Tony Rodwell
Encyclopedia
Anthony "Tony" Rodwell is an English
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

 former professional football
Football (soccer)
Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a sport played between two teams of eleven players with a spherical ball...

er. His preferred position was on the right wing.

Prior to turning professional, Southport
Southport
Southport is a seaside town in the Metropolitan Borough of Sefton in Merseyside, England. During the 2001 census Southport was recorded as having a population of 90,336, making it the eleventh most populous settlement in North West England...

-born Rodwell played for his hometown club
Southport F.C.
Southport Football Club are an English football club, based in Southport, Merseyside. They are currently in the Conference National, and play their home matches at Haig Avenue, which has a capacity of 6,008...

, Buxton
Buxton F.C.
Buxton Football Club are an English football club based in Buxton, Derbyshire. They were established in 1877 and joined the Combination League in 1891. They then joined the Manchester League in 1899 and won the championship in 1932. They reached the 3rd round of the FA Cup in the 1951-52 season....

, Runcorn, and Colne Dynamoes
Colne Dynamoes F.C.
Colne Dynamoes F.C. was a football club based in Colne, Lancashire, England. After spending much of their existence in the lower reaches of Non-League football, heavy financial investment by millionaire chairman-manager, Graham White, saw the club rise rapidly through the leagues in the late 1980s...

. His most successful period came under the guidance of Billy Ayre
Billy Ayre
William "Billy" Ayre was an English footballer who played for three different clubs in a sixteen-year professional career, making over three hundred League appearances in the process. After retiring from the playing side of the game, he became a manager, and took the helm at five different clubs...

 at Blackpool
Blackpool F.C.
Blackpool Football Club are an English football club founded in 1887 from the Lancashire seaside town of Blackpool. They are competing in the 2011–12 season of the The Championship, the second tier of professional football in England, having been relegated from the Premier League at the end of the...

, where, in May 1992
1991-92 in English football
- First Division :The last-ever league championship before the creation of the Premier League was won by Leeds United who overhauled Manchester United thanks to the efforts of, among others, Gordon Strachan, Lee Chapman, David Batty, Gary Speed and Gary McAllister...

, he won promotion to the new Division Two
Football League Second Division
From 1892 until 1992, the Football League Second Division was the second highest division overall in English football.This ended with the creation of the FA Premier League, prior to the start of the 1992–93 season, which caused an administrative split between The Football League and the teams...

 after a penalty shoot-out win over Scunthorpe
Scunthorpe United F.C.
Scunthorpe United Football Club is an English association football team based in the town of Scunthorpe, North Lincolnshire, who play in the Football League One....

 in the Division Four
Football League Fourth Division
The Fourth Division of The Football League was the fourth-highest division in the English football league system from the 1958–59 season until the creation of the Premier League prior to the 1992–93 season...

 play-off final at Wembley
Wembley Stadium
The original Wembley Stadium, officially known as the Empire Stadium, was a football stadium in Wembley, a suburb of north-west London, standing on the site now occupied by the new Wembley Stadium that opened in 2007...

 (after losing out to Torquay
Torquay United F.C.
Torquay United Football Club, nicknamed the Gulls, are an English association football club based in the tourist resort town of Torquay, Devon. They played in the Conference National in 2008–09, but were promoted to Football League Two after a 2–0 win over Cambridge United on 17 May 2009 at Wembley...

 at the same venue twelve months earlier). He followed Ayre to Scarborough
Scarborough F.C.
Scarborough Football Club was an English football club based in the seaside resort of Scarborough, North Yorkshire. They were one of the oldest football clubs in England, formed in 1879, before they were wound up on 20 June 2007, with debts of £2.5 million.In the 2006–07 season...

 when the latter became manager at the McCain Stadium
McCain Stadium
The McCain Stadium was a football stadium located on Seamer Road in Scarborough, England. It was the home of Scarborough FC, a defunct football club who last played in the English Conference North before they were dissolved on 20 June 2007 with debts of £2.5 million.The ground was first opened...

 in 1994.

Blackpool

Rodwell joined Graham Carr
Graham Carr
William Graham Carr is an English former professional footballer and football club manager. He is currently Head Scout at Newcastle United.-Club career:...

