Gerry Wolstenholme's Blog - Posts Tagged "plymouth-argyle-fc"
From lifeguard to England international goalkeeper:
Anthony Keith (Tony) Waiters 1937-2020
Tony Waiters was born in Southport on 1 February 1937. As a schoolboy he played his football at centre half but in joining the RAF for National Service he became a goalkeeper at which position he won one England amateur international cap in a 3-1 victory over Luxembourg on 24 May 1959 and he was a trialist for the 1956 Great Britain Olympic team; he eventually lost out to Harry Sharratt, who had been with Blackpool in 1952/53.
He had played for a variety of teams such as Bishop Auckland, Southport amateurs, various RAF teams, Middlesbrough second team in the North Eastern League, English Universities and a Midlands amateur side but it was from Macclesfield Town that Blackpool signed him as an amateur in August 1959 after being alerted to his potential by Verdi Godwin, a journeyman professional footballer who lived in Blackpool. He was a graduate of Loughborough College of Physical Education and was said to have been signed by Blackpool with a view to him being a replacement for ‘the aging George Farm’. He also worked as a lifeguard on Southport beach.
After the 1959/60 pre-season practice games, one critic commented, ‘Some young players of great promise will be jockeying for places, and I think the fans will see such “fresh faces” in action as Leslie Lea, Brian Tyrell, Tony Waiters, Ean Cuthbert, Geoff Barnes and Alan Burrows before long.’ He was vying for a position with another young goalkeeper, Gordon West, but it was Waiters who earned the call up for his debut for the Central League side on 22 August 1959. Blackpool lost 1-0 to Bolton Wanderers reserves.
He made a favourable impression in the Central League side and he was signed as a professional on 2 October 1959 when he commented, ‘Already I have found a big difference between the amateur and the professional game. Even in the Central League the game is faster and calls for unrelaxing concentration.’ His weekly wage was £16 in the summer, £17 in the winter plus an extra £3 if and when he played in the League side.
And he earned that £3 bonus for the first time when he made his League debut on 26 December 1959 in 1 0 home win over Blackburn Rovers. He replaced George Farm who thought that his own return to Scotland would be imminent once his deputy had won his spurs in first class football. He retained his place for the following game, a 3-1 victory over Fulham. Farm then returned for what were to be his final two League games for Blackpool before Waiters took over for the remainder of the season.
And when he was selected for the game at Wolverhampton Wanderers on 6 February 1960 after Farm had moved to Queen of the South he said, ‘I witnessed a mixture of delight and apprehension on the coach journey from Birmingham to the Molineux ground, those old butterflies started fluttering in my stomach but in the dressing room I found something which helped to ease the nervous strain. It was a telegram from George Farm wishing me good fortune. I was still somewhat overawed by the size and noise of the crowd.’ Blackpool drew 1 1 and he was ‘applauded off the field, a sporting appreciation from the home crowd for the agility, daring, precise timing and good handling he showed in defying the Wolves attack’. He ended the 1959/60 season having played 17 League games and 24 Central League games.
He had a wage increase for the 1960/61 season when his terms were £17 in the summer and £20 in the winter. And he began the season as the first choice goalkeeper and he played the first 21 games before an unaccountable loss of form by Christmas 1960 cost him his place in the first team as Blackpool made a change and gave Gordon West his first taste of League football. He said of the situation ‘My other job as a part time teacher has certainly helped me to overcome the gloom that followed my loss of form and subsequent loss of a first team place.’
He returned to action in the Central League side and he was injured in the game against Sheffield Wednesday reserves on 22 April 1961 and he had to be stretchered off the field with his legs tied together. Sammy Salt went in goal as Blackpool won 2-1. The 1960/61 season saw him play 23 League games, two League Cup ties and 17 Central League games.
