Tony Waddington

Director of a Working Man's Ballet

John Leonard

• Publisher: Pitch Publishing
• eBook ISBN:
  9781785314599
• Year: 2018

Waddington, Director of a Working Man's Ballet is a biography of the former Stoke City manager, Tony Waddington, one of the most underrated figures in 1960s and 1970s football. It charts how a man with the appearance of an urbane bank manager belied the stereotype of the hard-nosed football manager as he turned around the fortunes of an ailing club on the brink of going out of business. Instead, Waddington led the Potters to promotion, secured the club's first major trophy, and challenged for a league title in a season bedevilled by bad luck, before a financial calamity led to his departure. An advocate of free-flowing football, yet fielding some of the most uncompromising defensive players of his era, he reinvigorated old pros, inspired young players and won the adulation of a generation of fans. Tony Waddington, or "Waddo" as he was affectionately known to fans and players alike, achieved all this as the director of what he fondly termed "a working man's ballet."

Table of contents

• Cover Page
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Contents
• Introduction
• 1. Firing up the Potters
• 2. Waddington’s Wall
• 3. An Old Man from the Sea
• 4. Winning Promotion
• 5. Centennial Celebrations
• 6. Banks of England
• 7. Team Spirit
• 8. Outgunned in the Cup
• 9. History Makers
• 10. The Man in a White Coat
• 11. The Crash
• 12. A Footballing Bromance
• 13. Title Challengers
• 14. The Roof Caves In
• 15. Taxi for ‘Waddo’
• 16. Legendary Status
• Select Bibliography
• Photographs