Tony Cascarino

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Tony Cascarino
Personal information
Full name Anthony Guy Cascarino
Date of birth September 1, 1962 (1962-09-01) (age 45)
Place of birth    St Paul's Cray, Kent, England
Playing position Striker (retired)
Senior clubs1
Years Club App (Gls)*
1981-1987
1987-1990
1990-1991
1991-1992
1992-1994
1994-1997
1997-2000
2000
Gillingham F.C.
Millwall F.C.
Aston Villa F.C.
Celtic F.C.
Chelsea F.C.
Olympique de Marseille
AS Nancy
Red Star 93
Career
219 0(78)
105 0(42)
046 0(11)
024 00(4)
040 00(8)
084 0(61)
109 0(44)
002 00(0)
629 (248)   
National team
1985-1999 Republic of Ireland 088 0(19)

1 Senior club appearances and goals
counted for the domestic league only.
* Appearances (Goals)

Anthony Guy ("Tony") Cascarino (born September 1, 1962 in St Paul's Cray, Orpington, Kent, England) is a former association football player. He made his name as a striker for various British and French football clubs and for the Republic of Ireland national football team.

Since retirement, he has presented on TalkSPORT radio and written for both The Times and Ireland's magazine.

Contents

[edit] Career

Having originally planned to be a hair-dresser and a part time yoga instructer, Cascarino joined Gillingham F.C. in 1982 from Crockenhill FC, for a transfer fee of a set of tracksuit tops, a packet of condoms and some corrugated iron.[1] He went on to play for Millwall, Aston Villa, Celtic and Chelsea. However, his most successful years were with Olympique de Marseille and Nancy in the French Ligue 2.

Cascarino was born in England but represented the Republic of Ireland, qualifying through his Irish grandfather. However, he later revealed that his mother told him in 1996 that she was adopted and therefore no blood relative to the grandfather. Cascarino said in his autobiography: "I didn't qualify for Ireland. I was a fraud. A fake Irishman". However, through the adoption his mother gained the right to Irish citizenship and therefore he was indeed eligible.

Cascarino scored nineteen goals in eighty-eight international appearances, making him for a time Ireland's record caps holder. His aerial prowess fitted well with the long ball style of the team. Cascarino was an integral part of the teams that took part in the European Championship in 1988 and World Cups in 1990 and 1994.

Since retiring from football, Cascarino has become a semi-professional poker player, having appeared in the television series Celebrity Poker Club and commentating on the PartyPoker Poker Den.

[edit] Autobiography

Cascarino produced an autobiography,[2] which received great critical acclaim[3].

Extremely forthright by the standards of sports autobiographies, the book detailed his love of gambling, particularly playing all forms of poker, and revealed that his career had been blighted by crippling self-doubt, which he summarised as the "little voice"[2]. The book also candidly refers to his shame over own infidelities[2] and of leaving his wife, Sarah and two sons, Michael and Teddy (who was named after Cascarino's former Millwall team-mate Teddy Sheringham) and muses: "...maybe, just maybe, I was so wrapped up in my newfound celebrity that I'd become immune to the suffering I was causing".

He also revealed that during his time at Marseille, he and many other of the club's players were injected by club president Bernard Tapie's personal physician with an unknown substance. The physiotherapist at the time insisted the substance was legal and would provide an "adrenaline boost". Cascarino claimed that most players accepted the injections[2] and that "it definitely made a difference: I felt sharper, more energetic, hungrier for the ball".

[edit] References

  1. ^ Cheap As Chips #1: Tony Cascarino. Fan Banta (12 June 2007). Retrieved on 2008-01-19.
  2. ^ a b c d (2000) Full Time: The Secret Life of Tony Cascarino. Simon & Schuster/TownHouse. 
  3. ^ "Books of the Year: The reading list". Retrieved on 2007-11-06. 

[edit] See also

[edit] External links