Tony Towers

Last updated

Tony Towers
Personal information
Full name Mark Anthony Towers [1]
Date of birth (1952-04-13) 13 April 1952 (age 71) [1]
Place of birth Manchester, [1] England
Height5 ft 8+12 in (1.74 m) [2]
Position(s) Midfielder
Senior career*
YearsTeamApps(Gls)
1968–1974 Manchester City 122 (10)
1974–1977 Sunderland 108 (19)
1977–1980 Birmingham City 92 (4)
1981–1983 Montreal Manic 80 (9)
1981–1982 Montreal Manic (indoor) 15 (5)
1983–1984 Tacoma Stars (indoor) 26 (4)
1984 Tampa Bay Rowdies 9 (0)
1984 Vancouver Whitecaps 8 (0)
1984–1985 Rochdale 2 (0)
Total461(51)
International career
1976 England 3 (0)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Mark Anthony Towers (born 13 April 1952) is an English former professional footballer who played as a midfielder for Manchester City, Sunderland, Birmingham City, Rochdale and England.

Contents

Towers made his professional debut five days after his seventeenth birthday in April 1969, playing for Manchester City in a 3–0 defeat against Southampton. He made a handful of appearances the following season, and scored his first goal, against Leeds United, in one of them. Towards the end of the season, he had a run in the first team, and was part of the team which won the 1970 European Cup Winners Cup scoring the winner in extra time against Portuguese club Athletico De Coimbria en route to the final. He became a first team regular in the 1970–71 season, acting as a utility player. He played as City won the 1972 FA Charity Shield. [3] In 1972, under Malcolm Allison's management, Towers settled into a midfield role, usually wearing the number 11 shirt. He was part of the Manchester City side for the 1974 League Cup Final, but the final proved to be his penultimate game for the Manchester club, as two weeks later he transferred to Sunderland in an exchange deal involving Dennis Tueart and Mick Horswill. [4]

Towers made his Sunderland debut against Fulham in March 1974. His performances at Sunderland resulted in him receiving an England call-up in 1976 for the British Home Championship. He made appearances in the matches against Wales and Northern Ireland, and added a third cap two weeks later in a friendly against Italy.

In the 1977 close season Towers joined Birmingham City for a fee of £140,000. He made his Birmingham debut on 20 August 1977 in a 4–1 defeat to Manchester United. [5] He made 92 League appearances for the club, the last coming in 1979–80. In 1981, Towers moved to the Montreal Manic of the North American Soccer League (NASL). He remained with Montreal through the 1983 season. He then began the 1984 season with the Tampa Bay Rowdies before being traded to the Vancouver Whitecaps, [6] and then finishing his career back in England with Rochdale. [5]

Honours

Club

Manchester City

Individual

Related Research Articles

Alec Lindsay is an English former footballer who played in the Football League for Bury, Liverpool and Stoke City.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Arthur Albiston</span> Scottish footballer

Arthur Richard Albiston is a Scottish former football player. Albiston played for Manchester United for most of his career, making almost 500 appearances for the club. He also made 14 international appearances for Scotland and was selected for their 1986 FIFA World Cup squad.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">David Herd (footballer)</span> Scottish footballer and manager

David George Herd was a Scottish international footballer who played for Arsenal, Manchester United, Stockport County, and Stoke City. His regular position was as a forward where he was a consistent goal scorer.

Anthony Peter Dunne was an Irish footballer who played as a left-back. Born in Dublin, he began his career with youth side Stella Maris before signing for Drumcondra-based Shelbourne, with whom he won the FAI Cup in his second year in the senior team in 1960. That year, he moved to England to play for Manchester United, for whom he made more than 500 appearances in 13 years, winning the First Division in 1965 and 1967, the FA Cup in 1963 and the European Cup in 1968. After being released in 1973, he signed for Bolton Wanderers, making another almost 200 appearances in six years, before playing a single season with the Detroit Express in the North American Soccer League in 1979. Dunne won 33 caps for the Republic of Ireland between 1962 and 1975, and was named Irish Footballer of the Year in 1969. After retiring, he had a brief spell as manager of Norwegian club Steinkjer FK in 1982–83.

James Greenhoff is an English former footballer. He was a skilful forward but, although capped five times at under-23 level, he never played for the full side, and is labelled as the finest English player never to play for England. He made nearly 600 appearances in league football. His younger brother Brian was also a professional footballer.

