Colin Addison (born 18 May 1940) is an English former professional

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby ...

and manager. Born in

Taunton Taunton () is the county town of Somerset, England, with a 2011 population of 69,570. Its thousand-year history includes a 10th-century monastic foundation, Taunton Castle, which later became a priory. The Normans built a castle owned by the ...

, Somerset, Addison started his playing career with

York City York City Football Club is a professional association football club based in the city of York, North Yorkshire, England. As of the 2022–23 season, the team compete in the National League, at the fifth tier of the English football league sys ...

before moving to

Nottingham Forest Nottingham Forest Football Club is an association football club based in West Bridgford, Nottinghamshire, England. Nottingham Forest was founded in 1865 and have been playing their home games at the City Ground, on the banks of the River Tren ...

, Arsenal and

Sheffield United Sheffield United Football Club is a professional football club in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England, which compete in the . They are nicknamed "the Blades" due to Sheffield's history of cutlery production. The team have played home games at ...

. His managerial career started when he took the post of player-manager of

Hereford United Hereford United Football Club was an association football club based in Hereford, England. They played at Edgar Street for their entire history. They were nicknamed 'The Whites' or 'The Lilywhites', after their predominantly white kit, or 'Th ...

in 1971 during their famous 1971–72 FA Cup run, which saw them defeat Newcastle United. Since then Addison has managed a wide variety of clubs in the UK, as well as in Spain, South Africa, Kuwait and Qatar.

Playing career

Addison was born in

but brought up in

York York is a cathedral city with Roman origins, sited at the confluence of the rivers Ouse and Foss in North Yorkshire, England. It is the historic county town of Yorkshire. The city has many historic buildings and other structures, such as a ...

. He joined

as an amateur and turned professional in May 1957. In his second season, he scored 10 league goals helped York win promotion to the recently created Third Division, and midway through the 1960–61 season he was transferred to First Division side

for £12,000, a then-record fee for City. Addison was a regular at the

City Ground The City Ground is a football stadium in West Bridgford, Nottinghamshire, England, on the banks of the River Trent. It has been home to Nottingham Forest Football Club since 1898 and has a capacity of 30,445. The stadium was a venue when En ...

scoring 62 goals in 160 league appearances, before being signed by Bertie Mee's Arsenal in 1966 for £45,000. His time at Highbury was hampered by injury and, after scoring an average of 1 goal in every 3 games for the Gunners, he was sold to First Division side

at the end of the 1967 season. Addison joined United on the recommendation of assistant manager

Andy Beattie Andrew Beattie (11 August 1913 – 20 September 1983) was a Scottish professional football player and manager. He was the first manager of the Scottish national team. Playing career Beattie was born in Kintore, Aberdeenshire and was emplo ...

who he had played with whilst at

, signing for £40,000. Signed as a centre forward and provide goals, he remained a first-team regular until the 1971 season where, when he opted to move into management, joining leading non-league side

as player-manager.

Managerial career

Player-Manager

Addison arrived at

in October 1971, succeeding the legendary

John Charles William John Charles (27 December 1931 – 21 February 2004) was a Welsh footballer who played as a centre-forward or as a centre-back. Best known for his first stint at Leeds United and Juventus, he was rated by many as the greatest all-ro ...

as player-manager. He inherited a strong group of players which he led through the club's famous Giantkilling FA Cup run and ultimately election to the Football League. In the Second Round, Addison and his team needed two replays to get past

Northampton Town Northampton Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in the town of Northampton, England. The team plays in , the fourth tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1897, the club competed in the Midland ...

but it was worth the effort as a trip to top-flight Newcastle United awaited. After going 2–1 down in the tie, it was Addison who hit the 25-yard equaliser to take the Magpies to the return fixture at

Edgar Street Edgar Street is a football stadium in Hereford and was the home of Hereford United Football Club from the club's formation in 1924 until December 2014, when the club was wound up. It is now the home of Hereford FC, a phoenix club formed to rep ...

. In front of a capacity crowd and on a quagmire of a pitch, Addison and Hereford unbelievably won 2–1 after extra time with Radford and George scoring. They went on to take

West Ham United West Ham United Football Club is an English professional football club that plays its home matches in Stratford, East London. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football. The club plays at the London Stadium, hav ...

to another replay in the Fourth Round before eventually losing 3–1 at

Boleyn Ground The Boleyn Ground, often referred to as Upton Park, was a football stadium located in Upton Park, east London. It was the home of West Ham United from 1904 to 2016, and was briefly used by Charlton Athletic in the early 1990s during their years ...

. Hereford were elected to the Football League at the end of Addison's first season as a manager, and the success continued the following season when Hereford finished as runners-up in Division Four.

Management at the Touchline

Addison carried on playing until November 1973, but with a broken leg, he proceeded as manager until 1974 when he left to manage South African side Durban City F.C. To mark his achievements at Hereford, an area north of the Edgar Street football ground was named ''Addison Court'' in his honour. He returned to England in December 1975, joining

Notts County Notts County Football Club is a professional association football club based in Nottingham, England. The team participate in the National League, the fifth tier of the English football league system. Founded on the 25 November 1862, it is the ...

as assistant to Ronnie Fenton. His next managerial position was at Newport County achieving the 'Great Escape' of the 1976-77 season before he returned to

West Bromwich Albion West Bromwich Albion Football Club () is an English professional football club based in West Bromwich, West Midlands, England. They compete in the EFL Championship, the second tier of English football. The club was formed in 1878 and has pl ...

as assistant manager to

Ron Atkinson Ronald Frederick Atkinson (born 18 March 1939), commonly known as "Big Ron" or "Mr. Bojangles", is an English former football player and manager. In the 1990s and early 2000s, he was regarded as one of Britain's best-known football pundits. Nic ...

