Anthony Gerald Kelly (born 1 October 1964) 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 lea ...

who played mainly in central

midfield In many sports, midfield is the part of a sports field that is near the line that is equally far from the end lines. That is, in American football it is the part of the field near the 50-yard line; in association football (soccer) and field hoc ...

. A former

Liverpool Liverpool is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. It is situated on the eastern side of the River Mersey, Mersey Estuary, near the Irish Sea, north-west of London. With a population ...

trainee, he moved from

non-League Non-League football describes association football, football leagues played outside the top leagues of a country. Usually, it describes leagues which are not fully professional. The term is primarily used for football in England, where it is ...

Prescot Cables to

Wigan Athletic Wigan Athletic Football Club is a professional association football club based in Wigan, Greater Manchester, England. The team competes in the EFL League One, the third level of the English football league system. Founded in 1932, they have p ...

in 1984. The club's Player of the Year in 1985, he also helped Wigan to victory in the 1985 Associate Members' Cup final. Sold on to

Stoke City Stoke City Football Club is a professional association football club based in Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, England. The team competes in the , the second level of the English football league system. Founded as Stoke Ramblers in 1863, the cl ...

in 1986 for a £80,000 fee, he was moved on to

West Bromwich Albion West Bromwich Albion Football Club (), commonly known as West Brom or The Albion, is a professional association football club based in West Bromwich, West Midlands, England. They compete in the EFL Championship, the second level of the Englis ...

for £60,000 a year later.

Loan In finance, a loan is the tender of money by one party to another with an agreement to pay it back. The recipient, or borrower, incurs a debt and is usually required to pay interest for the use of the money. The document evidencing the deb ...

ed out to Chester City and

Colchester United Colchester United Football Club is a professional association football club based in the city of Colchester, Essex, England. The team competes in , the fourth level of the English football league system. Founded in 1937, the club spent its ea ...

, he was

transfer Transfer may refer to: Arts and media * ''Transfer'' (2010 film), a German science-fiction movie directed by Damir Lukacevic and starring Zana Marjanović * ''Transfer'' (1966 film), a short film * ''Transfer'' (journal), in management studies * ...

red to

Shrewsbury Town Shrewsbury Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in Shrewsbury, Shropshire, England. The team currently competes in , the fourth tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1886, the club were inaugur ...

in January 1989 for a £30,000 fee. Two years and more than 100 games later, he was sold to

Bolton Wanderers Bolton Wanderers Football Club ( ) is a professional association football, football club based in Horwich, Metropolitan Borough of Bolton, Greater Manchester, England, which competes in EFL League One, League One, the third level of the Englis ...

for £100,000. A popular player at Bolton, he helped the club to win

promotion Promotion may refer to: Marketing * Promotion (marketing), one of the four marketing mix elements, comprising any type of marketing communication used to inform or persuade target audiences of the relative merits of a product, service, brand or i ...

out of the Second Division in 1992–93. Released in 1994, he had brief spells at

Port Vale Port Vale Football Club are a professional football club based in Burslem, Stoke-on-Trent, England, which compete in , the third tier of the English football league system. Vale are named after the valley of ports on the Trent and Mersey Canal ...

Millwall Millwall is a district on the western and southern side of the Isle of Dogs, in east London, England, in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. It lies to the immediate south of Canary Wharf and Poplar, north of Greenwich and Deptford, east of ...

, Wigan Athletic,

Peterborough United Peterborough United Football Club is a professional association football club based in Peterborough, Cambridgeshire, England. The team compete in League One, the third level of the English football league system. Peterborough United formed in ...

Altrincham Altrincham ( , locally ) is a market town in Trafford, Greater Manchester, England, south of the River Mersey. It is southwest of Manchester, southwest of Sale, Greater Manchester, Sale and east of Warrington. At the 2021 United Kingdom ce ...

and

Sligo Rovers Sligo Rovers Football Club is an Irish professional association football, football club playing in the Premier Division of the League of Ireland. The club is based in Sligo in the west of Ireland. The club was founded in 1928 and have been in ...

, before he retired in 1997.

Career

Wigan Athletic

Kelly began his career as an apprentice at

, before joining

Prescot Cables in 1983. He returned to 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, it is the oldest football league in Association football around the world, the w ...

in January 1984, signing for Third Division

. He made just over 100 appearances for Wigan. He was voted Player of the Year in 1985, after he scored in a 3–1 victory over

Brentford Brentford is a suburban town in West (London sub region), West London, England and part of the London Borough of Hounslow. It lies at the confluence of the River Brent and the River Thames, Thames, west of Charing Cross. Its economy has dive ...

in the Associate Members' Cup final final 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 the London Borou ...

. The club missed out on

in 1985–86 after finishing one point behind third-place

Derby County Derby County Football Club () is a professional association football club in Derby, England. They compete in the EFL Championship, the second level of the English football league system. One of the 12 founder members of the English Football ...

