Tony Cottee

At 58 years old, Tony Cottee has this physical status:

Antony Richard Cottee (born 11 July 1965 in Forest Gate, London), an English former professional footballer and boss who now works as a television football commentator. He was a striker from 1982 to 2001, most notably for West Ham United, Everton, and Leicester City.

He was capped seven times by England and competed in the Football League for Birmingham City, Norwich City, and Millwall.

He played for Selangor for a time and spent a year as Barnet's player-manager. He was involved in Everton's 1989 FA Cup Final loss to Liverpool and 2000 with Leicester City.

He had 579 league games and 226 goals (99 of which for Everton) in his career.

He played 712 games and 293 goals in all competitions.

He surpassed his hopes to score 200 league goals in his career but fell short of his target of 300 goals in all competitions.

Despite this, he was one of England's most prolific goalcorers in the 1980s and 1990s.

Personal life

Cottee has said that he meticulously maintains a scrapbook containing press cuttings of every goal he has achieved in his playing career.

He is now a commentator for Sky Sports and occasional pundit for Malaysian network Astro, as seen on its 2010 World Cup and Premier League studio coverage in Kuala Lumpur.

Cottee made a cameo appearance in the 2018 action film Final Score, in which he was assassinated on live television.

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Playing career

Cottee, a student at West Ham University, started his career against Tottenham Hotspur on January 1, 1983, scoring in the First Division for the first time. In the 1982–83 season, he played in eight games, scoring five goals. He made his name in the first squad in the 1983–84 season, when he was only 18, and scored 15 times in the league. He did even better in 1984-85, scoring 17 first Division goals. He had already scored a whopping 37 goals in the league by the age of 20.

He was a prolific goalscorer in his West Ham days, where he was named PFA Young Player of the Year in 1986, the year when West Ham finished third (their highest league finish to date) and was just four points away from winning the championship. He scored 20 times in the league during that season, but his strike partner Frank McAvennie did even better with 26 league goals. Despite this, the 46-goal strike team was the most consistent in the league this season.

Cottee's career saw him score 22 goals in 1986–87, the highest of his career. However, Frank McAvennie and company only scored seven league goals this season, contributing to a decrease in West Ham's form when they finished 15th. Cottee's 1987-88 goals, but McAvennie had been sold to Celtic early in the season, and the lack of a suitable replacement led to West Ham's disappointing finish 16th in the league. By this time, the 23-year-old Cottee had already played 212 league games and scored 92 goals for the Hammers.

When Cottee joined Everton in a £2.2 million contract on August 2, 1988, he was briefly the most expensive player to be signed by a British club (a fee that was negated by Ian Rush's return to Liverpool from Juventus later this month).

In a 4–0 home win over Newcastle United on August 27, 1988, his Everton debut in 1988, the first day of the 1988–89 First Division campaign, in which he scored a hat-trick. He had a further 10 league goals this season, but Everton finished eighth, despite being a top-four team and twice champions in the previous four seasons. However, they did qualify for the FA Cup final and were paired with Liverpool in Wembley on May 20, 1989. It was a close match, but Everton came home 3–2 in extra time in the end. Cottee and his coworkers had been hurt again in the season, this time to Nottingham Forest, who beat them 4–3 in the final of the Full Members Cup, but Cottee was able to get on the score sheet twice.

Cottee spent his first season at Goodison Park, working with Graeme Sharp, but Everton's third striker, Mike Newell, was brought on as Everton's third striker. Everton, who rose to the top of the league on October 21 and remained there until mid-November, lost their championship hopes and finished sixth, while Liverpool went to Liverpool. Cottee has scored 13 league goals in a season.

1990–91 was perhaps Everton's worst season in a decade. The Toffees third from last in the First Division was fired on October 31, 1990, and Howard Kendall (who had coached them to two league titles, an FA Cup, and a European Cup Winners' Cup in his first stint from 1981 to 1987) was promoted as his assistant. Everton's form improved under Kendall, who also qualified for the FA Cup quarter-finals and ouster Liverpool in the fifth round after two replays; Cottee was Everton's saviour in Liverpool's last game before manager Kenny Dalglish's resignation the next day. In the 1990–91 season, Cottee played ten league goals.

