Tony Woodcock

Anthony Stewart Woodcock (born 6 December 1955) is an English retired international footballer who played professionally in both England and Germany as a striker for Nottingham Forest, FC Köln and Arsenal. Woodcock won the European Cup (now known as the UEFA Champions League) in 1979 with Nottingham Forest.

Club career

Early career

Born in Eastwood, Nottinghamshire, Woodcock trained with Alan and Steve Buckley as a child, coached by their father, and played for Priory Celtic. He started his career at Nottingham Forest, signing a contract in January 1974. After loan spells at Lincoln City and Doncaster Rovers, Woodcock broke into the Forest first team in 1976–77, helping the team to promotion to the First Division. Woodcock later credited the Lincoln move and the leadership of Graham Taylor as being instrumental to his development. He also scored in Forest's victory over Southampton in the 1979 Football League Cup Final.

Move to the Bundesliga Woodcock was signed by West German side FC Köln for a fee of £600,000 , During his second spell there, he made 49 appearances and scored 11 goals. He finished his career playing for Fortuna Köln, making 37 appearances and scoring five goals, before retiring from playing in 1990.

International career England under-21s Woodcock made two appearances for the England under-21s, scoring five goals; a hat-trick on his debut against Finland in a record 8–1 win and two against Italy under-21s.

Senior side Woodcock was first called up to the full England squad for the match against Hungary. He made his début for England in 1978 against Northern Ireland. He would go on to win 42 caps for his country Arsenal Top Scorer: 1982–83, 1983–84, 1984–85