Tony Waiters

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Tony Waiters (born in Southport on 2 February 1937) is a former England international football goalkeeper and Canadian national football team head coach (ie. manager). Waiters, who managed the Vancouver Whitecaps to an NASL championship, was in charge when Canada qualified for the 1986 World Cup finals, their only time in a finals.

Waiters played club football with Macclesfield Town F.C. in the Cheshire County League, and Blackpool F.C. from 1959-66, and Burnley F.C. 1970-71 both in the Football League. He played 257 times for Blackpool and 5 for England in 1965.

Waiters began coaching with the England national youth side. He took over at Plymouth Argyle and lead them to the Third Division championship and promotion in 1975. Waiters took over the Whitecaps midway through the 1977 season and lead them to a upset of the New York Cosmos on route to the Soccer Bowl NASL championship in 1979.

At the helm of Canada, Waiters oversaw the side reach the quarterfinals of the 1984 Olympics. At the '86 World Cup, Canada held France scoreless until late in a 0-1 loss. The team went on to lose their two remaining games and go scoreless for the finals. Waiters managed the team again briefly in 1990.

Waiters has since authored books on soccer skills and coaching. He was inducted into the Canadian Soccer Hall of Fame as a builder in 2001.

Waiters created his company World of Soccer - www.worldofsoccer.com - in the 80's producing a complete series of coaching books, soccer equipment like WOS markers, as well as his infamous Ace Coaching Cards. Since 2000 he has taken World of Soccer to a new level developing Total Player Development which in turn was the base for Byte Size Coaching - www.bytesizecoaching.com - a simple, yet comprehensive website for soccer parents, coaches and volunteers. Byte Size Coaching now used by almost 300 clubs ranging from Canada, America, UK, Australia and Singapore. Byte Size Coaching was created to help community clubs and soccer associations reach all there coaches.

Tony continues to coach children and young adults helping them pursue their soccer goals and moulding players for the future. Tony was appointed the first Director of the National Soccer Coaches Association of America's (NSCAA) Goalkeeping Institute. Only stepping down in 2006. He remains a National Staff Coach of U.S. Soccer.

	Canada squad - 1986 World Cup
1 Lettieri | 2 Lenarduzzi | 3 Wilson | 4 Ragan | 5 Moore | 6 Bridge | 7 Valentine | 8 Gray | 9 Segota | 10 Vrablic | 11 Sweeney | 12 Samuel | 13 Pakos | 14 Mitchell | 15 James | 16 Ion | 17 Norman | 18 Lowery | 19 De Luca | 20 Miller | 21 Habermann | 22 Dolan | Coach: Waiters