Anthony Philip Coton (born 19 May 1961) is an English football coach and 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 is a goalkeeper scout for

Premier League The Premier League is a professional association football league in England and the highest level of the English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Football Lea ...

side

Manchester United Manchester United Football Club, commonly referred to as Man United (often stylised as Man Utd) or simply United, is a professional association football, football club based in Old Trafford (area), Old Trafford, Greater Manchester, Engl ...

. As a player he was as a

goalkeeper In many team sports that involve scoring goal (sport), goals, the goalkeeper (sometimes termed goaltender, netminder, GK, goalie, or keeper) is a designated player charged with directly preventing the opposing team from scoring by blocking or i ...

who made 500 appearances in the

Football League The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional association football, football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, it is the oldest football league in Association football around the world, the w ...

and

for

Birmingham City Birmingham City Football Club is a professional football club based in Birmingham, England. Formed in 1875 as Small Heath Alliance, it was renamed Small Heath in 1888, Birmingham in 1905, and Birmingham City in 1943. The team compete in the ...

Watford Watford () is a town and non-metropolitan district with Borough status in the United Kingdom, borough status in Hertfordshire, England, northwest of Central London, on the banks of the River Colne, Hertfordshire, River Colne. Initially a smal ...

Manchester City Manchester City Football Club is a professional association football, football club based in Manchester, England, that competes in the Premier League, the English football league system, top flight of Football in England, English footbal ...

and

Sunderland Sunderland () is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England. It is a port at the mouth of the River Wear on the North Sea, approximately south-east of Newcastle upon Tyne. It is the most p ...

. During his career he was called up to the

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 ...

team on one occasion in 1993 but didn't feature, with his only taste of international football being a cap for the England B team in 1992. Following his retirement in 1997, Coton returned to Manchester United as the clubs goalkeeping coach where he remained until an injury put an end to a ten-year coaching career, he has since spent time as a players' agent before working in

scouting Scouting or the Scout Movement is a youth social movement, movement which became popularly established in the first decade of the twentieth century. It follows the Scout method of informal education with an emphasis on practical outdoor activi ...

notably for

Wigan Athletic Wigan Athletic Football Club is a professional association football club based in Wigan, Greater Manchester, England. The team competes in the EFL League One, the third level of the English football league system. Founded in 1932, they have p ...

Bolton Wanderers Bolton Wanderers Football Club ( ) is a professional association football, football club based in Horwich, Metropolitan Borough of Bolton, Greater Manchester, England, which competes in EFL League One, League One, the third level of the Englis ...

and

Aston Villa Aston Villa Football Club (commonly referred to as simply Villa) is a professional football club based in Aston, Birmingham, England. The club, founded in 1874, compete in the Premier League, the top tier of English football. The team have p ...

Club career

Birmingham City

Coton started his professional career at

in 1978, having signed from Mile Oak Rovers the previous year. He made his

debut as a 19-year-old, on 27 December 1980 in the First Division match against

. His first touch of the ball was to save a penalty awarded after 54 seconds. By the 1982–83 season he had established himself as Birmingham's first-choice goalkeeper and was named Player of the Year.

Watford

Birmingham were

relegated Promotion and relegation is used by sports leagues as a process where teams can move up and down among divisions in a league system, based on their performance over a season. Leagues that use promotion and relegation systems are sometimes call ...

from the First Division at the end of the next season, but Coton found his way back into the top flight with a transfer to

, for a sum of £300,000. He soon replaced Steve Sherwood in Watford's goal and at the end of his second full season at

Vicarage Road Vicarage Road is a stadium in Watford, England, and is the home stadium of EFL Championship, Championship club Watford F.C., Watford. An all-seater stadium, its current capacity is 22,200. History It has been the home of Watford since 1922, w ...

he won the Hornets' Player of the Season and Display of the Season awards, the latter for a clean sheet against

Liverpool Liverpool is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. It is situated on the eastern side of the River Mersey, Mersey Estuary, near the Irish Sea, north-west of London. With a population ...

. He remained with the club even after their relegation from the First Division in 1988. He went on to become Watford Player of the Season for an unprecedented third time in 1989–90. Coton later became the second player to be inducted into Watford's Hall of Fame, behind club legend

Luther Blissett Luther Loide Blissett (born 1 February 1958) is a former professional association football, footballer and coach (sport), manager who played for the England national football team, England national team during the 1980s. Born in Jamaica, Bliss ...

Manchester City

Before the start of the 1990–91 season, Coton was bought for just under £1 million by

manager Howard Kendall. At the time, he was one of the most expensive goalkeepers to be signed by any British club. He went on to win the City Player of the Year award in both the 1991–92 and 1993–94 seasons. They finished fifth in the First Division during his first two seasons at

Maine Road Maine Road was a football stadium in Moss Side, Manchester, England, that was home to Manchester City from 1923 to 2003. It hosted FA Cup semi-finals, the Charity Shield, a League Cup final and England matches. Maine Road's highest attenda ...

and ninth in the first season Premier League. However, they dipped to 16th in 1993–94 and 17th in 1994–95, although he remained first-choice goalkeeper under subsequent managers

Peter Reid Peter Reid (born 20 June 1956) is an English football manager, pundit and former player. A defensive midfielder in his playing days, Reid enjoyed a long and successful career. He built his reputation as one of England's brightest midfield tale ...

and

Brian Horton Brian "Nobby" Horton (born 4 February 1949) is an English former footballer and manager. He spent 16 years as a professional player and 22 years as a manager, making 689 appearances and managing 1,098 matches. In addition to this, he spent four ...