. After two seasons in charge at

Derby County Derby County Football Club () is a professional association football club based in Derby, Derbyshire, England. In 2022, it was announced that DCFC was acquired by Clowes Developments (UK) Ltd, a Derbyshire-based property group. Founded in 188 ...

Addison departed in 1982, returning to Newport County where he led the team to their highest post-war league finish in the 1982–83 season. In May 1985 Addison left the Welsh side, moving to Qatar to guide Al-Ahli to second position in the Qatari league. Subsequently, Addison took the reins in Spain, where he took

Celta Vigo Real Club Celta de Vigo (; ), commonly known as Celta de Vigo or simply Celta, is a Spanish professional football club based in Vigo, Galicia, that competes in La Liga, the top tier of Spanish football. Nicknamed ''Os Celestes'' (The Sky Blues), ...

into 'La Liga' First Division in his first season in charge. A second spell at

as assistant manager to Ron Atkinson followed, before he and Ron departed for Atlético Madrid in October 1988. However, Atkinson left Los Colchoneros after only two months, with Addison taking over the leadership of the club. Addison departed Atlético Madrid leaving the capital's side 5th in La Liga First Division, moving to Cádiz CF where he garnered a string of victories to ensure Cadiz's position in

La Liga The Campeonato Nacional de Liga de Primera División, commonly known simply as Primera División in Spain, and as La Liga in English-speaking countries and officially as LaLiga Santander for sponsorship reasons, stylized as LaLiga, is the men' ...

First Division. Addison then moved to Kuwait where he won the league with Al-Arabi, finishing above second-placed team managed by Felipe Scolari. Returning to the UK, Addison once again took up the reins at

. Further management callings in the UK followed, with a succession of clubs including

Yeovil Town Yeovil Town may refer to: * Yeovil Town F.C., an English football team based in Yeovil, Somerset * Yeovil Town L.F.C. Bridgwater United Women's Football Club are an English women's association football club based in Bridgwater, Somerset who wer ...

, Swansea City and Conference National side

Forest Green Rovers Forest Green Rovers Football Club are a professional football club based in Nailsworth, Gloucestershire, England. The team compete in , the third tier of the English football league system, and have played their home games at The New Lawn since ...

, leading the club to what was their highest ever league finish, at the time. He was manager of

Scarborough Scarborough or Scarboro may refer to: People * Scarborough (surname) * Earl of Scarbrough Places Australia * Scarborough, Western Australia, suburb of Perth * Scarborough, New South Wales, suburb of Wollongong * Scarborough, Queensland, su ...

in the 1998-99 season, when goalkeeper Jimmy Glass scored an astonishing and memorable goal for Carlisle United, which changed the course of the season in the dying minutes, subsequently relegating Scarborough.

Personal life

Addison currently resides in the city of Hereford, and was a pundit on

BBC Radio Wales BBC Radio Wales is a Welsh radio station owned and operated by BBC Cymru Wales, a division of the BBC. It began broadcasting on 13 November 1978, replacing the 'Radio 4 Wales' opt-out service (previously the Welsh Home Service). Radio Wales b ...

until 2008. He has operated as commentator and pundit on Spanish Football for

Sky Sports Sky Sports is a group of British subscription sports channels operated by the satellite pay television company Sky Group (a division of Comcast), and is the dominant subscription television sports brand in the United Kingdom and Ireland. It ...

, and as experienced FA Cup player and manager, as commentator and pundit for

ESPN ESPN (originally an initialism for Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by ESPN Inc., owned jointly by The Walt Disney Company (80%) and Hearst Communications (20%). Th ...

. Addison acts as commentator and football advisor across the UK and Europe. He also consults for clubs and media entities in Spain, USA and Asia.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Addison, Colin 1940 births Living people Sportspeople from Taunton Footballers from York English footballers Association football forwards English Football League players English football managers English expatriate football managers York City F.C. players Nottingham Forest F.C. players Arsenal F.C. players Sheffield United F.C. players Hereford United F.C. players Hereford United F.C. managers Newport County A.F.C. managers Derby County F.C. managers La Liga managers CD Badajoz managers Cádiz CF managers RC Celta de Vigo managers Atlético Madrid managers Scarborough F.C. managers Yeovil Town F.C. managers Swansea City A.F.C. managers Al Ahli SC (Doha) managers Forest Green Rovers F.C. managers Merthyr Tydfil F.C. managers Expatriate footballers in Spain Expatriate football managers in Spain English expatriate sportspeople in Spain Barry Town United F.C. managers Cymru Premier managers English expatriate sportspeople in South Africa Expatriate soccer managers in South Africa Durban City F.C. managers English expatriate sportspeople in Qatar Expatriate football managers in Qatar English expatriate sportspeople in Kuwait Expatriate football managers in Kuwait Kuwait Premier League managers Al-Arabi SC (Kuwait) managers