Tony Gallimore

Tony Gallimore

Personal information
Full name	Anthony Mark Gallimore [1]
Date of birth	(1972-02-21) 21 February 1972 (age 52) [1]
Place of birth	Crewe, England [1]
Position(s)	Defender
Youth career
1988–1989	Stoke City
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
1990–1993	Stoke City	11	(0)
1991	→ Carlisle United (loan)	8	(0)
1992	→ Carlisle United (loan)	8	(0)
1993–1996	Carlisle United	124	(9)
1996–2003	Grimsby Town	273	(4)
2003–2004	Barnsley	20	(0)
2004–2006	Rochdale	68	(0)
2006–2007	Northwich Victoria	12	(1)
2007	→ Hucknall Town (loan)
Total		524	(14)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Anthony Mark Gallimore ^[2] (born 21 February 1972) is an English former professional footballer who played as a left back from 1990 to 2007. ^[1]

He began his career with Stoke City in 1990 and subsequently spent two separate loan spells with Carlisle United in 1991 and 1992. He joined United on a permanent deal a year later and went on to spend three years at Brunton Park before joining Grimsby Town in 1996. It was at Grimsby where he arguably played some of his best football, during the 1997–98 season the club earned promotion via the play-offs as well as a few weeks earlier being victorious in the Football League Trophy. He departed Grimsby in 2003 after spending seven seasons at Blundell Park, his next port of call was league rivals Barnsley where he remained for a year before joining Rochdale. Having spent two seasons with Dale, Gallimore dropped out of professional football and signed with non-league Northwich Victoria in 2006. He finished his seventeen-year career whilst on loan with Hucknall Town in 2007. During his career he made more than 500 appearances in the Football League.

After retiring Gallimore returned to live in Grimsby where he works as a scaffolder.

Career

Stoke City

Gallimore joined Stoke City as a youngster and progressed into the club's first team setup in 1990 after several seasons in the youth system. ^[1] He made his debut as a substitute against Blackburn Rovers towards the end of the 1989–90 season. ^[1] He made seven appearances in 1990–91 and struggled to establish himself under Lou Macari in 1991–92 making just three appearances and was twice loaned out to Carlisle United in 1991 and again in 1992, making 8 appearances for Carlisle each time round. ^[1]

Carlisle United

In March 1993, Carlisle paid £15,000 for Gallimore to register the left back as a permanent player at Brunton Park. He went on to make over 150 appearances in all competitions for United and was an integral part of the first team. This in turn would sound the alerts of bigger teams, and in March 1996, he made a £125,000 move to Grimsby Town who at the time were playing their football in the First Division.

Grimsby Town

At Blundell Park he would turn out to be the club's long-term replacement for departing left back Gary Croft who had left Grimsby in a multimillion-pound deal to join Blackburn Rovers. After playing out the last few games of the 1995–96 campaign, Gallimore would prepare himself for a tough first full season, with The Mariners losing their first division status, and suffering a relegation, this spelled the end of an era at the club and important key players such as John Oster and Clive Mendonca moved on to new clubs. In the 1997–98 season, Gallimore would play an important role in the club's sudden return to the first division, whilst beating Northampton Town at Wembley Stadium in the play-offs, the club also defeated AFC Bournemouth in the Football League Trophy at the same venue. Gallimore along with fellow defenders John McDermott, Peter Handyside and Mark Lever as well as goalkeeper Aidan Davison were noted as the strongest defensive line up in the Second Division that year, and one of the strongest in the whole country. Gallimore went on to play the next five seasons at Grimsby and featured as the club's main choice left back until his departure at the end of the 2002–03 season, when Grimsby were to lose their first division status once more. Injury had troubled Gallimore in parts of his last couple of seasons with Grimsby, and his place had been contested by youngster Ben Chapman and also with the arrival of Darren Barnard in 2002, Gallimore had struggled to hold his place down in the team. With the club relegated, Grimsby opted not to renew his contract and he left the club after featuring in seven different seasons for The Mariners.

Barnsley

In August 2003 he signed a one-year deal with Grimsby's rivals Barnsley along with former teammate Peter Handyside. He went on to feature in just over 20 games for the club as yet again, injury blighted his season. ^[3] At the end of the season, Gallimore was released again and dropped down another league to join Rochdale in August 2004. ^[4]

Rochdale

Dale at that time were managed by Steve Parkin, who previously managed Gallimore at Barnsley. He featured regularly for the club before being released at the end of the 2005–06 season.

