Anthony Peter Gale (born 19 November 1959) is an English football coach, 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, rugb ...

and television pundit for

Sky Sports Sky Sports is a group of British subscription sports channels operated by the satellite pay television company Sky Group (a division of Comcast), and is the dominant subscription television sports brand in the United Kingdom and Ireland. It ...

. He is also the chairman of non-league club Walton Casuals. As a player, he made 636 appearances as a defender from 1977 until 1998, notably in the

Premier League The Premier League (legal name: The Football Association Premier League Limited) is the highest level of the men's English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Fo ...

with West Ham United and

Blackburn Rovers Blackburn Rovers Football Club is a professional football club, based in Blackburn, Lancashire, England, which competes in the , the second tier of the English football league system. They have played home matches at Ewood Park since 1890. Th ...

, where he won the title in 1995. He also played for

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 Wandswor ...

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 ...

and

Maidenhead United Maidenhead United Football Club is a semi-professional football club based in Maidenhead, Berkshire, England. They are currently members of and have played at York Road since 1871, making it the 'oldest senior football ground continuously use ...

. Since retiring he has worked as a pundit, co-commentator and sports writer, notably for Premier League productions, Sky Sports and former clubs West Ham and Fulham.

Playing career

Fulham

After progressing through the youth ranks of

, Gale was promoted to the first team ahead of the 1977–78 season. Making his debut for the first team aged 16 in the Anglo-Scottish Cup against Orient, he was drafted in to the senior squad to replace World Cup winning

Bobby Moore Robert Frederick Chelsea Moore (12 April 1941 – 24 February 1993) was an English professional footballer. He most notably played for West Ham United, captaining the club for more than ten years, and was the captain of the England natio ...

following his retirement from English football. Recording 38 league appearances and eight goals in his inaugural season, Gale cemented his place in the squad during their time in 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 ...

. Suffering relegation to the Third Division after a 20th-placed finish during the 1979–80 season, Gale bounced back to the Second Division two years later. A dispute with manager Malcolm MacDonald saw Gale suspended shortly after the start of the season, but he returned to the first team set-up shortly after to make 44 league appearances as Fulham gained promotion back to the second tier. Gale narrowly missed out on promotion to the First Division during the 1982–83 season, with Fulham finishing in fourth place and a single point behind Leicester City. After a mid-table finish the following season, Gale opted for a move away from

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 agains ...

in order to play in the First Division.

West Ham United

In July 1984, Gale completed a £200,000 transfer to West Ham United, and went on to make 300 league appearances over a decade. Finishing 16th in his first season with the club, Gale was part of the side to finish third in the First Division in 1986 while forming a notable partnership with Alvin Martin. He spent all but one season in mid-table before West Ham's relegation to the Second Division following the 1988–89 season. When playing in the 1991 FA Cup semi-final against Nottingham Forest, Gale became the first-ever footballer in the English game to be shown a straight red card for denying an attacker a goal-scoring opportunity with a professional foul. After bringing down Gary Crosby in the 22nd minute, Gale's single career dismissal by

Keith Hackett Keith Stuart Hackett (born 22 June 1944) is an English former football referee, who began refereeing in local leagues in the Sheffield, South Yorkshire area in 1960. He is counted amongst the top 100 referees of all time in a list maintained by ...

was deemed as unfair by West Ham fans as they suffered a 4–0 defeat to Forest and missed out on their chances of a first FA Cup final since 1980. It took the Hammers another 15 years before reaching the final once again. West Ham were promoted back to the First Division in 1991 at the second time of asking, but were relegated again after just one season back among the elite. In 1993, West Ham returned to the top tier of English football, now rebranded as the

, and finished in 13th during Gale's final season with the club. In 1994 Gale was awarded a

testimonial In promotion and advertising, a testimonial or show consists of a person's written or spoken statement extolling the virtue of a product. The term "testimonial" most commonly applies to the sales-pitches attributed to ordinary citizens, whe ...

by West Ham. He received an estimated £50,000 from the game, a 4–2 win at Upton Park against a Republic of Ireland team.

Blackburn Rovers

After his release from West Ham in 1994, Gale trained with Barnet before receiving a call from

manager

Kenny Dalglish Sir Kenneth Mathieson Dalglish (born 4 March 1951) is a Scottish former football player and manager. During his career, he made 338 appearances for Celtic and 515 for Liverpool, playing as a forward, and earned a record 102 full caps for th ...

. Joining on 11 August, he made his debut three days later in the 1994 Charity Shield, suffering a 2–0 defeat to

Manchester United 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 ...

after goals from

Eric Cantona Eric Daniel Pierre Cantona (; ; born 24 May 1966) is a French actor, director, producer, and former professional footballer. Often regarded as one of the greatest players of his generation, Cantona is credited as having made Manchester United a d ...

and

Paul Ince Paul Emerson Carlyle Ince (; born 21 October 1967) is an English professional football manager and former player who is the current manager of EFL Championship side Reading. A former midfielder, Ince played professionally from 1982 to 2007, sta ...

. Spending a single season at

Ewood Park Ewood Park () is a football stadium in Blackburn, Lancashire, England, and the home of Blackburn Rovers F.C., founding members of the Football League and Premier League, who have played there since 1890. It is an all seater multi-sports facili ...

, Gale made 15 appearances in the club's 1994–95 Premier League winning campaign and clinched the only major honour of his playing career aged 35. Despite being asked by newly appointed manager

Ray Harford Raymond Thomas Harford (1 June 1945 – 9 August 2003) was an English footballer, better known for his successes as a coach and manager than as a player. He is considered to have been one of the top coaches of his generation. During his playin ...

to remain with the club for a second season, Gale opted against a coaching role while playing for the reserves. He later admitted it was a decision he regretted, after his only season playing outside of the

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

area.

Crystal Palace

After Blackburn's title triumph, Gale signed for relegated Crystal Palace. However, his time at Selhurst Park was plagued with injuries and he managed just two league appearances for the club halfway through that season, and retired from professional football at the end of it.

Maidenhead United

Gale then joined Maidenhead United in 1996, continuing his playing career at non-league level for two more seasons before finally retiring from playing in his 39th year.

Media career

Gale has been heard commentating on Premier League games for Premier League Productions, a venture of IMG Sports Media who produce, package and broadcast the live production of games for the Premier League for international broadcasters. For the 16/17 season he is part of the commentary team for Premier League games aired in the US on NBC. Gale has also contributed a regular column for West Ham's official website, WHUFC.com, along with a fortnightly column for Fulham's official website.

Personal life

During his time at West Ham, Gale was nicknamed 'Reggie' by his teammates. The name came from the comparison to Reggie Kray for his wicked sense of humour. He was also described by teammate Mark Ward as having the touch and vision of a centre forward. Gale is the chairman of Isthmian Division One South side Walton Casuals, having joined the club as Director of Football in 2003. He became chairman in 2011 and enjoyed two brief spells as caretaker manager. First taking over in March 2013 for eight games to see out the 2012–13 season, he also led the team for 12 games from September to November 2014. His son, Anthony, made over 200 appearances for the club and took over as manager in July 2015 after working alongside his father as caretaker manager in late 2014.

Honours

Blackburn Rovers *

: 1994–95

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Gale, Tony 1959 births Living people Footballers from Westminster English footballers England youth international footballers England under-21 international footballers Association football defenders Fulham F.C. players West Ham United F.C. players Blackburn Rovers F.C. players Crystal Palace F.C. players Maidenhead United F.C. players English Football League players Premier League players English association football commentators The Sun (United Kingdom) people Walton Casuals F.C. managers English football managers