Anthony William Currie (born 1 January 1950) 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 had significant spells for

Sheffield United Sheffield United Football Club is a professional football club in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England, which compete in the . They are nicknamed "the Blades" due to Sheffield's history of cutlery production. The team have played home games at ...

Leeds United Leeds United Football Club is a professional football club based in Leeds, West Yorkshire in England. The club competes in the Premier League, the highest level of England's football league system, and plays its home matches at Elland Road S ...

and

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 ...

as well as representing

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

. He was an effervescent and exuberant attacking

midfield Midfield is the part of a sports field that lies approximately in the center. In American football, association football (soccer) and field hockey, it is the area in and around the center circle, as well as the players who occupy that region. In ...

player with the vision and ability to strike long dangerous passes. His nephew,

Darren Currie Darren Paul Currie (born 29 November 1974) is an English former Association football, footballer who made over 600 appearances in The Football League. He is assistant head coach of Southend United F.C., Southend United. Club career Currie, who ...

, was also a

midfielder A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

Career

Currie was a talented schoolboy footballer who represented Hendon Boys before joining

as an amateur, whilst working for a building firm. He joined

Chelsea Chelsea or Chelsey may refer to: Places Australia * Chelsea, Victoria Canada * Chelsea, Nova Scotia * Chelsea, Quebec United Kingdom * Chelsea, London, an area of London, bounded to the south by the River Thames ** Chelsea (UK Parliament consti ...

as an apprentice, but was released and moved to

Watford Watford () is a town and borough in Hertfordshire, England, 15 miles northwest of Central London, on the River Colne. Initially a small market town, the Grand Junction Canal encouraged the construction of paper-making mills, print works, a ...

to complete his apprenticeship, earning England Youth honours in the process. He turned professional in May 1967 and made his league debut the following season. He was transferred to

on 1 February 1968 for £26,500. He scored on his debut against

Tottenham Hotspur Tottenham Hotspur Football Club, commonly referred to as Tottenham () or Spurs, is a professional association football, football club based in Tottenham, London, England. It competes in the Premier League, the top flight of English footba ...

with a header on 26 February but missed the next game on 2 March as it was his wedding day. 'TC' or 'Top Cat' as he was nicknamed by Sheffield United fans, was idolised in his time at

Bramall Lane Bramall Lane is a association football, football stadium in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England, which is the home of Sheffield United F.C., Sheffield United. The stadium was originally a cricket ground, built on a road named after the Bramal ...

. He went on to score 54 goals in 313 appearances and was also made captain by manager

Ken Furphy Kenneth Furphy (28 May 1931 – 17 January 2015) was an English football player and manager. Despite being on the books at Everton between 1950 and 1951, Furphy was a lower league player with Runcorn (1951–53) Darlington (1953–62) and th ...

in March 1974. In September 2014, as part of the club's 125th Anniversary celebrations, he was named Sheffield United's Greatest Ever Player In June 1976 he moved to Yorkshire rivals

for £250,000, making his Leeds debut in a 2–2 draw with

West Bromwich Albion West Bromwich Albion Football Club () is an English professional football club based in West Bromwich, West Midlands, England. They compete in the EFL Championship, the second tier of English football. The club was formed in 1878 and has pla ...

. His skills made him a firm favourite at Leeds, where he played a total of 124 games, scoring 16 goals. His curling shot during United's November 1978 4–0 home win against

Southampton F.C. Southampton Football Club () is an English professional football club based in Southampton, Hampshire, which competes in the . Their home ground since 2001 has been St Mary's Stadium, before which they were based at The Dell. The club play in ...

won ITV's ''

The Big Match ''The Big Match'' was a British football television programme, screened on ITV between 1968 and 1992. ''The Big Match'' originally launched on London Weekend Television (LWT) – the ITV regional station that served London and the Home Counties ...

'' Goal of the Season that year. Currie's form helped Leeds reach 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 ...

semi–finals in 1978 and 1979, and in the 1978–79 season Leeds finished fifth to qualify for the

UEFA Cup A cup is an open-top used to hold hot or cold liquids for pouring or drinking; while mainly used for drinking, it also can be used to store Solid, solids for pouring (e.g., sugar, flour, grains, salt). Cups may be made of glass, metal, porcela ...

