| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Anthony Charles Adcock[1] | ||
| Date of birth | (1963-03-27)27 March 1963 (age 62)[2] | ||
| Place of birth | Bethnal Green, London, England[1] | ||
| Height | 5 ft 10 in (1.78 m)[2][3] | ||
| Position | Forward | ||
| Youth career | |||
| Colchester United | |||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
| 1981–1987 | Colchester United | 210 | (98) |
| 1987–1988 | Manchester City | 15 | (5) |
| 1988–1989 | Northampton Town | 72 | (30) |
| 1989–1991 | Bradford City | 38 | (6) |
| 1991–1992 | Northampton Town | 35 | (10) |
| 1992–1994 | Peterborough United | 111 | (35) |
| 1994–1995 | Luton Town | 2 | (0) |
| 1995–1999 | Colchester United | 108 | (28) |
| 1999 | →Heybridge Swifts (loan) | ||
| 1999–2000 | Heybridge Swifts | ||
| Total | 591 | (212) | |
| * Club domestic league appearances and goals | |||
Anthony Charles Adcock (born 27 March 1963) is an English formerfootballer who played as aforward inthe Football League forColchester United, where he holds the goalscoring record with 149 goals in all competitions for the club in two spells. Adcock also played forManchester City,Northampton Town in two stints,Bradford City,Peterborough United andLuton Town. He scored 249 goals in just over 700 appearances throughout his career.
Born inBethnal Green, London, Adcock began his career atColchester United, where at the age of 18 years, he made hisFootball League debut on 2 May 1981 in the final game of the season, a 1–0 win overCarlisle United atLayer Road.[4] He opened his goalscoring account in only his third league start with a brace in a 3–0 home victory againstTorquay United on 18 September 1981.[5]
Adcock became a prolific scorer for Colchester, and established himself in the first-team squad following the death ofJohn Lyons and the departure ofKevin Bremner. In the1984–85 season, having scored 17 goals and 26 goals in the previous two seasons respectively, Adcock was on course to break the club's seasonal and overall scoring records, having scored 24 league goals in just 27 games up until January 1985. However, after scoring ahat-trick againstChesterfield, he suffered a knee injury in training that kept him out for the remainder of the season. This was particularly unfortunate for Adcock as it had been rumoured thatLiverpool were on the verge of making an offer for him. On his return from injury, he remained with the club for two further seasons, scoring 15 and 11 goals as he played his last game for the club on 17 May 1987, aplay-off second leg againstWolverhampton Wanderers atMolineux, a game which the U's drew 0–0 but lost 2–0 on aggregate following a first-leg home defeat.[3][6] Until this point, Adcock had scored 98 league goals in 210 outings.[7][8][9]
After missing out on promotion with Colchester, Adcock finally got the chance to move to a bigger club whenManchester City picked him up for £75,000 in June 1987, but only made 15 appearances for City, scoring five goals, including being one of three players to score a hat-trick in a 10–1 thrashing ofHuddersfield Town on 7 November 1987.[3][10]
In January 1988, Adcock was signed byNorthampton Town in exchange forTrevor Morley[8] and the £85,000 fee was a record figure for the club at the time.[11] During his first spell at Northampton, he netted 30 goals in 72 league appearances, but when the Cobblers were relegated to theFourth Division in the1988–89 season, he secured a £190,000 move toBradford City in October 1989.[2][3]
Having scored on his debut for after just 21 minutes for Bradford, he only managed a further five league goals for the club.[12] The Bantams were relegated to theThird Division and Northampton re-signed Adcock for £75,000 in January 1991.[3] The club's financial plight proved to be a blessing for Adcock as he scored 10 goals in 35 appearances, eventually being offloaded toPeterborough United in a £35,000 deal.[3]
Adcock opened his scoring account for the Posh on 11 January 1992, netting a brace in a 4–1 win overFulham.[13] He scored 35 league goals in total for Peterborough in 111 appearances from 1992 to 1994, aiding the club to promotion to the newly restructuredDivision One via the play-offs in 1992.[14]
When Peterborough were relegated from the First Division, Adcock was sold toLuton Town for £20,000 in August 1994, where he could only manage two substitute appearances, before being persuaded to return to Colchester United by managerSteve Wignall. Adcock returned in the summer of 1994, and he bagged another 28 league goals, featuring for the club atWembley Stadium twice in as many years, losing in the1997 Football League Trophy final on penalties to Carlisle United, and gaining promotion toDivision Two in the1998 Football League Third Division play-off final win over Torquay.[3][15][16]
Adcock scored his last goal for the U's in an infamousFA Cup first round defeat byBedlington Terriers, coming off the bench to score a consolation goal in the 88th minute of the 4–1 trouncing.[17] He wound down his career by featuring on loan forHeybridge Swifts before joining the club permanently following his release from Colchester in 1999.[3][9]
Adcock was inducted into the Colchester United 'Hall of Fame' in 2008. He was inducted during a ceremony following Colchester's final game at Layer Road prior to relocating to theColchester Community Stadium.[9] In 2012, he received the same honour at Peterborough United.[18]
Peterborough United
Colchester United
Individual
