Many of you will know of the name Hateley. Not only are there three generations who have played football at the highest level, they also have strong links to the area.
Tony Hateley is an iconic name for Notts County fans. He played for them in 1959 (at the age of 17) and then returned in 1970.
He lived in Woodthorpe during his second second spell at Notts County.
It was here that his son Mark was raised. Mark was a pupil at Arnold Hill School and as a schoolboy was on the books at Nottingham Forest.
Mark also lived on Mapperley Plains for several years.
Mark’s son Tom has also gone on play professional football, currently playing in Poland
Let’s take look at their careers.
Tony Hateley played as a centre forward, scoring an impressive 249 goals in 499 appearances. He played First Division football for Aston Villa, Chelsea, Liverpool and Coventry City.
Born in 1941 at Derby, he signed for Notts County as a fresh-faced 17 year old in the 1958/59 season. He scored on his debut in a 1-1 draw against Stockport County. He was taken under the wing of Notts legend Tommy Lawton for heading practice.
He didn’t get much first team action in the 1959/60 season because their experienced striker was Stan Newsham, who scored 23 goals in 34 league games.
Tony’s first start came on March 19th 1960 against Torquay United and he scored eight goals in ten games as Notts County dragged themselves out of the bottom tier at the first time of asking.
1960/61 was the season when Tony Hateley finally broke through the ranks, finishing the season as top scorer with 27 goals as the Magpies finished a very respectable fifth. Big Tone missed just one game as he announced himself to the footballing world.
His final season for Notts saw more of the same devastating play and goal-scoring, as he netted 22 goals all season. The scouts had been watching Hateley, and the young star was snapped up by First Division Aston Villa. His three years at Villa were so prolific that he was named 22nd in a list of the Birmingham side’s top 50 players, despite the team going through one of its darker periods at the wrong end of the table.
England Call-Up
In the 1964/5 season at Aston Villa he scored a phenomenal 27 goals, including four in a 5-5 draw against Tottenham. His record was on par with Jimmy Greaves and Geoff Hurst, who became England legends as the Three Lions won the trophy on home soil in the summer.
Despite being included in Sir Alf Ramsey’s plans, Hateley suffered a serious injury which put the end to his dream of playing for England in the World Cup of 1966.
With his stock at its highest, the then Villa manager accepted an offer from Chelsea for the striker in October 1966, and thus, Hateley was on his way to London for a club record £100,000.
Without his goals, Villa went down that very same season.
His time at Chelsea wasn’t quite as illustrious though. They played a quick passing and movement-based style of football, which didn’t suit his style as a target man. After 33 appearances and nine goals, he moved to Liverpool, where he rediscovered his goal-scoring touch. He scored 28 goals in all competitions at Liverpool.
The next few years saw him change clubs several times, going from Liverpool to Coventry, then to Birmingham, before coming back home to Meadow Lane where he started his career.
In an interview with the Lancashire Post in 2009, he declared that his spells at Notts were his “happiest time in football”, and judging by the attendance at Meadow Lane for his first game back, the Notts fans were equally as happy to see him in black and white again. With an average crowd of around 8000, his return against Northampton on November 7th 1970 was watched by 21,012 fans.
Mark Hateley was also born at Derby in 1961, but moved to Nottingham when his father returned to Notts County in 1970. The family lived on Woodford Road and he went to Ernehale School and then Arnold Hill Comprehensive.
Local Memories of the Hateleys
We asked former pupils at Arnold Hill School for memories of the Hateleys.
I was there when they brought Tony home in the ambulance when he broke his leg playing.
I remember when his Dad came to watch him play at Ernehale, I asked him for his autograph and he told me off for not saying ‘please’
Back in the day, I played pool with him in the Vale Hotel on Mansfield Road near my home. I’d like to say I beat him but he’s as good at pool as he is at football! 🤣
At Arnold Hill, I was at an after school athletics session and got a telling off from Mr Howarth. It was about being late and not having the right attitude. Mr Howarth pointed to Mark Hateley, who was early for his football session and was doing his warm ups near to us. I was told to be more like Mark Hateley.
Football Career
As a schoolboy, Mark Hateley was on the books at Nottingham Forest, but didn’t convince the manager at the time. Brian Clough didn’t believe he was sufficiently talented.
On leaving school, he joined Coventry City and started his career in professional football. He played over 90 games for them in the First Division.
In 1980, Mark married his girlfriend Bev Bosworth who was also a local girl from Woodthorpe.
In the summer of 1983 he moved to Portsmouth in the Second Division, scoring 22 league goals for them.
Before long, Hateley’s career took him abroad. His time in Italy and France were very successful too, not a common feat for English footballers.
In 1984, he transferred to AC Milan for £1 million.
His name will forever be etched in AC Milan folklore after he scored a historic match-winning goal in their 2-1 win against Internazionale in the Milan derby. Hateley won the aerial duel with Italian international defender Fulvio Collovati, and scored with a header. This was the first time Milan had beaten Inter in the derby in six years.
Mixing With The Stars
During his couple of years in Milan, he was a neighbour to some other big names in sport.
The racing driver Ayrton Senna lived in the apartment below him, and tennis star Boris Becker lived next door. Senna played five-a-side football with Hateley.
Ayrton Senna da Silva was a Brazilian racing driver who won the Formula One World Drivers’ Championship in 1988, 1990, and 1991. In 1994, Senna died after his car crashed into a concrete barrier while he was leading the 1994 San Marino Grand Prix at the Autodromo Enzo e Dino Ferrari in Italy.
France and Scotland
Arsène Wenger then brought Hateley to AS Monaco in 1987. It was his first signing for the club, and Hateley was part of the team that won the French Division 1 the following year.
After three years at Monaco, Hateley returned to Britain in 1990, signing for Glasgow Rangers for £1 million. The manager Graeme Souness had attempted to bring him to Ibrox three years earlier and his patience paid off.
Hateley was voted player of the year by the Scottish Football Writers in 1993–94. He scored 112 goals for them in all competitions. Rangers were league champions in every season that Hateley played for them.
Hateley formed a renowned strike partnership at Rangers with Ally McCoist (now a football commentator).
“Alistair was an unbelievable goal scorer. All the goalscorer does is he looks at the leader of the line and makes sure he’s offset, fifteen yards away. It was a great partnership”
Mark Hateley
After making 218 appearances for Glasgow Rangers, he moved to Queens Park Rangers in November 1995, for a fee of £1.5 million. He had just recovered from having concurrent operations on his knee and ankle. Hateley said in 2021:
“My dad always said to never make a decision when injured, or in ill-health, because invariably it will be the wrong decision, an emotional decision. I knew after literally ten days that it was the wrong move.”
International Career
Hateley played for England 32 times and scored 9 goals for his country.
Tom Hateley
Tom Hateley was born at Monte Carlo in 1989, at the time when his father was playing for Monaco. He turned professional in 2006. As a defensive midfielder, he has played for several clubs in England, Scotland and Poland.
Tom is currently playing for Piast Gliwice in Poland.
Tony Hateley died in 2014 at the age of 72, after a long period with Alzheimer’s disease.
Mark Hateley released his biography in 2021, titled Hitting the Mark: My Story
With thanks to Wikipedia and the Pride of Nottingham website for much of the information.
