*Indicates unconfirmed information. Figures in brackets after English team names indicate all appearances made and goals scored in competitive matches for Football League clubs from 1888 onwards. For Scottish League clubs the figures show details of all competitive appearances and goals scored from 1946/47 onwards.
Tony Spink
Appearances: 33 Goals: 31
Date / Year of birth: 16th November 1929
Position: Striker
Season of first appearance: 1958/59
Season of last appearance: 1959/60
Also played for: Sheffield Wednesday (0), Chester City (14,3), Weymouth, Workington (0), Sunderland (0), Tranmere Rovers (8,3), Dover, Canterbury City, Lewes and Newhaven
Burly, hard working Doncaster-born striker who was especially good in the air.
Tony began his career with Sheffield Wednesday before being transferred to Chester in June 1950. He scored three goals in 14 first team appearances spanning the 1951/52 and 1952/53 seasons and then played for Weymouth before moving to Workington in July 1955 - their manager at the time was none other than Bill Shankly.
Tony only spent five months with Workington, playing for their reserves, before he moved on once more, joining Sunderland in December 1955.
In the summer of 1956 he was transferred to Tranmere and Tony went on to score three times in eight senior appearances for the Merseyside club during the 1956/57 campaign. He then dropped out of league football to join Dover in the summer of 1957.
Tony's first match for Dover was a friendly in France on 4.8.57 and he scored in a 4-2 win over Boulogne. However his spell with the club was brief as he was unhappy at having to play as an inside forward and in September 1957 Tony moved on to Canterbury.
He went on to score 32 goals for Canterbury before the end of the 1957/58 season and then scored 11 times for City during the first half of the 1958/59 season before leaving Kingsmead to join Margate in January 1959.
Tony made a good start to his Margate career by scoring on his debut in a 1-1 draw at his old club Canterbury on 24.1.59. He then embarked on a remarkable goalscoring run as he found the net in each of his next five appearances. By the end of February 1959 Tony had scored eight times in just six games for Margate. The spell included a hat-trick in a 4-1 win at Deal and he continued to score regularly during the remainder of the 1958/59 campaign.
Tony's final tally was 27 goals in just 25 appearances and it included another hat-trick plus a four goal haul and a strike after just 25 seconds of a game at Faversham on 27.4.59. He finished the season as joint top goalscorer with Freddie Kearns and scored 38 times in all including his goals for Canterbury. When he left City Tony had made a £25 bet with a Canterbury fan that he would score another 25 goals before the end of 1958/59 and duly collected his winnings.
However the 1959/60 season was not such a good one for Tony. He started the campaign in the first team but although he scored four times in seven games he was dropped to the reserves during September 1959. Tony's goals had come in four consecutive matches but he only made one further first team appearance during the remainder of the season and was released by the club in the summer of 1960.
He then moved to Sussex and spent two seasons with Lewes before becoming player-manager of Newhaven. After a couple of seasons there Tony retired.
During his time at Margate Tony worked as a sales representative for a company that sold paint brushes and in later years he ran a car wash.
In 2003 Tony was living in Peacehaven, Sussex and still working part-time in his own Estate Agent business, despite health problems including Parkinson's disease and diabetes. Unsurprisingly he rated Bill Shankly as the best manager he'd ever played under.
Tony died on 7.2.11 aged 81 in Eastbourne District General Hospital.
|
SEASON (CLUB) |
FULL (MAX) |
SUB |
GLS |
|
FAC |
KSC |
KLC |
KSS |
TMC |
|
1958/59 (MFC) |
25 (51) |
N/A |
27 |
KENT LEAGUE DIVISION ONE (5TH OF 18) |
1R |
3R |
RU |
1R |
GR |
|
Played in Kent League Cup
Final (07.05.59 - lost 3-2 to Sittingbourne). | |||||||||
|
SEASON (CLUB) |
FULL (MAX) |
SUB |
GLS |
|
FAC |
SLC |
KSC |
KSS |
|
|
1959/60 (MFC) |
8 (57) |
N/A |
4 |
SOUTHERN LEAGUE DIVISION ONE (7TH OF 22) |
2R |
1R |
RU |
SF |
|