Tony Stokes

For the Irish footballer, see Anthony Stokes.

Anthony Ronald Stokes (born 7 January 1987) is a retired English footballer who played as a forward. He made one League Cup appearance for West Ham United, and played in the Football League on loan at Rushden & Diamonds and Brighton & Hove Albion. After a spell in the Hungarian top flight at Újpest, he played non-League football for the rest of his career.

Tony Stokes

Stokes with West Ham United in 2008
Personal information
Full name	Anthony Ronald Stokes
Date of birth	(1987-01-07) 7 January 1987 (age 37)
Place of birth	Bethnal Green, England
Height	5 ft 10 in (1.78 m)
Position(s)	Forward
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
2005–2009	West Ham United	0	(0)
2006	→ Rushden & Diamonds (loan)	19	(0)
2006	→ Brighton & Hove Albion (loan)	6	(0)
2007–2008	→ Stevenage Borough (loan)	3	(1)
2009	→ Újpest (loan)	13	(0)
2009–2010	Újpest	11	(0)
2010–2015	Concord Rangers	124	(78)
2013	→ Canvey Island (loan)	4	(3)
2015–2016	Canvey Island	28	(5)
2016	→ Southend Manor (loan)	2	(0)
2016–2017	Concord Rangers	16	(4)
2017–2018	Bowers & Pitsea	25	(8)
2018–2019	Brentwood Town	64	(21)
2019–2020	Grays Athletic	7	(6)
2020–2021	Tilbury	8	(1)
2021–2022	Hullbridge Sports	28	(14)
Total		358	(141)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals, correct as of 14:00, 5 May 2022 (UTC)

Career

Stokes came up through the West Ham United academy along with Mark Noble and Kyel Reid. He made his first team debut and only appearance for West Ham at the age of 18 on 20 September 2005 as an 86th-minute substitute for Tomáš Řepka in the second round of the League Cup, a 4–2 win away to Sheffield Wednesday.^[1][2]

During the 2005–06 season, Stokes was loaned to Conference National side Rushden & Diamonds,^[3] where he made 19 appearances.^[2] He joined Football League One side Brighton & Hove Albion in a one-month loan deal in August 2006,^[4] which was extended for a second month but he decided to return to West Ham after finding first-team opportunities at Brighton difficult. He made seven appearances in all competitions for Brighton.^[2]

Stokes joined Stevenage Borough on a two-month loan in November 2007.^[5] He scored his first career goal in the 3–1 win over Salisbury City in December 2007.^[6] He was named reserve team captain when Jack Collison was promoted to the first team for the 2008–09 season. However, he found first team football hard to come by as Collison, Valon Behrami, Scott Parker and Mark Noble were the preferred starters and did not even make the bench on most occasions.

On 19 February 2009, Stokes joined Újpest on loan until the end of the 2008–09 season.^[7] He made his competitive debut for Ujpest on 7 March 2009 in a 2–0 home win against Siófok.^[8] He was released by West Ham on 3 June 2009,^[9] and signed for Újpest FC the following month, ahead of the 2009–10 Nemzeti Bajnokság I season.

Stokes requested that his two-year contract be terminated early and he returned to England in May 2010.^[10] In July 2010, he signed for Isthmian League Premier Division side, Concord Rangers.^[11] He was a key part of their strong start, contributing 20 goals from 41 league appearances in his first season and was made captain for the 2012–13 season, after rejecting interest from Conference South side Chelmsford City in November 2011.^[12][13] In 2012, he gained promotion with Concord to the Conference South, scoring the winning goal in extra time in the play-off semi-final against Wealdstone.^[14]

In October 2015, Stokes moved from Concord Rangers to local rivals Canvey Island where he had spent a brief loan spell two years earlier.^[15] On 10 June 2019, he joined Grays Athletic.^[16] In October 2020, Stokes joined Tilbury, before signing for Hullbridge Sports in October 2021.^[17] On 13 March 2022, he announced he would be retiring from football at the end of the 2021–22 season.^[18]

References

1. "Sheff Wed 2–4 West Ham". BBC Sport. 20 September 2005. Retrieved 2 July 2007.
2. "Tony Stokes". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 1 February 2019.
3. "Hunter encouraged by new signings". BBC Sport. 8 January 2006. Retrieved 2 July 2007.
4. "Hammers prospect joins Brighton". BBC Sport. 3 August 2006. Retrieved 2 July 2007.
5. "Stevenage recruit three loanees". BBC Sport. 22 November 2007. Retrieved 12 January 2007.
6. "Stevenage 3–1 Salisbury". BBC Sport. 7 December 2007. Retrieved 26 February 2008.
7. "Stokes stays in Hungary | West Ham United". West Ham United F.C. Archived from the original on 23 February 2009. Retrieved 25 July 2010.
8. "Busy weekend for loanees | West Ham United". West Ham United F.C. Archived from the original on 11 March 2009. Retrieved 25 July 2010.
9. "Summer squad latest | West Ham United". West Ham United F.C. Archived from the original on 11 June 2009. Retrieved 7 June 2010.
10. "Stokes happy to be back". West Ham United F.C. Archived from the original on 11 June 2010. Retrieved 7 June 2010.
11. "Coup signing for Concord". Non League Daily. 20 July 2010. Archived from the original on 30 September 2012. Retrieved 25 July 2010.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
12. "Concord Rangers Football Club First Team Appearances / Goals 010-11". Concord Rangers F.C. Archived from the original on 24 July 2011. Retrieved 15 May 2011.
13. "Stokes: I won't join Chelmsford". Basildon Echo. 29 November 2011. Retrieved 21 March 2011.
14. Colosanti, James (1 May 2013). "Wealdstone 1, Concord Rangers 2 (after extra-time)". Southend Echo.
15. "Tony Stokes signs for the Gulls!". Canvey Island F.C. 4 October 2015. Archived from the original on 6 October 2015. Retrieved 6 October 2015.
16. Tony Stokes Joins The Blues, graysathletic.co.uk, 10 June 2019
17. "A Sports Trio". Isthmian League. 3 October 2021. Retrieved 23 October 2021.
18. Tony Stokes [@TStokesy11] (13 March 2022). "After speaking with my family and close friends I've decided that I will be retiring at the end of the season" (Tweet) – via Twitter.