagh was hired as manager of Rosenborg. [3] In Norwegian, the terms coach and manager are used interchangeably. Cavanagh had previously done an excellent job as coach at Manchester United, but lacked abilities in team selection, tactics and inspiration. [5] He used players in the wrong position, and instructed the ball to be kicked over the midfield, making it impossible to use the playmaker. He believed in breaking down the players and then building them up, and was unarguably good at the former. [6] By the summer, his style was costing the club players: Knut Torbjørn Eggen transferred to Orkanger in the Fourth Division, while Øivind Husby transferred to Brøndby in Denmark. Cavanagh was fired in August, at which time the club was second-last in the league, and Nils Arne Eggen took over as manager for the rest of the season. [7] The team finished on a seventh place. [8] President Erling Meirik withdrew as a consequence of the hiring, stating that in the future, the club should hire people based on more than their reputation and that they should seek judicial assistance with the contract. [7]

In 1985, he became Martin Buchan's assistant at Burnley, and took over as manager when Buchan was sacked later that year. After leaving Burnley in 1986, he worked at the FA School of Excellence at Lilleshall until his retirement. [3]

Personal life

In 2002, Cavanagh was diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease and died in March 2007, aged 78. [1] [3] He was survived by his wife Doris; his five children, Lesley, Thomas, Deborah, Robert and Christine; and his four grandchildren, Alex, Eleanor, Faye and Mariella.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rosenborg BK</span> Association football club in Trondheim, Norway

Rosenborg Ballklub, commonly referred to simply as Rosenborg or RBK, is a Norwegian professional football club from Trondheim that plays in Eliteserien. The club has won a record 26 league titles, a shared record 12 Norwegian Football Cup titles and have played more UEFA matches than any other Norwegian team. RBK play their home games at the all-seater Lerkendal Stadion which has a capacity of 21,421.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nils Arne Eggen</span> Norwegian footballer and manager (1941–2022)

Nils Arne Eggen was a Norwegian footballer, manager and teacher from Orkdal. Eggen was closely tied to Rosenborg, the club he managed for 23 years between 1970 and 2010. He is Norway's most successful club manager throughout history, having won the Norwegian top division fifteen times and the Norwegian Football Cup six times as a manager. Eggen's tactical emphasis was on playing 4-3-3 and attacking football and his way of playing football has frequently been cited as an inspiration among players, coaches and clubs alike, both domestically and abroad. In his native Trøndelag, Eggen is revered and widely regarded as the greatest and most influential sports person in the region, even eclipsing Olympic champions such as Hjalmar Andersen and Petter Northug.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Caretaker manager</span> Coach temporary in charge of a team

In association footballing terms, a caretaker manager or interim manager is somebody who takes temporary charge of the management of a football team, usually when the regular manager is dismissed or leaves for a different club. However, a caretaker manager may also be appointed if the regular manager is suspended, ill, has suspected COVID-19 or is unable to attend to their usual duties. Examples of caretaker managers are Jordi Roura, Angelo Alessio, Germán Burgos and Rob Page. Caretaker managers are normally appointed at short notice from within the club, usually the assistant manager, a senior coach, or an experienced player.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Martin Allen</span> English footballer and manager

Martin James Allen is an English football manager and former player. He played more than 100 games as a midfielder for both Queens Park Rangers and West Ham United before finishing his playing career with Portsmouth and Southend United. Five years later, he took his first job in management, at non-league Barnet. He has since managed Brentford, Milton Keynes Dons, Leicester City, Cheltenham Town and Notts County. He rejoined Barnet as manager on 16 April 2012 on a short-term, three-match contract succeeding Lawrie Sanchez. In July 2012 he became manager of Gillingham and in the 2012–13 season led the team to the Football League Two title, earning Allen his first promotion as a manager and Gillingham's first divisional title in 49 years. He was sacked as Gillingham manager in October 2013. Allen rejoined Barnet for a fourth spell in 2014, leading the Bees back into League Two before dropping divisions to join Eastleigh in December 2016, a role he held only until the following February.

