Tony Woodcock (footballer)

{{Infobox football biography

| name = Tony Woodcock

| image =

| caption =

| fullname = Anthony Stewart Woodcock

| birth_date = {{birth date and age|df=y|1955|12|6}}

| birth_place = Eastwood, Nottinghamshire, England

| height = 1.78 m

| position = Striker

| youthyears1 =

| youthclubs1 = Priory Celtic

| youthyears2 =

| youthclubs2 = Nottingham Forest

| years1 = 1974–1979

| clubs1 = Nottingham Forest

| caps1 = 129

| goals1 = 36

| years2 = 1976

| clubs2 = → Lincoln City (loan)

| caps2 = 4

| goals2 = 1

| years3 = 1977

| clubs3 = → Doncaster Rovers (loan)

| caps3 = 6

| goals3 = 2

| years4 = 1979–1982

| clubs4 = 1. FC Köln

| caps4 = 81

| goals4 = 28

| years5 = 1982–1986

| clubs5 = Arsenal

| caps5 = 131

| goals5 = 56

| years6 = 1986–1988

| clubs6 = 1. FC Köln

| caps6 = 49

| goals6 = 11

| years7 = 1988–1990

| clubs7 = Fortuna Köln

| caps7 = 37

| goals7 = 5

| totalcaps = 437

| totalgoals = 139

| nationalyears1 = 1977–1978

| nationalyears2 = 1980 | nationalteam2 = England B | nationalcaps2 = 1 | nationalgoals4 = 0

| nationalyears3 = 1978–1986{{Cite news|title=Anthony Stewart 'Tony' Woodcock – International Appearances|publisher=The Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation|url=https://www.rsssf.org/miscellaneous/woodcock-intl.html}}

| nationalteam1 = England U21

| nationalcaps1 = 2

| nationalgoals1 = 5

| nationalteam3 = England

| nationalcaps3 = 42

| nationalgoals3 = 16

| manageryears1 =

| managerclubs1 =

}}

Anthony Stewart Woodcock (born 6 December 1955) is an English retired international footballer who played professionally in both England and Germany as a striker for Nottingham Forest, FC Köln and Arsenal.{{cite web|url=http://www.neilbrown.newcastlefans.com/player/tonywoodcock.html|title= Career Stats – Tony Woodcock|website=Neil Brown.Newcastle Fans.com}} Woodcock won the European Cup (now known as the UEFA Champions League) in 1979 with Nottingham Forest.

Club career

=Early career=

Born in Eastwood, Nottinghamshire, Woodcock trained with Alan and Steve Buckley as a child, coached by their father, and played for Priory Celtic.{{cite book|first=Mark |last=Collar|title=Those Forest Men|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jgA9BQAAQBAJ&pg=PA253|year=2013|publisher=Lulu.com|isbn=978-1-291-34733-3|page=253}} He started his career at Nottingham Forest, signing a contract in January 1974.{{hugman|21594|access-date=10 December 2018}}{{Cite web |title=The story of Tony Woodcock: An Englishman in Cologne |publisher=1. FC Köln |date=30 December 2015 |access-date=10 December 2018 |url=https://fc.de/en/fc-info/news/detailpage/details/an-englishman-in-cologne/ |archive-date=11 June 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230611000019/https://fc.de/en/fc-info/news/detailpage/details/an-englishman-in-cologne/ |url-status=dead }} After loan spells at Lincoln City and Doncaster Rovers, Woodcock broke into the Forest first team in 1976–77, helping the team to promotion to the First Division.{{Cite news|title=LINCOLN SPELL TURNED ME AROUND... says Woodcock|date=19 February 1984|access-date=17 July 2014|newspaper=New Sunday Times|publisher=New Straits Times Press|location=Kuala Lumpur|page=16|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=LJJUAAAAIBAJ&sjid=wY8DAAAAIBAJ&pg=6640%2C3144066}} Woodcock later credited the Lincoln move and the leadership of Graham Taylor as being instrumental to his development. Under Brian Clough, Forest went on to win the First Division title and Football League Cup in 1978 with Woodcock winning the PFA Young Player of the Year award that year as well, and the European Cup in 1979.{{cite web|title=Gunners' Greatest Players – 48. Tony Woodcock|url=http://www.arsenal.com/news/news-archive/gunners-greatest-players-48.-tony-woodcock|publisher=arsenal.com|access-date=4 October 2010}} He also scored in Forest's victory over Southampton in the 1979 Football League Cup Final.{{cite news|title=Notts defeat Southampton to retain Cup soccer title|newspaper=The Gazette|location=Montreal|date=19 March 1979|page=25|agency=Associated Press|access-date=17 July 2014|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=vZYuAAAAIBAJ&sjid=haEFAAAAIBAJ&pg=7116%2C5281394}}

