Tony Cascarino

infobox football biography
playername = Tony Cascarino


fullname = Anthony Guy Cascarino
dateofbirth = birth date and age|1962|9|1
cityofbirth = St Paul's Cray, Kent
countryofbirth = England
position = Striker (retired)
years = 1981–1987
1987–1990
1990–1991
1991–1992
1992–1994
1994–1997
1997–2000
2000
clubs = Gillingham F.C.
Millwall F.C.
Aston Villa F.C.
Celtic F.C.
Chelsea F.C.
Olympique de Marseille
AS Nancy
Red Star 93
Career
caps(goals) = 219 0(78)
105 0(42)
046 0(11)
024 00(4)
040 00(8)
084 0(61)
109 0(44)
002 00(0)
629 (248)
nationalyears = 1985–1999
nationalteam = Republic of Ireland
nationalcaps(goals) = 088 0(19)

Anthony Guy ("Tony") Cascarino (born September 1, 1962 in St Paul's Cray, Orpington, Kent, England) is a former association football player. He made his name as a striker for various British and French football clubs and for the Republic of Ireland national football team.

Since retirement, he has presented on TalkSPORT radio and written for both The Times and Ireland's Hot Press magazine.

Career

Having originally planned to be a hair-dresser and a part time yoga instructer, Cascarino joined Gillingham F.C. in 1982 from Crockenhill FC, for a transfer fee of a set of tracksuit tops and some corrugated iron. [ cite web | url = http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/2007/may/11/smalltalk.sportinterviews| title = Small Talk: Tony Cascarino | publisher = Guardian | date = 11 May 2007 | accessdate = 2008-06-08 ] He went on to play for Millwall the club he supported as a boy. Millwall had missed an opportunity to sign Cascarino as a youngster and subsequently paid The Gills £225,000 to secure his services. He went on to play for Aston Villa, Celtic and Chelsea. However, his most successful years were with Olympique de Marseille and Nancy in the French Ligue 2.

Cascarino was born in England but represented the Republic of Ireland, qualifying through his Irish grandfather. However, he later revealed that his mother told him in 1996 that she was adopted and therefore no blood relative to the grandfather. Cascarino said in his autobiography: "I didn't qualify for Ireland. I was a fraud. A fake Irishman". However, through the adoption his mother gained the right to Irish citizenship and therefore he was indeed eligible.

Cascarino scored nineteen goals in eighty-eight international appearances, making him for a time Ireland's record caps holder. His aerial prowess fitted well with the long ball style of the team. Cascarino was an integral part of the teams that took part in the European Championship in 1988 and World Cups in 1990 and 1994.

Since retiring from football, Cascarino has become a semi-professional poker player, having appeared in the television series Celebrity Poker Club and commentating on the PartyPoker Poker Den. He has become something of a cult figure and was referenced in the song "All Your Kayfabe Friends" by Welsh band Los Campesinos! where the singer tells that "You asked if I'd be anyone from history / Fact or fiction, dead or alive / I said I'd be Tony Cascarino, circa 1995."

Autobiography

Cascarino produced an autobiography,cite book | first= | last= | coauthors= first= | last= | title=Full Time: The Secret Life of Tony Cascarino | date=2000 | publisher= Simon & Schuster/TownHouse | work = | pages = | language = ] which received great critical acclaim [ cite news|url=http://books.guardian.co.uk/bestof2000/story/0,,412875,00.html |title= Books of the Year: The reading list |accessdate=2007-11-06 | Guardian Unlimited ] .

Extremely forthright by the standards of sports autobiographies, the book detailed his love of gambling, particularly playing all forms of poker, and revealed that his career had been blighted by crippling self-doubt, which he summarised as the "little voice"cite book | first= | last= | coauthors= first= | last= | title=Full Time: The Secret Life of Tony Cascarino | date= | publisher= | work = | pages =22 | language = ] . The book also candidly refers to his shame over own infidelitiescite book | first= | last= | coauthors= first= | last= | title=Full Time: The Secret Life of Tony Cascarino | date= | publisher= | work=Destiny (Part 2): The territory of Lies | pages =165 | language = ] and of leaving his wife, Sarah and two sons, Michael and Teddy (who was named after Cascarino's former Millwall team-mate Teddy Sheringham) and muses: "...maybe, just maybe, I was so wrapped up in my newfound celebrity that I'd become immune to the suffering I was causing".

He also revealed that during his time at Marseille, he and many other of the club's players were injected by club president Bernard Tapie's personal physician with an unknown substance. The physiotherapist at the time insisted the substance was legal and would provide an "adrenaline boost". Cascarino claimed that most players accepted the injectionscite book | first= | last= | coauthors= first= | last= | title=Full Time: The Secret Life of Tony Cascarino | date= | publisher= | work=Destiny (Part 1)| pages =152 | language = ] and that "it definitely made a difference: I felt sharper, more energetic, hungrier for the ball".

References

ee also

*Grannygate

External links

*imdb name|1342037|Tony Cascarino
*soccerbase|1343|Tony Cascarino
* [http://pokerdb.thehendonmob.com/player.php?a=r&n=3799 Hendon Mob poker tournament results]

Persondata
NAME = Cascarino, Tony
ALTERNATIVE NAMES =
SHORT DESCRIPTION = English football player
DATE OF BIRTH = 1 September 1962
PLACE OF BIRTH = St Paul's Cray, Orpington, Kent, England
DATE OF DEATH =
PLACE OF DEATH =