Northwich Victoria

Gallimore joined Conference side Northwich Victoria in June 2006, ^[5] but found it hard to break into the side and was transfer listed a few months later. He then made a loan move to Conference North side Hucknall Town in January 2007, ^[6] where he spent two months before being recalled by Northwich in March 2007. ^[7] Gallimore retired from professional football in May 2007 following the close of the 2006–07 campaign.

Personal life

After retiring from Football in 2007, Gallimore went on to work for a scaffolding firm based in Grimsby. ^[8] In December 2009, Gallimore signed for Grimsby and Cleethorpes Sunday League side Aston Estates. ^[9]

His son, Dan Gallimore plays for Cleethorpes Town. ^[10]

Career statistics

Source: ^[11]

Club	Season	League			FA Cup		League Cup		Other [A]		Total
		Division	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
Stoke City	1989–90	Second Division	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0
	1990–91	Third Division	7	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	7	0
	1991–92	Third Division	3	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	3	0
	Total		11	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	11	0
Carlisle United	1991–92	Fourth Division	16	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	16	0
	1992–93	Third Division	8	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	8	1
	1993–94	Third Division	40	1	3	1	2	0	9	0	54	2
	1994–95	Third Division	40	5	4	0	4	0	8	1	56	6
	1995–96	Second Division	36	2	1	0	2	0	7	0	46	2
	Total		124	9	8	1	8	0	24	1	164	11
Grimsby Town	1995–96	First Division	10	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	10	1
	1996–97	First Division	42	1	1	0	2	0	0	0	45	1
	1997–98	Second Division	35	2	6	0	5	0	10	0	56	2
	1998–99	First Division	43	0	1	0	5	0	0	0	49	0
	1999–2000	First Division	39	0	1	0	2	1	0	0	43	1
	2000–01	First Division	28	0	2	0	2	1	0	0	32	1
	2001–02	First Division	38	0	2	0	3	0	0	0	43	0
	2002–03	First Division	38	0	2	0	1	0	0	0	41	0
	Total		273	4	15	0	20	2	10	0	318	6
Barnsley	2003–04	Second Division	20	0	2	0	1	0	2	0	25	0
Rochdale	2004–05	League Two	34	0	2	0	1	0	2	0	38	0
	2005–06	League Two	34	0	1	0	1	0	1	0	37	0
	Total		68	0	3	0	2	0	3	0	76	0
Northwich Victoria	2006–07	Conference National	12	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	12	1
Career Total			508	14	28	1	31	2	39	1	606	18

A.  ^ The "Other" column constitutes appearances and goals in the Football League Trophy and Football League play-offs.

Honours

Carlisle United

• Football League Trophy runner-up: 1994–95 ^[12]

Grimsby Town

• Football League Second Division play-offs: 1998 ^[8]
• Football League Trophy: 1997–98

Individual

• PFA Team of the Year: 1994–95 Third Division ^[13]

References

1. Matthews, Tony (1994). The Encyclopaedia of Stoke City. Lion Press. ISBN   0-9524151-0-0.
2. Hugman, Barry, ed. (2005). The PFA Footballers' Who's Who 2005/2006. Queen Anne Press. p. 154. ISBN   978-1-85291-662-6.
3. "Gallimore out until January". BBC Sport. 18 December 2003. Retrieved 3 February 2010.
4. "Gallimore joins Dale". BBC Sport. 19 August 2004. Retrieved 3 February 2010.
5. "Gallimore signs deal at Northwich". BBC Sport. 8 June 2006. Retrieved 3 February 2010.
6. "Vics let Gallimore join Hucknall". BBC Sport. 11 January 2007. Retrieved 3 February 2010.
7. "Northwich sign Dale's Warburton". BBC Sport. 22 March 2007. Retrieved 3 February 2010.
8. Struthers, Greg (28 December 2008). "Grimsby's catch of the day". The Sunday Times. London. Retrieved 3 February 2010.
9. "Mariners cult hero joins Aston". Grimsby Telegraph. 26 December 2009. Retrieved 3 February 2010.^{[ dead link ]}
10. Colman, Jon (25 September 2021). "Tony Gallimore on Carlisle United's glorious 1990s: 'Football had more soul then'". News and Star. Retrieved 20 October 2021.
11. Tony Gallimore at the English National Football Archive (subscription required)
12. Haylett, Trevor (24 April 1995). "Fry's delight as Carlisle succumb to sudden death". The Independent. Retrieved 29 May 2024.
13. Lynch. The Official P.F.A. Footballers Heroes. p. 150.

External sources

Tony Gallimore at Soccerbase