Andy Townsend
 Townsend in 2020 | |||
| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Andrew David Townsend[1] | ||
| Date of birth | 23 July 1963[1] | ||
| Place of birth | Maidstone,[1] England | ||
| Height | 5 ft 11 in (1.80 m)[2] | ||
| Position(s) | Midfielder | ||
| Youth career | |||
| Welling United | |||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
| 1980–1984 | Welling United | 105 | (n/a) |
| 1984–1985 | Weymouth | 40 | (16) |
| 1985–1988 | Southampton | 83 | (5) |
| 1988–1990 | Norwich City | 71 | (8) |
| 1990–1993 | Chelsea | 110 | (12) |
| 1993–1997 | Aston Villa | 134 | (8) |
| 1997–1999 | Middlesbrough | 77 | (3) |
| 1999–2000 | West Bromwich Albion | 18 | (0) |
| Total | 638 | (52) | |
| International career | |||
| 1994 |
Republic of Ireland B | 1 | (0) |
| 1989–1997 | Republic of Ireland | 70 | (7) |
| *Club domestic league appearances and goals | |||
Andrew David Townsend (born 23 July 1963) is a former professional footballer and sports co-commentator for Premier League Productions and CBS Sports.
As a player he was a
Following retirement, Townsend moved into sports commentary and was
Early life
Townsend was born in
Club career
He began his playing career in August 1980 with Welling United in the Athenian League, while working as a computer operator for Greenwich Borough Council in south-east London.[3] After making 105 appearances for Welling, he was signed by Weymouth in March 1984 for £13,500.[4]
In January 1985, he was signed by Lawrie McMenemy at Southampton for £35,000[3] 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.[4]
Over the next season, he was in and out of the team (then managed by Chris Nicholl) but broke his leg in a pre-season friendly against his old club Weymouth in August 1986.[3] He fought his way back to fitness and rejoined the side the following January.
In the
He made his debut as a
Norwich made a handsome profit when they let Townsend join Chelsea for £1,200,000 in July 1990.[4]
After making a total of 138 appearances for Chelsea, scoring 12 goals but winning no trophies (they never finished higher than 11th in the league while he was there), he transferred to Aston Villa in July 1993 for £2.1million.[4]
He finally won some silverware when Villa won the
In August 1997, just after the start of the
He made 37 appearances in his first season on
In the following season, he found it harder to get into the first team and on 17 September 1999 he moved down a division to West Bromwich Albion for £50,000. Townsend's high wage demands prevented a move back to Norwich or a loan spell with non-league Boston United.[4]
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, after a season in which Albion narrowly avoided relegation to Division Two.[5]
"I was very flattered by Albion's offer. I thought long and hard about it but I just felt that if I am going to go down the road of management I am going to have to do things my own way."
— Townsend rejects Albion manager Gary Megson's offer of a coaching role at the club.[5]
On 21 April 2016, Townsend joined
International career
His contribution to Norwich's successful season saw Townsend selected for the Republic of Ireland, making his debut against France in February 1989. He qualified for Ireland due to his Irish family heritage.'[7]
He played in the next year's World Cup, in Italy, where he played in all five of Ireland's matches. They reached the quarter-finals, the country's strongest ever campaign. The Irish drew their three group matches – against England, Egypt and the Netherlands. Scoring a penalty in the shoot-out with Romania, his country were eventually sunk by a Salvatore Schillaci goal for the hosts. They had conceded just three goals in those five games. They had scored just two goals in those five games.
