Tony Woodcock

This article is about the soccer player. For the New Zealand rugby union player, see Tony Woodcock (rugby player) .

Tony Woodcock
Personnel
Surname	Anthony Stewart Woodcock
birthday	December 6, 1955
place of birth	Eastwood , Nottinghamshire ,  England
size	178 cm
position	striker
Juniors
Years	station
	Nottingham Forest
Men's
Years	station	Games (goals) 1
1974-1979	Nottingham Forest	129 (36)
1976	→  Lincoln City  (loan)	6 0(2)
1976	→  Doncaster Rovers  (loan)	4 0(1)
1979-1982	1. FC Cologne	81 (28)
1982-1986	Arsenal FC	131 (56)
1986-1988	1. FC Cologne	50 (11)
1988-1990	SC Fortuna Cologne	37 0(5)
National team
Years	selection	Games (goals)
1978-1986	England	42 (16)
Stations as a trainer
Years	station
1990-1991	SC Fortuna Cologne
1992-1994	SC Brück
1994	VfB Leipzig
1 Only league games are given.

Anthony Stewart "Tony" Woodcock (born December 6, 1955 in Eastwood , Nottinghamshire ) is a former English football player who won the English Championship and the European Cup with Nottingham Forest in the late 1970s and then played in Germany . There he worked briefly as a trainer in the 1990s before becoming a player advisor and agent.

Athletic career

Nottingham Forest

Tony Woodcock developed his footballing talent with the Juniors of Nottingham Forest . In January 1974 he signed his first contract as a professional footballer with his club. However, the beginnings were difficult. He came to few times and could not prevail against the established regular staff. Since those responsible had recognized his talent, he was loaned to Lincoln City on short notice in February 1976 and to Doncaster Rovers in September of the same year . Back at Nottingham Forrest, Brian Clough became his trainee, who would later play a key role in shaping his career as a consultant and manager. On the occasion of the Anglo-Scottish Cup , he called him to the first team. It is believed that a major reason was to increase the future transfer or transfer fee of the player. Overall, the performance of the striker, who was characterized by both speed and stability on the ball, was so good that Woodcock developed into an important support in the 1976/77 season (30 games / 11 goals). His good interaction with Peter Withe was also decisive for this . The attack formation, the two formed, brought the necessary goals to realize promotion to the First Division . It followed in the 1977/78 season the surprising win of the English championship and a year later he crowned his career in Nottingham with the triumph of the European Cup in 1978/79 . In the final in Munich , Nottingham Forrest beat Swedish representatives Malmö FF 1-0. It was important for these title wins that not only was the entire team able to compensate for Peter Withe's departure, but also that Woodcock harmonized just as well with Garry Birtles .

A year before this great success Woodcock had also played in the English national team and made his debut on May 16, 1978 in a 1-0 win against Northern Ireland . He should come to a total of 42 international matches for England, scoring 16 goals and taking part in the 1980 European Championship in Italy and the 1982 World Cup in Spain . However, he was not granted any notable successes and after England had left the European Championship early in the preliminary round, he and his team failed in the second final round of the World Cup against Germany and the selection of the host .

1. FC Cologne

After winning the double in the 1977/78 season, 1. FC Köln fell short of expectations. The 1979/80 season was also difficult at the beginning. Therefore, those responsible were looking for reinforcement that should not only have a playful effect, but also motivate the team and the environment. In the semifinals of the 1978/79 European Cup, the billy goats, trained by Hennes Weisweiler at the time , faced Nottingham Forrest in April 1979. Weisweiler fell on in the ranks of the opponent Tony Woodcock. He trusted him to do this rather complex task and proposed him.

