Anthony Stephen Patrick Loska (born 11 February 1950) is an English former footballer who played as a

left-back In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield position whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Centre-backs are usually positioned in pairs, with one full-back on either s ...

. He scored 10 goals in 304 league games in a 12-year career in the Football League with

Shrewsbury Town Shrewsbury Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in Shrewsbury, Shropshire, England. The team competes in League One, the third tier of English football. The club plays its home games at the New Meadow, having mo ...

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 ...

, Chester, and

Halifax Town FC Halifax Town is a professional association football club based in Halifax, West Yorkshire, England. They currently compete in and play at the Shay. They replaced Halifax Town A.F.C., which went into administration in the 2007–08 season. ...

. He was promoted out of the Fourth Division with Chester in 1974–75.

Career

A naturally left footed player,'Player Memories – Tony Loska', Chester City v Doncaster Rovers matchday programme 14 August 1993, p. 24 Loska began his career at

Harry Gregg Henry Gregg, (27 October 1932 – 16 February 2020), was a Northern Irish professional footballer and manager. A goalkeeper, he played for Manchester United during the reign of Sir Matt Busby, with a total of 247 appearances for the club. He ...

's "Shrews" finished 17th in the Third Division in 1968–69, and then 15th in 1969–70 and 13th in 1970–71. He made 12 league appearances during his three seasons at

Gay Meadow Gay Meadow was the home ground of Shrewsbury Town football club in Shropshire, England. Just outside the town centre, on the banks of the River Severn, it opened in 1910. The ground closed at the end of the 2006-07 Football League season and t ...

. Loska joined

in July 1971. In August, after just one game he broke his

collarbone The clavicle, or collarbone, is a slender, S-shaped long bone approximately 6 inches (15 cm) long that serves as a strut between the shoulder blade and the sternum (breastbone). There are two clavicles, one on the left and one on the right ...

, but recovered to post 30 Third Division and five cup appearances in the 1971–72 season. He scored his first goal in the Football League on 6 November, in a 4–4 draw with fallen giants Aston Villa at

Vale Park Vale Park is a football stadium in Stoke-on-Trent, England. It has been the home ground of Port Vale F.C. since 1950. The ground has seen its capacity go up and down, its peak being 42,000 in 1954 against Blackpool, although a club record 49, ...

. He scored three goals in 44 games in the 1972–73 campaign, as

manager Management (or managing) is the administration of an organization, whether it is a business, a nonprofit organization, or a government body. It is the art and science of managing resources of the business. Management includes the activities ...

Gordon Lee Gordon Lee may refer to: *Gordon Lee (comic store owner) (1958–2013), American comic book store owner charged with distributing obscene materials *Gordon Lee (congressman) (1859–1927), U.S. congressman from Georgia *Gordon Lee (footballer) (193 ...

led the "Valiants" to a sixth-place finish. He played ten games at the start of the 1973–74 season, but switched to Chester in December 1973 as part of an exchange deal that saw Neil Griffiths move in the opposite direction. Ken Roberts's "Seals" finished seventh in the Fourth Division at the end of the 1973–74 season. He was then an ever-present in the 1974–75

promotion Promotion may refer to: Marketing * Promotion (marketing), one of the four marketing mix elements, comprising any type of marketing communication used to inform or persuade target audiences of the relative merits of a product, service, brand or i ...

season, and also played his part in the club's surprise run to the semi-finals of the

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 ...

. Chester finished in 17th spot in 1975–76. Loska scored five goals in 110 league games at

Sealand Road Sealand Road was the home stadium of Chester City Football Club (until 1983 known as Chester Football Club) from 1906 until 1990. Although officially known simply as The Stadium, it was more commonly referred to as Sealand Road. It was much loved ...

. He moved on to

in October 1976 along with fellow Chester defender

Chris Dunleavy Chris Dunleavy (born 30 December 1949) is an English former professional footballer who played for Everton, Southport, Philadelphia Atoms, Chester, Halifax Town and Wollongong FC. Dunleavy was voted Chester's player of the year for 1973–7 ...

. The "Shaymen" finished in the re-election zone in 1976–77, before finishing one place above the re-election zone in 1977–78 and then second-from-bottom in 1978–79. In his three seasons at

The Shay The Shay is a sports stadium in Halifax, West Yorkshire, England. The stadium is owned by Calderdale Metropolitan Borough Council and leased by the Shay Stadium Trust, a not-for-profit company set up to preserve the ground as a sports stadi ...

, Loska made 102 league appearances. Loska joined Stafford Rangers in 1979 to play in the newly formed

Alliance Premier League 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 ...

and played for

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 ...

, before joining

Nantwich Town Nantwich Town Football Club is a semi-professional football club based in Nantwich, Cheshire, England. The club was founded in 1884 and is nicknamed ''The Dabbers'', a reference to the town's tanning industry. They currently compete in and pla ...

in December 1980, helping the club to become Cheshire County League champions in the 1980–81 season. He left in the summer of 1982 after a stint as caretaker manager to become

player-manager A player-coach (also playing coach, captain-coach, or player-manager) is a member of a sports team who simultaneously holds both playing and coaching duties. A player-coach may be a head coach or an assistant coach. They may make changes to the s ...

at Alsager Town, and later served Leek Town and Winsford United. He became a

coach Coach may refer to: Guidance/instruction * Coach (sport), a director of athletes' training and activities * Coaching, the practice of guiding an individual through a process ** Acting coach, a teacher who trains performers Transportation * Co ...

ing assistant for Eastwood Hanley, worked as a youth coach at Stoke City and was employed by

Abbey Life Abbey Life Assurance Company Limited is a life assurance business based in London also with an office in Bournemouth. The company has been closed to new business in 2000. Abbey Life was formerly a public company listed on the London Stock Exchan ...

Insurance.

Career statistics

Source:

Honours

Chester * Football League Fourth Division fourth-place promotion: 1974–75 Nantwich Town * Cheshire County League: 1980–81

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Loska, Tony People from Chesterton, Staffordshire Footballers from Staffordshire English men's footballers Men's association football fullbacks Shrewsbury Town F.C. players Port Vale F.C. players Chester City F.C. players Halifax Town A.F.C. players Stafford Rangers F.C. players Droylsden F.C. players Nantwich Town F.C. players Alsager Town F.C. players Leek Town F.C. players Winsford United F.C. players English Football League players National League (English football) players North West Counties Football League players Association football coaches Stoke City F.C. non-playing staff 1950 births Living people