Tony Barton (footballer)

Tony Barton

Anthony Edward "Tony" Barton ( born April 8, 1937 in Sutton, London, † August 20 1993 in Southampton ) was an English football player and coach. He especially as manager of Aston Villa, where he initially as assistant to Ron Saunders, the English Championship 1981 won and the "Villans " in the season is best known for it in after the sudden resignation of Saunders to victory in the European Cup of Champions and in January 1983 Supercup led.

Sports career

Playing career

The active career of the born in south London district of Sutton Barton was initially without notable highlights. In the settled also in the English capital Fulham, who only played in the second division since 1952, Barton came after his promotion to the senior squad May 1954 rarely in the first team to use. Usually placed on the right wing position, he was back in the pecking order behind the long-standing active in Fulham Arthur Stevens and played until 1959 just 49 league games. He had on April 24, 1954 - on the final day of the season 1953/54 - in the 2:4 defeat to Lincoln City FC given his debut and his second appearance on March 5, 1955 against Ipswich Town ( 4-1 ) scored the first league goal. In his last full season 1958/59 for the club he contributed 15 league games and scored two goals on his way to second division runners-up and the associated rise in the highest English league.

There, however, he completed a match for Fulham and instead he joined in December 1959 Erstligakonkurrenten Nottingham Forest. In Nottingham, he was just one year and his 22 Erstligaeinsätze there were Bartons single appearances in the English top flight. In December 1961, he hired at Portsmouth FC, who had only recently been relegated to the third division. On the south coast of England Barton finally found his athletic luck, returned immediately to the new club in the Second Division and completed until the end of his active career in 1967 a total of 130 league games in which reach 34 goals him. Fluent his transition has been in the coaching profession and as an assistant on the staff of Portsmouth FC he gained first experiences in this regard.

Coaching career

In 1980, Barton took at Aston Villa the Kotrainerstelle on the side of Ron Saunders, one of his companions at the beginning of 1960 in Portsmouth, at. Under Saunders ' lead Aston Villa won the English championship in 1981 and 1982 when he claimed streaky results in the domestic league, but promising results surprisingly resigned in early February in the European Champions Cup with immediate effect, Barton succeeds. First, on an interim basis and hired from 1 April 1982 as a permanent head coach, put Aston Villa Barton its success in the European national champion competition continued and in the end won the final 1-0 against Bayern Munich. In the rear view Barton's share of the title was often low, as the winning team was formed in the core of Saunders and Barton ( only ) had relied on the well-established mechanisms. Other analysts, however, rated Barton headed manner expressly favorably and referred it to the next success in the Supercup against Barcelona (0-1, 3-0 aet), which was retracted after all, about a year after Saunders ' resignation. These succeeded in Barton, on " 6 Best " attributed the team after a disappointing eleventh place in the 1981/82 season of the year in the. Recently also the tenth place in the 1983/84 season was not to be equated with an athletic disaster, especially since the League Cup semi-finals had been achieved. However, this was not enough for the demands of the president Doug Ellis and so Barton was released in July 1984.

Immediately after his resignation at Aston Villa Barton took over the fourth division Northampton Town a new head coach job. After a heart attack, he resigned from that post in April 1985, and after his recovery he was employed until May 1988 as assistant to Chris Nicholl. In the same role, he later returned to old stamping ground to Portsmouth and after the dismissal of Frank Burrows he held in February 1991 on an interim basis, the head coach office. His past actions were the scouting area before he succumbed to a heart attack in Southampton at the age of only 56 years.

Title / Awards

  • European Champions Cup ( 1): 1982
  • European Supercup ( 1): 1982
Fulham F.C. Nottingham Forest F.C. Portsmouth F.C. Aston Villa F.C. Northampton Town F.C. 1980–81 in English football 1981–82 European Cup Lincoln City F.C. Ipswich Town F.C. 1981–82 in English football 1982–83 in English football 1983–84 in English football Scout (Sport)
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