Anthony Bentley (20 December 1939 – 18 December 2024) was an English
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
full-back or
forward in
the Football League
The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, it is the oldest football league in the world, and was the top-level football league in England from ...
for
Stoke City and
Southend United.
Bentley died on 18 December 2024, at the age of 84.
Career
Bentley was born in Trent Vale, Stoke-on-Trent,
and began his career with local side
Stoke City making his senior debut in the
1958–59 season.
He played as a forward in
1959–60 scoring nine goals in 13 matches. Under new manager
Tony Waddington in
1960–61 he scored six goals in 35 matches but Waddington was seemingly unimpressed by Bentley and he was sold to
Third Division side
Southend United in July 1961.
The "Shrimpers" manager
Ted Fenton converted Bentley into a
full-back and he became a consistent performer for the
Roots Hall
Roots Hall is a Soccer-specific stadium, football stadium located in Southend-on-Sea, Essex, England. The stadium is the home ground of the National League (English football), National League team Southend United F.C., Southend United. With a ...
side in the 1960s playing ten seasons for the club racking up 419 appearances. He was given a
testimonial match
A testimonial match or testimonial game, often referred to simply as a testimonial, is a practice in some sports, particularly in association football in the United Kingdom and South America, where a club has a match to honour a player for servic ...
against his old club Stoke in 1966.
After his time at Southend he played non-League football with
Folkestone Town and
Ashford Town (Kent), with whom he made 34 league appearances during season 1974–75, before emigrating to Canada.
Career statistics
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bentley, Tony
1939 births
2024 deaths
Footballers from Stoke-on-Trent
English men's footballers
Men's association football fullbacks
Stoke City F.C. players
Southend United F.C. players
Ashford United F.C. players
Folkestone F.C. players
English Football League players