Andy Townsend

He began his playing career in August 1980 with Welling United in the Athenian League, while working as an ICL computer operator for Greenwich Borough Council in south-east London. After making 105 appearances for Welling, he was signed by Weymouth in March 1984 for £13,500.

Southampton

In January 1985, Townsend was signed by Lawrie McMenemy at First Division Southampton for £35,000 and made his professional debut at home to Aston Villa on 20 April 1985 as Southampton qualified for Europe, only to be banned in the aftermath of the Heysel Stadium disaster. Over the next season, he was in and out of the team (then managed by Chris Nicholl) but broke his leg in a pre-season friendly against his old club Weymouth in August 1986. He fought his way back to fitness and rejoined the side the following January. In the 1987–88 he was a virtual ever-present, playing alongside Jimmy Case and Glenn Cockerill in the Southampton midfield. He was a hard-tackling, hard-working midfielder with an eye for goal. It was a shock, therefore, when Nicholl sold him to First Division rivals Norwich City in August 1988, for a fee of £300,000.

Norwich City

Townsend made his debut as a substitute against Middlesbrough on 3 September 1988, before replacing the suspended Trevor Putney for his first full appearance in a 3–1 win over Spurs on 22 October. He retained his place in the Norwich midfield and ended the season with 36 league appearances (5 as substitute) with five goals. He…

His contribution to Norwich's successful season saw Townsend selected for the Republic of Ireland, making his debut against France in February 1989. He qualified for Ireland due to his Irish family heritage, with a grandmother who came from Kerry. He played in the next year's World Cup, in Italy, where he played in all five of Ireland's matches. They reached the quarter-finals, the country's strongest ever campaign. The Irish drew their three group matches – against England, Egypt and the Netherlands. Scoring a penalty in the shoot-out with Romania, his country were eventually sunk by a Salvatore Schillaci goal for the hosts. They had conceded just three goals in those five games. They had scored just two goals in those five games. He was captain of the Ireland squad for the 1994 World Cup. All four teams of Group E finished on four points, they got their revenge on the Italians, but were defeated by Mexico and drew with Norway. Ireland lost 2–0 to the Dutch at the Citrus Bowl in the knock-out stage. On 22 March 2015, Townsend was inducted into the FAI Hall of Fame.

ITV Sport

Townsend's most prominent role was as part of ITV Sport's live Champions League, FA Cup and England internationals coverage. He took over from Ron Atkinson as the channel's lead co-commentator, forming a long-running partnership with main commentator Clive Tyldesley, as well as appearing as a studio pundit. He co-hosted talkSPORT's Weekend Sports Breakfast on Sundays with Mike Parry, and hosted the station's drive-time show on Fridays. He also hosted the mid morning discussion on talkSPORT from 10 am to 1 pm from Monday to Friday, having replaced Jon Gaunt, who was sacked for calling a guest a Nazi. He left the station because he no longer wanted to commute from his Midlands home to the London studio. He also hosted ITV1's regional programme Soccer Night, alongside Peter Beagrie. Between 2001 and 2004, Townsend was part of ITV's coverage of the Premier League after they won the rights from the BBC to show top flight football on Saturday evening. In January 2015 ITV confirmed that Townsend, along with presenter Adrian Chiles, would not be retained by the broadcaster after the expiry of his contract in the summer of 2015, with the channel having lost Champions League broadcasting rights.

BT Sport

After leaving ITV in 2015 he joined BT Sport as a co-commentator for their coverage of the Premier League, FA Cup, UEFA Champions League and UEFA Europa League. He made his co-commentating debut on 15 February 2015, co-commentating on Arsenal vs…

Townsend was born in Maidstone, Kent, but grew up in Bexley, where he attended Upton Primary School in Bexleyheath, followed by Bexleyheath School. He is the son of former Charlton Athletic and Crystal Palace footballer Don Townsend.