He was captain of the Ireland squad for the 1994 World Cup. All four teams of Group E finished on four points, they got their revenge on the Italians, but were defeated by Mexico and drew with Norway. Ireland lost 2–0 to the Dutch at the Citrus Bowl in the knock-out stage.[8]
On 22 March 2015, Townsend was inducted into the FAI Hall of Fame.[9]
Broadcasting career
ITV Sport
Townsend's most prominent role was as part of
BT Sport
After leaving ITV in 2015 he joined
Other work
He has also presented
.Personal life
He is the son of former Charlton Athletic and Crystal Palace defender Don Townsend.[12]
Business interests
Townsend was a consultant for Harlequin Property, where he helps set up football schools at their Caribbean resorts.[13] The company's proposed investment into Port Vale had set in motion plans for him to become a football advisor at the club,[14] though nothing was to come of these talks.
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.[15]
Honours
Aston Villa
Middlesbrough
- Football League First Division runner-up: 1997–98
- Football League Cup runner-up: 1997–98[18]
Individual
- Norwich City Hall of Fame
- PFA Team of the Year: 1988–89 First Division,[19] 1990–91 First Division,[20] 1991–92 First Division[21]
- Chelsea Player of the Year: 1991
- FAI Hall of Fame: Inducted 2015[9]
- FAI Senior International Player of the Year: 1995[22]
References
- ^ a b c "Andy Townsend". National Football Teams. Benjamin Strack-Zimmermann. Retrieved 5 April 2020.
- ISBN 978-0-356-14354-5.
- ^ ISBN 0-9534474-3-X.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i "Andy Townsend". ex-canaries.co.uk. Archived from the original on 30 October 2009. Retrieved 21 October 2009.
- ^ a b "Townsend retires". BBC Sport. 7 July 2000. Retrieved 21 October 2009.
- ^ "Andy Townsend: Bolton Wanderers appoint TV pundit in consultancy role". BBC Sport. 21 April 2016.
- ^ Dunphy, Eamonn (22 May 1994). "Football: Why Charlton's men are the guardians of Irish identity". The Independent. London. Archived from the original on 16 June 2010. Retrieved 13 November 2011.
- ^ "Netherlands – Republic of Ireland". fifa.com. Archived from the original on 14 October 2007. Retrieved 20 October 2009.
- ^ a b "Andy Townsend speaks to FAI TV - Football Association of Ireland". www.fai.ie.
- ^ Oliver Luft (16 January 2009). "Townsend and Parry to replace Jon Gaunt on TalkSport". London: Guardian. Retrieved 17 April 2012.
- theguardian.com. 8 January 2015. Retrieved 8 January 2015.
- ^ "Townsend brings Irish career to a well-timed close". Independent. 7 March 2008. Retrieved 13 November 2011.
- ^ Shaw, Steve (19 October 2009). "Port Vale: Townsend no threat to Adams, says Ames". The Sentinel. Archived from the original on 22 October 2009. Retrieved 19 October 2009.
- ^ "Townsend set for Port Vale role". BBC Sport. 19 October 2009. Archived from the original on 22 October 2009. Retrieved 19 October 2009.
- ^ George Coller Memorial Fund patrons Archived 13 January 2005 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ Lovejoy, Joe (27 March 1994). "Football / Coca-Cola Cup Final: Saunders destroys United's dream: Aston Villa's master plan puts paid to Ferguson's malfunctioning Big Red Machine as Kanchelskis is dismissed". The Independent. Retrieved 16 April 2024.
- ^ "Milosevic gives; Villa a touch of magic". The Independent. 25 March 1996. Retrieved 2 April 2024.
- ^ "Chelsea v Middlesbrough, 29 March 1998 - 11v11 match report". 11v11. AFS Enterprises. Retrieved 31 March 2024.
- ^ Lynch. The Official P.F.A. Footballers Heroes. p. 147.
- ^ Lynch. The Official P.F.A. Footballers Heroes. p. 148.
- ^ Lynch. The Official P.F.A. Footballers Heroes. p. 149.
- ^ "Cunningham Player of the Year". independent. Retrieved 14 May 2022.
External links
- Andy Townsend at Soccerbase
- Andy Townsend at IMDb
- Republic of Ireland profile
- Profile at talkSPORT
- Profile at The Gordon Poole Agency
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