It was an unhappy Tony Waiters at the end of the season as, after having lost that first team spot to West, he uncharacteristically commented in July 1961, ‘The quicker I get to another club the better. I never want to play for Blackpool again.’ Fortunately the Blackpool directors were having none of that and his wage for the 1961/62 season was increased to £25 per week all year round plus an extra £5 when he played in the League side and these terms were to last for two seasons.
He started the 1961/62 season in the Central League side and although he won back his first team place against Bolton Wanderers on 14 October 1961 he still insisted, ‘I would still like to get away from Blackpool.’ He was apparently feeling that there was a difference between the amateur and professional game as he commented, ‘There is not the same sort of social life as you find in the amateur ranks.’ He admitted that he had only continued playing for the club because when the 1961/62 season opened Blackpool had not signed a replacement for him and he said, ’I did not want to see them in a spot so I signed a month’s contract, and since then I have signed a 12 month contract. But I still hope to get away one day. I should like to start again with a fresh club, although perhaps even further disillusionment lies in store for me if that ever comes about.’ In anticipation of leaving the club, he had given up his part time teaching post at Highfield School.
He injured a shoulder on 10 March 1962 after only 10 minutes against Leicester City and he played the second half of the game in the forward line, ‘given a roving commission, presumably for nuisance value if nothing else’. The injury caused him to miss the remainder of the 1961/62 season. Ironically the injury occurred just two weeks after Gordon West had signed for Everton and Blackpool had signed a replacement in Bryan Harvey from Newcastle United. Manager Ronnie Suart said of the injury, which happened when Waiters toppled over Leicester centre forward Ken Keyworth, ‘The fracture should have healed by the time the muscle fibres have healed. But it could take another three weeks, and I don’t expect he will be fit much before Easter.’ He was not fit by Easter and he said three weeks later, ‘The shoulder is giving me a bit of trouble. I can’t lift very well with my left arm or raise it fully yet. Still, it is remarkable what treatment can do for an injury like this. I shall just have to see how the shoulder responds in the next few days.’ He played in 20 League games, two FA Cup ties, three League Cup ties and 12 Central League games in the 1961/62 season.
He received a wage increase for the 1962/63 season when his weekly terms were improved to £30 per week all year round plus an additional £5 when he played in the League side. And he proved to be an ever-present in that season, playing in 42 League games, two FA Cup ties and three League Cup ties. And he got an honourable mention in the third round FA Cup replay against Norwich City on 6 March 1963 when ‘In the first half hour, where there was only one team in it (and that wasn’t Blackpool), only Waiters’ acrobatics and the superb policing of Gratrix stopped Norwich running riot.’ Unfortunately it was all to no avail as Blackpool lost 3-1 after extra-time.
He broke a finger in a 3-0 defeat by Manchester United at Old Trafford on 11 September 1963 and although he was out of the game, he was selected for the Football League against the League of Ireland in Dublin on 2 October 1963. However, he had no doubt about his fitness and he said, ’I’m certain I’ll be fit in time. I’ve been trying my hand out this week and it feels reasonably comfortable, although the finger is still in a splint. I don’t know whether I’ll be completely fit for the League Cup match with Charlton on Wednesday night, but I should certainly be all right for next Saturday’s game at Stoke and for the Monday match against Fulham.’
And of his selection for the Football League he commented, ’I’m on top of the world about it. One always hopes for these things, but when they come they still leave you a bit out of breath. I’m determined, as every player who represents the League or his country is determined, to put up a good show. But, you never know what can happen in a football match.’ Finally on the transformation that had taken place in his career, out of the team and wanting to leave only a couple of years earlier to being the club’s number one choice again, he remarked, ‘At that time, when things were going badly, I don’t think I understood the professional game properly, perhaps because I joined the paid ranks at a comparatively late age. If such a situation ever arose again, and I fervently hope it won’t, I think I would approach it with a very different attitude. You live and learn.’