Manchester United

Coton's time at Manchester City was cut short by injury in 1995, and the signing of Eike Immel. In January 1996, he moved across the city to

for £500,000, a record fee for a transfer between United and City, to be understudy to Peter Schmeichel. He never played a first team game for United and made the substitutes bench only once although during a time where only three substitutes could be named. In his short time at

Old Trafford Old Trafford () is a football stadium in Old Trafford, Greater Manchester, England, and is the home of Manchester United. With a capacity of 74,197, it is the largest club football stadium (and second-largest football stadium overall after W ...

he was part of the squad that won the

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual Single-elimination tournament, knockout association football, football competition in domestic Football in England, English football. First played during ...

and the

title. In the summer he would transfer to

after just six months with United, for a fee of £600,000.

Sunderland

He made a few impressive performances for his new club (who had just been promoted to the Premier League as Division One champions) before breaking his leg in five places during a league match against

Southampton Southampton is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and unitary authority in Hampshire, England. It is located approximately southwest of London, west of Portsmouth, and southeast of Salisbury. Southampton had a population of 253, ...

. The injury marked the end of his playing career.

International career

Coton was included in several

squads between 1991 and 1993 by manager Graham Taylor, but never took the field. He was a member of the party that toured

Australasia Australasia is a subregion of Oceania, comprising Australia, New Zealand (overlapping with Polynesia), and sometimes including New Guinea and surrounding islands (overlapping with Melanesia). The term is used in a number of different context ...

in 1991, and was called up for a Euro 1992 qualifier against

Turkey Turkey, officially the Republic of Türkiye, is a country mainly located in Anatolia in West Asia, with a relatively small part called East Thrace in Southeast Europe. It borders the Black Sea to the north; Georgia (country), Georgia, Armen ...

later that year. He was capped by England B in February 1992 in a 3–0 win against France B

David Seaman David Andrew Seaman (born 19 September 1963) is an English former footballer who played as a goalkeeper. In a career lasting from 1981 to 2004, he is best known for his time playing for Arsenal. He won 75 caps for England, and is the country ...

played the first half and Coton the secondbut withdrew through injury from senior friendlies against

Czechoslovakia Czechoslovakia ( ; Czech language, Czech and , ''Česko-Slovensko'') was a landlocked country in Central Europe, created in 1918, when it declared its independence from Austria-Hungary. In 1938, after the Munich Agreement, the Sudetenland beca ...

in March and

Hungary Hungary is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning much of the Pannonian Basin, Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croatia and ...

in May. He was long-listed for

Euro 1992 The 1992 UEFA European Football Championship was hosted by Sweden between 10 and 26 June 1992. It was the ninth UEFA European Championship, which is held every four years and supported by UEFA. Denmark won the 1992 championship, having been inv ...

, but

Chris Woods Christopher Charles Eric Woods (born 14 November 1959) is an English football coach and former professional footballer, who is goalkeeping coach for the Scotland national team. As a player, he was a goalkeeper (association football), goalke ...

and

Nigel Martyn Antony Nigel Martyn (born 11 August 1966) is an English football coach and former professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper. He notably played in the Premier League for Crystal Palace, Leeds United and Everton, having initially play ...

made the squad and Seaman was named as reserve. Coton was called up as reserve goalkeeper for what proved to be Taylor's last match as England manager, the World Cup qualifier against

San Marino San Marino, officially the Republic of San Marino, is a landlocked country in Southern Europe, completely surrounded by Italy. Located on the northeastern slopes of the Apennine Mountains, it is the larger of two European microstates, microsta ...

, and Taylor's successor,

Terry Venables Terence Frederick Venables (6 January 1943 – 25 November 2023), often referred to as El Tel, was an English football player and manager who played for clubs including Chelsea, Tottenham Hotspur and Queens Park Rangers and won two caps for E ...

, included him in an England training camp in April 1994, but again he withdrew through injury.

Coaching career

From 1997 to 2007, Coton was goalkeeping coach at

. He was forced to step down from the position in December 2007 due to a knee injury that stopped him participating in training sessions. He had had two operations in four months to correct his ongoing knee problems, but after discussions with his surgeon and the Manchester United medical staff, they agreed that retirement was the best option. Coton remained at Manchester United until the end of his contract in June 2008, but with reduced coaching responsibilities. He went on to become a player's agent. Coton spent time as chief

scout Scout may refer to: Youth movement *Scout (Scouting), a child, usually 10–18 years of age, participating in the worldwide Scouting movement ** Scouts (The Scout Association), section for 10-14 year olds in the United Kingdom ** Scouts BSA, sect ...

in 2014, and also scouted for

, before joining

in 2015 as goalkeeping scout. He then spent two years as their head of domestic scouting, before returning to Sunderland as head of recruitment in June 2018. In 2020, Coton re-joined Manchester United as the club's goalkeeper scout.

Honours

Individual *

PFA Team of the Year The Professional Footballers' Association Team of the Year (often called the PFA Team of the Year, or simply the Team of the Year) is an annual award given to a set of 55 footballers across the top four tiers of men's Football in England, En ...

: 1988–89 Second Division, 1989–90 Second Division, 1991–92 First Division *Birmingham City Player of the Year: 1982–83 *Watford Player of the Year: 1985–86, 1986–87, 1989–90 *Manchester City Player of the Year: 1993–94

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Coton, Tony 1961 births Living people Footballers from Tamworth, Staffordshire English men's footballers England men's B international footballers Men's association football goalkeepers Mile Oak Rovers & Youth F.C. players Tamworth F.C. players Birmingham City F.C. players Watford F.C. players Manchester City F.C. players Manchester United F.C. players Sunderland A.F.C. players English Football League players Premier League players Manchester United F.C. non-playing staff Wigan Athletic F.C. non-playing staff Bolton Wanderers F.C. non-playing staff Aston Villa F.C. non-playing staff Sunderland A.F.C. non-playing staff English football agents Association football goalkeeping coaches English football scouts