| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Anthony Waddington[1] | ||
| Date of birth | (1924-11-09)9 November 1924 | ||
| Place of birth | Manchester, England[1] | ||
| Date of death | 21 January 1994(1994-01-21) (aged 69)[1] | ||
| Position | Wing-half | ||
| Youth career | |||
| Manchester United | |||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
| 1946–1953 | Crewe Alexandra | 178 | (8) |
| Managerial career | |||
| 1960–1977 | Stoke City | ||
| 1967 | →Cleveland Stokers(USA) | ||
| 1979–1981 | Crewe Alexandra | ||
| * Club domestic league appearances and goals | |||
Anthony Waddington (9 November 1924 – 21 January 1994) was an Englishfootball player andmanager. He managed bothCrewe Alexandra andStoke City.[1]
Waddington had a seven-year playing career withCrewe Alexandra before becoming a coach atStoke City. He progressed to assistant manager toFrank Taylor and took his position in June 1960. He set about staving off the threat of relegation before bringing back club legendStanley Matthews in an effort to rekindle the club's supporter base. It worked well and he had enough money to bring in a number of established veterans as Stoke took theFootball League Second Division title in1962–63 and reached the1964 Football League Cup Final, losing out to Leicester City.
More fine signings followed as Stoke enjoyed great success at the beginning of the 1970s reaching two FA Cup semi-finals, playing in theUEFA Cup twice and winning their first major trophy, theFootball League Cup in1972. Stoke then nearly won the First Division in1974–75 but after the Butler Street Stand roof fell off in a strong storm at theVictoria Ground Stoke had to sell their best players to cover the repair costs and a despondent Waddington quit in March 1977 with Stoke heading for relegation. He later had a two-year spell atCrewe Alexandra before becoming associate director of Stoke in 1991 until his death in 1994.
Manchester born Waddington was an amateur withManchester United before joiningCrewe Alexandra just after the end ofWorld War II. He played atwing-half for the "Alex" playing in seven seasons in theFootball League Third Division North making 193 appearances scoring eight goals.[1] During the war he served with the Royal Navy.
He joinedStoke City as a coach in 1952 and did well enough to be promoted to assistant manager toFrank Taylor and when Taylor was sacked in 1960 Waddington was given his position. His first task was to prevent a poor Stoke side slipping into the Third Division in1960–61, achieving this by a mere three points.[1] He brought in a defensive tactic to adverse Stoke's slide which became known as 'Waddington's Wall'.[1] But Waddington knew that this wouldn't bring back the crowds back to theVictoria Ground and so he decided something needed to be done. He pulled off a master stroke after paying £3,000 toBlackpool for the returning 46-year-oldStanley Matthews. Crowds instantly arrived in large numbers with Matthews first match back againstHuddersfield Town more than 35,000 turned up a good 15,000 more than the last home match.[1] A promotion push could not be sustained in1961–62 but the feeling around the club had changed dramatically.
Promotion was achieved in a thrilling1962–63 season which saw Stoke take theSecond Division title. With the euphoria of winning promotion over, Waddington knew that his side had to be strengthened to have any hope of surviving in the First Division and he broke the club's record transfer forPeter Dobing. He also brought inJohn Ritchie from non-leagueKettering Town he would go on to become the club's record goalscorer. Stoke stayed up easily in1963–64 and also reached the1964 Football League Cup Final losing a 2 legged affair toLeicester City. Stoke then had several mid-table seasons before Waddington brought in World Cup winnersGeorge Eastham andGordon Banks to the club in1966–67. However two poor seasons followed1967–68 and1968–69 which saw Stoke narrowly avoid relegation. But another raid in the transfer market saw Stoke fortunes turn around dramatically, as Waddington brought inJimmy Greenhoff and re-signed John Ritchie this combined with local playersAlan Bloor,Denis Smith,Alan Dodd,Mike Pejic andJackie Marsh plus the emergence ofTerry Conroy,John Mahoney saw Stoke enjoy their best period in their history.[1]
They reached theFA Cup semi-finals two seasons running in1970–71 and in1971–72 losing both controversially toArsenal but the biggest achievement was guiding Stoke to their first major trophy, winning the1972 League Cup beatingChelsea at Wembley.[1] This saw Stoke able to attract some famous players to the club such asAlan Hudson,Geoff Hurst andPeter Shilton and by1974–75 Stoke had become one of the best sides in the country playing an exciting brand of attacking football which saw them nearly win their first English league title.[1]
But disaster struck in January 1976 as winds of hurricane force batteredStoke-on-Trent and the Victoria Ground was badly damaged. The roof of the Butler street stand collapsed and Stoke had to play a league match against Middlesbrough at nearbyVale Park whilst repair work was carried out. To pay for the repairs the club had to sell their best players, such asJimmy Greenhoff toManchester United,Alan Hudson toArsenal andMike Pejic toEverton.[1] Waddington had to play inexperienced players in1976–77 and with the side heading for relegation he left in March 1977. He had spent 25 years at theVictoria Ground as manager, assistant and coach and is considered to be the club's greatest manager having helped them win their first major trophy in 1972.[1]
He then spent two years out of the game before having had a two-year spell in charge ofCrewe Alexandra from 1979 to 1981. He returned to Stoke when he was appointed an associate director of the club in 1991 – a position he retained until his death in January 1994 at the age of 69.[1] His sonSteve was also a footballer.
Source:[2]
| Club | Season | League | FA Cup | Total | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Division | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | ||
| Crewe Alexandra | 1946–47 | Third Division North | 23 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 23 | 3 |
| 1947–48 | Third Division North | 42 | 3 | 4 | 0 | 46 | 3 | |
| 1948–49 | Third Division North | 41 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 44 | 1 | |
| 1949–50 | Third Division North | 39 | 1 | 5 | 0 | 44 | 1 | |
| 1950–51 | Third Division North | 25 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 28 | 0 | |
| 1951–52 | Third Division North | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 0 | |
| 1952–53 | Third Division North | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | |
| Career Total | 178 | 8 | 15 | 0 | 193 | 8 | ||
| Team | From | To | Record | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| P | W | D | L | Win % | |||
| Stoke City | 1 June 1960 | 22 March 1977 | 764 | 265 | 216 | 283 | 034.7 |
| Crewe Alexandra | 1 June 1979 | 31 July 1981 | 93 | 24 | 27 | 42 | 025.8 |
| Total[3] | 857 | 289 | 243 | 325 | 033.7 | ||
Stoke City