He was named as reserve for England in the game against FIFA at Wembley for the FA Centenary on 23 October 1963, a game that England won 2-1 [I had a ticket for this game but suddenly an important meeting cropped up so I had to give the ticket to my Dad!]. And he was included in a squad of 22 players called up by England for training in December 1963. He was also selected for the English League side to play the Scottish League at Roker Park on 18 March 1964. The game was drawn 2-2.
After the inter League game there was pressure for him to be given a full England cap and Ronnie Suart, who went to Roker Park, commented, ’I thought on his showing that he did sufficient to justify his inclusion in the full England side against Scotland. I think he proved at last that he is on a par with Gordon Banks of Leicester. He is worth every consideration, and when the team is chosen at the end of the month it must be a very close thing between Tony and Gordon.’ In the end it was Banks who got the nod. For Blackpool he only missed two League games during the 1963/64 season as he played 39 League games, two FA Cup ties and one League Cup tie.
His weekly wage for the 1964/65 season was increased to £35 all year round plus an extra £5 when he played in the League side.
Unusually in a match, he made two penalty saves from Billy Bremner against Leeds United on 7 September 1964, which prompted Ronnie Suart to say ’There’s no better goalkeeper in England today.’ Blackpool won the game 4-0.
He finally made his England debut in a 3-1 victory over the Republic of Ireland in Dublin on 24 May 1964 and then he went on the England tour of North and South America in the 1964 close season and he replaced Gordon Banks for the game against Brazil at Rio de Janeiro on 30 May when Brazil won 5-1.
Continually vying with Banks for the England goalkeeping spot, he played in a 2 2 draw with Belgium at Wembley on 21 October 1964 and followed this with a game against Wales on 18 November when England won 2-1 [I was delighted to have been at both games for, as a goalkeeper myself in those days, Waiters was my boyhood idol]. Representative honours continued to come as he played for the Football League against the Irish League at The Oval, Belfast, on 28 October 1964 when England won 4-0 with a Frank Wignall hat-trick and a goal from Terry Paine and then he played his fifth and what turned out to be his final international against Holland in Amsterdam on 9 December 1964 when the game was drawn 1-1.
For Blackpool he was an ever-present in the 1964/65 season, playing 42 League games, one FA Cup tie and two League Cup ties. And he received a wage increase for the 1965/66 season when his weekly wage was to be £40 all year round plus an extra £10 when he played in the League side.
Despite being the regular first choice he was still unsettled and he had a transfer request refused in December 1965. Staying loyal to the club, he stated that he would not be renewing the request but added, ‘I still feel the same way about moving, I would like to leave Blackpool, but I am not putting in another transfer request. I don’t think there would be any point in doing so at the moment. It’s true that I may speak to Mr Suart again in two or three weeks or whenever I get round to it. But I haven’t decided on my definite course of action.’ His contract was due to finish at the end of the 1965/66 season but Blackpool held a one-year option.
He was left out of the side for the first time since September 1963 after two so-called ’under-par performances’ in two FA Cup ties against Manchester City for the 0 0 draw with Fulham on 29 January 1966 [I was there at Craven Cottage]. He did not renew his transfer request and said, ’I am not going to renew my request just because I have been left out of the side this week. This is not the time to do so. I have been given a few days off and I intend to forget football completely. It’s a strain keeping goal in a side which has been threatened with relegation for the past four years or so — and the strain is beginning to tell. I need a break.’ Manager Ron Suart commented on leaving out Waiters and Johnny Green, ‘As far as Tony is concerned it is a very long time since he was out of the team and I think a rest from football will do him a lot of good. Similarly it will do Johnny no harm to miss a game. Both have lost a little of their edge.’
On the Monday following the Fulham game Suart commented, ’Waiters has been to see me and is quite satisfied that we are resting him for his own good and that it will benefit him after so many consecutive appearances. [He had made 108 consecutive League and Cup appearances.]’ He added, ’Alan [Taylor] deserves another game for his performance on Saturday, where he did quite well.’ After two games Waiters was back in the side, despite that fact that Alan Taylor kept two clean sheets in two 0-0 draws! And he completed the season having played 40 League games, two FA Cup ties and two League Cup ties in the 1965/66 season.
