Johnny Matthews (August 27, 1946 - December 25, 2019), British football player and manager. A famous cricket player and a member of the Waterford Referee Association, he serves as a referee for the youth league competition in the Waterford Youth League. His career began in his hometown club

Coventry City Coventry City Football Club is an English professional football club based in Coventry, West Midlands. The club plays in the EFL Championship, the second tier of English football. The club is nicknamed The Sky Blues after the sky blue colou ...

. He was loaned to

Waterford United Waterford Football Club formerly Waterford United Football Club is an Irish association football club based in Waterford who play in the League of Ireland Premier Division. The club was founded and elected to the league in 1930. Originally the ...

in the 1965/66 season on

St. Patrick's Day Saint Patrick's Day, or the Feast of Saint Patrick (), is a religious and cultural holiday held on 17 March, the traditional death date of Saint Patrick (), the foremost patron saint of Ireland. Saint Patrick's Day was made an official Chri ...

under the impression from

Jimmy Hill James William Thomas Hill, Order of the British Empire, OBE (22 July 1928 – 19 December 2015) was an English football in England, footballer and later a television personality. His career included almost every role in the sport, including pla ...

that it was for just a six-week loan period., extended the loan period with two goals in seven games, and officially signed a permanent contract in the next season. In the next 13 seasons, he became a legend of Kilcohan Park and won five league medals. In his first season in Watford, due to insufficient appearances, Limerick won the 6th place and 3 runner-up medals in the FAI Cup. In addition, he also participated in 16 European Cup matches and scored goals against

Celtic Celtic, Celtics or Keltic may refer to: Language and ethnicity *pertaining to Celts, a collection of Indo-European peoples in Europe and Anatolia **Celts (modern) *Celtic languages **Proto-Celtic language *Celtic music *Celtic nations Sports Foot ...

in Parkhead

and Manchester United F.C., Manchester United]

In 1971, the Irish League 11 team played against the English League XI at

Lansdowne Road Lansdowne Road Stadium (, ) was a stadium in Dublin owned by the Irish Rugby Football Union (IRFU) that was primarily used for rugby union and association football matches. The stadium was demolished in 2007 to make way for the Aviva Stadium on ...

, and Matthews broke through the defense against

Gordon Banks Gordon Banks (30 December 1937 – 12 February 2019) was an English professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper. Widely regarded as one of the greatest goalkeepers of all time, he made 679 appearances during a 20-year professional care ...

with a penalty kick. In 1986, he entered the management of Newcastlewest and returned to Waterford in 1989 to work as a manager with Dave Kobe. In 1990, he led the team to win the League A championship. At the end of 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 ...

season, Matthews ranked eighth in the Irish League goal list with 156 league goals.

Honours

As a player

: **

Waterford Waterford ( ) is a City status in Ireland, city in County Waterford in the South-East Region, Ireland, south-east of Ireland. It is located within the Provinces of Ireland, province of Munster. The city is situated at the head of Waterford H ...

: 1965–66, 1967–68, 1968–69, 1969–70, 1971–72,

1972–73 Year 197 ( CXCVII) was a common year starting on Saturday of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Magius and Rufinus (or, less frequently, year 950 ''Ab urbe condita''). The denomination 197 for this y ...

** Limerick United: 1979–80

As a manager

League of Ireland First Division The League of Ireland First Division, also known as the SSE Airtricity League First Division for sponsorship reasons, is the second-highest division in both the League of Ireland and the Republic of Ireland football league system. The division w ...

1989/90

References

July 2008 update on Johnny Matthews
{{DEFAULTSORT:Matthews, Johnny 1946 births 2019 deaths League of Ireland players Coventry City F.C. players Waterford F.C. players Limerick F.C. players Galway United F.C. (1937–2011) players Longford Town F.C. players English men's footballers League of Ireland managers English football managers English expatriates in Ireland Waterford F.C. managers League of Ireland XI players Men's association football forwards Footballers from Coventry Albert Rovers F.C. players 20th-century English sportsmen