Tony Bentley

Anthony Bentley (born 20 December 1939) is an English footballer who played in the Football League for Stoke City and Southend United.[1]

Tony Bentley
Personal information
Full name Anthony Bentley[1]
Date of birth (1939-12-20) 20 December 1939[1]
Place of birth Stoke-on-Trent, England[1]
Position(s) Full back / Forward
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1958–1961 Stoke City 44 (15)
1961–1971 Southend United 381 (14)
1971–1973 Folkestone Town
1973–1974 Ashford Town (Kent)
Total 424 (29)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only

Career

Bentley was born in Trent Vale, Stoke-on-Trent,[2] and began his career with local side Stoke City making his senior debut in the 1958–59 season.[1] He played as a forward in 1959–60 scoring nine goals in 13 matches. Under new manager Tony Waddington in 1960–61 he scored six goals in 35 matches but Waddington was seemingly unimpressed by Bentley and he was sold to Third Division side Southend United in July 1961.[1]

The "Shrimpers" manager Ted Fenton converted Bentley into a full-back and he became a consistent performer for the Roots Hall side in the 1960s playing ten seasons for the club racking up 419 appearances. He was given a testimonial match against his old club Stoke in 1966.[1] After his time at Southend he played non-League football with Folkestone Town and Ashford Town (Kent), with whom he made 34 league appearances during season 1974–75, before emigrating to Canada.

Career statistics

Source:[3]

Club Season League FA Cup League Cup Total
DivisionAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoals
Stoke City 1958–59 Second Division 200020
1959–60 Second Division 13900139
1960–61 Second Division 2866010356
Total 441560105115
Southend United 1961–62 Third Division 4121010432
1962–63 Third Division 4612010491
1963–64 Third Division 4502010480
1964–65 Third Division 4220041461
1965–66 Third Division 4613230523
1966–67 Fourth Division 4641010484
1967–68 Fourth Division 3411020371
1968–69 Fourth Division 4534020513
1969–70 Fourth Division 700060130
1970–71 Fourth Division 2902010320
Total 3811415223141917
Career total 4242921224146932

References

  1. Matthews, Tony (1994). The Encyclopaedia of Stoke City. Lion Press. ISBN 0-9524151-0-0.
  2. Maurice Golesworth (1965). Soccer Who's Who. The Sportsmans Book Club.
  3. Tony Bentley at the English National Football Archive (subscription required)
  • Tony Bentley at Post War English & Scottish Football League A–Z Player's Database
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.