He was selected by Alf Ramsey as one of the original 40 players selected for the 1966 World Cup but when the final 22 were chosen he was left out of the squad. He was, however, asked to remain on standby.
In a pre-season friendly game against Preston North End on 8 August 1966 he earned the headlines with ’Waiters keeps ‘Pool in front – Great saves foil North End Rally’ as Blackpool won 2-1. At the time he was noted as being on the transfer list at his own request.
In what turned out to be his final season at Bloomfield Road, he played 35 League games, one FA Cup tie and five League Cup ties in the 1966/67 season as Blackpool found themselves relegated to Division Two. Then he decided to retire and the club cancelled his registration on 30 June 1967 after he had appeared in 258 League games, 10 FA Cup ties and 18 League Cup ties, a grand total of 286 games.
Taking up coaching, he worked for the Football Association as a Regional Coach, and in January 1969 he joined Liverpool as coach for the club's youth development program. Then in 1970, he answered a cry from Burnley when an injury to their goalkeeper Peter Mellor led to him coming out of retirement. After making another 40 appearances, he finally retired in 1972.
By that time he had made a name for himself as a coach and he was immediately appointed FA North West regional coach and he later became a member of FIFA’s Panel of Instructors as well as being an English Staff Coach.
Thereafter he had a number of appointments, director of coaching at Coventry City in December 1971, a post he held until March 1972 and coach of the England Youth Under-18 team that won the European Championship in Italy in 1973 by defeating East Germany 3-2.
He was appointed manager of Plymouth Argyle in October 1972 and he remained at the club until April 1977. He led them to the League Cup semi-finals in 1973/74 when they lost 3-1 on aggregate to Manchester City and he guided the club to second place and promotion from Division Three (now League One) the following season, when Paul Mariner and Billy Rafferty combined for 43 goals..
He moved to Canada to manage Vancouver Whitecaps later in 1977 and he won the North American Soccer League’s ‘Coach of the Year’ for 1978. And he coached the Whitecaps to the North American Soccer League championship in 1979 when they upset the New York Cosmos en route to victory in Soccer Bowl '79, the NASL championship.
He was appointed coach to the Canadian national side in 1981 and in 1984 he was coach to the Canadian Olympic side that reached the tournament quarter-finals. And in 1985 he was the Canadian National Coach as the team were CONCACAF champions and he was still in the post when Canada reached the 1986 World Cup Finals for the only time in their history. He left the post later in 1986 but returned for a further spell in 1990 and 1991.
He was very highly regarded in North America and as well as his coaching commitments he created his company World of Soccer in the 1980s, producing a complete series of coaching books. He continued to coach children and young adults, helping them pursue their soccer goals and moulding players for the future. He was appointed the first Director of the National Soccer Coaches Association of America's (NSCAA) Goalkeeping Institute, stepping down in 2006. He remained a National Staff Coach of the NSCAA and U.S. Soccer.
He was regarded as a visionary coach and a manager well ahead of his time and he was inducted into the Canadian Soccer Hall of Fame in 2001 and into the British Columbia Sports Hall of Fame in 2019.
As a former Pilgrims' manager he returned to Plymouth to watch the League One match between Argyle and Rochdale on Saturday, February 23, 2019 at Home Park. A lunch was also held in his honour at the Duke of Cornwall Hotel in Plymouth.
He died on 10 November 2020. Former Plymouth player, and one of the club’s Legends, Paul Hart, paid tribute to him with ‘The world is a poorer place this morning with the devastating news that the great Tony Waiters has sadly passed away at the age of 83. Tony has left a legacy that will be remembered by many across the world. His achievements in football are seconded only by his devotion to his lovely family. Our thoughts are with his wife Anne and their two children Scott and Victoria. RIP Tony. I am honoured to have met you.’ And he is fondly remembered on both sides of the Atlantic as an outstanding contributor to the game of football and he will always have his place in the annals of the history of Blackpool Football Club.
