Tony was appointed Manager of Swifts on 1st June 1970 replacing Gordon Haggerty and was Manager of Swifts until 18th April 1972 - the 1971/72 season being our opening season in the recently formed Essex Senior League.

Tony, one of three Spurs players to manage Swifts ( # see foot of article) joined Spurs in the late 1940's and ended up playing 260 games scoring 7 goals. He was a member of the 1961 "double" winning squad and played in the 1963 European Cup Winners Cup winning side - a 5-1 win over Athletico Madrid.

He left Spurs for Juventus in 1957 but registration issues meant he didn't play for them - he did however play for Vicenza & Torino before returning back to Spurs.

He left Spurs in 1965 to manage Cambridge City, Northampton Town and then Heybridge Swifts in 1970. He also managed Maldon St Marys for 10 seasons. After retiring from football, he ran a wallpaper shop near his home in Maldon, Essex, and played for Maldon Cricket Club.

Back in April 1972, Mick Gibson & Philip Gill had the unenviable task of delivering the news to Tony that his services were no longer required. The Committee had met at The Malsters Arms and Mick & Phil went to Tony's house. David Scott interviewed Tony in 2018 and Tony said "I could sense they were not happy with me" - "I'm not sure I'd have done another season anyway as the local lads always gave their best but were not good enough against sides who were paying their players" "I had not lived in the area long enough to know who to bring in."

In June, 2018, at the age of 85 and following a relaxation of the Football League’s medal eligibility rules, Tony finally received a winner’s medal in recognition of his part in our 1961 Football League title success, presented to him at his Maldon home by former Double-winning team-mates Cliff Jones and Terry Dyson.

Our thoughts are with his family and friends and players who counted him as one of their teammates.

Spurs Players as Swifts Managers
Tony Marchi
Brain Statham
Stuart Nethercott