Tony Carss

{{Infobox football biography

| name = Tony Carss

| full_name = Anthony John Carss{{Cite book

| editor-first = Barry J.

| editor-last = Hugman

| title = The PFA Footballers' Who's Who 2003/2004

| year = 2003

| publisher = Queen Anne Press

| isbn = 1-85291-651-6

| page = 82 }}

| birth_date = {{birth date and age|1976|3|31|df=y}}

| birth_place = Alnwick, England

| height = {{height|ft=5|in=11}}

| currentclub =Aston Villa U21s

| position = Midfielder

| youthyears1 = {{0|000}}–1994

| youthclubs1 = Bradford City

| years1 = 1994–1995

| years2 = 1995–1997

| years3 = 1997–1998

| years4 = 1999–2000

| years5 = 2000

| years6 = 2000–2003

| years7 = 2003–2006

| clubs1 = Blackburn Rovers

| clubs2 = Darlington

| clubs3 = Cardiff City

| clubs4 = Chesterfield

| clubs5 = Carlisle United

| clubs6 = Oldham Athletic

| clubs7 = Huddersfield Town

| caps1 = 0

| caps2 = 57

| caps3 = 42

| caps4 = 35

| caps5 = 7

| caps6 = 75

| caps7 = 80

| goals1 = 0

| goals2 = 2

| goals3 = 1

| goals4 = 1

| goals5 = 0

| goals6 = 5

| goals7 = 3

| manageryears1 = 2006–2017

| managerclubs1 = Huddersfield Town U18s

| manageryears2 = 2017

| managerclubs2 = Huddersfield Town Academy (Head of Coaching)

| manageryears3 = 2017–2022

| managerclubs3 = Blackburn Rovers Academy (Head of Coaching)

| manageryears4 = 2022–2023

| managerclubs4 = Aston Villa U21s

}}

Anthony John Carss (born 31 March 1976) is an English football coach and former professional player, who works for Aston Villa Academy as Emerging Talent Programme Manager.

Carss started his career with Blackburn Rovers,{{cite news |url=http://www.examiner.co.uk/huddersfield-town-fc/huddersfield-town-news/2006/05/06/i-ll-get-myself-86081-17047282/ |title=I'll get myself |date=6 May 2006 |accessdate=27 December 2008 |publisher=Huddersfield Daily Examiner}} and went on to Darlington, Cardiff City, Chesterfield, Oldham Athletic and Huddersfield Town.

After retiring from playing in 2006, Carss has also coached at Huddersfield Town Academy and Blackburn Rovers F.C. Academy.{{Cite web |title=Tony Carss LinkedIn |url=https://uk.linkedin.com/in/tony-carss-3015a7a6?original_referer=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.com%2F |access-date=15 June 2022 |website=LinkedIn}}

Career

= Playing career =

Carss signed his first professional contract with Blackburn Rovers in 1994, after finishing an apprenticeship with Bradford City. However, his playing career was punctuated by injury, and he left Blackburn having never played a league game.{{Cite web |date=17 August 2017 |title=Tony Carss Q&A: We speak to Rovers' new Head of Academy Coaching |url=https://www.rovers.co.uk/news/2017/august/tony-carss-qa/ |access-date=2022-06-16 |website=Blackburn Rovers FC}} After spells at Darlington, Cardiff City, Chesterfield, Carlisle United and Oldham Athletic – in 2003 Carss joined Huddersfield Town, winning promotion via the Division Three play off final in 2004.{{Cite web |last=Chicken |first=Steven |date=2022-05-28 |title=Huddersfield Town's rich history in play-off finals |url=https://www.examinerlive.co.uk/sport/football/news/huddersfield-towns-rich-history-play-24085023 |access-date=2022-06-16 |website=YorkshireLive |language=en}} And scoring a goal that some have said was one of the best goals in Huddersfield's history in a league game against Torquay United on 11 October 2003.{{Cite web |last=Wheat-Bowen |first=Elliott |date=2016-09-06 |title=Are these the 3 best Huddersfield Town goals of all-time? |url=https://footballleagueworld.co.uk/are-these-the-3-best-huddersfield-town-goals-of-all-time/ |access-date=2022-06-16 |website=Football League World |language=en-GB}}

= Coaching career =

After being released by Huddersfield, Carss called an end to his playing career, expressing a desire to one day become a coach. However, he initially retrained to become a sports journalist, stating that his goal was still to try to transition into coaching, but that this was another way to stay in the football industry.{{Cite web |last=WalesOnline |date=2006-11-18 |title=Carss is looking to write his own news headlines |url=http://www.walesonline.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/carss-looking-write-news-headlines-2299328 |access-date=2022-06-16 |website=WalesOnline |language=en}} He graduated from Staffordshire University with a degree in Professional Sports Writing and Broadcasting in summer of 2008.{{cite web |title=Hats off to our super students |url=http://www.givemefootball.com/pfa/pfa-news/hats-off-to-our-super-students |url-status=dead |accessdate=2010-12-06 |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20100611125846/http://www.givemefootball.com/pfa/pfa-news/hats-off-to-our-super-students |archivedate=11 June 2010}}

At the same time, Carss worked as a coach for Huddersfield Town U18s. In 2017, Carss moved to Blackburn Rovers to take the role as their Head of Coaching. In June 2018, Carss achieved his UEFA Pro Licence, graduating alongside Nemanja Vidić, David James and Nicky Butt.{{Cite web |date=28 June 2018 |title=PRO LICENCE GRADUATION SEES NICKY BUTT, DAVID JAMES AND NEMANJA VIDIC COMPLETE COURSE |url=http://www.thefa.com/news/2018/jun/27/pro-licence-graduation-27-6-18 |access-date=2022-06-15 |website=The Football Association |language=en}}

On 14 June 2022, Blackburn Rovers announced that Carss would leave his role later in that month, in order to take up a role at a Premier League club, which was later announced to be the role of Aston Villa Under-21s manager.{{Cite web |date=14 June 2022 |title=Carss to leave Rovers role |url=https://www.rovers.co.uk/news/2022/june/14/carss-to-leave-rovers-role/ |access-date=2022-06-15 |website=Blackburn Rovers FC}}{{Cite web |date=15 June 2022 |title=Villa appoint three Academy coaches |url=https://www.avfc.co.uk/news/2022/june/15/Villa-appoint-three-Academy-coaches-/ |access-date=2022-06-15 |website=Aston Villa Football Club}}

On 20 July 2023, after the appointment of Iñigo Idiakez as U21 Coach at Aston Villa, Carss was moved to the new role of Emerging Talent Programme Manager.{{Cite web |last= |first= |date=2023-07-20 |title=Aston Villa appoint Inigo Idiakez as U21s coach |url=https://www.avfc.co.uk/news/2023/july/20/-villa-appoint-inigo-idiakez-as-new-u21-coach/ |access-date=2023-07-20 |website=Aston Villa Football Club}}