Anthony John Sealy (born 7 May 1959) is an English former

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 ...

who 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 ...

. He graduated from

Wallsend Boys Club Wallsend Boys Club is an English youth football club based in Wallsend, North Tyneside. The club is well known for producing professional footballers; more than 65 players from the club have gone on to play professionally, some of them even ...

Southampton Southampton () is a port city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. It is located approximately south-west of London and west of Portsmouth. The city forms part of the South Hampshire built-up area, which also covers Po ...

, and appeared for the "Saints" in the

1979 Football League Cup Final The 1979 Football League Cup Final took place on 17 March 1979 at Wembley Stadium. It was the nineteenth Football League Cup final and the thirteenth to be played at Wembley. It was contested between Nottingham Forest and Southampton. Forest were ...

after helping the club win promotion out of the

Second Division In sport, the Second Division, also called Division 2 or Division II is usually the second highest division of a league, and will often have promotion and relegation with divisions above and below. Following the rise of Premier League style compet ...

in 1977–78. He joined

Crystal Palace Crystal Palace may refer to: Places Canada * Crystal Palace Complex (Dieppe), a former amusement park now a shopping complex in Dieppe, New Brunswick * Crystal Palace Barracks, London, Ontario * Crystal Palace (Montreal), an exhibition building * ...

in 1979, before moving on to

Queens Park Rangers Queens Park Rangers Football Club, commonly abbreviated to QPR, is a professional football club based in Shepherd's Bush, West London, England, which compete in the . After a nomadic early existence, they have played home matches at Loftus Ro ...

two years later. After a loan spell at

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 ...

, he helped QPR to top the Second Division 1982–83. He signed with

Fulham Fulham () is an area of the London Borough of Hammersmith & Fulham in West London, England, southwest of Charing Cross. It lies on the north bank of the River Thames, bordering Hammersmith, Kensington and Chelsea. The area faces Wandsworth ...

in 1984, before ending up at Leicester City a year later. In 1987, he was loaned out to

AFC Bournemouth AFC Bournemouth () is a professional association football club based in Kings Park, Boscombe, a suburb of Bournemouth, Dorset, England. The club competes in the Premier League, the highest division of English club football. Formed in 1899 as B ...

, before moving to Portugal to sign with Sporting Lisbon and later S.C. Braga. He returned to England in 1988, spending brief periods at

Brentford Brentford is a suburban town in West London, England and part of the London Borough of Hounslow. It lies at the confluence of the River Brent and the Thames, west of Charing Cross. Its economy has diverse company headquarters buildings whi ...

, Swindon Town, and Bristol Rovers. He won

Third Division In sport, the Third Division, also called Division 3, Division Three, or Division III, is often the third-highest division of a league, and will often have promotion and relegation with divisions above and below. Association football *Belgian Thir ...

championship medals with Bristol Rovers in 1989–90 and with Brentford in 1991–92. In 1991, he played for Finnish side MYPA, before returning to Brentford. He then moved to Hong Kong, playing for

Michelotti Michelotti is an Italian surname, derived from the given name Michele. Notable people with the surname include: * Biordo Michelotti (1352–1398), Italian mercenary soldier leader * Giovanni Michelotti (1921–1980), Italian automotive designer ...

, Eastern, and Hong Kong FC. He was appointed manager at Hong Kong FC in 1995. Under his management the club won the Second Division in 1997–98, 1998–99, 2000–01, 2004–05, 2005–06, 2009–10, and won promotion in 2013–14, but failed to establish themselves in the First Division.

Playing career

Sealy was born in Hackney, London, to a Barbadian father, and grew up in Newcastle upon Tyne. He signed his first professional contract with Lawrie McMenemy's

in 1977. He was the second black player to play for Southampton after Alf Charles in 1937. The "Saints" won promotion to the First Division as

runners-up in 1977–78. He appeared as a substitute in the

1979 Events January * January 1 ** United Nations Secretary-General Kurt Waldheim heralds the start of the ''International Year of the Child''. Many musicians donate to the ''Music for UNICEF Concert'' fund, among them ABBA, who write the song ...

League Cup final at Wembley, replacing

Austin Hayes Austin William Patrick Hayes (15 July 1958 – 3 December 1986) was an English-born professional footballer of Irish descent, who played once as a full international for the Republic of Ireland national team in 1979, the same year that he coll ...

after 83 minutes; Nottingham Forest won the game 3–2. Sealy signed with top-flight rivals

on 29 March 1979, then managed by Terry Venables. Whilst at Palace he was sent out on loan to John McGrath's

in February 1980; after impressing at Vale Park with six goals in 17

Fourth Division Fourth or the fourth may refer to: * the ordinal form of the number 4 * ''Fourth'' (album), by Soft Machine, 1971 * Fourth (angle), an ancient astronomical subdivision * Fourth (music), a musical interval * ''The Fourth'' (1972 film), a Sovie ...

games, he returned to

Selhurst Park Selhurst Park is a football stadium in Selhurst in the London Borough of Croydon which is the home ground of Premier League side Crystal Palace. The stadium was designed by Archibald Leitch and opened in 1924. It has hosted international footba ...

in May of that year. Palace were relegated in 1980–81, and Sealy followed Venables to Second Division

for a fee of £80,000 in March 1981. Sealy made his QPR debut in the 3–1 win over Derby County in March 1981 and went on to play 63 league games, scoring 18 goals. In February 1982, he was once more loaned out to Port Vale, once again impressing with four goals in six games; but the club could not afford to secure his services permanently and he returned to Rangers the following month. In 1982–83, he finished as QPR's top scorer with 16 goals (ahead of

Clive Allen Clive Darren Allen (born 20 May 1961) is an English former professional Association football, footballer who played as a forward (association football), forward for seven different London clubs. Allen was a prolific striker throughout his career ...

and Simon Stainrod), and Rangers topped the Second Division, finishing ten points ahead of Wolverhampton Wanderers. After a loan spell with

, he moved to

Craven Cottage Craven Cottage is a football ground in Fulham, West London, England, which has been the home of Fulham F.C. since 1896.According to the club'official website The ground's capacity is 22,384; the record attendance is 49,335, for a game against M ...

permanently in 1984. Following a ninth-place finish in the Second Division in 1984–85, he again switched clubs, this time settling with Leicester City. He helped

Gordon Milne Gordon Milne (born 29 March 1937) is an English former association football, football player and manager. Personal life Gordon Milne was born in Preston, Lancashire, England and is the son of the Scottish former Preston player Jimmy Milne (foot ...