Tony Waiters was born in Southport on 1 February 1937. As a schoolboy he played his football at centre half but in joining the RAF for National Service he became a goalkeeper at which position he won one England amateur international cap in a 3-1 victory over Luxembourg on 24 May 1959 and he was a trialist for the 1956 Great Britain Olympic team; he eventually lost out to Harry Sharratt, who had been with Blackpool in 1952/53.
He had played for a variety of teams such as Bishop Auckland, Southport amateurs, various RAF teams, Middlesbrough second team in the North Eastern League, English Universities and a Midlands amateur side but it was from Macclesfield Town that Blackpool signed him as an amateur in August 1959 after being alerted to his potential by Verdi Godwin, a journeyman professional footballer who lived in Blackpool. He was a graduate of Loughborough College of Physical Education and was said to have been signed by Blackpool with a view to him being a replacement for ‘the aging George Farm’. He also worked as a lifeguard on Southport beach.
After the 1959/60 pre-season practice games, one critic commented, ‘Some young players of great promise will be jockeying for places, and I think the fans will see such “fresh faces” in action as Leslie Lea, Brian Tyrell, Tony Waiters, Ean Cuthbert, Geoff Barnes and Alan Burrows before long.’ He was vying for a position with another young goalkeeper, Gordon West, but it was Waiters who earned the call up for his debut for the Central League side on 22 August 1959. Blackpool lost 1-0 to Bolton Wanderers reserves.
He made a favourable impression in the Central League side and he was signed as a professional on 2 October 1959 when he commented, ‘Already I have found a big difference between the amateur and the professional game. Even in the Central League the game is faster and calls for unrelaxing concentration.’ His weekly wage was £16 in the summer, £17 in the winter plus an extra £3 if and when he played in the League side.
And he earned that £3 bonus for the first time when he made his League debut on 26 December 1959 in 1 0 home win over Blackburn Rovers. He replaced George Farm who thought that his own return to Scotland would be imminent once his deputy had won his spurs in first class football. He retained his place for the following game, a 3-1 victory over Fulham. Farm then returned for what were to be his final two League games for Blackpool before Waiters took over for the remainder of the season.
And when he was selected for the game at Wolverhampton Wanderers on 6 February 1960 after Farm had moved to Queen of the South he said, ‘I witnessed a mixture of delight and apprehension on the coach journey from Birmingham to the Molineux ground, those old butterflies started fluttering in my stomach but in the dressing room I found something which helped to ease the nervous strain. It was a telegram from George Farm wishing me good fortune. I was still somewhat overawed by the size and noise of the crowd.’ Blackpool drew 1 1 and he was ‘applauded off the field, a sporting appreciation from the home crowd for the agility, daring, precise timing and good handling he showed in defying the Wolves attack’. He ended the 1959/60 season having played 17 League games and 24 Central League games.
He had a wage increase for the 1960/61 season when his terms were £17 in the summer and £20 in the winter. And he began the season as the first choice goalkeeper and he played the first 21 games before an unaccountable loss of form by Christmas 1960 cost him his place in the first team as Blackpool made a change and gave Gordon West his first taste of League football. He said of the situation ‘My other job as a part time teacher has certainly helped me to overcome the gloom that followed my loss of form and subsequent loss of a first team place.’
He returned to action in the Central League side and he was injured in the game against Sheffield Wednesday reserves on 22 April 1961 and he had to be stretchered off the field with his legs tied together. Sammy Salt went in goal as Blackpool won 2-1. The 1960/61 season saw him play 23 League games, two League Cup ties and 17 Central League games.
It was an unhappy Tony Waiters at the end of the season as, after having lost that first team spot to West, he uncharacteristically commented in July 1961, ‘The quicker I get to another club the better. I never want to play for Blackpool again.’ Fortunately the Blackpool directors were having none of that and his wage for the 1961/62 season was increased to £25 per week all year round plus an extra £5 when he played in the League side and these terms were to last for two seasons.