. As his wife was homesick for London this resulted in his sale to Queens Park Rangers in August 1979. Currie captained Rangers in the

1982 FA Cup Final The 1982 FA Cup Final was the 101st final of the FA Cup and took place on 22 May 1982 at Wembley Stadium. It was contested between Tottenham Hotspur and Queens Park Rangers. Tottenham were the cup holders and were hot favourites, while QPR had ...

replay, though he conceded the penalty from which

Glenn Hoddle Glenn Hoddle (born 27 October 1957) is an English former football player and manager. He currently works as a television pundit and commentator for ITV Sport and BT Sport. He played as a midfielder for Tottenham Hotspur, Monaco, Chelsea and Swi ...

scored the winning goal. His career was badly affected by injuries and, after five goals in 81 games, he dropped out of league football and into semi-retirement from the game. He moved to Canada and spent two months playing for the Toronto Nationals, joining Chesham United on his return to Britain. He subsequently joined

Southend United Southend United Football Club is a professional association football club based in Southend-on-Sea, Essex, England. As of the 2022–23 season, the team competes in the National League, the fifth tier of English football. Southend are known as ...

on non-contract terms before being persuaded by David Webb to join

Torquay United Torquay United Football Club is a professional football club based in Torquay, Devon, England. The team currently compete in the , the fifth tier of English football. They have played their home matches at Plainmoor since 1921 and are nicknamed ...

in February 1984. He scored once in 16 games for the Gulls. He moved to

Tranmere Rovers Tranmere Rovers Football Club is a professional association football club based in Birkenhead, Merseyside, England. The team compete in , the fourth tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1884 as Belmont Football Club, they adop ...

in October 1984, but left without appearing in their first team, leaving him with 81 goals in 528 league games. He moved into non–league football, playing for Dunstable Town,

Hendon Hendon is an urban area in the Borough of Barnet, North-West London northwest of Charing Cross. Hendon was an ancient manor and parish in the county of Middlesex and a former borough, the Municipal Borough of Hendon; it has been part of Great ...

and

Goole Town Goole Association Football Club is a semi-professional football club in Goole, East Riding of Yorkshire, England. They are currently members of the and play at the Victoria Pleasure Grounds. History The club was established by Mike Norman i ...

before being appointed Football in the Community co-ordinator at Sheffield United in February 1988, a post he still holds today.

International career

During his time at Sheffield United, he broke into the

team, winning the first of his 17

caps Caps are flat headgear. Caps or CAPS may also refer to: Science and technology Computing * CESG Assisted Products Service, provided by the U.K. Government Communications Headquarters * Composite Application Platform Suite, by Java Caps, a Java ...

in 1972. He was capped 11 times whilst at Leeds. He played in the

World Cup A world cup is a global sporting competition in which the participant entities – usually international teams or individuals representing their countries – compete for the title of world champion. The event most associated with the concept i ...

qualifier against

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populous ...

, which was held at

Wembley Stadium Wembley Stadium (branded as Wembley Stadium connected by EE for sponsorship reasons) is a football stadium in Wembley, London. It opened in 2007 on the site of the Wembley Stadium (1923), original Wembley Stadium, which was demolished from 200 ...

in 1973. England dominated the match, but could only draw 1–1 and failed to qualify.

Career statistics

Club

References

*Huntley, E.J. (2007). A Quality Player: The Life and Career of Tony Currie. Pickard Communications. .

External links

Profile of Tony Currie
{{DEFAULTSORT:Currie, Tony 1950 births Living people People from Edgware English footballers England international footballers England under-23 international footballers Sheffield United F.C. players Watford F.C. players Leeds United F.C. players Queens Park Rangers F.C. players Southend United F.C. players Torquay United F.C. players Dunstable Town F.C. players Hendon F.C. players Goole Town F.C. players Association football midfielders English Football League players Footballers from Edgware English Football League representative players Toronto Nationals (soccer) players FA Cup Final players Canadian Professional Soccer League (original) players