's side to avoid relegation out of the top-flight by a single point in 1985–86, however the "Foxes" were relegated in 1986–87. Following a loan spell with

Harry Redknapp Henry James Redknapp (born 2 March 1947) is an English former football manager and player. He has previously managed AFC Bournemouth, West Ham United, Portsmouth, Southampton, Tottenham Hotspur, Queens Park Rangers and Birmingham City. In his ...

, where he won the 3rd Division title Sealy then left the UK and played for Portuguese side Sporting Lisbon, scoring four goals in the 1987–88 Cup Winners' Cup. He played both legs of the

1987 File:1987 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The MS Herald of Free Enterprise capsizes after leaving the Port of Zeebrugge in Belgium, killing 193; Northwest Airlines Flight 255 crashes after takeoff from Detroit Metropolitan Airport, k ...

Supertaça Cândido de Oliveira final victory over Benfica. Lisbon finished fourth in the

Primeira Liga The Primeira Liga (; English: Premier League, also written as Liga Portugal 1), also known as Liga Portugal Bwin for sponsorship reasons, is the top level of the Portuguese football league system. Organised and supervised by the Liga Portugal, ...

in 1987–88, and Sealy moved on to mid-table side S.C. Braga. He then returned to London to play for

in the

;

Steve Perryman Stephen John Perryman MBE (born 21 December 1951) is an English former professional footballer who is best-known for his successes with Tottenham Hotspur during the 1970s and early 1980s. He has won the FA Cup, League Cup, and UEFA Cup all twi ...

's "Bees" missed out on the play-offs by four points in 1988–89, and Sealy moved to Bristol Rovers via Swindon Town. Rovers topped the Third Division in 1989–90 under manager

Gerry Francis Gerald Charles James Francis (born 6 December 1951) is an English former footballer and manager. Playing career Francis made his first team debut for Queens Park Rangers against Liverpool in March 1969. He was captain and central midfield play ...

, two points ahead of rivals

City A city is a human settlement of notable size.Goodall, B. (1987) ''The Penguin Dictionary of Human Geography''. London: Penguin.Kuper, A. and Kuper, J., eds (1996) ''The Social Science Encyclopedia''. 2nd edition. London: Routledge. It can be def ...

. After the 1990–91 campaign, Sealy moved to Finland with MYPA, returning to Brentford in 1991. Brentford won the Third Division in 1991–92, after which Sealy moved to Hong Kong the next year with

, Eastern and Hong Kong FC.

Management career

He became manager of Hong Kong FC in 1995, a position he maintained until 2002, when he was promoted to Operations Manager. HKFC became a classic "yo-yo" club, winning promotion as Second Division champions in 1997–98, they actually refused promotion to the First Division, and so again topped the Second Division in 1998–99. After winning the division again in 2000–01, they this time accepted promotion, but only managed four points from twelve games in 2001–02, but were not relegated despite finishing in last place. They finished bottom again in 2002–03, but won the Second Division again in 2004–05 and 2005–06. They finished ninth in the ten team First Division in 2006–07, and were again relegated. They won promotion as Second Division champions in 2009–10, but picked up just five points from 18 games in

2010–11 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1. I ...

, and so were again relegated. The club finished third in 2011–12, finishing one point behind promoted Southern District RSA. After a fifth-place finish in

2012–13 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1. I ...

, promotion was secured with a third-place finish in 2013–14.

Personal life

His son, Jack, is also a football player, and has represented Hong Kong at international level.

Career statistics

Source:

Honours

Southampton * Football League Second Division second-place promotion: 1977–78 * League Cup runner-up:

Queens Park Rangers * Football League Second Division: 1982–83 AFC Bournemouth * Football League Third Division: 1986–87 Sporting Lisbon * Supertaça Cândido de Oliveira:

Bristol Rovers * Football League Third Division: 1989–90 Brentford * Football League Third Division: 1991–92 Hong Kong FC * Hong Kong Second Division League: 1997–98, 1998–99, 2000–01, 2004–05, 2005–06, 2009–10 * Hong Kong Second Division League third-place promotion: 2013–14

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sealy, Tony 1959 births Living people Footballers from Hackney Central English people of Barbadian descent Black British sportspeople English footballers Association football forwards English Football League players Wallsend Boys Club players Southampton F.C. players Crystal Palace F.C. players Port Vale F.C. players Queens Park Rangers F.C. players Fulham F.C. players Leicester City F.C. players AFC Bournemouth players English expatriate footballers Expatriate footballers in Portugal Sporting CP footballers S.C. Braga players Brentford F.C. players Swindon Town F.C. players Bristol Rovers F.C. players Expatriate footballers in Finland Myllykosken Pallo −47 players Expatriate footballers in Hong Kong English football managers Expatriate football managers in Hong Kong Sun Hei SC players Eastern Sports Club footballers Hong Kong FC players People with acquired permanent residency of Hong Kong English emigrants to Hong Kong English expatriate sportspeople in Hong Kong