Alan Waddle (born 9 June 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 lea ...

who played as a striker. Waddle began his career with

Halifax Town FC Halifax Town is a professional association football club based in Halifax, West Yorkshire, England. They currently compete in the National League, the fifth level of English football league system. They replaced Halifax Town, who went i ...

, signing professional forms in October 1971. He made 22 League appearances and scored the crucial goal in the last match of the 1972–73 season at Walsall enabling Halifax Town to avoid relegation from the old Third Division. In June 1973 Waddle was signed by Liverpool manager Bill Shankly and netted his only goal for the Reds in a 1–0 win over rivals Everton in December 1973. Waddle made 22 appearances for the club but he lost his place in 1975, and only played one game in his remaining two years, although he did play in the home leg of the team's victory over

FC Zürich Fussballclub Zürich, commonly abbreviated to FC Zürich or simply FCZ, is a professional football club based in Zurich, Switzerland. The club was founded in 1896 and has won the Swiss Super League thirteen times and the Swiss Cup ten times. ...

in the 1977 European Cup semi-final, and made it onto the bench for the 1977 European Cup Final, before leaving that summer. He spent a year at

Leicester City Leicester ( ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, city, Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area, and the county town of Leicestershire in the East Midlands of England. It is the largest city in the East Midlands with a popula ...

before moving on to

Swansea City Swansea City Association Football Club ( ; ) is a Welsh professional football club based in Swansea, Wales. It competes in the EFL Championship, the second tier of the English football league system. Swansea have played their home matches at ...

, where he had his most productive spell, working under manager

John Toshack John Benjamin Toshack (born 22 March 1949) is a Welsh former professional football player and manager. He began his playing career as a teenager with his hometown club Cardiff City, becoming the youngest player to make an appearance for the ...

, the player he had understudied at Liverpool. In December 1980 Waddle joined Newport County for a fee of £80,000, a club record for Newport. He went on to have a much-travelled career, which included two returns to Swansea (one as commercial operations manager), and spells in Finland,

Hong Kong Hong Kong)., Legally Hong Kong, China in international treaties and organizations. is a special administrative region of China. With 7.5 million residents in a territory, Hong Kong is the fourth most densely populated region in the wor ...

and

Qatar Qatar, officially the State of Qatar, is a country in West Asia. It occupies the Geography of Qatar, Qatar Peninsula on the northeastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula in the Middle East; it shares Qatar–Saudi Arabia border, its sole land b ...

. He is a cousin of

Chris Waddle Christopher Roland Waddle (born 14 December 1960) is an English former professional football player and manager. He had a spell as Burnley manager during the 1997–98 season, but has not returned to coaching since. Largely since retiring he h ...

, the former

Newcastle United Newcastle United Football Club is a professional association football club based in Newcastle upon Tyne, Tyne and Wear, England. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football league system, English football. Since th ...

Tottenham Hotspur Tottenham Hotspur Football Club, commonly referred to as simply Tottenham (, , , ) or Spurs, is a professional Association football, football club based in Tottenham, North London, England. The club itself has stated that it should always ...

and

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

midfielder.

Footnotes

External links

Profile
at the Liverpool F.C. website
Profile at LFCHistory.net
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Waddle, Alan 1954 births Living people Footballers from Wallsend English men's footballers Men's association football forwards Wallsend Boys Club players Halifax Town A.F.C. players Liverpool F.C. players Leicester City F.C. players Swansea City A.F.C. players Newport County A.F.C. players Gloucester City A.F.C. players Mansfield Town F.C. players Happy Valley AA players Hartlepool United F.C. players Peterborough United F.C. players Palloiluseura Apollo players Barry Town United F.C. players Al-Wakrah SC players Llanelli Town A.F.C. players Port Talbot Town F.C. players Maesteg Park A.F.C. players Bridgend Town A.F.C. players English Football League players Hong Kong First Division League players Cymru Premier players English expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Hong Kong Expatriate men's footballers in Finland Expatriate men's footballers in Qatar British expatriates in Finland Qatar Stars League players English expatriate sportspeople in Hong Kong UEFA Champions League–winning players