Tony Gale

Tony Gale
Tony Gale 2015
Personnel
Surname	Anthony Peter Gale
birthday	November 19, 1959
place of birth	Pimlico , London ,  England
position	Central defender
Men's
Years	station	Games (goals) 1
1977-1984	Fulham FC	277 (19)
1984-1994	West Ham United	300 0(5)
1994-1995	Blackburn Rovers	15 0(0)
1995-1996	Crystal Palace	2 0(0)
1996-1997	Maidenhead United
National team
Years	selection	Games (goals)
1982	England U-21	1 0(0)
1 Only league games are given.

Anthony Peter "Tony" Gale (born November 19, 1959 in Pimlico , London ) is a former English football player . The tech-savvy central defender worked for London clubs Fulham and West Ham United for many years and won the English championship with the Blackburn Rovers in 1995 at a relatively advanced football age - and in his only professional year outside the capital - before continuing his career until the end of 1997 let out.

Professional career

Fulham FC (1977-1984)

Born in London, Gale was not the typical British defender early in his career, but relied on his technical skills and good positional play. During his later around 700 competitive games, he received only seven warning cards. At the age of 16 years and eight months he made his debut in the Anglo-Scottish Cup against FC Orient for the first team and with eight international youth matches he was considered one of the greatest talents of his year - that later, with the exception of an appearance for the English U- 21 selection against Poland was not enough for more, was partly due to his lack of speed, which experts sometimes held against him during his career.

At the beginning of the 1977/78 season, he replaced none other than world champion captain Bobby Moore , who retired from English football and Gale was immediately a fixture in the second division with 38 league appearances and eight goals. Two years later he suffered his first sporting setback when he was relegated to the Third Division with the Cottagers and his performances were just as weak as most of his teammates. After two more years, he was promoted again and although Gale was temporarily suspended after a dispute with coach Malcolm Macdonald at the beginning of the season, he was in 44 league games at the side of Roger Brown in the defense headquarters co-guarantee for success.

Also in the last two years up to the summer of 1984 Gale convinced with consistently good performances and in the 1982/83 season he failed with his team with the fourth place in the final table just barely on the direct march into the top English division. When the club disappeared into no man's land in midfield the following year, Gale decided to move to the First Division and quickly found what he was looking for at local rivals West Ham United .

West Ham United (1984-1994)

In August 1984 Gale moved to London's East End for a transfer fee of £ 200,000 and spent ten years there. In his second year he led the club to third place and formed a solid center-back pair with Alvin Martin . While in the championship routine afterwards there was little spectacular offer and the "Hammers" even said goodbye to the second division in 1989, the cup competitions were characteristic of Gale's career in the club. He failed three times with semi-finals defeats in a possible cup final at Wembley Stadium . After the two semi-finals in 1989 and 1990 in the league cup, the 4-0 defeat in the FA Cup in 1991 against Nottingham Forest attracted particular media attention . After West Ham had shown themselves to be the better team in the opening minutes, referee Keith Hackett punished a tactical and comparably harmless foul by Gale on Gary Crosby with the red card after 26 minutes , after which the game took a turn. For both actors - Gale and Hackett - this moment was a milestone that is always remembered with their names in English football.

It was not until 1993 that they returned to the first English division, which was now called the Premier League . There "Reggie", as Gale was called by his teammates in allusion to the East End underworld great Reggie Kray , played another 32 games and following his 300th league appearance against FC Southampton , the club management of West Ham United now provided 34 year olds free.

Blackburn Rovers (1994-1995)

When the signs were already pointing to the imminent end of his career, Gale hired in mid-August 1994 with the Blackburn Rovers . There ex-Fulham coach Ray Harford was assistant to Kenny Dalglish and since Blackburn was looking for a replacement for David May , who had migrated to Manchester United , Gale made his way to the English north-west. Just three days after his engagement, he completed the Charity Shield game against Manchester United (0: 2) at Wembley Stadium and also in the first competitive games he helped out with his experience and the good positional play, before the younger Ian Pearce gradually helped him replaced. Nevertheless, he had accumulated a total of 15 league games and for this he received an official championship medal after winning the Premier League . Since the perspective for Gale in Blackburn was limited from the start, it came as no surprise that he left the club after just a year. He returned to London and was hired in September 1995 for a free transfer to the second division club Crystal Palace .

Last career stations (1995–1997)

At Crystal Palace, however, Gale, who was suffering from injuries, spent more time on the treatment table than on the field, and so he only played three competitive games in January and February 1996. A month later, his new club let him move again and Gale let his career at the lower-class Maidenhead United in the Isthmian League end by the end of 1997.

After retiring from active sport, he began to work more often as an expert in television reporting, primarily for the British broadcaster Sky Sports . In addition, he began to get involved in amateur football for the Walton Casuals as a sports director.

Title / Awards

• English Championship (1): 1995

literature

• Turner, Dennis: Fulham - The Complete Record . Breedon Books, 2007, ISBN 978-1-85983-566-1 , pp. 167 f .

Web links

• Tony Gale in the soccerbase.com database
• Statistics in the Post War English & Scottish Football League AZ Player's Database

Individual evidence

1. ↑ "Hammers legend Tony Gale still can't forgive Keith Hackett over infamous red card" (Mail Online)
2. ↑ "Tony Gale - Force of nature" ( Memento of the original from October 8, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (Sportasylum) 
3. ↑ Barry J. Hugman (Ed.): The 1995-96 Official PFA Footballers Factfile . Lennard Queen Anne Press, 1995, ISBN 978-0-09-180854-9 , pp. 80 .
4. ↑ Barry J. Hugman (Ed.): The 1996-97 Official PFA Footballers Factfile . Lennard Queen Anne Press, 1996, ISBN 978-1-85291-571-1 , pp. 93 .