Theo Foley (2 April 1937 – 26 June 2020) was an Irish footballer and football manager/coach. He was born in

Inchicore Inchicore () is a suburb of Dublin, Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Located approximately west of the city centre, Inchicore was originally a small village separate from Dublin. The village developed around Richmond Barracks (built 1810) and Inchi ...

Dublin Dublin is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Situated on Dublin Bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, and is bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, pa ...

, Ireland.

Playing career

During his footballing career, he played as a defender for Home Farm,

Exeter City Exeter City Football Club is a professional association football club based in Exeter, Devon, England. The team play in , the third level of the English football league system. Known as "the Grecians", the origin of their nickname is subject to ...

Northampton Town Northampton Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in the town of Northampton, England. The team competes in EFL League One, League One, the third level of the English football league system. Founded in 1897, the c ...

and

Charlton Athletic Charlton Athletic Football Club is a professional association football club based in Charlton, south-east London, England. The team compete in the EFL Championship, the second level of the English football league system. Their home ground is ...

. He also appeared nine times for the

Republic of Ireland Ireland ( ), also known as the Republic of Ireland (), is a country in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe consisting of 26 of the 32 Counties of Ireland, counties of the island of Ireland, with a population of about 5.4 million. ...

Coaching career

In the mid 1970s Foley was assistant manager, then manager, at

. This was followed by a spell as assistant manager at

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 ...

, reserve team coach at

Queen's Park Rangers Queens Park Rangers Football Club, commonly abbreviated to QPR, is a professional association football club based in Shepherd's Bush, West London, England. The team currently compete in the EFL Championship, the second level of the English fo ...

and another spell as assistant manager at Millwall from December 1982 to

George Graham George Graham (born 30 November 1944) is a Scottish former football player and manager. Nicknamed "Stroller", he made 455 appearances in England's Football League as a midfielder or forward for Aston Villa, Chelsea, Arsenal, Manchester Unite ...

. On 14 May 1986 Foley became assistant manager of

Arsenal An arsenal is a place where arms and ammunition are made, maintained and repaired, stored, or issued, in any combination, whether privately or publicly owned. Arsenal and armoury (British English) or armory (American English) are mostly ...

when Graham was appointed manager. Graham and Foley's focus was on organised defence and strong running resulting in the club winning a League Cup and Football League Title together. In May 1990 when Graham changed his managerial staff, he appointed

Stewart Houston Stewart Mackie Houston (born 20 August 1949) is a Scottish former association football, football player and coach (sports), coach who played as a Defender (association football)#Full-back, left-back. Born in Dunoon, he began his professional c ...

as his number two. Rather than take the reserve team managers job, Foley left Arsenal to manage

where he remained for two years. In April 1993 he became youth team coach at

Fulham Fulham () is an area of the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham in West London, England, southwest of Charing Cross. It lies in a loop on the north bank of the River Thames, bordering Hammersmith, Kensington and Chelsea, London, Chelsea ...

. He was assistant manager at

Southend United Southend United Football Club is a professional association football club based in Southend-on-Sea, Essex, England, which competes in the National League, the fifth level of English football. The team are known as "The Shrimpers", a reference ...

from June 1994 until he was dismissed on 10 February 1997. In the summer of 1997, he joined

Leeds United Leeds United Football Club is a professional football club based in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. The team compete in the Premier League, the top tier of the English football league system. Leeds United have won the League Championship th ...

to become a scout under George Graham. In July 1998 he became Reserve Team Coach at

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 ...

, linking up with Graham again three months later when the latter became Spurs manager. Foley remained at the club even after the sackings of both Graham and

in March 2001. However he was made redundant along with several other coaching staff members in July 2003 by

Enic The abbreviation ENIC can stand for: * ENIC Group, British investment company formerly known as English National Investment Company * European Network of Information Centres The European Network of Information Centres (ENIC) were established in ...

in a cost cutting exercise. He did some scouting for Wolves for a time. After this he went into retirement though he was a matchday host for Charlton and in retirement watched Millwall and Arsenal.

Author

In October 2018, Foley published his autobiography "Theo Give Us A Ball" which he wrote with his son Paul.

Death

Theo Foley died on 26 June 2020, aged 83.

References

External links

Theo Foley
at NTFC.premiumtv.co.uk {{DEFAULTSORT:Foley, Theo 1937 births 2020 deaths Home Farm F.C. players League of Ireland players Burnley F.C. players Exeter City F.C. players Northampton Town F.C. players Northampton Town F.C. managers Charlton Athletic F.C. players Millwall F.C. non-playing staff Arsenal F.C. non-playing staff Republic of Ireland men's association footballers Republic of Ireland men's international footballers Republic of Ireland association football managers Men's association football defenders Southend United F.C. non-playing staff People from Inchicore Association footballers from Dublin (city) English Football League players 20th-century Irish sportsmen