Anthony Knapp (13 October 1936 – 22 March 2023) was an English

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

player and manager, who played as a defender in the English football league in the 1960s.

Career

Knapp was born in

Newstead, Nottinghamshire Newstead is a village and civil parish in Nottinghamshire, England in the borough of Gedling.OS Explorer Map 270: Sherwood Forest: (1:25 000): It is situated between the city of Nottingham and the towns of Kirkby-in-Ashfield, Sutton-in-Ashfield ...

. He trained with

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 ...

before becoming professional, as a player for

Leicester City Leicester ( ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, city, Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area, and the county town of Leicestershire in the East Midlands of England. It is the largest city in the East Midlands with a popula ...

(1955–61, 86 matches),

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, ...

(1961–67, 260 matches, 2 goals),

Coventry City Coventry City Football Club is an English professional football club based in Coventry, West Midlands. The club plays in the EFL Championship, the second tier of English football. The club is nicknamed The Sky Blues after the sky blue colou ...

(1967–68, 11 matches),

Los Angeles Wolves The Los Angeles Wolves were an American professional Association football, soccer team that played for two seasons. In 1967 they played in the United Soccer Association, finishing as champions, and in 1968 North American Soccer League season, ...

(1968) and

Tranmere Rovers Tranmere Rovers Football Club are a professional association football club based in Birkenhead, Merseyside, England. The team competes in , the fourth level of the English football league system. Founded in 1884 as Belmont Football Club, they ...

(1969–71, 36 matches, 1 goal). His career as a manager started in Poole Town (1971–72, also player) and as an assistant coach to

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 then had success with the amateurs Iceland national team (1974–77, A, U18, U21) as in their beating

East Germany East Germany, officially known as the German Democratic Republic (GDR), was a country in Central Europe from Foundation of East Germany, its formation on 7 October 1949 until German reunification, its reunification with West Germany (FRG) on ...

2–1 (1975). In Norway he had success with

Viking FK Viking Fotballklubb, commonly known as Viking or Viking Stavanger internationally, is a Norwegian professional football club from the city of Stavanger. The club was founded in 1899. It is one of the most successful clubs in Norwegian football, ...

(1978–81, winning the double 1979),

Fredrikstad FK Fredrikstad Fotballklubb (also known as Fredrikstad or FFK) is a Norwegian professional association football, football club from the town of Fredrikstad. With nine league championships and twelve Norwegian Football Cup, Norwegian Cup wins, FFK ...

(1982–83), again Iceland (1984–85), and

SK Brann Sportsklubben Brann is a Norwegian professional football club based in Bergen. Founded on 26 September 1908, Brann has played in the first tier of Norwegian football for 67 out of 80 seasons, the second most of any club. They play their hom ...

(1986–87, cupfinalist). Since then Knapp had coached several lower division clubs in

Rogaland Rogaland () is a Counties of Norway, county in Western Norway, bordering the North Sea to the west and the counties of Vestland to the north, Telemark to the east and Agder to the east and southeast. As of 1 January 2024, it had a population of 49 ...

, such as

FK Vidar FK Vidar is an association football club from Stavanger, Norway. They currently play in the 3. divisjon, the fourth highest level in the Norwegian football league system. Club history The club was founded on 18 April 1906. FK Vidar played their ...

, Djerv 1919,

Sandnes Ulf Sandnes Ulf is a Norwegian association football club from Sandnes, Rogaland, currently playing in the 2. divisjon, the third highest division in the Norwegian football league system. The club play their home matches at Øster Hus Arena. The cl ...

, Staal Jørpeland (2003), Stavanger IF and Hundvåg FK (2004–05), as well as Lillesand IL (2007–08) in

Aust-Agder Aust-Agder (, ) was a county (''fylke'') in Norway from 1 January 1919 to 31 December 2019, after it was merged with Vest-Agder to form Agder county. In 2002, there were 102,945 inhabitants, which was 2.2% of Norway's population. Its area was . ...

, before he retired due to illness.

Personal life and death

As of February 2020, Knapp was residing in

Jørpeland Jørpeland is the administrative centre of Strand, Norway, Strand municipality in Rogaland county, Norway. The List of towns and cities in Norway, town is located on the western coast of the mainland, along the shore of the Idsefjorden, about no ...

in Norway with his wife and children. Knapp died on 22 March 2023, at the age of 86.Viking-legenden Tony Knapp er død

Honours

Southampton *

Football League Second Division The Football League Second Division was the second level division in the English football league system between 1892 and 1992. Following the foundation of the FA Premier League, the Football League divisions were renumbered and the third tier ...

runners-up: 1965–66

References

External links

Tony Knapp
Post War English & Scottish Football League A - Z Player's Transfer Database {{DEFAULTSORT:Knapp, Tony 1936 births 2023 deaths People from Newstead, Nottinghamshire English men's footballers Footballers from Nottinghamshire Men's association football defenders English Football League representative players English Football League players North American Soccer League (1968–1984) players Leicester City F.C. players Southampton F.C. players Coventry City F.C. players Los Angeles Wolves players Tranmere Rovers F.C. players Poole Town F.C. players English football managers Poole Town F.C. managers Knattspyrnufélag Reykjavíkur managers Iceland national football team managers Viking FK managers Fredrikstad FK managers SK Brann managers FK Vidar managers Sandnes Ulf managers English expatriate men's footballers English expatriate football managers English expatriate sportspeople in the United States Expatriate men's soccer players in the United States English expatriate sportspeople in Iceland Expatriate football managers in Iceland English expatriate sportspeople in Norway Expatriate football managers in Norway