He started the 1961/62 season in the Central League side and although he won back his first team place against Bolton Wanderers on 14 October 1961 he still insisted, ‘I would still like to get away from Blackpool.’ He was apparently feeling that there was a difference between the amateur and professional game as he commented, ‘There is not the same sort of social life as you find in the amateur ranks.’ He admitted that he had only continued playing for the club because when the 1961/62 season opened Blackpool had not signed a replacement for him and he said, ’I did not want to see them in a spot so I signed a month’s contract, and since then I have signed a 12 month contract. But I still hope to get away one day. I should like to start again with a fresh club, although perhaps even further disillusionment lies in store for me if that ever comes about.’ In anticipation of leaving the club, he had given up his part time teaching post at Highfield School.
He injured a shoulder on 10 March 1962 after only 10 minutes against Leicester City and he played the second half of the game in the forward line, ‘given a roving commission, presumably for nuisance value if nothing else’. The injury caused him to miss the remainder of the 1961/62 season. Ironically the injury occurred just two weeks after Gordon West had signed for Everton and Blackpool had signed a replacement in Bryan Harvey from Newcastle United. Manager Ronnie Suart said of the injury, which happened when Waiters toppled over Leicester centre forward Ken Keyworth, ‘The fracture should have healed by the time the muscle fibres have healed. But it could take another three weeks, and I don’t expect he will be fit much before Easter.’ He was not fit by Easter and he said three weeks later, ‘The shoulder is giving me a bit of trouble. I can’t lift very well with my left arm or raise it fully yet. Still, it is remarkable what treatment can do for an injury like this. I shall just have to see how the shoulder responds in the next few days.’ He played in 20 League games, two FA Cup ties, three League Cup ties and 12 Central League games in the 1961/62 season.
He received a wage increase for the 1962/63 season when his weekly terms were improved to £30 per week all year round plus an additional £5 when he played in the League side. And he proved to be an ever-present in that season, playing in 42 League games, two FA Cup ties and three League Cup ties. And he got an honourable mention in the third round FA Cup replay against Norwich City on 6 March 1963 when ‘In the first half hour, where there was only one team in it (and that wasn’t Blackpool), only Waiters’ acrobatics and the superb policing of Gratrix stopped Norwich running riot.’ Unfortunately it was all to no avail as Blackpool lost 3-1 after extra-time.
He broke a finger in a 3-0 defeat by Manchester United at Old Trafford on 11 September 1963 and although he was out of the game, he was selected for the Football League against the League of Ireland in Dublin on 2 October 1963. However, he had no doubt about his fitness and he said, ’I’m certain I’ll be fit in time. I’ve been trying my hand out this week and it feels reasonably comfortable, although the finger is still in a splint. I don’t know whether I’ll be completely fit for the League Cup match with Charlton on Wednesday night, but I should certainly be all right for next Saturday’s game at Stoke and for the Monday match against Fulham.’
And of his selection for the Football League he commented, ’I’m on top of the world about it. One always hopes for these things, but when they come they still leave you a bit out of breath. I’m determined, as every player who represents the League or his country is determined, to put up a good show. But, you never know what can happen in a football match.’ Finally on the transformation that had taken place in his career, out of the team and wanting to leave only a couple of years earlier to being the club’s number one choice again, he remarked, ‘At that time, when things were going badly, I don’t think I understood the professional game properly, perhaps because I joined the paid ranks at a comparatively late age. If such a situation ever arose again, and I fervently hope it won’t, I think I would approach it with a very different attitude. You live and learn.’
He was named as reserve for England in the game against FIFA at Wembley for the FA Centenary on 23 October 1963, a game that England won 2-1 [I had a ticket for this game but suddenly an important meeting cropped up so I had to give the ticket to my Dad!]. And he was included in a squad of 22 players called up by England for training in December 1963. He was also selected for the English League side to play the Scottish League at Roker Park on 18 March 1964. The game was drawn 2-2.
