John Francis Mahoney (born 20 September 1946) is a former Welsh international

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 as a

midfielder A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

between the 1960s and 1980s for

Crewe Alexandra Crewe Alexandra Football Club is an English professional association football club based in the town of Crewe, Cheshire, that competes in League Two, the fourth tier of the English football league system. Nicknamed 'The Railwaymen' because of ...

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 ...

, Stoke City and Swansea City. He attained 51 caps for

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the Bristol Channel to the south. It had a population in ...

Career

Mahoney was born in

Cardiff Cardiff (; cy, Caerdydd ) is the capital and largest city of Wales. It forms a principal area, officially known as the City and County of Cardiff ( cy, Dinas a Sir Caerdydd, links=no), and the city is the eleventh-largest in the United Kingd ...

and grew up in

Manchester Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The t ...

as his father played

Rugby league Rugby league football, commonly known as just rugby league and sometimes football, footy, rugby or league, is a full-contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular field measuring 68 metres (75 yards) wide and 11 ...

with

Oldham R.L.F.C. Oldham R.L.F.C., also known as the Roughyeds, is a professional rugby league football club in Oldham, Greater Manchester, England. The club currently competes in the RFL League 1, the third tier of British Rugby League. Formed in 1876 as Oldh ...

Mahoney began playing non-league football with Ashton United before signing for

in March 1966. With

Liverpool Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a populat ...

showing a big interest in Mahoney, Crewe's former Stoke player Johnny King recommended him to Stoke manager

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 ...

and he duly took his advice and signed him for £19,500 in March 1967. A rough diamond at first, Mahoney regularly lost possession by 'over-elaborate dribbling'. Waddington taught him the art of pass and move and he became a quality midfielder sitting just in front of his defence his task was to win the ball back and play in his wingers or forwards. Due to competition for places he was subject of a £50,000 offer from

Millwall Millwall is a district on the western and southern side of the Isle of Dogs, in east London, England, in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. It lies to the immediate south of Canary Wharf and Limehouse, north of Greenwich and Deptford, eas ...

in February 1972 but rejected the chance to move to London. His patience was rewarded with a substitute appearance in the 1972 Football League Cup Final as Stoke beat

Chelsea Chelsea or Chelsey may refer to: Places Australia * Chelsea, Victoria Canada * Chelsea, Nova Scotia * Chelsea, Quebec United Kingdom * Chelsea, London, an area of London, bounded to the south by the River Thames ** Chelsea (UK Parliament consti ...

2–1. Sensing that Mahoney had matured into the player he wanted him to be Waddington sold his major rival for a place in Stoke's midfield, Mike Bernard, to Everton for £140,000 in May 1972. He developed a fine understanding with Alan Hudson which saw a strong Stoke side nearly win the league title in 1974–75. In January 1976 a severe storm in Stoke-on-Trent caused considerable damage to 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 ...

and in order to pay for the repairs the club sold off their players. This meant that Stoke struggled in 1976–77 and were relegated to the Second Division. Mahoney joined

in July 1977 for £90,000. "I didn't want to leave but when I looked at the fixture list and Stoke were away at Mansfield and Middlesbrough at home to Liverpool, I knew I had to go." He spent two seasons at Ayresome Park making 90 appearances helping "Boro" to two mid-table finishes. He then moved on to Swansea City with whom helped gain promotion in 1980–81 and finish 6th in their first season in the top-flight. But Swansea suffered relegation in 1982–83 and Mahoney's career was ended on 1 March 1983 in a match against

Brighton & Hove Albion Brighton & Hove Albion Football Club (), commonly referred to simply as Brighton, is an English professional football club based in the city of Brighton and Hove. They compete in the Premier League, the top tier of the English football league ...

he was on the receiving end of a crushing tackle which left him with a permanent limp. After leaving Swansea City, he became player-manager at Bangor City. With the "Citizens" Mahoney took them into the

1985–86 European Cup Winners' Cup The 1985–86 European Cup Winners' Cup was won by Dynamo Kyiv in the final against Atlético Madrid. It was their second title in the competition, and first since 1975. Reigning champions Everton, who initially qualified for the European Cup i ...

beating Norwegians

Fredrikstad FK Fredrikstad Fotballklubb (also known as Fredrikstad or FFK) is a Norwegian football club from the town of Fredrikstad. With nine league championships and eleven Norwegian Cup wins, FFK is one of the most successful clubs in Norwegian footbal ...

and losing a respectable 3–0 to Atlético Madrid. He then spent a short time at the reformed Newport County before an unsuccessful three years back to Bangor. The later coached Carmarthen Town.

International career

Whilst at Stoke Mahoney gained his first international cap for Wales, with a debut against

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

on 21 October 1967. However, it took him five years to win his first four caps, but by 1973 he had become a regular in the Welsh side, and in total he went on to make 51 appearances for his country. His final game was also against England in a British Home Championship match on 23 February 1983.

Career statistics

Club

Source:

International

Source:

Honours

; Stoke City * Football League Cup winner:

1972 Within the context of Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) it was the longest year ever, as two leap seconds were added during this 366-day year, an event which has not since been repeated. (If its start and end are defined using mean solar tim ...

; Swansea City *

Football League Second Division The Football League Second Division was the second level division in the English football league system between 1892 and 1992. Following the foundation of the FA Premier League, the Football League divisions were renumbered and the third t ...

third-place promotion: 1980–81

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mahoney, John Living people 1946 births Footballers from Cardiff Welsh men's footballers Welsh people of Irish descent Wales men's international footballers Wales men's under-23 international footballers English Football League players Ashton United F.C. players Crewe Alexandra F.C. players Stoke City F.C. players Middlesbrough F.C. players Swansea City A.F.C. players Welsh football managers Bangor City F.C. managers Newport County A.F.C. managers Cleveland Stokers players United Soccer Association players Welsh expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's soccer players in the United States Men's association football midfielders Welsh expatriate sportspeople in the United States Carmarthen Town A.F.C. managers