Anthony Hateley (13 June 1941 – 1 February 2014) was an English professional

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

centre forward In the sport of association football, a forward (attacker or striker) is an outfield position which primarily plays further up the pitch than midfielders and defenders. As with any attacking player, the role of the forward relies heavily on be ...

. He scored 249 goals from 499 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 played First Division football for Aston Villa, Chelsea,

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 ...

and Coventry City. In the lower divisions, he scored 109 goals from 188 league matches in two spells with Notts County, and also played 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 ...

and Oldham Athletic. He was the father of England international footballer

Mark Hateley Mark Wayne Hateley (born 7 November 1961) is an English former professional association football, footballer who played as a Forward (association football), striker. He started his career with Coventry City F.C., Coventry City in the Football L ...

and grandfather of footballer Tom Hateley.

Early life

Tony Hateley was born in

Derby Derby ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area on the River Derwent, Derbyshire, River Derwent in Derbyshire, England. Derbyshire is named after Derby, which was its original co ...

on 13 June 1941. He was educated at Normanton Junior School.

Playing career

Hateley started his career with Notts County, where he first established himself as a prolific goalscorer, especially through his heading ability, and scored 77 league goals in 131 matches. The club won promotion to the Third Division in 1960–61. Hateley's goals earned him a move to County's Midlands rivals Aston Villa in 1963. Hateley continued his prolific scoring record at Villa, once scoring four second-half goals as Villa came from 5–1 down to draw 5–5 with Tottenham Hotspur, and his 86 goals in less than 150 games played a significant part in saving the club from

relegation 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 ...

to the Second Division. In October 1966 Chelsea's offer of £100,000 for Hateley was accepted and he moved to west London. The £100,000 fee Chelsea manager

Tommy Docherty Thomas Henderson Docherty (24 April 1928 – 31 December 2020), commonly known as The Doc, was a Scottish football player and manager. Docherty played for several clubs, most notably Preston North End, and represented Scotland 25 times bet ...

paid for Hateley was a club record and he arrived as a replacement for recent broken leg victim Peter Osgood. However, Chelsea's game had previously been based around quick passing and movement, while Hateley had thrived on crosses and long balls, meaning the team's style had to be adapted to accommodate him. Though his aerial ability was one of the best in his era, Hateley's technical ability was more lacking – Docherty once commented that Hateley's passes ought to be labelled "to whom it may concern" – and he struggled at the club. He scored six league goals during the season, and the highlight of his time at Chelsea came in the FA Cup semi-final against

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 ...

when he headed in the winning goal at

Villa Park Villa Park is a association football, football stadium in Aston, Birmingham, with a seating capacity of 42,918. It has been the home of Premier League club Aston Villa F.C., Aston Villa since 1897. The ground is less than a mile from both Witt ...

. He also played in Chelsea's 2–1 final loss to Tottenham Hotspur at Wembley. Having scored a total of nine goals in 33 appearances, in June 1967 Hateley was sold to

Bill Shankly William Shankly (2 September 1913 – 29 September 1981) was a Scottish association football, football player and Manager (association football), manager who is best known for his time as manager of Liverpool F.C., Liverpool. Shankly brought su ...

, who broke his own club's record in paying £96,000 for him. He scored 27 goals for Liverpool in the 1967–68 season, including

hat-trick A hat-trick or hat trick is the achievement of a generally positive feat three times in a match, or another achievement based on the number three. Origin The term first appeared in 1858 in cricket, to describe H. H. Stephenson taking three Wick ...

s against Newcastle United and

Nottingham Forest Nottingham Forest Football Club is a professional association football club based in West Bridgford, Nottinghamshire, England. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football league system, English football. Founde ...

, but once again Hateley's style did not suit his team's and he moved on after a year, this time to Coventry City. After a season at Coventry he was sold to

and then returned to his first club, Notts County, where he rediscovered his scoring touch and led them to the Fourth Division title in 1970–71. After a brief stint at Oldham Athletic and 3 matches for the Boston Minutemen in the North American Soccer League he retired from the game in 1974, having scored almost 250 career goals. He was never capped for

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 ...

. After his retirement from the professional game he played in non-League for Bromsgrove Rovers and in season 1975-76 he returned to Merseyside and played for Prescot Town in the Mid-Cheshire League. At the time of his retirement his combined transfer fees were a record for a single player in English football.

After football

In his later years Hateley had

Alzheimer's disease Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a neurodegenerative disease and the cause of 60–70% of cases of dementia. The most common early symptom is difficulty in remembering recent events. As the disease advances, symptoms can include problems wit ...

. He died aged 72 on 1 February 2014.

Honours

Chelsea *

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 ...

runner-up: 1966–67

References

External links

*
NASL stats

Thisisanfield.com Forgotten Heroes

LFC history profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hateley, Tony 1941 births 2014 deaths Aston Villa F.C. players Birmingham City F.C. players Chelsea F.C. players Coventry City F.C. players English men's footballers English Football League players North American Soccer League (1968–1984) players Liverpool F.C. players Notts County F.C. players Oldham Athletic A.F.C. players Boston Minutemen players Footballers from Derby Men's association football forwards Bromsgrove Rovers F.C. players Prescot Cables F.C. players People from Normanton, Derby English expatriate sportspeople in the United States Expatriate men's soccer players in the United States English expatriate men's footballers 20th-century English sportsmen