After the inter League game there was pressure for him to be given a full England cap and Ronnie Suart, who went to Roker Park, commented, ’I thought on his showing that he did sufficient to justify his inclusion in the full England side against Scotland. I think he proved at last that he is on a par with Gordon Banks of Leicester. He is worth every consideration, and when the team is chosen at the end of the month it must be a very close thing between Tony and Gordon.’ In the end it was Banks who got the nod. For Blackpool he only missed two League games during the 1963/64 season as he played 39 League games, two FA Cup ties and one League Cup tie.
His weekly wage for the 1964/65 season was increased to £35 all year round plus an extra £5 when he played in the League side.
Unusually in a match, he made two penalty saves from Billy Bremner against Leeds United on 7 September 1964, which prompted Ronnie Suart to say ’There’s no better goalkeeper in England today.’ Blackpool won the game 4-0.
He finally made his England debut in a 3-1 victory over the Republic of Ireland in Dublin on 24 May 1964 and then he went on the England tour of North and South America in the 1964 close season and he replaced Gordon Banks for the game against Brazil at Rio de Janeiro on 30 May when Brazil won 5-1.
Continually vying with Banks for the England goalkeeping spot, he played in a 2 2 draw with Belgium at Wembley on 21 October 1964 and followed this with a game against Wales on 18 November when England won 2-1 [I was delighted to have been at both games for, as a goalkeeper myself in those days, Waiters was my boyhood idol]. Representative honours continued to come as he played for the Football League against the Irish League at The Oval, Belfast, on 28 October 1964 when England won 4-0 with a Frank Wignall hat-trick and a goal from Terry Paine and then he played his fifth and what turned out to be his final international against Holland in Amsterdam on 9 December 1964 when the game was drawn 1-1.
For Blackpool he was an ever-present in the 1964/65 season, playing 42 League games, one FA Cup tie and two League Cup ties. And he received a wage increase for the 1965/66 season when his weekly wage was to be £40 all year round plus an extra £10 when he played in the League side.
Despite being the regular first choice he was still unsettled and he had a transfer request refused in December 1965. Staying loyal to the club, he stated that he would not be renewing the request but added, ‘I still feel the same way about moving, I would like to leave Blackpool, but I am not putting in another transfer request. I don’t think there would be any point in doing so at the moment. It’s true that I may speak to Mr Suart again in two or three weeks or whenever I get round to it. But I haven’t decided on my definite course of action.’ His contract was due to finish at the end of the 1965/66 season but Blackpool held a one-year option.
He was left out of the side for the first time since September 1963 after two so-called ’under-par performances’ in two FA Cup ties against Manchester City for the 0 0 draw with Fulham on 29 January 1966 [I was there at Craven Cottage]. He did not renew his transfer request and said, ’I am not going to renew my request just because I have been left out of the side this week. This is not the time to do so. I have been given a few days off and I intend to forget football completely. It’s a strain keeping goal in a side which has been threatened with relegation for the past four years or so — and the strain is beginning to tell. I need a break.’ Manager Ron Suart commented on leaving out Waiters and Johnny Green, ‘As far as Tony is concerned it is a very long time since he was out of the team and I think a rest from football will do him a lot of good. Similarly it will do Johnny no harm to miss a game. Both have lost a little of their edge.’
On the Monday following the Fulham game Suart commented, ’Waiters has been to see me and is quite satisfied that we are resting him for his own good and that it will benefit him after so many consecutive appearances. [He had made 108 consecutive League and Cup appearances.]’ He added, ’Alan [Taylor] deserves another game for his performance on Saturday, where he did quite well.’ After two games Waiters was back in the side, despite that fact that Alan Taylor kept two clean sheets in two 0-0 draws! And he completed the season having played 40 League games, two FA Cup ties and two League Cup ties in the 1965/66 season.
