Ian Richard Moores (5 October 1954 – 12 January 1998) was an English

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 ...

who played in

the Football League The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional association football, football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, the league is the oldest such competition in Association football around the wor ...

for Barnsley, Bolton Wanderers, Orient, Stoke City and

Tottenham Hotspur Tottenham Hotspur Football Club, commonly referred to as Tottenham () or Spurs, is a professional football club based in Tottenham, London, England. It competes in the Premier League, the top flight of English football. The team has playe ...

Playing career

Moores was born in

Chesterton, Staffordshire Chesterton is a former mining village in the Borough of Newcastle-under-Lyme in Staffordshire, England. Chesterton is the second largest individual ward in the Borough of Newcastle-under-Lyme. In the 2011 census, Chesterton's population stood ...

and learned to play his football for the Staffordshire County Boys' Team. Moores then joined Stoke City's youth team and as a schoolboy at the age of fifteen continued his development at the

Victoria Ground The Victoria Ground was the home ground of Stoke City from 1878 until 1997, when the club relocated to the Britannia Stadium after 119 years. At the time of its demolition it was the oldest operational ground in the Football League. History ...

. Moores started as a left winger but became a centre-forward after a switch in Stoke's "A" team with a

hat-trick A hat-trick or hat trick is the achievement of a generally positive feat three times in a match, or another achievement based on the number three. Origin The term first appeared in 1858 in cricket, to describe H. H. Stephenson taking three wic ...

to his name in the second half of a match. He graduated to the senior team in April 1974, having appeared for the England under-23 team twice. He made his debut for Stoke away at

Leicester City Leicester ( ) is a city, unitary authority and the county town of Leicestershire in the East Midlands of England. It is the largest settlement in the East Midlands. The city lies on the River Soar and close to the eastern end of the National ...

towards the end of the 1973–74 season and in 1974–75 he became a member of

Tony Waddington Anthony Waddington (9 November 1924 – 21 January 1994) was an English football manager at both Crewe Alexandra and Stoke City. Waddington had a seven-year playing career with Crewe Alexandra before becoming a coach at Stoke City. He progre ...

's first team scoring four goals in 18 matches. He was joined top scorer with

Jimmy Greenhoff James Greenhoff (born 19 June 1946) is an English former footballer. He was a skilful forward and although capped five times at under-23 level, once as an over-age player, he never played for the full side, and is labelled as the finest Englis ...

in 1975–76 with 13 but with Stoke needing money he was sold to

in August 1976. He moved to

in August 1976 for a £75,000 fee. Moores started off well, scoring on his debut during a

League Cup In several sports, most prominently association football, a league cup or secondary cup generally signifies a cup competition for which entry is restricted only to teams in a particular league. The first national association football tournament t ...

tie at

Middlesbrough Middlesbrough ( ) is a town on the southern bank of the River Tees in North Yorkshire, England. It is near the North York Moors national park. It is the namesake and main town of its local borough council area. Until the early 1800s, the a ...

on 31 August 1976 which Spurs won 2–1. On 4 September 1976 Moores made his Tottenham

league League or The League may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Leagues'' (band), an American rock band * ''The League'', an American sitcom broadcast on FX and FXX about fantasy football Sports * Sports league * Rugby league, full contact footba ...

debut at Old Trafford. Spurs trailed 2–0 at half-time, but second half strikes from Moores,

Ralph Coates Ralph Coates (26 April 1946 – 17 December 2010) was an English footballer who played at both professional and international levels as a winger. Coates played for Burnley, Tottenham Hotspur and Orient, making 480 appearances in the Football Le ...

and John Pratt gave them a 3–2 win. However, he only scored twice more during the rest of that season, against

Wrexham Wrexham ( ; cy, Wrecsam; ) is a city and the administrative centre of Wrexham County Borough in Wales. It is located between the Welsh mountains and the lower Dee Valley, near the border with Cheshire in England. Historically in the count ...

in the League Cup in September 1976 and against Sunderland in a 2–1 home defeat in November 1976. Spurs were

relegated In sports leagues, promotion and relegation is a process where teams are transferred between multiple divisions based on their performance for the completed season. Leagues that use promotion and relegation systems are often called open leagues. ...

at the end of the season to Division Two. During the following season Moores did not play until the 11th game of the season. He scored a hat-trick against

Bristol Rovers Bristol Rovers Football Club are a professional football club in Bristol, England. They compete in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. They play home matches at the Memorial Stadium in Horfield, they have been ...

on 22 October 1977, during which

Colin Lee Colin Lee (born 12 June 1956) is an English football manager and former footballer. He is currently head of football at South Dartmoor Community College in Ashburton, Devon along with Chris Beard. Playing career Lee began his football career ...

scored four in a record 9–0 win for Spurs at

White Hart Lane White Hart Lane was a football stadium in Tottenham, North London and the home of Tottenham Hotspur Football Club from 1899 to 2017. Its capacity varied over the years; when changed to all-seater it had a capacity of 36,284 before demolition. ...

