Tony Hateley

Footballer famed for his aerial prowess as ‘the Headmaster’

n convince him to pay another club record to secure his transfer to Merseyside.

Apparently Shankly called Docherty to ask how much he wanted for Hateley. Doc replied “a hundred thousand wouldn’t buy him,” to which Shanks said “I know, I’m one of them, I just want to know how much.” He ended up paying £96,000, and thought he’d bought a bargain.

Hateley did indeed make his mark for Liverpool early, scoring a hat-trick against newcastle United in only his third match. He scored 28 goals in his first and only season with the Reds, but it was soon clear that Liverpool’s passing style did not suit Hateley, who was an honest and committed old-fashioned centre-forward who preferred aerial jousts.

On being told he was at least “good in the air,” Shankly quipped: “And so was Douglas Bader and he only had one leg.”

Hateley soon moved to Coventry City for a fee of £80,000, and then joined Birmingham, but after several injury problems, in 1970 he returned to the lower leagues with his first club, notts County. He regained his old scoring form and helped the Magpies win the Fourth Division before his playing career petered out with spells at Oldham Athletic and the Boston Minutemen in the USA.

While playing in non-league football, he subsequently tried his hand in business to no avail before becoming a sales rep with Thwaites Brewery. Always a gentlemanly sort with a friendly personality, in retirement Hateley lived in Penwortham in South Ribble, across the River Ribble from Preston.

Interviewed at home in 2009, Hateley said: “I enjoyed my football and I lived for scoring goals – that was it.

“I can’t explain how I scored as many as I did, when better players than me didn’t.

“I didn’t have as much talent as some, but I had the knack of knocking the goals in, and that’s a different talent.”

His latter years were blighted by Alzheimer’s disease, a common affliction among players from the era of heavy leather footballs.

Hateley was married twice, his first marriage being dissolved. His second wife yvonne survives him as do his daughter Tina and son Mark. MARTIN HANNAN