Tony Naylor

Tony Naylor
Personal information
Full name Anthony Joseph Naylor[1]
Date of birth (1967-03-29) 29 March 1967 (age 57)
Place of birth Manchester, England
Height 5 ft 7 in (1.70 m)[2]
Position(s) Forward
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
19??–1990 Droylsden
1990–1994 Crewe Alexandra 122 (45)
1994–2001 Port Vale 253 (71)
2001–2003 Cheltenham Town 74 (18)
2003–2004 Telford United 19 (10)
2005 Port Vale 0 (0)
2006 Ashton United 1 (2)
Total 469 (146)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Anthony Joseph Naylor (born 29 March 1967) is an English former professional footballer who played as a forward. He is best known for his spells at Port Vale and Crewe Alexandra in the 1990s.

Naylor moved to Dario Gradi's Crewe from non-League Droylsden in 1990, turning professional at the age of 23. After two successive promotion-hunting campaigns ended at the play-off stage, he helped Alex to automatic promotion in 1993–94. His goals impressed John Rudge at nearby Port Vale, and a £150,000 deal was struck between the two rival clubs in 1994. He went on to spend the next seven years at Vale Park, playing in the Anglo-Italian Cup final in 1996, as well as the club's Football League Trophy success in 2001. Three times Vale's top-scorer, he left on a free transfer to Cheltenham Town in 2001. He helped Cheltenham to win promotion via the play-offs in 2002 before he entered the non-League scene with Telford United in 2003. He retired as a player in 2005, though he would make a brief cameo at Ashton United in 2006.

  1. ^ "Tony Naylor". Barry Hugman's Footballers. Retrieved 9 March 2017.
  2. ^ "FootballSquads – Port Vale – 1999/00". footballsquads.co.uk. Retrieved 24 June 2019.