Stoke City

He moved on to Second Division

in April 1986, as

manager Management (or managing) is the administration of organizations, whether businesses, nonprofit organizations, or a government bodies through business administration, nonprofit management, or the political science sub-field of public administra ...

Mick Mills Michael Dennis Mills MBE (born 4 January 1949) is an English former footballer who played for Ipswich Town, Southampton and Stoke City. He managed Stoke City, Colchester United and Birmingham City. During his career he achieved Ipswich Town's ...

paid out a fee of £80,000. However, Mills and Kelly did not enjoy a happy relationship. Mills ordered Kelly to lose weight not long after he arrived at the

Victoria Ground The Victoria Ground was the home ground of Stoke City from 1878 until 1997, when the club relocated to the Britannia Stadium after 119 years. At the time of its demolition it was the oldest operational ground in the Football League. Histor ...

. He still played 43 games for the "Potters" in 1986–87, scoring four goals, before he was sold to

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 ...

for £60,000 in July 1987.

West Bromwich Albion

Ron Atkinson Ronald Frederick Atkinson (born 18 March 1939) is an English former football player and manager. Nicknamed "Big Ron", he was regarded as one of Britain's best-known football pundits in the 1990s and early 2000s. Nicknamed "The Tank" during his ...

replaced Saunders as manager in September 1987, and so Kelly's impact at

The Hawthorns The Hawthorns is an All-seater stadium, all-seater association football, football stadium in West Bromwich, West Midlands, England, with a capacity of 26,688. It has been the home of EFL Championship, Championship club West Bromwich Albion F.C. ...

was limited in 1987–88. He instead had successive

loan In finance, a loan is the tender of money by one party to another with an agreement to pay it back. The recipient, or borrower, incurs a debt and is usually required to pay interest for the use of the money. The document evidencing the deb ...

outings with Chester City and

in 1988. At Chester, he was reunited with

Harry McNally Harold McNally (7 July 1936 – 12 December 2004) was an English Association football, football player, coach and manager, noted for his spells as manager of Wigan Athletic F.C., Wigan Athletic and Chester City F.C., Chester City. The Non-Leag ...

, the man who had signed him at Wigan; however, he only played five league games for the "Seals". At Colchester, he was signed by Steve Foley on 24 October and scored two goals in twenty games for Colchester in the 1988–89 season, as the club struggled at the foot of the Fourth Division. He was substituted at

half-time In several team sports, matches are played in two halves. Half-time (also written halftime or half time) is the name given to the interval between the two halves of the match. Typically, after half-time, teams swap ends of the field of play in or ...

Jock Wallace John Martin Bokas Wallace (6 September 1935 – 24 July 1996) was a Scottish professional footballer and manager. Wallace played as a goalkeeper, and has the unique distinction of being the only player ever to play in the English, Welsh and Sco ...

in United's match at

York City York City Football Club is a professional association football club based in the city of York, North Yorkshire, England. The team competes in the National League, the fifth level of the English football league system, as of the 2024–25 seas ...

on 21 January and left the ground without saying goodbye to his teammates, ending his loan spell at

Layer Road Layer Road was a Football League stadium in Colchester, England. It was the home of Colchester United Football Club from its inception in 1937, up until the club relocated to Colchester Community Stadium in 2008, resulting in its closure. The ...

Shrewsbury Town

In January 1989,

manager Ian McNeill secured Kelly's services for £30,000. Just as with Wigan some years previous, he scored 15 goals in 101 Third Division appearances, however, this time after two years he was sold on to

Phil Neal Philip George Neal (born 20 February 1951) is an English retired footballer who played for Northampton Town, Liverpool and Bolton Wanderers as a full-back. He is regarded as one of the most successful English players of all time, having won ei ...

for £100,000.

Bolton Wanderers

He established himself in the first team in 1991–92, and his consistent performances led to him being named on the

PFA Team of the Year The Professional Footballers' Association Team of the Year (often called the PFA Team of the Year, or simply the Team of the Year) is an annual award given to a set of 55 footballers across the top four tiers of men's Football in England, En ...

. He continued to be a first-team regular under new manager

Bruce Rioch Bruce David Rioch (; born 6 September 1947) is a British football manager and former player for the Scotland national team. His last managerial post was at AaB in the Danish Superliga in 2008. As a player, he made more than 550 appearances in ...

. He helped the "Trotters" to win promotion out of the Second Division as runners-up in 1992–93 before leaving the club at the end of the 1993–94 campaign. In three years with Bolton, Kelly became a firm favourite with the fans, who nicknamed him Zico in homage to Kelly's footballing style, despite his (at times) obvious weight and fitness problems. He was a cult figure with the fans during his stay at

Burnden Park Burnden Park was the home of England, English association football, football club Bolton Wanderers F.C., Bolton Wanderers, who played home games there between 1895 and 1997. As well as hosting the 1901 FA Cup final replay, in 1946 it was the sc ...

