great albion signings no. 3

great albion signings no. 3

Tony Morley started his career with Preston before moving to Burnley, from where he was signed in June 1979 for £200,000. He made several appearances in the following season including one in front of the magistrates for receiving stolen goods, but made his name during the championship season. Here his attacks dowm the right wing were a strong feature of Villa's game - he laid on many goals for Peter Withe and Gary Shaw and wasn't averse to scoring the odd spectacular effort himself. His strike against Everton won him BBCs "Goal of The Season" and there were several others.

In the following season if anything Morley improved, until a League Cup quarterfinal against Albion. Here, for the first half he was brilliant and at times three men were marking him, but following a foul on him, Morley talked his way into a red card. Following suspension he was never the same player and although he'd performed credibly for England on several occasions was overlooked for the 1982 World Cup squad.

The 1982-83 season saw Morley's performance declining even further as he began to see his place in the team threatened by the fast emergent Mark Walters. Eventually he transferred to the Albion for £75,000 in December 1984.

He obviously made a big impression at the Hawthorns, and was soon on loan at Sty. Andrews. Guess who was manager there at the time ? Returning to the Albion he was promptly farmed out again, earning his corn with such clubs as Den Haag, Seiko (Hong Kong) and Tampa Bay Rowdies. Where he is now is anybody's guess.