Anthony Eugene Cunningham (born 12 November 1957) is a Jamaican 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 le ...

. Cunningham, a

striker Striker or The Strikers may refer to: People *A participant in a strike action *A participant in a hunger strike *Blacksmith's striker, a type of blacksmith's assistant *Striker's Independent Society, the oldest mystic krewe in America People wi ...

, began his professional career with Lincoln City in 1979. In three years with the Imps, he made 123 league appearances and scored 32 goals.

Barnsley Barnsley () is a market town in South Yorkshire, England. As the main settlement of the Metropolitan Borough of Barnsley and the fourth largest settlement in South Yorkshire. In Barnsley, the population was 96,888 while the wider Borough has ...

came in for his services in 1982, and he went on to make 42 appearances for the South Yorkshire club, scoring eleven goals. After leaving

Oakwell Oakwell is a multi-purpose sports development in Barnsley, South Yorkshire, England used primarily by Barnsley Football Club for playing their home fixtures, and those of their reserves. While the name 'Oakwell' generally refers to the main s ...

, Cunningham remained in the White Rose county, making 28 appearances and scoring five goals for Sheffield Wednesday. In 1984 Cunningham had a short spell with

Manchester City 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 tw ...

before moving to the

North East The points of the compass are a set of horizontal, radially arrayed compass directions (or azimuths) used in navigation and cartography. A compass rose is primarily composed of four cardinal directions—north, east, south, and west—each sepa ...

to join Jack Charlton's

Newcastle United Newcastle United Football Club is an English professional football club, based in Newcastle upon Tyne, that plays in the Premier League – the top flight of English football. The club was founded in 1892 by the merger of Newcastle East End ...

. He spent two years on Tyneside, making just short of 50 appearances for the Magpies, scoring four goals. He was commonly known to his friends while at Newcastle as 'Slug'. Cunningham traded the North East for the North West in July 1987 when he signed for Sam Ellis'

Blackpool Blackpool is a seaside resort in Lancashire, England. Located on the North West England, northwest coast of England, it is the main settlement within the Borough of Blackpool, borough also called Blackpool. The town is by the Irish Sea, betw ...

for a tribunal-set fee of £25,000. He made his debut for the Seasiders in the opening day of the 1987–88 season, a draw at Gillingham. What started as a promising Blackpool career became a disappointing one. As the team struggled, Cunningham was made a

scapegoat In the Bible, a scapegoat is one of a pair of kid goats that is released into the wilderness, taking with it all sins and impurities, while the other is sacrificed. The concept first appears in the Book of Leviticus, in which a goat is designate ...

, and at the end of the 1988–89, he rejoined Ellis, who had become manager of

Bury Bury may refer to: *The burial of human remains *-bury, a suffix in English placenames Places England * Bury, Cambridgeshire, a village * Bury, Greater Manchester, a town, historically in Lancashire ** Bury (UK Parliament constituency) (1832–19 ...

. On his return to Bloomfield Road with the Shakers, on 31 October 1989, Cunningham was sent off in the first half. The visitors, however, won the game by a single goal. After Bury, Cunningham played for

Bolton Wanderers Bolton Wanderers Football Club () is a professional football club based in Horwich, Bolton, Greater Manchester, England, which competes in . The club played at Burnden Park for 102 years from 1895 after moving from their original home at Pike's ...

, Rotherham United, Doncaster Rovers and Wycombe Wanderers. After almost 500 league games and over one hundred goals, he ended his career with non-league Gainsborough Trinity.

Post-retirement

Cunningham now lives and works in Lincoln as a

solicitor A solicitor is a legal practitioner who traditionally deals with most of the legal matters in some jurisdictions. A person must have legally-defined qualifications, which vary from one jurisdiction to another, to be described as a solicitor and ...

References

Cunningham's profile at Neil Brown's statistics site
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Cunningham, Tony 1957 births Living people Sportspeople from Kingston, Jamaica Jamaican footballers Association football forwards Barnsley F.C. players Blackpool F.C. players Bolton Wanderers F.C. players Bury F.C. players Doncaster Rovers F.C. players Lincoln City F.C. players Manchester City F.C. players Newcastle United F.C. players Rotherham United F.C. players Sheffield Wednesday F.C. players Wycombe Wanderers F.C. players English Football League players Expatriate footballers in England Jamaican solicitors