Tony William Godfrey (born 30 April 1939) is an English retired

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

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 ...

for

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, ...

Aldershot Aldershot ( ) is a town in the Rushmoor district, Hampshire, England. It lies on heathland in the extreme north-east corner of the county, south-west of London. The town has a population of 37,131, while the Farnborough/Aldershot built-up are ...

and

Rochdale Rochdale ( ) is a town in Greater Manchester, England, and the administrative centre of the Metropolitan Borough of Rochdale. In the United Kingdom 2021 Census, 2021 Census, the town had a population of 111,261, compared to 223,773 for the wid ...

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 ...

Football career

Early career

Godfrey was born in

Pangbourne Pangbourne is a village and civil parish on the River Thames in the West Berkshire unitary area of the county of Berkshire, England. Pangbourne has shops, churches, schools and a village hall. Outside its nucleated village, grouped developed are ...

, Berkshire and played football for North Hampshire Schools. After leaving school he was an apprentice

bricklayer A bricklayer, which is related to but different from a mason, is a craftsperson and tradesperson who lays bricks to construct brickwork. The terms also refer to personnel who use blocks to construct blockwork walls and other forms of maso ...

and played in goal for Basingstoke Town in the

Hampshire League The Hampshire League was a football league in Hampshire, England. During its heyday its constitution consisted of four divisions with over 60 clubs taking part - this included a vast number of semi-professional teams and Reserve/’A’ sides o ...

, becoming their youngest-ever player. After a brief period on the books of

Norwich City Norwich City Football Club is a professional football club based in Norwich, Norfolk, England. The club competes in the Championship, the second tier of English football. The club was founded in 1902. Since 1935, Norwich have played their h ...

, he was signed by

of the

Football League Third Division South The Third Division South of the Football League was a tier in the English football league system from 1921 to 1958. It ran in parallel with the Third Division North with clubs elected to the League or relegated from Division Two allocated to ...

in May 1956 for a

fee A fee is the price one pays as remuneration for rights or services. Fees usually allow for overhead, wages, costs, and markup. Traditionally, professionals in the United Kingdom (and previously the Republic of Ireland) receive a fee in contrad ...

of £500, on the recommendation of Basingstoke's coach, Stan Clements, a former Southampton player.

Southampton

He started his career with the "Saints" in the youth team, which reached the semi-final of the

FA Youth Cup The Football Association Youth Challenge Cup is an English football competition run by The Football Association for under-18 sides. Only those players between the age of 15 and 18 on 31 August of the current season are eligible to take part. It ...

in 1957. He made his reserve-team debut in March 1958 and signed a professional contract shortly after his 19th birthday. He continued to play regularly in the reserves until his first-team debut on 6 December 1958, when he took the place of John Christie who was unavailable with an injured knee for 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 ...

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match at

Queens 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 f ...

. Godfrey acquitted himself well with a "confident, cool, alert and agile" performance making several fine saves and keeping a clean sheet as Southampton won the match 1–0. Godfrey retained his first-team place for the next five matches in the league, before Christie's return, although he was soon recalled, making 17 league appearances in his debutant season. With Christie leaving The Dell in the summer of 1959, Godfrey became first-choice 'keeper, playing the first 11 games of the 1959–60 season (including six victories), before an injury allowed Bob Charles to take his place. His career was then interrupted by his

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which was spent in the Army, who he represented at football. Southampton gained promotion to the

Second Division In sport, the Second Division, also called Division 2 or Division II is usually the second highest division of a league, and will often have promotion and relegation with divisions above and below. Following the rise of Premier League style compet ...

in 1960 with Ron Reynolds now in goal. In the 1960–61 season, Godfrey vied with Reynolds for the first-choice position in goal, making only eight appearances, but regained the No. 1 spot for 1961–62 after Reynolds broke his ankle in the opening match. By the start of the following season, however, Reynolds had fought his way back into the first-team and Godfrey only made six appearances. Reynolds was finally forced to retire after dislocating a shoulder in September 1963, thus allowing Godfrey to briefly become the unchallenged first-choice "custodian". In the summer of 1964, Southampton signed John Hollowbread from

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 Godfrey was once again second-choice, until after a run of 18 matches with only two victories, Hollowbread was dropped and Godfrey recalled. Hollowbread regained the No. 1 position for the start of the 1965–66 season until he sustained a knee injury in September 1965, which ended his career. Godfrey was once again recalled but after 14 matches, lost his place to

Campbell Forsyth Robert Campbell Forsyth (5 May 193415 November 2020) was a Scottish footballer, who played as a goalkeeper for St Mirren, Kilmarnock and Southampton. He also made four international appearances for Scotland, all in 1964. Football career Earl ...