Gordon Alec Hill is an English former footballer who played in the Football League for Millwall, Manchester United, Derby County and Queens Park Rangers, and was capped six times for the England national team.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Steve Bould</span> English footballer

Stephen Andrew Bould is an English football coach and former professional footballer. He is currently the head coach of Lommel SK.

Alan Arthur Oakes is an English former footballer who holds Manchester City's all-time record for appearances. Oakes is a midfielder, who in total, played 776 in the Football League matches – the tenth most in history. He is a cousin of former teammate Glyn Pardoe, an uncle of defender Chris Blackburn, and the father of former goalkeeper Michael Oakes.

Kevin Richardson is an English former footballer who made more than 500 appearances in the Football League and Premier League, playing for Everton, Watford, Arsenal, Aston Villa, Coventry City, Southampton, Barnsley and Blackpool, and also spent a season in La Liga with Real Sociedad. He was capped once for England.

Michael George Summerbee is an English former footballer, who played as a forward in the successful Manchester City side of the late 1960s and early 1970s.

Trevor Whymark is a former England international footballer who played in the Football League in the 1970s and 1980s, notably with Ipswich Town. He is currently (2016) the team's sixth highest goal scorer.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Joe Corrigan</span> English footballer

Joseph Thomas Corrigan is an English former professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper in the Football League for Manchester City, Brighton & Hove Albion, Norwich City and Stoke City as well as the England national team.

Christopher Anderson Whyte is an English former footballer who played as a central defender and made nearly 400 appearances in the Football League and Premier League. He had lengthy spells with Arsenal, West Bromwich Albion, Leeds United – where he was a pivotal part of their 1991–92 title-winning team – and Birmingham City, and also played for numerous other clubs in England and abroad. Whyte was capped by England at under-21 level.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pat Van Den Hauwe</span> Welsh footballer

Patrick William Roger Van Den Hauwe is a former professional footballer who made 401 appearances in the Football League playing for Birmingham City, Everton, Tottenham Hotspur and Millwall. Born in Belgium and raised in England, he chose to play international football for Wales, making 13 appearances.

Dennis Tueart is an English former footballer who played for Sunderland, Manchester City, Stoke City and Burnley at club level. On the international scene, he won six full caps for England.

William Donachie is a Scottish former professional footballer. Donachie had a long playing career, the majority of which was with Manchester City. He also played for Norwich City, Burnley, Oldham Athletic and Portland Timbers. Donachie played 35 times for Scotland and was selected in two FIFA World Cup squads. Towards the end of his playing career Donachie became a player-coach at Oldham, working with Joe Royle. Donachie has since worked for numerous teams in coaching roles.

Michael Doyle was an English footballer, who spent most of his career with Manchester City and also played for Stoke City, Bolton Wanderers and Rochdale.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ian Bowyer</span> English footballer (born 1951)

Ian Bowyer is an English former footballer who played mostly as a midfielder, best known for many honours in his career at Nottingham Forest. At Nottingham Forest he won the 1977–78 Football League and 1977–78 Football League Cup. The following season he won the 1979 European Cup final and 1978–79 Football League Cup. He was part of Forest's successful retaining of the European Cup the season after. Other honours at Forest included the 1976–77 Anglo-Scottish Cup, 1976 promotion from the English second tier to the top flight, the 1978 FA Charity Shield and the 1979 UEFA Super Cup. At all clubs, in the league alone he played 599 first team games scoring 102 goals in a playing career spanning four decades.

James Gillen Robertson is a Scottish former professional footballer who played as a winger for Cowdenbeath, St Mirren, Tottenham Hotspur, Arsenal, Ipswich Town, Stoke City, Seattle Sounders, Walsall and Crewe Alexandra. He was capped once for Scotland.

Colin Waldron is an English former football defender. He spent thirteen seasons in the Football League and two in the North American Soccer League.

References

  1. 1 2 3 "Tony Towers". Barry Hugman's Footballers. Retrieved 29 November 2019.
  2. Rollin, Jack, ed. (1980). Rothmans Football Yearbook 1980–81 . London: Queen Anne Press. p.  62. ISBN   0362-02017-5.
  3. "1972/73 Charity Shield". footballsite.co.uk. Retrieved 1 April 2020.
  4. "Victim Tueart bashes board". Manchester Evening News. 9 July 2007. Archived from the original on 27 September 2007.
  5. 1 2 "Tony Towers Birmingham City FC". sporting-heroes.net. Retrieved 2 September 2015.
  6. "Tony Towers". NASL Jerseys. Dave Morrison. Retrieved 2 September 2015.