Tony Spearing

Tony Spearing
Personal information
Full name	Anthony Spearing^[1]
Date of birth	(1964-10-07) 7 October 1964^[1]
Place of birth	Romford, England^[1]
Height	5 ft 8 in (1.73 m)
Playing position	Defender
Youth career
1982–1984	Norwich City
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps^†	(Gls)^†
1984–1988	Norwich City	69	(0)
1984	→ Stoke City (loan)	9	(0)
1985	→ Oxford United (loan)	5	(0)
1988–1991	Leicester City	73	(1)
1991–1993	Plymouth Argyle	35	(0)
1993–1997	Peterborough United	111	(2)
1997–2002	King's Lynn
2002–2003	A.F.C. Sudbury
2003–2004	Wisbech Town
2004–2005	Great Yarmouth Town
Teams managed
1998	King's Lynn
2000–2002	King's Lynn
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only. † Appearances (goals)

Anthony "Tony" Spearing (born 7 October 1964) is a former English footballer who played in the Football League for Norwich City, Stoke City, Oxford United, Leicester City, Plymouth Argyle and Peterborough United.^[1]

Playing career

Spearing was born in Romford and began his career with Norwich City and was a member of their youth team that won the 1983 FA Youth Cup, beating Everton in a replayed final. His first two seasons at Carrow Road saw Spearing in the reserves and also spent time out on loan in 1984–85 at Stoke City (making nine appearances) and Oxford United (making five appearances).^[1]

Spearing played 10 times for Norwich in 1985–86 as they won the Second Division. Spearing was a regular under Dave Stringer in 1986–87 playing in 48 matches before losing his place to Mark Bowen and in 1988 he joined Leicester City for a fee of £100,000. He spent three seasons with the Foxes making 79 appearances scoring once before moving on to Plymouth Argyle. At Home Park Spearing made 45 appearances and the spent five seasons with Peterborough United making 132 appearances before dropping into non-league football with King's Lynn. He later played for A.F.C. Sudbury, Wisbech Town and Great Yarmouth Town.

Management career

Spearing became manager of King's Lynn in 1998 but quickly relinquished the position and returned to his playing duties, though he was re-appointed as manager in 2000 and remained in the position for a further two years. He went on to play for A.F.C. Sudbury, Wisbech and Great Yarmouth before taking up his position of assistant manager at Cambridge United in 2005. Spearing left the Abbey Stadium when Rob Newman was sacked in September 2006 after a defeat against Exeter left the U's second-bottom of the Conference. Spearing returned to Carrow Road to play in the centenary match against Harwich & Parkeston in September 2002.

Spearing was a member of the Leicester City masters side that beat Chelsea in 2005 to win the grand final of the Sky TV Masters indoor league. He became a Senior Scout For Blackburn Rovers, working within the Premiership and Europe, but, in March 2008, left Blackburn to take up an offer from West Bromwich Albion to become the Head of European recruitment.^[2] After leaving The Hawthorns in January 2015, he was immediately appointed as Head of Scouting & Recruitment at Reading, teaming up once again with former Albion Head Coach, Steve Clarke.

On April 8th 2016 Spearing was announced as the newly appointed Head of Football Recruitment at his former club Norwich City.

Career statistics

Sourced from The English National Football Archive

Club	Season	League			FA Cup		League Cup		Other^[A]		Total
Club	Season	Division	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
Norwich City	1983–84	First Division	4	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	4	0
	1984–85	First Division	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	1	0
	1985–86	Second Division	8	0	0	0	1	0	1	0	10	0
	1986–87	First Division	39	0	3	0	4	0	2	0	48	0
	1987–88	First Division	18	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	18	0
	Total		69	0	4	0	5	0	3	0	81	0
Stoke City (loan)	1984–85	First Division	9	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	9	0
Stoke City (loan)	Total		9	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	9	0
Oxford United (loan)	1984–85	Second Division	5	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	5	0
Oxford United (loan)	Total		5	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	5	0
Leicester City	1988–89	Second Division	36	0	1	0	2	0	1	0	40	0
	1989–90	Second Division	20	1	0	0	1	0	0	0	21	1
	1990–91	Second Division	17	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	18	0
	Total		73	1	1	0	3	0	2	0	79	1
Plymouth Argyle	1991–92	Second Division	30	0	1	0	2	0	2	0	35	0
	1992–93	Division Two	5	0	0	0	4	0	1	0	10	0
	Total		35	0	1	0	6	0	3	0	45	0
Peterborough United	1992–93	Division One	22	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	22	0
	1993–94	Division One	34	1	1	0	4	0	2	0	41	1
	1994–95	Division Two	33	0	2	0	0	0	3	0	38	0
	1995–96	Division Two	9	1	2	0	1	0	1	0	13	1
	1996–97	Division Two	13	0	1	0	2	0	2	0	18	0
	Total		111	2	6	0	7	0	8	0	132	2
Career Total			302	3	12	0	21	0	16	0	351	3

A. ^ The "Other" column constitutes appearances and goals in the Anglo-Italian Cup, Football League Trophy, Full Members Cup and Screen Sport Super Cup.

Honours

Norwich City

Football League Second Division champions: 1985–86
FA Youth Cup winner: 1983

References

Specific

1 2 3 4 5 Matthews, Tony (1994). The Encyclopaedia of Stoke City. Lion Press. ISBN 0-9524151-0-0.
↑ "Spearing's Euro vision is helping to boost Baggies". Norwich Evening News 24. Retrieved 8 March 2013.

General

Canary Citizens by Mark Davage, John Eastwood, Kevin Platt, published by Jarrold Publishing, (2001), ISBN 0-7117-2020-7

External links

King's Lynn F.C. – managers

Brain (1935–36)
Reed (1936–38)
Robertson (1946–47)
Armeson (1947–48)
Gadsby (1948–50)
Whitelum (1950–51)
Howe (1951–53)
Todd (1953–57)
Selkirk (1957–59)
Richley (1959–65)
Davies (1965–70)
Brown (1970–71)
Wright (1971–73)
Wignall (1973–74)
White (1974–76)
Rudd (1977–79)
Bridges (1979)
Rudd (1979–84)
Foster (1984–85)
Easthall (1985–87)
Mendham (1987)
Czuczman (1987–88)
Cozens (1988–89)
Rudd (1989–90)
Day (1990–91)
Farrow (1991–92)
Musgrove (1992–93)
Gidman (1993–94)
Godden (1994–95)
Morris (1995–98)
Spearing (1998)
Mills (1998–2000)
Spearing (2000–02)
Morris (2002–03)
Taylor (2004–06)
Webb (2006–09)

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