Anthony Joseph Norman (born 24 February 1958) is a Welsh 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 ...

who played as a

goalkeeper In many team sports which involve scoring goals, the goalkeeper (sometimes termed goaltender, netminder, GK, goalie or keeper) is a designated player charged with directly preventing the opposing team from scoring by blocking or intercepting o ...

for

Hull City Hull City Association Football Club is a professional football club based in Hull, East Riding of Yorkshire, England, that compete in the . They have played home games at the MKM Stadium since moving from Boothferry Park in 2002. The club's t ...

, Sunderland and

Huddersfield Town Huddersfield Town Association Football Club is a professional football club based in Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, England, which compete in the . The team have played home games at the Kirklees Stadium since moving from Leeds Road in 1994. Th ...

. He holds the record for consecutive appearances for Hull City, playing 226 consecutive games between August 1983 and September 1988. In 2005, as part of the club's centenary celebrations, a poll was carried out to name the top 100 Tigers, and Norman was the highest-placed goalkeeper at number six. During his time at

Boothferry Park Boothferry Park was a football stadium in Hull, England, which was home to Hull City A.F.C. from 1946 until 2002, when they moved to the KC Stadium. In later years, financial constraints forced Hull City to allow Kwik Save and Iceland superma ...

, Hull completed a swift climb from the Fourth Division to the Second, and in 1986 finished sixth – their 2nd highest finish (they finished 5th in 1971) until they finally won promotion to the top flight 22 years later. On leaving Hull City, he signed for Sunderland for a then club record fee. During his time at

Roker Park Roker Park was a football ground in Roker, Sunderland, England, which was the home of Sunderland A.F.C. from 1898 to 1997, before the club moved to the Stadium of Light. Its final capacity was around 22,500, with only a small part being seated ...

, he helped them win promotion to the top fight in 1990 and also played at

Wembley Wembley () is a large suburbIn British English, "suburb" often refers to the secondary urban centres of a city. Wembley is not a suburb in the American sense, i.e. a single-family residential area outside of the city itself. in north-west Londo ...

in the

1992 FA Cup Final The 1992 FA Cup Final was contested by Liverpool and Sunderland at Wembley. Liverpool won 2–0, with goals from Michael Thomas and Ian Rush. Summary This was the first FA Cup Final to feature a Second Division team since Queens Park Rangers ...

, where they lost 2–0 to Liverpool. He played a starring role in that cup run, including Man of the Match displays away to West Ham and at home to Chelsea. He is the only goalkeeper to have played for Sunderland at the old Wembley stadium twice. He departed from Sunderland in the summer of 1995 to sign for

Brian Horton Brian "Nobby" Horton (born 4 February 1949) is an English former footballer and manager. He spent 16 years as a professional player and 22 years as a manager, making 689 appearances and managing 1,098 matches. In addition to this he spent four ...

(who had been his manager at Hull City) at

. He remained in

West Yorkshire West Yorkshire is a metropolitan and ceremonial county in the Yorkshire and Humber Region of England. It is an inland and upland county having eastward-draining valleys while taking in the moors of the Pennines. West Yorkshire came into exi ...

for two seasons until he finally called time on his playing career in 1997 at the age of 39. During his lengthy career he played one season of top-flight football, when in 1990–91 he kept goal for a Sunderland side that suffered relegation on the final day of the season from the penultimate pre-Premiership First Division. He made 5 international appearances 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 ...

, usually serving as deputy to the legendary

Neville Southall Neville Southall (born 16 September 1958) is a Welsh former international footballer. He has been described as one of the best goalkeepers of his generation and won the FWA Footballer of the Year award in 1985. He joined Bury from Winsford ...

. Since retiring from professional football Norman has been diagnosed with a rare heart condition called cardiomyopathy. In 2005, he undertook a 190-mile charity walk in aid of the Children's Heart Federation. In August 2008 Norman returned to Sunderland AFC as Academy Goalkeeping Coach. He was appointed Goalkeeping Coach at

Darlington 1883 Darlington Football Club is an association football club based in Darlington, County Durham, England. As of the 2022–23 season, the team competes in the National League North, at the sixth tier of English football. The club was founded in 1 ...

in June 2012. Norman was appointed goalkeeping coach at Gateshead on 21 July 2013.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Norman, Tony 1958 births Living people Welsh men's footballers Wales men's international footballers Men's association football goalkeepers English Football League players Hull City A.F.C. players Sunderland A.F.C. players Huddersfield Town A.F.C. players Sunderland A.F.C. non-playing staff Gateshead F.C. non-playing staff Association football goalkeeping coaches