After intensive negotiations with Brian Clough, who was now Woodcock's manager, the player moved to Cologne in November 1979. That was well after the start of the game round, but it was possible at that time as there was no transfer window yet. At the same time, it was unusual for the habits of the time and thus attracted attention. The transfer was around 2.5 million DM and Woodcock was another record transfer for FC after Roger van Gool had already made the first million-dollar transfer in the history of the Bundesliga . The FC's manager at the time, Karl-Heinz Thielen , secured the unusually high transfer fee by agreeing a kind of purchase option with Manchester United at a fixed price of DM 2.5 million if Woodcock was unable to prevail by mid-1980 .

Woodcock was after Kevin Keegan the second England international ever to play in Germany and also the first English player in the ranks of Cologne. The interest of the fans and the media was correspondingly great. At the first public training session with his participation, 4,000 spectators were present, including 25 English journalists. Woodcock himself was 20 minutes late for this important appointment and had to pay 50 DM into the team's treasury.

The enthusiasm that surrounded Woodcock in Cologne was also noticeable during the competitive matches. During his first official appearance for the team, which took place on November 30, 1979 against VfL Bochum in front of a home crowd, 31,000 fans came to the Müngersdorfer Stadium. Before the start of the event, FC planned optimistically with around 15,000 visitors. Although it took Woodcock two months to score his first competitive goal for his new club, he was instantly popular with supporters. His technically adept style of play was convincing and was in clear contrast to the classic kick and rush that players on the island were used to at the time.

Woodcock immediately became a regular player and achiever. In his three seasons up to 1982, he first reached the DFB Cup final in 1980 , the semi-finals of the UEFA Cup a year later and in 1982 became the German runner-up . Woodcock scored 28 goals in a total of 81 league games for 1. FC Köln - he was also used in 20 DFB and European Cup games.

Arsenal FC

After the World Cup finals in Spain in 1982, Woodcock moved to Arsenal for £ 500,000 . There he was the best club scorer in the following four seasons; in his best season 1983/84 he scored 21 goals. He scored five goals in the game against Aston Villa alone , setting a club record for the period after the Second World War . A serious injury in 1985 made for a longer break. But above all the arrival of George Graham as the new Arsenal coach ensured that the career of the now 30-year-old Woodcocks in London came to an end in 1986. After 68 goals in 169 games for the "Gunners", Graham opened up to the previously successful striker that he should no longer play a role in his remodeling plans.

Back in Cologne: FC and Fortuna

Woodcock returned to Germany for the transfer fee of 500,000 Deutschmarks to play again for 1. FC Köln. He completed another 50 Bundesliga games before finally ending his career after finishing third in the 1987/88 season in the 2nd Bundesliga at local rivals SC Fortuna Köln with five goals in 37 games in 1990.

After the active career

After his active career, Woodcock tried his hand at coaching . After his engagement at SC Brück , he looked after VfB Leipzig in the 2nd Bundesliga with only moderate success . From July 2001 to May 2002 Woodcock worked as a sports director for Eintracht Frankfurt , after which he worked in Germany as a player's consultant and agent.

successes

• European champion cup: 1979
• English champion: 1978
• League Cup winners: 1978 and 1979
• Charity Shield Winner: 1978
• England's Footballer of the Year (Young Professional; Player's Choice): 1978

literature

• Thomas Hardt, Thomas Hohndorf, Bruno Morbitzer u. a. Hennes & Co. - The history of 1. FC Cologne (p.323,336) , Verlag Die Werkstatt, Göttingen 2005, ISBN 3-89533-470-7

Web links

• Tony Woodcock in the database of weltfussball.de
• International match statistics by Tony Woodcock (englandfootballonline.com )
• Interview at welt.de

Individual evidence

1. ^ "Legends of the past" ( Memento of October 13, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) (Nordic Chris)
2. ↑ Dirk Innschuld: Record transfer and a singing coach . In: Geißbock Echo, 62nd year, season 2019/20, 2nd – 4th matchday, pp. 54–55.
3. ↑ "Arsenal's A to Z - W is for ..." ( Memento from October 23, 2006 in the Internet Archive ) (Arsenal.com)
4. ↑ kicker sports magazine No. 6/3. Where; January 12, 1987, p. 33