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Tommy Mooney

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For other people named Tommy Mooney, see Tommy Mooney (disambiguation).

Tommy Mooney
Personal information
Full name Thomas John Mooney[1]
Date of birth (1971-08-11) 11 August 1971 (age 53)[1]
Place of birth Billingham, England[2]
Height 5 ft 11 in (1.80 m)[3]
Position(s) Striker
Youth career
1988–1990 Aston Villa
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1990–1993 Scarborough 107 (30)
1993–1994 Southend United 14 (5)
1994 → Watford (loan) 10 (2)
1994–2001 Watford 240 (58)
2001–2003 Birmingham City 34 (13)
2002 → Stoke City (loan) 12 (3)
2003 → Sheffield United (loan) 3 (0)
2003 → Derby County (loan) 8 (0)
2003–2004 Swindon Town 45 (19)
2004–2005 Oxford United 42 (15)
2005–2007 Wycombe Wanderers 87 (29)
2007–2008 Walsall 36 (11)
2008–2009 UD Marbella 10 (0)
Total 642 (185)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Thomas John Mooney (born 11 August 1971) is an English former professional footballer who played mainly as a striker. He made more than 600 appearances in the Football League and Premier League – with 250 for Watford and more than 100 for Scarborough – and scored in each of the top four divisions of the English football league system.[4]

Playing career

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Early career

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Mooney initially began his career at Aston Villa, appearing for the youth and reserve sides over two years, but was released in 1990 by Graham Taylor without ever playing for the first team.[4] Mooney then joined Scarborough, where he made a name for himself, scoring 40 goals in 129 first-team appearances. After three years at Scarborough, he moved to Southend United for a reported £100,000.[5]

Watford

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After just one season at Southend he arrived at Watford – initially on loan, before eventually signing for £95,000 in July 1994 as a 'makeweight' alongside midfielder Derek Payne, with Keith Dublin moving in the opposite direction.

In his early days at the club, under manager Glenn Roeder, he failed to cement a successful striking partnership with Jamie Moralee and soon found himself in the reserves or on the bench. He eventually ended up playing as part of the defensive line during the Second Division championship-winning campaign of 1997–98.

Mooney started the 1998–99 season in a defensive role, but slipped out of the side as Watford reverted to 4–4–2. Meanwhile, Watford, after a good start, had fallen out of the play-off positions as the season drew to a close. On 3 April 1999 during a home league match against Tranmere Rovers Watford manager Graham Taylor brought on Mooney as part of a triple substitution. The effect was almost immediate with Mooney whipping in a cross for Peter Kennedy to half volley home, as Watford went on to win 2–1.

Taylor picked Mooney for the following week's away fixture against Birmingham City in his favoured striker's role. He scored the first and made the second in a 2–0 win. Watford went on to reach the play-offs gaining 19 points (out of a maximum 21) from their last seven games with Mooney scoring in every game bar one. He went on to give valuable performances in both legs of the subsequent play-off semi final (against Birmingham) and the final against Bolton Wanderers at Wembley Stadium, despite not scoring in either.

Watford's inaugural Premiership season started brightly enough for Mooney, who scored the only goal in front of The Kop at Anfield to secure a memorable away win against Liverpool[6] – his boyhood club.[4] He scored again the following week at home to Bradford City.[7] He was injured in a 1–0 win against Gianluca Vialli's Chelsea in mid-September. He was only able to make eight appearances as Watford were relegated.

A return to the First Division in 2000 witnessed a fully fit Mooney back as centre forward. He became the first player in nearly a decade to score twenty league goals for the club. This achievement was enough to earn Mooney his second Player of the Season award.

In May 2006 Mooney became the fourth inductee into the Watford Hall of Fame, alongside Luther Blissett, John McClelland and Tony Coton.