's Blackpool from Colne Dynamoes in the summer of 1990. He appeared in 49 of Blackpool's 51 league and cup games in his debut 1990–91 season, as well is in their three play-off ties (scoring Blackpool's goal in their semi-final, first leg draw at Scunthorpe United), making the number-7 shirt his own. He scored on his full debut, in a 4–1 victory over Wrexham
Wrexham A.F.C.
Wrexham Football Club are a professional football team based in Wrexham, north-east Wales, who play in the English football pyramid.Founded in 1872, they are one of the oldest surviving football clubs in Britain and the oldest professional club in Wales...

 at Bloomfield Road
Bloomfield Road
Bloomfield Road is an all-seater football stadium in the English town of Blackpool, Lancashire. It has been the permanent home of Blackpool F.C. since 1901 and is named after the road on which the stadium's main entrance used to stand. The stadium has been in a process of redevelopment since 2000...

 on 15 September. He went on to score a further six league goals during the campaign, the majority of which came under the managership of Graham Carr's assistant, Billy Ayre, who took over the reins when Carr was fired.

In 1991–92, Rodwell scored eleven goals in 42 league appearances, including a hat-trick in Blackpool's 5–2 win at Aldershot
Aldershot F.C.
Aldershot Football Club was an English Football League club, which was wound up in the High Court in March 1992. They became the first Football League club since Accrington Stanley to resign from the League during the course of a season. The club was nicknamed the Shots for both the last syllable...

 on 5 November 1991; however, all records against Aldershot that season were expunged when, at the end of the campaign, the club went bankrupt.

Rodwell made a further 57 league appearances and scored two goals in his final three seasons with Blackpool.

After a short spell at Scarborough (which included a loan stint at Wigan Athletic
Wigan Athletic F.C.
Wigan Athletic Football Club is an English Premier League Association football club based in Wigan, Greater Manchester, having been promoted from the Championship in 2005. Wigan's current spell in the Premier League is the only top flight run in the club's history.They have played at the DW...

), he finished his playing career with non-League Witton Albion
Witton Albion F.C.
Witton Albion F.C. are a football club based in Northwich, England. They were founded in 1887. They have won the Cheshire Senior Cup 11 times since 1902. Their most recent success in this competition was in 2006, when they defeated Stalybridge Celtic in the final. They have also reached the FA Cup...

.

Post-retirement

In January 2003, Rodwell returned to his hometown of Southport to become an assistant to Mike Walsh (formerly a coach at Blackpool) and, later, Programme for Academic and Sporting Excellence (PASE)/reserve-team coach. In September 2004 he left the role as reserve-team manager to become the Press Association
Press Association
The Press Association is the national news agency of the United Kingdom and Ireland, supplying multimedia news content to almost all national and regional newspapers, television and radio news, as well as many websites with text, pictures, video and data content globally...

's statistical floor manager at Old Trafford
Old Trafford
Old Trafford commonly refers to two sporting arenas:* Old Trafford, home of Manchester United F.C.* Old Trafford Cricket Ground, home of Lancashire County Cricket ClubOld Trafford can also refer to:...

 while still coaching the PASE team during the week. He regularly provides stats on Manchester United, and when Southport
Southport F.C.
Southport Football Club are an English football club, based in Southport, Merseyside. They are currently in the Conference National, and play their home matches at Haig Avenue, which has a capacity of 6,008...

 are at home.

Personal life

Rodwell is married to Pauline. His daughter, Stacey, plays for California State University, Los Angeles
California State University, Los Angeles
California State University, Los Angeles is a public comprehensive university, part of the California State University system...

' women's team. He is an uncle of Everton
Everton F.C.
Everton Football Club are an English professional association football club from the city of Liverpool. The club competes in the Premier League, the highest level of English football...

 player Jack Rodwell
Jack Rodwell
Jack Christian Rodwell is an English footballer who plays for Everton as a midfielder. Rodwell has represented his country at all levels from Under-16 to the senior team.- Club career :...

.

Honours

Blackpool
  • Division Four
    Football League Fourth Division
    The Fourth Division of The Football League was the fourth-highest division in the English football league system from the 1958–59 season until the creation of the Premier League prior to the 1992–93 season...

     play-off winner:
    1991-92
  • Lancashire Cup winner: 1993-94
    1993-94 in English football
    The 1993-1994 season was the 114th season of competitive football in England.-Overview:From the start of this season, the FA Premier League would be sponsored by Carling Breweries - an association which would last for eight years...


External links

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