Tommy Mooney

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Tommy Mooney
Personal information
Full name	Thomas John Mooney
Date of birth	11 August 1971
Place of birth	Middlesbrough, England
Position	Striker
Club information
Current club	Wycombe Wanderers
Professional clubs*
Years	Club	Apps (goals)
1989-1990 1990-1993 1993-1994 1994-2001 2001-2003 2002 2003 2003 2003-2004 2004-2005 2005-present	Aston Villa Scarborough Southend United Watford Birmingham City Stoke City (loan) Sheffield United (loan) Derby County (loan) Swindon Town Oxford United Wycombe Wanderers	0 (0) 107 (30) 14 (5) 250 (60) 34 (13) 12 (3) 3 (0) 8 (0) 45 (19) 42 (15) 59 (24)
* Professional club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 23/10/2006.

Thomas John Mooney (born 11 August 1971 in Middlesbrough) is a professional English football player currently signed to Wycombe Wanderers.

Contents 1 Early career 2 The Watford Glory Days 3 Birmingham and Beyond 4 Walking in a Mooney Wonderland

[edit] Early career

Mooney began his professional career at Aston Villa, but was released in 1990 without ever playing for the first team. Mooney then joined Scarborough, where he made a name for himself, scoring 40 goals in 129 first-team appearances. After three years at Scarborough, he moved to Southend United for a reported £100,000.

[edit] The Watford Glory Days

After just one season at Southend he arrived at Watford – initially on loan, before eventually signing for a mere £95,000 in July 1994 as a 'makeweight' alongside midfielder Derek Payne, with Keith Dublin moving in the opposite direction. Mooney departed seven years later as a club legend – a true Golden Boy.

Whilst the statistics say that he was not a regular goal scorer (finishing with 64 goals in over 250 games for the Hornets) those statistics make no mention that for much of his time at Vicarage Road he was not playing in a striker's position. In his early days at the club, under manager Glenn Roeder, he failed to cement a successful striking partnership with Jamie Moralee and soon found himself in the reserves or on the bench. But Tommy’s enthusiasm for the game and club, and his desire just to play anywhere, meant that when he was dropped from one position he would simply pop up in another. He eventually ended up playing as part of the defensive line during the second division championship-winning campaign of 1997/98.

But it was the 1998/99 season, which resulted in promotion to the Premiership for the first time since the 1980's under returning manager Graham Taylor, that proved crucial to cementing Tommy as a Watford legend. Beginning the season in his now familiar defensive role, the club had a bright start and by Christmas the play offs looked a possibility. However, a number of lacklustre team performances meant that by the end of March those hopes had all but evaporated. The pivotal moment came on Saturday 3rd April 1999 during a home league match against Tranmere Rovers which Watford needed to win in order to keep their playoff hopes alive. At one-nil down and with half an hour to go Taylor, with one last throw of the dice, brought on Mooney as part of a triple substitution. The effect was almost immediate with Tommy whipping in a cross for Peter Kennedy to half volley home. Mooney went on to deliver a commanding performance in a bad-tempered game that Watford went on to eventually win 2-1 with only three minutes left.

Perhaps sensing that Mooney’s moment had come, Taylor picked him for the following weeks away fixture against Birmingham City in his favoured striker's role. He didn’t disappoint, scoring the first and making the second with an inspirational run and cross. This remarkable run of form continued and the Hornets eventually reached the play-offs gaining 19 points (out of a maximum 21) from their last seven games with Mooney scoring in every game except one. He went on to give valuable performances in both legs of the subsequent play off semi final (against Birmingham) and the final against Bolton Wanderers at Wembley Stadium (despite not scoring in either).

Watford’s inaugural Premiership season started brightly enough for Mooney, who scored the only goal in front of The Kop at Anfield to secure a memorable away win against Liverpool, the club he supported as a boy. He then grabbed another the following week at home to Bradford City. It was not to last, however, and he drew blanks in the next three league games, all of which Watford lost.

Relegated to the bench, he was brought on to see out the last 10 minutes of a mid-September home match that Watford were unbelievably winning one-nil against Gianluca Vialli's Chelsea. Within five minutes he had tussled with Chelsea's big defender Marcel Desailly and, despite coming off better, hurt himself in the process. It was an injury he was never able to shake off fully and he ended what was eventually a relegation campaign with only eight appearances.

A return to the First Division in 2000 witnessed a fully fit Mooney back as centre forward and again he delivered the goods. During a season in which Watford narrowly missed out on the play-offs Tommy played 38 times and became the first player in nearly a decade to score twenty league goals for the club. He departed a hero.

In May 2006 Mooney became the fourth inductee into the Watford Hall of Fame, alongside Luther Blissett, John McClelland and Tony Coton.

[edit] Birmingham and Beyond

Out of contract with Watford, Tommy took up the offer of a lucrative contract to play for Birmingham City, playing for the West Midlands club from June 2001 to July 2003 and making a total of 29 league starts. He featured heavily in the side that took Birmingham from the First Division to the FA Premier League via the playoffs in the 2001/2002 season. However Tommy played just one game in the top division before being loaned to Stoke City. Two other loans followed that season for Sheffield United and Derby County.

Tommy then moved to Swindon Town for the 2003/2004 season. Mooney played a crucial part in Swindon's play-off season, scoring 20 goals and setting up many more. Swindon lost in the play-off semi-final to Brighton & Hove Albion, with Mooney missing a penalty in the shootout. Then in the summer of 2004, he transferred to Swindon's bitter rivals Oxford United, having failed to agree a new contract with Swindon. He was Oxford's top scorer for the club in 2004/2005.

Tommy is currently signed to Wycombe Wanderers until 2007. Some believe this might be Mooney's last season, but Mooney has indicated in a BBC interview that he hopes to play beyond 2007, and is hoping to reach 200 career goals. His first season at Wycombe started superbly with a superb volley against Carlisle on his debut but ended in misery as he limped out of Wycombe's playoff semi final against Cheltenham, taking Wycombe's hopes of League One football with him.

[edit] Walking in a Mooney Wonderland

During his successful period at Watford, fans would regularly chant the following words to the tune of the popular Christmas song Walking in a Winter Wonderland:

There’s only one Tommy Mooney, One Tommy Mooney, Walking along, Singing a song, Walking in Mooney wonderland

This chant has stuck with Tommy throughout his subsequent playing career.

His latest song which Wycombe Wanderers fans now affectionately chant is: "Mooney is a striker, he wears a striker's hat, and when he saw a Wycombe shirt he said I'm having that, he doesn't play for Swindon, or Oxford 'cos they're sh**e, he plays for Wycombe Wanderers 'cos they're f***ing dynamite! MOONEY! MOONEY! MOONEY!"

Wycombe Wanderers F.C. - Current Squad
1 Talia | 2 Christon | 3 Palmer | 4 Martin | 5 Antwi | 6 Williamson | 7 Betsy | 8 Oakes | 9 Easter | 10 Bloomfield | 11 Stonebridge | 16 Mooney | 17 Griffin | 18 Dixon | 19 Golbourne | 20 Gregory | 22 Torres | 23 Faulkner | 24 Cadmore | 25 Stockley | 28 Anya | 29 O'Halloran | 30 Grant | 31 Batista | 32 Young | 33 Thornton | Manager: Lambert