=Move to the Bundesliga=

Woodcock was signed by West German side FC Köln for a fee of £600,000 ({{inflation|UK|600,000|1979|r=-4|fmt=eq|cursign=£}}), in time for the 1979–80 season. He spent three seasons there. He scored 28 goals in 81 matches for the Cologne club.

=Arsenal=

He returned home after the 1982 World Cup, signing for Terry Neill's Arsenal for £500,000. Woodcock was Arsenal's top scorer for the next three seasons, his best tally being 21 in 1983–84; he hit five in a single game against Aston Villa, a post-war record for the club, he also scored the final goal in the last British Home Championship. He helped Arsenal reach the semi-finals of both domestic cups in his first season, and remained in favour with new manager Don Howe, who was appointed in December 1983 following the dismissal of Terry Neill after a dismal first half of the season. He also contributed to a strong start to the 1984–85 season for the Gunners, which saw them top the league in the autumn of 1984.

However, he suffered a serious injury in March 1985, which disrupted his career. With the arrival of George Graham as Arsenal manager in May 1986, the 30-year-old Woodcock was told he was surplus to requirements.

In all, Woodcock scored 68 goals in 169 matches for the Gunners.

=Return to Germany=

Woodcock then returned to FC Köln for a fee of "about £200,000".{{Cite news|title=Woodcock for Cologne|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=ddpHAAAAIBAJ&sjid=L5wDAAAAIBAJ&pg=3257%2C1319886|date=6 July 1986|access-date=17 July 2014|newspaper=New Sunday Times|publisher=New Straits Times Press|location=Kuala Lumpur|agency=Reuters|page=24}} During his second spell there, he made 49 appearances and scored 11 goals. He finished his career playing for Fortuna Köln, making 37 appearances and scoring five goals, before retiring from playing in 1990.{{cite web|url=http://www.fussballdaten.de/spieler/woodcockanthony/1995/|title=Karriere (Spieler)|work=Tony Woodcock|publisher=Fussballdaten.de|language=de|access-date=30 May 2012}}

International career

=England under-21s=

Woodcock made two appearances for the England under-21s, scoring five goals; a hat-trick on his debut against Finland in a record 8–1 win and two against Italy under-21s.{{cite news|title=Smith (pick) axes himself from Europe|newspaper=The Herald|location=Glasgow|date=5 May 1978|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=Pfw9AAAAIBAJ&sjid=P0kMAAAAIBAJ&pg=3134%2C1442456|at=Back page|access-date=17 July 2014}}{{cite work|title=Hull City v Ipswich Town programme|date=20 November 2010|pages=56–57}}

=Senior side=

Woodcock was first called up to the full England squad for the match against Hungary.{{cite news|title=Woodcock: England's only newcomer...|newspaper=The Herald|location=Glasgow|date=6 May 1978|access-date=17 July 2014|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=Pvw9AAAAIBAJ&sjid=P0kMAAAAIBAJ&pg=2367%2C1635910|at=Back page}} He made his début for England in 1978 against Northern Ireland.{{cite news|title=England save their strength|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=Rvw9AAAAIBAJ&sjid=P0kMAAAAIBAJ&pg=4305%2C3939032|date=16 May 1978|access-date=17 July 2014|at=Back page|newspaper=The Herald|location=Glasgow}} He would go on to win 42 caps for his country (scoring 16 goals), and play in the UEFA Euro 1980 and the 1982 FIFA World Cup. He also played in the 1986 FIFA World Cup qualifiers but was left out of the final squad.

Honours

Nottingham Forest

Individual

Nottingham Forest Player of the Year: 1977
PFA Young Player of the Year: 1977–78
Arsenal Player of the Season: 1982−83{{Cite book |last=Maidment |first=Jem |title=The Official Arsenal Encyclopedia |publisher=Hamlyn |year=2006 |isbn=9780600615491 |location=London |pages=148 |language=en}}
Arsenal Top Scorer: 1982–83, 1983–84, 1984–85