Tony Morley

Tony Morley
Personnel
Surname	William Anthony Morley
birthday	August 26, 1954
place of birth	Ormskirk ,  England
position	Winger
Juniors
Years	station
1969-1972	Preston North End
Men's
Years	station	Games (goals) 1
1972-1976	Preston North End	84 (15)
1976-1979	Burnley FC	91 0(5)
1979-1983	Aston Villa	137 (25)
1983-1985	West Bromwich Albion	33 0(4)
1984	→  Birmingham City  (loan)	4 0(3)
1985-1986	Seiko SA
1986-1987	FC The Hague	30 (13)
1987–198?	West Bromwich Albion	28 0(7)
198? –19 ??	→  Burnley FC  (loan)	5 0(0)
1989	Tampa Bay rowdies
1990	Ħamrun Spartans
National team
Years	selection	Games (goals)
1980-1981	England B	2 0(0)
1981-1982	England	6 0(0)
1 Only league games are given.

William Anthony "Tony" Morley (born August 26, 1954 in Ormskirk ) is a former English football player . The six-time England international played for a number of clubs in the Football League , with his most successful period at Aston Villa in the early 1980s, with an English championship and a European national championship.

Athletic career

Club career

Morley was initially active in school sports in his region and was noticed there by his above-average talent. In terms of his physical stature, he showed himself to be particularly talented in football and scouts from several clubs are watching him. The choice finally fell on Preston North End in July 1969 . Before he signed his first professional contract three years later in August 1972, he had clearly worked on his physical robustness, which enabled him to make his first second division appearances in the first team in the 1972/73 season at the age of 18. When in the following season 1973/74 Bobby Charlton took over the coaching office in Deepdale, Morley was initially one of the beneficiaries of Charlton's renovation work in the team. When the club got caught up again in the relegation battle, the inexperienced Morley found himself more often on the bench or even in the reserve team. Preston was relegated at the end of the season, but in the third class Third Division , the small-grown Morley finally achieved the breakthrough. It was above all the mixture of bipedalism, tackling strength, speed of approach and danger of scoring that set him apart from “normal third division players”. During this time he even played in the English U23 team and received an offer to move to Arsenal, but PNE refused.

In February 1976 he was drawn to the other side of Lancashire to join Burnley FC . Although Burnley was playing in the English top division at that time, the change was somewhat surprising in view of the known advances of Arsenal FC, but Morley feared the uncertain career prospects with the "Gunners", where permanent assignments seemed doubtful. In terms of sport, the move to Burnley FC was disappointing. Only a few months later, the club was relegated to the second-class Second Division and Morley's form also suffered significantly. Although he was a regular at Turf Moor , but the marksmanship seemed to have lost there and by the end of the 1978/79 season, Morley scored just five goals in 91 league games. In addition, he and his team occupied only below average midfield positions in the second division in three years. Morley was alien to the team in several ways. The often extravagant player, who with his long hair was already traded as the legitimate successor to George Best at a young age , could not find his way in the "province".

Tony Morley with the trophy after winning the final in the European Cup against FC Bayern Munich , 1982

For a transfer fee of 200,000 pounds, Morley moved to Aston Villa in June 1979 and thus back to the First Division . In Birmingham , the tricky winger made his breakthrough after an injury-ridden 1979/80 season and the "sloppy genius" he was often viewed as up to this point developed into one of the most dangerous players in the two following seasons under coach Ron Saunders for the opposing defensive lines. He was instrumental in winning the English championship in the 1980/81 season and was used in all league games. Morley scored another ten goals behind the successful strike duo Peter Withe and Gary Shaw , who together scored 38 goals. This also included a goal against Everton FC at Goodison Park , which was named "Goal of the 1980/81 Season". In the 1981/82 season, Morley was in good shape with Aston Villa on the European stage. With his dribbling and the subsequent cross, he prepared for the decisive 1-0 winner against FC Bayern Munich by Peter Withe in the final of the European championship competition . After this great success, Morley's performance curve showed a clear downward trend. The European Supercup and reaching the quarter-finals in the European Champion's Cup were the last highlights at Aston Villa. Morley lost his regular seat to Mark Walters and Villa gave him to local rivals West Bromwich Albion for just £ 75,000 in December 1983 .

At WBA, Morley wasn't happy either. In the relegation battle he was often used as a scapegoat by the new fans and in November 1984 the "Baggies" briefly loaned him to Birmingham City in the second division. After stints abroad at Seiko SA in Hong Kong and FC Den Haag in the Netherlands - a last success was the final in the Dutch Cup in 1987 - Morley returned to the second division WBA, where he was used again under his former foster father Ron Saunders. A short loan at Burnley FC, which now only played fourth rate, was followed by an engagement with the Tampa Bay Rowdies in the United States . There and with the Ħamrun Spartans , Morley let his athletic career end.

National team

Morley made six caps for England during his successful time at Aston Villa . His first brief appearance on November 18, 1981 as a substitute for Steve Coppell in the 1-0 win against Hungary , which qualified the English team for the 1982 World Cup in Spain , was particularly promising. Somewhat surprisingly, coach Ron Greenwood did not appoint him to the squad for the tournament itself. When Bobby Robson became the new athletic director of the "Three Lions" after the World Cup, Morley played the first game under the new leadership against Denmark , which was in September 1982 a 2-2 ended. Morley's subsequent sixth international match in the 3-0 win over Greece was on November 17, 1982 his last.

successes

• European champion cup: 1982
• European Supercup winner: 1982
• English champion: 1981

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Source: Tony Matthews: The Who's Who of West Bromwich Albion . Breedon Books, 2005, ISBN 1-85983-474-4 , pp. 157-158 .

Web links

• Short biography of Tony Morley (football-england.com )
• The Greatest Villan # 6 - Tony Morley (www.villatalk.com) (English)