Anthony Paul Black (born 15 July 1969) is an English retired

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 winger and striker.

Career

Early career

Black played in the Pendle Charity League for amateur club Burnley Dynamos in 1990. He played as striker and helped Dynamos to promotion in the club's inception year. He also helped the club lift a 2nd division trophy cup, scoring 2 goals in the semi-final and one in the final. After a short time with Dynamos, he moved to Burnley United of the

West Lancashire Football League The West Lancashire Football League is a football competition based in northern England, consisting of five divisions – three for first teams (Premier, One and Two), and two for reserve teams. The league is currently sponsored by Lancaster- ...

Bamber Bridge

Wigan Athletic

Football League Third Division The Football League Third Division was the third tier of the English football league system in 1920–21 and again from 1958 until 1992. When the FA Premier League was formed, the division become the fourth tier level. In 2004, following th ...

club

Wigan Athletic Wigan Athletic Football Club () is an English professional association football club based in Wigan, Greater Manchester, England. The team competes in the Championship, the second tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1932, ...

signed Black for £12,500 on 22 March 1995. On 29 March, he made his debut for the club, playing the whole 90 minutes in a 1–1 draw with

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 ...

at Springfield Park. Black went on to make a further eight appearances in the remainder of the

season A season is a division of the year based on changes in weather, ecology, and the number of daylight hours in a given region. On Earth, seasons are the result of the axial parallelism of Earth's tilted orbit around the Sun. In temperate and ...

, starting every game he played, but not managing to score any goals. On 2 December, in a

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual knockout football competition in men's domestic English football. First played during the 1871–72 season, it is the oldest national football competi ...

second round tie, Black scored his first goals for Wigan, netting two goals against his hometown club Barrow in a 4–0 win at

Holker Street Holker Street ( known as the SO Legal Stadium for sponsorship purposes), is a sports stadium in Barrow-in-Furness, Cumbria, England. As well as being a football ground, it has also been used for motorcycle speedway.

Accrington Stanley

Black signed for Northern Premier League club

Accrington Stanley Accrington Stanley Football Club is a professional association football club based in Accrington, Lancashire, England. The club competes in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. They have spent their complete his ...

in January 1998.

Chorley

Leigh RMI

In March 1999, Black signed for Northern Premier League club

Leigh RMI Leigh Genesis Football Club, formerly known as Horwich Railway Mechanics Institute F.C. (Horwich RMI) and Leigh Railway Mechanics Institute F.C. (Leigh RMI), is an English amateur association football club that currently plays in the South Lancas ...

from Chorley. On 13 March, he made his debut for the Railwaymen, scoring the opening goal in a 3–2 league win against

Altrincham Altrincham ( , locally ) is a market town in Trafford, Greater Manchester, England, south of the River Mersey. It is southwest of Manchester city centre, southwest of Sale and east of Warrington. At the 2011 Census, it had a population ...

. Three days later, he scored the winning goal in a

President's Cup The Presidents Cup is a series of men's golf matches between a team representing the United States and an International Team representing the rest of the world minus Europe. Europe competes against the United States in a similar but considerably ...

semi-final first-leg at Hilton Park, giving RMI a 1–0 aggregate lead over

Runcorn Runcorn is an industrial town and cargo port in the Borough of Halton in Cheshire, England. Its population in 2011 was 61,789. The town is in the southeast of the Liverpool City Region, with Liverpool to the northwest across the River Mersey. ...

. On 3 April, Black scored against his former club as Leigh beat

2–1 in the league. He scored in the President's Cup final on 15 April, however, RMI lost 2–1 to

Droylsden Droylsden is a town in Tameside, Greater Manchester, England, east of Manchester city centre and west of Ashton-under-Lyne, with a population at the 2011 Census of 22,689. Within the boundaries of the historic county of Lancashire, in the ...

on the night. Black scored in the final league game of the 1998–99 season, netting in a 3–1 win against Gateshead, the result secured eighth spot in the league which guaranteed Leigh a place in the following season's President's Cup. On 24 August, Black scored his first goal of the 1999–2000 season, he opened the scoring in a 3–0 win against his former club

Bamber Bridge Bamber Bridge is an urban village in Lancashire, England, south-east of Preston, in the borough of South Ribble. The name derives from the Old English "bēam" and "brycg", which probably means "tree-trunk bridge". The population was 13,945 at ...