. He was a key figure in the exciting team that Bruce Rioch built, as Bolton rose from Third Division obscurities to

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual Single-elimination tournament, knockout association football, football competition in domestic Football in England, English football. First played during ...

'giant killings' and pushing at the door of the newly formed

Premier League The Premier League is a professional association football league in England and the highest level of the English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Football Lea ...

. In total he amassed over 100 league appearances for the club before September 1994, when at age of 30 he was given a free transfer to

Later career

He did not find success at

Vale Park Vale Park is a football stadium in the area of Burslem, Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, England, and it has been the home ground of Port Vale Football Club since its opening in 1950. It has a current capacity of 15,695, and was renovated durin ...

, despite finding the net against

Notts County Notts County Football Club is a professional association football, football club in Nottingham, England, which competes in EFL League Two, the fourth tier of Football in England, English football, following promotion and relegation, promotion ...

, and instead moved on to

later in 1994. Kelly struggled to regain his form and fitness, and after two games for the "Lions" he returned to former club Wigan Athletic, before signing for

. He played 13 league games for United before returning to Wigan in 1995 and finally dropping out of the Football League as he joined non-League

in February 1996. In 1997, he enjoyed a spell in the

League of Ireland The League of Ireland is a national association football Sports league, league consisting of professional clubs in the Republic of Ireland and Derry, Derry City in Northern Ireland. It is governed by the Football Association of Ireland. It was ...

with

under Jimmy Mullen; Kelly scored his only league goal for the club on his debut; he made a total of 17 appearances for Sligo before retiring.

Post-retirement

In 2008, Kelly rejoined

as Fans Liaison Officer. Like his former teammate

John McGinlay John McGinlay (born 8 April 1964) is a Scottish football manager, scout and former professional player who is the club ambassador of Bolton Wanderers. As a player, he was a striker over a 26-year career that saw him notably play in the Premier ...

, Kelly is a 'converted' Bolton fan and has a weekly column in

The Bolton News ''The Bolton News'' – formerly the ''Bolton Evening News'' – is a daily newspaper and news website covering the towns of Bolton and Bury, Greater Manchester, Bury in north-western England. Published each morning from Monday to Saturday and o ...

where he gives an insight into recent events at the Wanderers. He now also coaches Bolton Wanderers' U18s alongside David Lee, Kelly's former teammate. In a September 2008 poll of Bolton fans, Kelly was voted the 34th greatest player ever to don a Bolton shirt. Kelly regularly takes part in charity football events at BWFC.

Personal life

Kelly is the uncle of

Joey Barton Joseph Anthony Barton (born 2 September 1982) is an English professional football manager and former player who played as a midfielder. Barton made 269 appearances in the Premier League, including 130 for Manchester City; he was most recentl ...

Career statistics

:A. The "Other" column constitutes appearances and goals in the

Anglo-Italian Cup The Anglo-Italian Cup (, also known as the Anglo-Italian Inter-League Clubs Competition and from 1976 to 1986 as the Alitalia Challenge Cup, Talbot Challenge Cup or Gigi Peronace Memorial) was a European football competition. The competition was ...

Football League Trophy The English Football League Trophy, officially known as the Vertu Trophy for sponsorship reasons, is an annual English football knockout competition open to all clubs in EFL League One and EFL League Two and U-21 teams from the Premier Le ...

and

Full Members Cup The Full Members' Cup was an association football cup competition held in English football from 1985 to 1992. It was also known under its sponsored names of the Simod Cup from 1987 to 1989 and the Zenith Data Systems Cup from 1989 to 1992. T ...

Honours

Individual *

Player of the Year: 1985 *

( Third Division): 1991–92 Wigan Athletic *

Associate Members' Cup The English Football League Trophy, officially known as the Vertu Trophy for sponsorship reasons, is an annual English football knockout competition open to all clubs in EFL League One and EFL League Two and U-21 teams from the Premier League ...

1985 The year 1985 was designated as the International Youth Year by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 ** The Internet's Domain Name System is created. ** Greenland withdraws from the European Economic Community as a result of a n ...

Bolton Wanderers *

Football League Second Division The Football League Second Division was the second level division in the English football league system between 1892 and 1992. Following the foundation of the FA Premier League, the Football League divisions were renumbered and the third tier ...

second-place promotion: 1992–93

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kelly, Tony 1964 births Living people Footballers from Liverpool English men's footballers Men's association football midfielders Prescot Cables F.C. players Bolton Wanderers F.C. players Wigan Athletic F.C. players Shrewsbury Town F.C. players West Bromwich Albion F.C. players Chester City F.C. players Colchester United F.C. players Port Vale F.C. players Millwall F.C. players Stoke City F.C. players Peterborough United F.C. players Altrincham F.C. players English expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's association footballers in the Republic of Ireland English expatriate sportspeople in Ireland Sligo Rovers F.C. players English Football League players National League (English football) players Northern Premier League players League of Ireland players English football coaches Bolton Wanderers F.C. non-playing staff 20th-century English sportsmen