, who had been signed from

Kilmarnock Kilmarnock ( ; ; , ), meaning "the church of Mernóc", is a town and former burgh in East Ayrshire situated in southwest Scotland. The town has served as the administrative centre of East Ayrshire Council since 1996 and is the region's main ...

. Godfrey's final match for Southampton came on 4 December 1965 and shortly afterwards he was sold to

. In his seven years with Southampton, Godfrey made a total of 149 first-team appearances.

Aldershot and Rochdale

He joined Aldershot in December 1965 for "a four figure fee" but was unable to make his debut for them because he was suffering with

hepatitis Hepatitis is inflammation of the liver parenchyma, liver tissue. Some people or animals with hepatitis have no symptoms, whereas others develop yellow discoloration of the skin and whites of the eyes (jaundice), Anorexia (symptom), poor appetite ...

. His debut came on 19 March 1966, in a goalless draw with

Notts County Notts County Football Club is a professional association football, football club in Nottingham, England, which competes in EFL League Two, the fourth tier of Football in England, English football, following promotion and relegation, promotion ...

Recreation Ground A park is an area of natural, semi-natural or planted space set aside for human enjoyment and recreation or for the protection of wildlife or natural habitats. Urban parks are green spaces set aside for recreation inside towns and cities. N ...

. He soon became the first-choice goalkeeper, being ever-present in the 1966–67 and 1967–68 seasons. He stayed with Aldershot for years before he was signed by his former Southampton teammate Dick Conner at

in the summer of 1970. Godfrey spent two seasons with Rochdale, in the second of which he was the club's Player of the Season before returning to Aldershot in July 1972. He made 71 League appearances for the

Spotland Spotland ( ) is a district of Rochdale in Greater Manchester Greater Manchester is a ceremonial county in North West England. It borders Lancashire to the north, Derbyshire and West Yorkshire to the east, Cheshire to the south, and Merseysi ...

club. On his return to Aldershot, he was again ever-present in the 1972–73 season, when Aldershot were promoted from the Fourth Division for the first time. He was to remain at the Recreation Ground for another three seasons, until, with

Glen Johnson Glen McLeod Cooper Johnson (''né'' Stephens; born 23 August 1984) is an English former professional footballer who played predominantly as a right back. Johnson began his career at West Ham United, spending time on loan at Millwall, and was ...

now the first-choice 'keeper, he decided to retire in 1976.

Coaching career

Godfrey then returned to Basingstoke Town in a player-coach role, before spells as manager at

Andover Andover may refer to: Places Australia *Andover, Tasmania Canada * Andover Parish, New Brunswick * Perth-Andover, New Brunswick United Kingdom * Andover, Hampshire, England ** RAF Andover, a former Royal Air Force station United States * Andov ...

, Alton Town and

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, followed by a return to Basingstoke. In 1985, aged 45, Basingstoke were suffering an injury crisis, so Godfrey returned for one match, thus becoming their oldest-ever first-team player, having been their youngest player 30 years earlier.

Later career

Godfrey settled in a village south of Basingstoke where he resumed his career as a builder until his retirement.

References

External links

Southampton career details
{{DEFAULTSORT:Godfrey, Tony 1939 births Living people People from Pangbourne English men's footballers Men's association football goalkeepers Basingstoke Town F.C. players Norwich City F.C. players Southampton F.C. players Aldershot F.C. players Rochdale A.F.C. players English Football League players English football managers Andover F.C. managers Alton F.C. managers Fleet Town F.C. managers Footballers from Berkshire