Andy Townsend
Andy Townsend was born in Maidstone, England, United Kingdom on July 23rd, 1963 and is the Soccer Player. At the age of 61, Andy Townsend biography, profession, age, height, weight, eye color, hair color, build, measurements, education, career, dating/affair, family, news updates, and networth are available.
At 61 years old, Andy Townsend has this physical status:
Andrew David Townsend (born 23 July 1963) is a former footballer and current co-commentator for BT Sport, who played in two World Cups for the Republic of Ireland. Starting his career at Welling United and then Weymouth, Townsend came to prominence at age 21 when he signed with Southampton.
In 1988, he moved on to Norwich City, before joining Chelsea two years later.
In 1993, he signed with Aston Villa and enjoyed four successful years before his transfer to Middlesbrough.
His final club was West Bromwich Albion, where he retired in 2000. Following his retirement as a player he became a football co-commentator.
Early life
Townsend was born in Maidstone, Kent, but grew up in Bexley, where he attended Upton Primary School in Bexleyheath, followed by Bexleyheath School.
Personal life
He is the son of former Charlton Athletic and Crystal Palace defender Don Townsend.
Townsend was a consultant for Harlequin Property, where he helps set up football schools at their Caribbean resorts. The company's proposed investment into Port Vale had set in motion plans for him to become a football advisor at the club, though nothing was to come of these talks.
He is patron of the George Coller Memorial Fund. He ran in the Great North Run in 2007, finishing in a time of 2 hours and 20 minutes.
Club career
He began his playing career in August 1980 with Welling United in the Athenian League, while working as a computer programmer for Greenwich Borough Council in south-east London. He had been signed by Weymouth in March 1984 for £13,500 after making 105 appearances for Welling.
He was signed by Lawrie McMenemy at Southampton for £35,000 in January 1985 and made his professional debut at Aston Villa on April 20, 1985, only to be barred in the aftermath of the Heysel Stadium tragedy.
He was in and out of the team over the next season, but he broke his leg in a pre-season friendly against his old club Weymouth in August 1986. He recovered and returned to fitness in January and rejoined the team the following year.
He was virtually everywhere in the Southampton midfield from 1987 to 1988, playing alongside Jimmy Case and Glenn Cockerill. He was a tenacious, hard-working midfielder with an eye on goal. When Nicholl sold him to First Division rivals Norwich City in August 1988 for £300,000.
He appeared on his first appearance in a 3–1 victory over Spurs on September 3rd, 1989, before replacing him as a replacement. With 36 league appearances (five as substitute) and five goals, he maintained his place in the Norwich midfield and ended the season on a high note. He made six FA Cup appearances against Port Vale in the Third Round on January 7, 1989, with two goals. He was a member of the Canaries' 1988–89 team, who finished fourth in the top flight and reached the FA Cup semi-finals. Townsend was shortlisted for the PFA Player of the Year award, which was won by Mark Hughes at the end of the season.
Norwich made a good fortune when they sold Townsend to Chelsea for £1,200,000 in July 1990.
He made 138 appearances for Chelsea, scoring 12 goals but winning no trophies (they never finished higher than 11th in the league while he was away), and then to Aston Villa in July 1993 for £2.1 million.
When Villa defeated Manchester United 3–1, he finally claimed some silverware. With a 3–0 victory over Leeds United in 1996, he captained Villa as they regained the trophy.
He played for the Villans in August 1997, just after the start of the 1997–98 season, earning eight league goals.
In his first season on Teesside, he made 37 appearances, scoring twice as Boro's promoted to the Premier League in his first season. He formed a fruitful partnership with Paul Gascoigne in Middlesbrough's first season back in the Premier League in 1998.
He found it difficult to join the first squad in the following season, and in 1999, he moved down a division to West Bromwich Albion for £50,000. Townsend's high wage demands prevented him from returning to Norwich or a loan with non-league Boston United.
He made 17 league appearances before retiring in July 2000, after Albion barely escaped relegation to Division Two in his one season as West Bromwich Albion.
Townsend's Chief Consultant, David Bolton, joined Bolton Wanderers as a consultant on April 21, 2016.
International career
Townsend was selected for the Republic of Ireland during his impressive season as a member of Norwich's successful season, making his debut against France in February 1989. Due to his Irish family roots, he qualified for Ireland.'
He appeared in the next year's World Cup in Italy, where he appeared in all five of Ireland's games. They qualified to the quarter-finals in the country's best-ever bid. The Irish drew their three group matches – against England, Egypt, and the Netherlands. Scoring a penalty in the shoot-out with Romania, his country was eventually defeated by a Salvatore Schillaci goal for the hosts. In those five games, they had only conceded three goals.
He was captain of the Ireland squad for the 1994 World Cup. Both four teams of Group E had four points to kill, but they were defeated by Mexico and drew with Norway. In the knockout stage, Ireland lost 2–0 to the Dutch at the Citrus Bowl.
Townsend was inducted into the FAI Hall of Fame on March 22, 2015.
Broadcasting career
Townsend's most notable position was as part of ITV Sport's live Champions League, FA Cup, and England international coverage. He took over Ron Atkinson as the channel's lead commentator, as well as his appearance as a studio pundit. He co-hosted Talksport's Weekend Sports Breakfast with Mike Parry on Sunday and also hosted the station's drive-time show on Fridays. Jon Gaunt, who was fired from calling a visitor a Nazi, was also hosting the mid-morning discussion on talkSPORT from 10 am to 1 p.m. on Friday. He left the station because he no longer wanted to commute from his Midlands home to the London studio. Along with Peter Beagrie, he also hosts ITV1's regional programme Soccer Night. Since winning the rights of the BBC to air top flight football on Saturday evening, Townsend was part of ITV's coverage of the Premier League. Townsend and host Adrian Chiles will not be retained by the radio after the company's deal came to an end in the summer of 2015, although the channel had lost Champions League broadcasting rights.
Since leaving ITV in 2015, he joined BT Sport as a co-commentator for their coverage of the Premier League, FA Cup, UEFA Champions League, and UEFA Europa League. He made his co-commentating debut on February 15, 2015, co-commentating on Arsenal's FA Cup fifth round against Middlesbrough alongside Ian Darke.
He has also appeared on BBC Radio 5 Live and written columns for the Daily Mail. Since 2006 FIFA World Cup 2004, Clive Tyldesley has been the commentator on numerous EA football games, including 2006 FIFA World Cup, UEFA Champions League 2006-2007, UEFA Euro 2008, 2014 FIFA World Cup Brazil, and most recently FIFA 17 to this game FIFA 17.