Tony Knapp has passed away at the age of 86. He did football proud with a long career as a player and even longer as a coach and manager. His professional life in football started at Leicester, being at the club from 1955 to 1961. He played 86 league games before making his move to Southampton.
His move to Southampton happened in August 1961, and at that time the transfer fee of £27,500 became a record transfer fee received. He was at the time in the England frame and named in the 1962 preliminary World Cup squad of 40, but didn’t make the final cut.
His best years in the game as a player was with Southampton, spending eight seasons at The Dell under the management of Ted Bates. He played alongside former team mate at Leicester Ian White, and of course, England international Terry Paine.
After his days at Southampton he moved back to The Midlands and signed for Coventry City, but after 11 league games played moved over the pond to join Los Angeles Wolves. He later made moves to Tranmere Rovers and Poole Town, where he also combined coaching and playing.
His first coaching experience in league football was with Norwich, being the assistant to Ron Saunders. From 1974 to 1977 he took charge of the Iceland national team, and from here he got involved in Norwegian club football, coaching Viking and Fredrikstad before again making a return to take charge of Iceland.
His days in Viking was very succesfull as he coached the Stavanger club to The Double in 1979. He was one of many from UK, coming over to coach Norwegian clubs, Tony Knapp was among the most successful.
In later years he settled in the area of Jorpeland, Rogaland, Norway. He coached football at a number of different clubs, last being at Lillesand IL in 2008.
He was a member of NFT (Norsk Fotballtrener Forening) in all of the years this association has been running.
Sad to hear the news today as it made the headlines of the Norwegian national press.
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