Anthony Evans (born 11 January 1954) 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 le ...

. Evans was born in Liverpool. He played as a

forward Forward is a relative direction, the opposite of backward. Forward may also refer to: People * Forward (surname) Sports * Forward (association football) * Forward (basketball), including: ** Point forward ** Power forward (basketball) ** Sm ...

for clubs including

Cardiff City Cardiff City Football Club ( cy, Clwb Pêl-droed Dinas Caerdydd) is a professional association football club based in Cardiff, Wales. It competes in the Championship, the second tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1899 as R ...

, for whom he made well over 100 appearances, and Birmingham City, for whom he was leading scorer in the 1981–82 season. Evans scored a hat-trick for Birmingham City against

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 ...

in September 1981. This was the last top-flight hat-trick for Birmingham City until

Mikael Forssell Mikael Kaj Forssell (born 15 March 1981) is a Finnish former football striker. Forssell began his professional career in 1997 for HJK, having progressed through the team's youth teams, but he only remained at the club for a single season, mak ...

scored three against Tottenham Hotspur in 2008. He then spent 21 games of the 1983-84 season with Crystal Palace, scoring seven goals - all of them away from home - to ensure their safety in the Second Division. He joined Swindon Town on a free transfer from Wolverhampton Wanderers in August 1985, staying for the whole season but only racking up 14 appearances - mostly in August and September, and none after January - before he went to

Stafford Rangers Stafford Rangers Football Club is a semi-professional English football team from Stafford which plays in the Northern Premier League Premier Division. The team wear black and white stripes with black shorts. Stafford Rangers' rivals include T ...

in May 1986. He stayed there for one season. On retiring from football, he became a social worker, setting up the "Midnight League" to give young people an opportunity to play organised football at night as a diversion from possibly less constructive activities.

References

1954 births Living people English men's footballers Men's association football forwards English Football League players Blackpool F.C. players Cardiff City F.C. players Birmingham City F.C. players Crystal Palace F.C. players Wolverhampton Wanderers F.C. players Bolton Wanderers F.C. players Exeter City F.C. players Swindon Town F.C. players Stafford Rangers F.C. players Footballers from Liverpool Formby F.C. players {{England-footy-forward-1950s-stub