Birmingham and beyond

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Out of contract with Watford, Mooney took up the offer of a better contract to play for Birmingham City, playing for the West Midlands club from June 2001 to July 2003 and making a total of 29 league starts.[8] He featured heavily in the side that took Birmingham from the First Division to the FA Premier League via the playoffs in the 2001–2002 season. However Mooney played just one game in the top division before being loaned to Stoke City.[9] At Stoke Mooney played 12 times scoring three goals one of which came against his former club Watford.[10] Two other loans followed that season for Sheffield United[11] and Derby County.[12] At Sheffield United he scored once in the FA Cup, against future club Walsall.[13]

Mooney then moved to Swindon Town for the 2003–2004 season.[14] Mooney played a crucial part in Swindon reaching the play-offs that season, scoring 20 goals and setting up many more. Swindon lost in the play-off semi-final to Brighton & Hove Albion, with Mooney missing his kick in the penalty shootout when keeper Ben Roberts just tipped it around the post. Then in the summer of 2004, he transferred to Swindon's rivals Oxford United, having failed to agree a new contract with Swindon.[15] He was Oxford's top scorer for the club in 2004–2005.

In the summer of 2005 Mooney signed for Wycombe Wanderers, on a two-year contract.[16] His first season at Wycombe started superbly, scoring a volley against Carlisle United on his debut but ended in misery as he limped out of Wycombe's play-off semi final against Cheltenham, which Wycombe went on to lose. He was also captain of the side.[17] Mooney also played in the biggest game of the latter part of his career when he played for Wycombe in the League Cup semi-final against Chelsea (both legs) including making the flick header to Jermaine Easter which resulted in a 1–1 draw in the first leg at Adams Park. Wycombe went on to lose the second leg 4–0 at Stamford Bridge

In July 2007 Mooney rejected a contract with Wycombe saying that they had not made enough changes to have a good chance of promotion the following season.[18] He subsequently signed for newly promoted League One side Walsall.[19]

Mooney's contract expired at the end of the 2007–08 season, and the player rejected the chance of an extension with the club. It was announced in June 2008 that Mooney had joined Segunda División B side UD Marbella.[20] who were to be his last club before retirement.

Coaching career

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As of August 2018, Mooney was working as a coach at Aston Villa.[21]

Personal life

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His son Kelsey is also a footballer.[21]

Media

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Mooney currently has various media roles with Watford, and is a matchday commentator alongside Jon Marks for the club's live match streaming platform 'Hornets Hive Live'.[22] He also regularly appears on the Watford FC Official Club Podcast.[23]

Career statistics

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Source:[24]

Club Season League FA Cup League Cup Other[A] Total
Division Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals
Scarborough 1990–91 Fourth Division 27 13 1 0 2 0 1 0 31 13
1991–92 Fourth Division 40 8 1 0 4 3 3 0 48 11
1992–93 Third Division 40 9 1 0 7 5 2 2 50 16
Total 107 30 3 0 13 8 6 2 129 40
Southend United 1993–94 First Division 14 5 0 0 2 0 5 0 21 5
Total 14 5 0 0 2 0 5 0 21 5
Watford 1993–94 First Division 10 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 10 2
1994–95 First Division 29 3 2 0 4 1 0 0 35 4
1995–96 First Division 42 6 1 1 3 0 0 0 46 7
1996–97 Second Division 37 13 3 0 4 0 1 0 45 13
1997–98 Second Division 45 6 5 0 4 0 0 0 54 6
1998–99 First Division 36 9 0 0 1 0 3 0 40 9
1999–2000 Premier League 12 2 0 0 1 0 0 0 13 2
2000–01 First Division 39 19 1 1 5 2 0 0 45 22
Total 250 60 12 2 22 3 4 0 288 65
Birmingham City 2001–02 First Division 33 13 1 0 1 2 3 0 38 15
2002–03 Premier League 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0
Total 34 13 1 0 1 2 3 0 39 15
Stoke City (loan) 2002–03 First Division 12 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 12 3
Sheffield United (loan) 2002–03 First Division 3 0 2 1 1 0 0 0 6 1
Derby County (loan) 2002–03 First Division 8 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 8 0
Swindon Town 2003–04 Second Division 45 19 1 0 1 1 2 0 49 20
Oxford United 2004–05 League Two 42 15 1 0 1 0 1 0 45 15
Wycombe Wanderers 2005–06 League Two 45 17 1 0 2 1 3 1 51 19
2006–07 League Two 42 12 2 0 5 1 0 0 49 13
Walsall 2007–08 League One 36 11 3 1 1 0 0 0 40 12
UD Marbella 2008–09 Segunda División B 10 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 10 0
Career Total 642 185 26 4 49 16 24 3 741 208
A. ^ The "Other" column constitutes appearances and goals in the Anglo-Italian Cup, Football League Trophy and Football League play-offs.