. The win, at Hilton Park, gave RMI their fourth consecutive win of the season, and maintained their two-point lead at the top of the league. He scored a brace in a 4–2 league win against

Frickley Athletic Frickley Athletic Football Club is a football club based in South Elmsall, West Yorkshire, England. They are currently members of the and play at Westfield Lane. History Although the club itself claims it was formed in 1910, the team was activ ...

on 7 September. Black followed that up by scoring both goals in a 2–0 Challenge Cup win at Radcliffe Borough on 12 October. On 4 February 2000, he scored two-goals in a 3–2 win against bottom club Winsford United, the result gave Leigh a plush cushion at the top of the league. He helped RMI gain promotion to the

Football Conference The National League (named Vanarama National League for sponsorship reasons) is an association football league in England consisting of three divisions, the National League, National League North, and National League South. It was called the ...

, scoring 18 league goals on the way to winning the title. Black had a successful season with ''The Railwaymen'', scoring 12 league goals that went a long way to firing RMI to a fifth-place finish in the Conference, the club's highest ever league finish. The following season, RMI were in a relegation fight and Black was forced down the pecking order at the club with the arrival of

Dino Maamria Noureddine "Dino" Maamria (born 18 February 1974) is a Tunisian football manager and former player who played as a striker. He is the manager of League One club Burton Albion. Maamria started his playing career with AS Marsa of Tunisia. He lef ...

and Michael Twiss. Despite this, Black still managed 6 league goals which helped RMI to safety.

Accrington Stanley

Black signed on for a second spell at

on 27 September 2002, stating that the Northern Premier League club interested him because it was closer to his home in

Burnley Burnley () is a town and the administrative centre of the wider Borough of Burnley in Lancashire, England, with a 2001 population of 73,021. It is north of Manchester and east of Preston, Lancashire, Preston, at the confluence of the River C ...

. Initially, he thought about quitting football because of work and family commitments, but claimed he would miss it too much and he wanted to play as long as he could. On 2 October, Black made his second debut for Stanley, playing in a 4–2 win against

Burscough Burscough () is a town and civil parish in West Lancashire in the ceremonial county of Lancashire, England. It is located to the north of Ormskirk and northwest of Skelmersdale. The parish also includes the hamlet of Tarlscough and the Martin ...

at the

Crown Ground The Crown Ground is a multi-use stadium in Accrington, Lancashire, England. It is currently used mostly for football matches and is the home ground of Accrington Stanley. Opened in 1968, the stadium has a capacity of 5,450. The ground is curren ...

. He was released by Accrington on 23 December, less than two months after he signed for the club.

Stalybridge Celtic

In January 2003, Black signed for Northern Premier League club Stalybridge Celtic. On 18 January, he made his debut for Celtic, coming off the bench in a 4–1 league win against Ashton United at

Bower Fold Bower Fold in Stalybridge, Greater Manchester, England, is the home ground of Stalybridge Celtic football club and, intermittently, Oldham rugby league club. History There has been a ground at Bower Fold since 1906. The current main stand was ...

. Two more substitute appearances followed, in the 1–0 wins against

and Gateshead, before Black made his first start for Stalybridge in a 1–0 defeat against

. This turned out to be his last appearance for the club, Celtic manager Dave Miller agreed to release Black from his contract in March 2003.

Career statistics

Honours

Club

;Leigh RMI *

runner-up (1): 1998–99 *

Northern Premier League Premier Division The Northern Premier League is an English football league that was founded in 1968. It has four divisions: the Premier Division (which stands at level 7 of the English football league system), Division One East, Division One West and Division ...

(1): 1999–2000

Individual

Goalscorer of the Month (1): October 2000

External links

*
Tony Black
at NonLeagueDaily.com
Tony Black
at StalybridgeCeltic.co.uk

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Black, Tony 1969 births Living people Footballers from Barrow-in-Furness English footballers Association football forwards Association football midfielders Association football wingers Bamber Bridge F.C. players Wigan Athletic F.C. players Chorley F.C. players Leigh Genesis F.C. players Accrington Stanley F.C. players Stalybridge Celtic F.C. players English Football League players National League (English football) players Northern Premier League players Footballers from Cumbria 20th-century English people