William Anthony Morley (born 26 August 1954) 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 ...

who played in

the Football League The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional association football, football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, the league is the oldest such competition in Association football around the wor ...

for Preston North End,

Burnley Burnley () is a town and the administrative centre of the wider Borough of Burnley in Lancashire, England, with a 2001 population of 73,021. It is north of Manchester and east of Preston, Lancashire, Preston, at the confluence of the River C ...

, Aston Villa,

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 pl ...

and

Birmingham City Birmingham City Football Club is a professional association football, football club based in Birmingham, England. Formed in 1875 as Small Heath Alliance, it was renamed Small Heath in 1888, Birmingham in 1905, and Birmingham City in 1943. Sin ...

, as well as playing for other teams abroad. He also won six

cap A cap is a flat headgear, usually with a visor. Caps have crowns that fit very close to the head. They made their first appearance as early as 3200 BC. Caps typically have a visor, or no brim at all. They are popular in casual and informal se ...

s for

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 ...

. Morley is now a regular on the 'Villa Old Stars' circuit. He also provides co-commentary for radio broadcasts on Aston Villa's website.

Club career

Morley was born in

Ormskirk Ormskirk is a market town in the West Lancashire district of Lancashire, England, north of Liverpool, northwest of St Helens, southeast of Southport and southwest of Preston. Ormskirk is known for its gingerbread. Geography and administr ...

, and represented Ormskirk and District Schools. He signed as an apprentice with Preston North End in July 1969, before turning professional in August 1972. In February 1976 he moved across

Lancashire Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated Lancs) is the name of a historic county, ceremonial county, and non-metropolitan county in North West England. The boundaries of these three areas differ significantly. The non-metropolitan county of Lancash ...

to join

for a £100,000 fee. He joined Aston Villa for £200,000 in June 1979. A skilful, nippy winger, Morley enjoyed the best days of his career at

Villa Park Villa Park is a football stadium in Aston, Birmingham, England, with a seating capacity of 42,682. It has been the home of Premier League side Aston Villa since 1897. The ground is less than a mile from both Witton and Aston railway station ...

. He was seen as a wayward genius but was moulded by manager

Ron Saunders Ronald Saunders (6 November 1932 – 7 December 2019) was an English football player and manager. He played for Everton, Tonbridge Angels, Gillingham, Portsmouth, Watford and Charlton Athletic during a 16-year playing career, before moving in ...

into one of the most dangerous players around. He was famed for scoring spectacular goals, in particular, one against Everton at

Goodison Park Goodison Park is a association football, football stadium in the Walton, Liverpool, Walton area of Liverpool, England. It has been the home stadium of Premier League club Everton F.C. since its completion in 1892. Located in a residential area ...

where he ran at the defence before striking right footed from outside the penalty area into the top left corner of the net. This goal won him the '

Goal of the Season In English football, the Goal of the Season is an annual competition and award given on BBC's ''Match of the Day'', in honour of the most spectacular goal scored that season. It is typically contested between the winners of the preceding ten Goa ...

' award for 1980–81. He was a vital part of the Villa side that won the League Championship in 1980–81 and the European Cup the year after. His brilliant dribble and cross set up

Peter Withe Peter Withe (born 30 August 1951) is an English former football manager and striker who played between 1971 and 1990. At Nottingham Forest he won the Anglo-Scottish Cup and Second Division promotion in 1976–77, First Division and the Foot ...

for the winning goal against Bayern Munich in the final. His full Villa record was 170(+10 as sub) appearances, 34 goals. After adding a European Super Cup Winners' medal to his collection, he was transferred from Villa to local rivals West Bromwich Albion. He spent two seasons there, including briefly going on loan to another Midlands club, Birmingham City. He had a slightly nomadic career from then on, joining

Seiko , commonly known as Seiko ( , ), is a Japanese maker of watches, clocks, electronic devices, semiconductors, jewelry, and optical products. Founded in 1881 by Kintarō Hattori in Tokyo, Seiko introduced one of the first quartz watches and the ...

, Den Haag (with whom he won a runners-up medal in the

Dutch Cup The KNVB Beker (; en, KNVB Cup), branded as the TOTO KNVB Beker for sponsorship reasons, is a competition in the Netherlands organized by the Royal Dutch Football Association (KNVB) since 1898. It was based on the format of the English FA Cup. Ou ...

, scoring in the final), a return to West Brom, a brief spell on loan to Burnley,

Tampa Bay Rowdies The Tampa Bay Rowdies are an American professional soccer team based in St. Petersburg, Florida. The club was founded in 2008 and first took the pitch in 2010. Since 2017, the Rowdies have been members of the USL Championship in the second tie ...

, before finishing his career at Hamrun Spartans.

International career

Morley won six caps for

, but his career fell into decline after not being picked for any of their games at the

1982 World Cup The 1982 FIFA World Cup was the 12th FIFA World Cup, a quadrennial football tournament for men's senior national teams, and was played in Spain between 13 June and 11 July 1982. The tournament was won by Italy, who defeated West Germany 3–1 i ...

. This despite the fact that England boss

Ron Greenwood Ronald Greenwood CBE (11 November 1921 – 9 February 2006) was an English football player and manager, best known for being manager of the English national football team from 1977 until 1982, as well as being manager of West Ham United for 13 ...

supposedly favoured attacking football. He failed to score in any of his six senior appearances for England, his first cap occurring on 18 November 1981 in England's 1–0 World Cup qualification clincher against

Hungary Hungary ( hu, Magyarország ) is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning of the Pannonian Basin, Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the ...

, the last coming almost exactly a year later when he took to the field in a Euro 84 qualifier against

Greece Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece shares land borders ...

which England won 3–0. Morley was not selected for the England squad for the

in Spain, with Greenwood opting for Arsenal's

Graham Rix Graham Cyril Rix (born 23 October 1957) is an English former professional football player who later became a coach and manager. He is the current manager of Fareham Town. He played for Arsenal for thirteen years, then Brentford (on loan), Cae ...

instead.

Honours

;Aston Villa * Football League First Division: 1980–81 * FA Charity Shield:

1981 Events January * January 1 ** Greece enters the European Economic Community, predecessor of the European Union. ** Palau becomes a self-governing territory. * January 10 – Salvadoran Civil War: The FMLN launches its first major offensiv ...

(shared) * European Cup: 1981–82 * European Super Cup: 1982 * Intercontinental Cup: runner-up 1982 ;Den Haag * KNVB Cup: runner-up 1986–87

References

External links

England Profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Morley, Tony 1954 births Living people English footballers People from Ormskirk Preston North End F.C. players Burnley F.C. players Aston Villa F.C. players West Bromwich Albion F.C. players Birmingham City F.C. players ADO Den Haag players Seiko SA players Ħamrun Spartans F.C. players England international footballers England B international footballers England under-23 international footballers Hong Kong First Division League players American Soccer League (1988–89) players Tampa Bay Rowdies (1975–1993) players Expatriate footballers in Hong Kong Expatriate footballers in the Netherlands Expatriate footballers in Malta Association football wingers English expatriate sportspeople in the United States Expatriate soccer players in the United States English expatriate footballers

Club career

International career

Honours

See also

References

External links