Tony Woodcock

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. Under Brian Clough, Forest went on to win the First Division title and Football League Cup in 1978 with Woodcock winning the PFA Young Player of the Year award that year as well, and the European Cup in 1979. 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 (equivalent to £2,950,000 in 2025), in time for the 1979–80 season. He spent three seasons there. He scored 28 goals in 81 matches for the Cologne club.

Arsenal

He returned home after the 1982 World Cup, signing for Terry Neill's Arsenal for £500,000. Woodcock was Arsenal's top scorer for the next three seasons, his best tally being 21 in 1983–84; he hit five in a single game against Aston Villa, a post-war record for the club, he also scored the final goal in the last British Home Championship. He helped Arsenal reach the semi-finals of both…

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 (scoring 16 goals), and play in the UEFA Euro 1980 and the 1982 FIFA World Cup. He also played in the 1986 FIFA World Cup qualifiers but was left out of the final squad.

Nottingham Forest

Football League First Division: 1977–78 Football League Cup: 1977–78, 1978–79 FA Charity Shield: 1978 European Cup: 1978–79 Individual

Nottingham Forest Player of the Year: 1977 PFA Young Player of the Year: 1977–78 Arsenal Player of the Season: 1982−83 Arsenal Top Scorer: 1982–83, 1983–84, 1984–85