References

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  1. ^ a b "Tommy Mooney". Barry Hugman's Footballers. Retrieved 17 November 2019.
  2. ^ Hugman, Barry J. (2015). The PFA Premier & Football League players' records 1946-2015. G2 Entertainment. p. 597. ISBN 9781782811671.
  3. ^ Rollin, Glenda; Rollin, Jack, eds. (2003). Playfair Football Annual 2003–2004. Headline. p. 24. ISBN 978-0-7553-1313-6.
  4. ^ a b c Drury, Peter (14 August 1999). "Red stars in Mooney's shadow". The Independent. London. Retrieved 9 July 2016.
  5. ^ "Football: Mooney hits a new milestone". Oxford Mail. 21 January 2005. Retrieved 9 December 2024.
  6. ^ "Watford shock Reds". BBC. 14 August 1999. Retrieved 6 August 2013.
  7. ^ "Mooney strikes again". BBC. 21 August 1999. Retrieved 6 August 2013.
  8. ^ "Mooney joins Birmingham". BBC Sport. 8 June 2001. Retrieved 8 June 2001.
  9. ^ "Stoke swoop for Mooney". BBC Sport. 13 September 2002. Retrieved 13 September 2002.
  10. ^ "Stoke 1–2 Watford". BBC Sport. 29 October 2002. Retrieved 29 April 2013.
  11. ^ "Mooney makes Blades switch". BBC Sport. 17 January 2003. Retrieved 17 January 2003.
  12. ^ "Mooney joins Derby". BBC Sport. 19 March 2003. Retrieved 19 March 2003.
  13. ^ "Blades cut through Walsall". BBC. 18 February 2003. Retrieved 17 January 2010.
  14. ^ "Swindon sign Mooney". BBC Sport. 8 July 2003. Retrieved 8 July 2003.
  15. ^ "Oxford sign Mooney". BBC Sport. 8 July 2004. Retrieved 8 July 2004.
  16. ^ "Wycombe complete Mooney transfer". BBC Sport. 1 June 2005. Retrieved 1 June 2005.
  17. ^ "Mooney named new Wycombe captain". BBC Sport. 29 July 2006. Retrieved 29 July 2006.
  18. ^ "Mooney chooses to leave Wycombe". BBC Sport. 2 July 2007. Retrieved 2 July 2007.
  19. ^ "Mooney completes Walsall switch". BBC Sport. 9 July 2007. Retrieved 9 July 2007.
  20. ^ "Saddlers missed the boat – Mooney". BBC Sport. 6 May 2008. Retrieved 6 May 2008.
  21. ^ a b "Cheltenham Town: Robins sign Villa striker Kelsey Mooney and Brentford defender Tom Field". BBC Sport. 31 August 2018. Retrieved 31 August 2018.
  22. ^ "Tommy Mooney". icdb.tv. Internet Commentator Database. Archived from the original on 6 October 2022. Retrieved 23 May 2023.
  23. ^ "Watford FC Official Club Podcast: Hive Live Academy Special | Richard Johnson & Tommy Mooney on Apple Podcasts".
  24. ^ Tommy Mooney at the English National Football Archive (subscription required)
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