Andy Townsend

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Andy Townsend
Image:AndyTownsend.jpg
Personal information
Full name Andrew David Townsend
Date of birth July 23, 1963 (age 43)
Place of birth Maidstone, Kent, England
Height 5 ft 11 in
Position Midfielder
Club information
Current club Retired
Youth clubs
1980-1984 Welling United
Professional clubs*
Years Club Apps (goals)
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 Ireland 70 (7)

* Professional club appearances and goals
counted for the domestic league only.

Andrew David Townsend (born July 23, 1963, Maidstone) was a professional footballer now turned television pundit and 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.

Contents

[edit] Playing career

[edit] 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. After making 105 appearances for Welling, he was signed by Weymouth in March 1984 for £13500.

[edit] 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 (now 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.

[edit] Norwich City

Under manager Dave Stringer, he was a member of the Canaries' 1988-89 side which came close to winning the double, finishing 4th in Division 1 after heading the table for long periods and reaching the semi-final of the F.A. 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 F.A. Cup appearances with 2 goals against Port Vale in the Third Round on 7 January 1989.

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.

[edit] 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.

[edit] Aston Villa

He finally won some silverware when Villa won the Coca-Cola Cup final 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.

[edit] 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.

[edit] 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.

[edit] Honours

With Aston Villa

With Middlesbrough

  • 1997-98 Division 1 (Level 2) Runners-up
  • 1998 Coca Cola Cup Runners-up

[edit] Charitable activities

He is patron of the George Coller Memorial Fund. [1]

[edit] Football pundit

He is currently 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. 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.

[edit] External links

Republic of Ireland Republic of Ireland squad - 1990 World Cup Quarter Finalists Republic of Ireland

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
Republic of Ireland Republic of Ireland squad - 1994 World Cup Republic of Ireland

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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