. He played 12 more times that season and scored once more, against

Crystal Palace Crystal Palace may refer to: Places Canada * Crystal Palace Complex (Dieppe), a former amusement park now a shopping complex in Dieppe, New Brunswick * Crystal Palace Barracks, London, Ontario * Crystal Palace (Montreal), an exhibition building ...

three weeks later. In July 1978 the arrival of

Ossie Ardiles Osvaldo César Ardiles (born 3 August 1952), often referred to in Britain as Ossie Ardiles, is an Argentine football manager, pundit and former midfielder who won the 1978 FIFA World Cup as part of the Argentina national team. He now runs ...

and

Ricardo Villa Ricardo Julio Villa (; born 18 August 1952), more commonly known as Ricky Villa, is an Argentine football coach and former professional midfielder. He was famous for his time playing football from 1970 to 1989. Career Villa was born in Roque ...

spelt the end for Moores at White Hart Lane. He provided a cross for Villa to score against

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 ...

but played only once again, in a 4–1 home defeat against Aston Villa, which was to be his final ever appearance for Spurs. In September 1978 he left the club to join Orient for a fee of £55,000 where he scored 26 goals in 117 league appearances. Moores scored twice on his debut for Orient, as he had done for Spurs, away against

Charlton Athletic Charlton Athletic Football Club is an English professional football club based in Charlton, south-east London, which compete in . Their home ground is The Valley, where the club have played since 1919. They have also played at The Mount in ...

on 6 October 1978. Moores was a first team regular over the next four years, but when Orient were relegated to Division 3 in 1982 he signed for Bolton Wanderers. Moores scored five goals in 29 appearances that season. Bolton were relegated, like Spurs and Orient had been before and in July 1983 he moved to

APOEL APOEL FC ( el, ΑΠΟΕΛ; short for Αθλητικός Ποδοσφαιρικός Όμιλος Ελλήνων Λευκωσίας, ''Athletikos Podosferikos Omilos Ellinon Lefkosias'', literally "Athletic Football Club of Greeks of Nicosia") ...

in Cyprus, where he remained for five years and where he is still regarded as a

legend A legend is a genre of folklore that consists of a narrative featuring human actions, believed or perceived, both by teller and listeners, to have taken place in human history. Narratives in this genre may demonstrate human values, and possess ...

. He played alongside

Terry McDermott Terence McDermott (born 8 December 1951) is an English former football midfielder who was a member of the Liverpool team of the 1970s and early 1980s, in which he won three European Cups and five First Division titles. He was capped 25 times ...

and won one

Cypriot Championship The Cypriot First Division ( el, Πρωτάθλημα Α΄ Κατηγορίας) is the top tier football league competition in Cyprus, run by the Cyprus Football Association. Since February 2016, it is sponsored by Cyta and is thus officially ...

, one

Cup A cup is an open-top used to hold hot or cold liquids for pouring or drinking; while mainly used for drinking, it also can be used to store solids for pouring (e.g., sugar, flour, grains, salt). Cups may be made of glass, metal, china, clay, ...

, two Super Cups and played in all three European competitions. Returning to England in 1988, Moores had an unsuccessful trial with

Port Vale Port Vale Football Club are a professional football club based in Burslem, Stoke-on-Trent, England, which compete in . Vale are the only English Football League club not to be named after a place; their name being a reference to the valley o ...

before heading into the non-leagues. He helped Tamworth win the 1989 FA Vase, when he scored in the replay of the final, but that was to be his swansong. He retired as a player a year later, in 1990.

Personal life and post-retirement

His favorite player was his teammate, Jimmy Greenhoff. He cited his Under-23 national team debut vs Wales as his most memorable match. He had said that if he was not an athlete, he would have been a physical training instructor. His likes included television, driving and going to horse races.''Shoot Magazine, Focus on Ian Moores'', publisher: '' Shoot Magazine'', published: 1970's After retiring from football, Moores worked in personal finance in his native Potteries, and when he fell ill in September 1997 with lung cancer, he was coaching a local under 16 team. Moores died in January 1998 at the age of 43.

Career statistics

Source: :A. The "Other" column constitutes appearances and goals in the

Anglo-Scottish Cup The Anglo-Scottish Cup was a tournament arranged for teams in the English and Scottish football leagues during the summer for several years during the 1970s. It was created in 1975 as a new incarnation of the Texaco Cup, with a similar format t ...

Football League Group Cup The Football League Group Cup was a short-lived football competition which first took place during the 1981–82 season. For English clubs it was a replacement for the Anglo-Scottish Cup, which had been discontinued due to the withdrawal of Scot ...

and

Svenska Cupen Svenska Cupen (, ''The Swedish Cup'') is a knockout cup competition in Swedish football and the main Swedish football cup. Svenska Cupen usually refers to the men's tournament, although a women's tournament is also held. Each year 96 teams compe ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Moores, Ian 1954 births 1998 deaths People from Chesterton, Staffordshire English footballers England men's under-23 international footballers Men's association football forwards Stoke City F.C. players Tottenham Hotspur F.C. players Leyton Orient F.C. players Bolton Wanderers F.C. players Barnsley F.C. players APOEL FC players Tamworth F.C. players Landskrona BoIS players English Football League players National Soccer League (Australia) players Cypriot First Division players English expatriate footballers Expatriate soccer players in Australia Expatriate footballers in Cyprus Expatriate footballers in Sweden Footballers from Staffordshire