He was selected by Alf Ramsey as one of the original 40 players selected for the 1966 World Cup but when the final 22 were chosen he was left out of the squad. He was, however, asked to remain on standby.
In a pre-season friendly game against Preston North End on 8 August 1966 he earned the headlines with ’Waiters keeps ‘Pool in front – Great saves foil North End Rally’ as Blackpool won 2-1. At the time he was noted as being on the transfer list at his own request.
In what turned out to be his final season at Bloomfield Road, he played 35 League games, one FA Cup tie and five League Cup ties in the 1966/67 season as Blackpool found themselves relegated to Division Two. Then he decided to retire and the club cancelled his registration on 30 June 1967 after he had appeared in 258 League games, 10 FA Cup ties and 18 League Cup ties, a grand total of 286 games.
Taking up coaching, he worked for the Football Association as a Regional Coach, and in January 1969 he joined Liverpool as coach for the club's youth development program. Then in 1970, he answered a cry from Burnley when an injury to their goalkeeper Peter Mellor led to him coming out of retirement. After making another 40 appearances, he finally retired in 1972.
By that time he had made a name for himself as a coach and he was immediately appointed FA North West regional coach and he later became a member of FIFA’s Panel of Instructors as well as being an English Staff Coach.
Thereafter he had a number of appointments, director of coaching at Coventry City in December 1971, a post he held until March 1972 and coach of the England Youth Under-18 team that won the European Championship in Italy in 1973 by defeating East Germany 3-2.
He was appointed manager of Plymouth Argyle in October 1972 and he remained at the club until April 1977. He led them to the League Cup semi-finals in 1973/74 when they lost 3-1 on aggregate to Manchester City and he guided the club to second place and promotion from Division Three (now League One) the following season, when Paul Mariner and Billy Rafferty combined for 43 goals..
He moved to Canada to manage Vancouver Whitecaps later in 1977 and he won the North American Soccer League’s ‘Coach of the Year’ for 1978. And he coached the Whitecaps to the North American Soccer League championship in 1979 when they upset the New York Cosmos en route to victory in Soccer Bowl '79, the NASL championship.
He was appointed coach to the Canadian national side in 1981 and in 1984 he was coach to the Canadian Olympic side that reached the tournament quarter-finals. And in 1985 he was the Canadian National Coach as the team were CONCACAF champions and he was still in the post when Canada reached the 1986 World Cup Finals for the only time in their history. He left the post later in 1986 but returned for a further spell in 1990 and 1991.
He was very highly regarded in North America and as well as his coaching commitments he created his company World of Soccer in the 1980s, producing a complete series of coaching books. He continued to coach children and young adults, helping them pursue their soccer goals and moulding players for the future. He was appointed the first Director of the National Soccer Coaches Association of America's (NSCAA) Goalkeeping Institute, stepping down in 2006. He remained a National Staff Coach of the NSCAA and U.S. Soccer.
He was regarded as a visionary coach and a manager well ahead of his time and he was inducted into the Canadian Soccer Hall of Fame in 2001 and into the British Columbia Sports Hall of Fame in 2019.
As a former Pilgrims' manager he returned to Plymouth to watch the League One match between Argyle and Rochdale on Saturday, February 23, 2019 at Home Park. A lunch was also held in his honour at the Duke of Cornwall Hotel in Plymouth.
He died on 10 November 2020. Former Plymouth player, and one of the club’s Legends, Paul Hart, paid tribute to him with ‘The world is a poorer place this morning with the devastating news that the great Tony Waiters has sadly passed away at the age of 83. Tony has left a legacy that will be remembered by many across the world. His achievements in football are seconded only by his devotion to his lovely family. Our thoughts are with his wife Anne and their two children Scott and Victoria. RIP Tony. I am honoured to have met you.’ And he is fondly remembered on both sides of the Atlantic as an outstanding contributor to the game of football and he will always have his place in the annals of the history of Blackpool Football Club.