Cottee and his coworkers had a difficult time 1991-92. Following the sell-off of both Graeme Sharp and Mike Newell, he had new strike partners in Peter Beardsley and Mo Johnston by mid-November, and although the new look strikeforce was still struggling to meet their deadlines. Cottee was limited to eight goals from 24 games due to injuries, and Everton came in last place, placing the team third in the table. It was the first time since his debut season nine years ago that he had scored less than 10 league goals in a season.

Everton played in the inaugural FA Premier League from 1992 to 1993, and Cottee did better this time, scoring 12 goals.

He played 16 games in 1993–94, but Everton had a rough season, just seven years after being league champions. Everton's first two hat-tricks in the Premier League, the first being in a 4–2 home win over Sheffield United early in the season, and then in a 6–2 home win over Swindon Town in January.

Mike Walker, the club's new manager who arrived in January 1994, promised a restructured team, and Cottee was soon to be linked to his hometown, West Ham.

In a part swap for defender David Burrows plus cash, he returned to West Ham United on September 7, 1994. Everton boss Mike Walker had signed Nigerian Daniel Amokachi fresh from World Cup service and funded the transfer by selling Cottee, much to Everton supporters' disapproving. He had played 184 league games for the Toffees over the past six years, scoring 76 goals, but not win any major trophies. His overall record for league goals now stands at 164.

Cottee's second appearance for the Hammers led to his release after 54 minutes, but his first season with Upton Park saw 13 league goals as he helped West Ham bounce back from relegation and finish 14th in their first season under Harry Redknapp's leadership. He scored ten goals in 1995-96 as the Hammers finished 10th in the Premier League, their highest finish since 1986, but he then lost his place in the team to new arrivals Florin Raducio and Hugo Porfirio, who played just three games and failed to score in the Premier League before moving to Selangor Malaysia in 1996. He had scored 115 goals in West Ham over two spells. He had now scored for Everton, and he had now scored 187 league goals.

In 1996, he signed for Selangor, Malaysia's first trophy as a player, winning the Malaysian FA Cup for the first time as a player. He signed for Leicester City for £500,000, his first glimpse of European football at the age of 32, as Leicester's season's UEFA Cup came to a close conclusion. As the Foxes finished 10th, he played 19 league games and scored four goals, one of which came in a landslide victory over title-chasing Manchester United at Old Trafford on January 31, 1998. He spent time on loan at Birmingham City in Division One this season, and in his first glimpse of second-tier football, he scored a single goal. Leicester defeated Sunderland Cottee 3 goals in the semi-finals of the 1998–99 Football League Cup, with two in the first and one in the second) to help Leicester beat 3–2 on aggregate. However, Tottenham Hotspur lost the final to Tottenham Hotspur. He finally won a major trophy in England from 1999-2000, aged 34, as he helped Leicester beat Tranmere Rovers 2–1 in the Football League Cup final. He scored 13 goals in a single season until the 2015–16 season, when Jamie Vardy overtook his total figure. He stayed at Filbert Street until September 20, 2000, when he had played in 85 league games for the Foxes and scored 27 goals. He now has 214 goals in the English top division, making him the 17th highest goal scorer in England top flight football history.

Cottee's initial boss, Bryan Hamilton, came from Norwich City in September 2000, but the team didn't last long as Cottee refused to satisfy the demands made, scoring two goals against Blackpool in the League Cup and Sheffield United in the league.

Cottee resigned from Barnet, Cottee, Cottee's resignation on transfer deadline day. Cottee played for a different squad in each of England's top four divisions during the season, a rare feat last performed by goalkeeper Eric Nixon in 1986-87.

Management career

He took over as player-manager of Barnet, a team closer to his home in London after being released by Norwich on October 31, 2000. Barnet's first game with the club (7–0) defeated Blackpool, ending the club's poor form that had resulted in their relegation from the Football League. Cottee resigned on March 16, 2001, but John Still (who joined the club just before Cottee's arrival six months earlier) was unable to save the team from relegation. However, Cottee did have a record-breaking nine goals from 16 Division Three games.

International career

Cottee made his England debut against Sweden on September 10th, 1986, as a substitute, and went on to win 7 caps, beginning with a 2-0 victory over Scotland in the 1989 Rous Cup.

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