Trond Johan Sollied is a Norwegian football manager and former player. He last managed Lokeren.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tommy Docherty</span> Scottish association footballer and manager (1928–2020)

Thomas Henderson Docherty, commonly known as The Doc, was a Scottish football player and manager. Docherty played for several clubs, most notably Preston North End, and represented Scotland 25 times between 1951 and 1959. He then managed a total of 13 clubs between 1961 and 1988, as well as the Scottish national team. Docherty was manager of Manchester United between 1972 and 1977, during which time they were relegated to the Second Division, but promoted back to the First Division as champions at the first attempt.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pat Crerand</span> Scottish footballer and sports commentator

Patrick Timothy Crerand is a Scottish former footballer who played as a midfielder. After six years at Celtic, he moved to Manchester United where he won the English League title twice, the FA Cup, the FA Charity Shield twice and the European Cup. He also gained 16 international caps for Scotland.

Brian Greenhoff was an English footballer who played in the Football League for Manchester United, Leeds United and Rochdale. He was capped 18 times for England.

David James Sexton was an English football manager and player. He was notable for managing Chelsea to their first ever major European trophy.

Following an eighth-place finish in the 1969–70 season and a poor start to the 1970–71 season, Wilf McGuinness was sacked as manager of Manchester United in December 1970 after just 18 months in charge. Matt Busby returned to the manager's position on a temporary basis, and McGuinness returned to his position as reserve team coach.

Knut Torbjørn Eggen was a Norwegian football coach and player, famous for his time in Rosenborg as a player, and Moss and Fredrikstad as a coach. He was the son of Norway's most successful football coach, Nils Arne Eggen.

Frank Blunstone is an English former footballer who played as an outside left for Crewe Alexandra, Chelsea and the England national team.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jimmy Hogan</span>

James Hogan was an English football player and coach of Irish descent. He enjoyed some success as a footballer, reaching an FA Cup semi-final with Fulham in 1907–08, but his primary legacy is as a pioneer of the game and as an innovative coach across multiple European club and national sides. He is generally regarded as the architect of Total Football.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mick Docherty</span> English footballer (born 1950)

Michael Docherty is an English former footballer and coach. He is the elder son of Tommy Docherty.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">History of Rosenborg BK</span>

Rosenborg Ballklub is a football club from Trondheim, Norway. It was established in 1917 as Odd by 12 boys, and played local friendlies, became it was not permitted to join the Football Association of Norway (NFF). After permission was granted, it took the current name and joined the league system in 1928. Until 1937, Rosenborg played in the regional league, both in the A and B division, after numerous promotions and relegations. Since 1932, the team has played in the Norwegian Football Cup. It jointed the inaugural League of Norway in 1937, but the break-out of the Second World War in 1940 caused a halt to all organized sports.

Erling Meirik is a Norwegian former football and football executive. Born in Levanger, he played for Rosenborg between 1970 and 1976, being capped 134 times and scoring 14 goals. He was Rosenborg's top scorer in the 1970 season with five goals. He also represented the Norway national team on 13 occasions between 1972 and 1975. He was later hired as president of Rosenborg. He withdrew as president in 1983 as a consequence of the unsuccessful hiring of Tommy Cavanagh as manager.

The 2014–15 season was the 135th season of competitive association football in England.

References

Bibliography
Notes
  1. 1 2 3 "Tommy Cavanagh". Barry Hugman's Footballers. Retrieved 19 October 2015.
  2. ↑ WSC 190 Dec 02. "When Saturday Comes – Cheltenham Town". wsc.co.uk. Retrieved 19 October 2015.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 "Brentford | News | Latest News | Latest News | FORMER BRENTFORD MANAGER PASSES AWAY". brentfordfc.co.uk. 16 March 2007. Retrieved 12 February 2018.
  4. ↑ "OBITUARY: TOMMY CAVANAGH". Irish Football Association. Retrieved 19 October 2015.
  5. ↑ Svardal: 153
  6. ↑ Svardal: 154
  7. 1 2 Svardal: 155
  8. ↑ Svardal: 263
Sporting positions
Preceded by Manchester United F.C. assistant manager
1977–1981		Succeeded by
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.