Ian Moores

Ian Moores

Personal information
Full name	Ian Richard Moores
Date of birth	5 October 1954
Place of birth	Chesterton, England
Date of death
Height
Position(s)	Forward
Youth career
	Staffordshire County Boys' Team
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
1974–1976	Stoke City	50	(15)
1976–1978	Tottenham Hotspur	29	(6)
1977	→ Western Suburbs (loan)	5	(2)
1978–1982	Leyton Orient	117	(26)
1982–1983	Bolton Wanderers	29	(5)
1983	→ Barnsley (loan)	3	(0)
1983–1988	APOEL	116	(39)
1988–1989	Tamworth
1989	Landskrona BoIS	10	(4)
Total		359	(97)
International career
1975	England U-23	2	(0)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Ian Richard Moores (5 October 1954 – 13 January 1998) was an English footballer who played in the Football League for Barnsley, Bolton Wanderers, Leyton Orient, Stoke City and Tottenham Hotspur.

Playing career

Moores was born in Chesterton, Staffordshire and learned to play his football for the Staffordshire County Boys' Team. Moores then joined Stoke City's youth team and as a schoolboy at the age of fifteen continued his development at the Victoria Ground. Moores started as a left winger but became a centre-forward after a switch in Stoke's "A" team with a hat-trick to his name in the second half of a match. He graduated to the senior team in April 1974, having appeared for the England under-23 team twice. He made his debut for Stoke away at Leicester City towards the end of the 1973–74 season and in 1974–75 he became a member of Tony Waddington's first team scoring four goals in 18 matches. He was joined top scorer with Jimmy Greenhoff in 1975–76 with 13 but with Stoke needing money he was sold to Tottenham Hotspur in August 1976.

He moved to Tottenham Hotspur in August 1976 for a £75,000 fee. Moores started off well, scoring on his debut during a League Cup tie at Middlesbrough on 31 August 1976 which Spurs won 2–1. On 4 September 1976 Moores made his Tottenham league debut at Old Trafford. Spurs trailed 2–0 at half-time, but second half strikes from Moores, Ralph Coates and John Pratt gave them a 3–2 win. However, he only scored twice more during the rest of that season, against Wrexham in the League Cup in September 1976 and against Sunderland in a 2–1 home defeat in November 1976. Spurs were relegated at the end of the season to Division Two.

During the following season Moores didn't play until the 11th game of the season. He scored a hat-trick against Bristol Rovers on 22 October 1977, during which Colin Lee scored four in a record 9–0 win for Spurs at White Hart Lane. He played 12 more times that season and scored once more, against Crystal Palace three weeks later. In July 1978 the arrival of Ossie Ardiles and Ricardo Villa spelt the end for Moores at White Hart Lane. He provided a cross for Villa to score against Nottingham Forest but played only once again, in a 4–1 home defeat against Aston Villa, which was to be his final ever appearance for Spurs. In September 1978 he left the club to join Leyton Orient for a fee of £55,000 where he scored 26 goals in 117 league appearances. Moores scored twice on his debut for Orient, as he had done for Spurs, away against Charlton Athletic on 6 October 1978.

Moores was a first team regular over the next four years, but when Orient were relegated to Division 3 in 1982 he signed for Bolton Wanderers. Moores scored five goals in 29 appearances that season. Bolton were relegated, like Spurs and Orient had been before and in July 1983 he moved to APOEL in Cyprus, where he remained for five years and where he is still regarded as a legend. He played alongside Terry McDermott and won one Cypriot Championship, one Cup, two Super Cups and played in all three European competitions. Returning to England in 1988, Moores had an unsuccessful trial with Port Vale before heading into the non-leagues. He helped Tamworth win the 1989 FA Vase, when he scored in the replay of the final, but that was to be his swansong. He retired as a player a year later, in 1990.

Post-retirement

After this, Moores worked in personal finance in his native Potteries, and when he fell ill in September 1997 with lung cancer, he was coaching the youth team of a local non-league side. Moores died in January 1998 at the age of 43.

Career statistics

• Sourced from The English National Football Archive

Club	Season	League			FA Cup		League Cup		Other		Total
		Division	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
Stoke City	1973–74	First Division	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0
	1974–75	First Division	17	4	0	0	1	0	0	0	18	4
	1975–76	First Division	32	11	5	1	1	0	0	0	38	12
	Total		50	15	5	1	2	0	0	0	57	16
Tottenham Hotspur	1976–77	First Division	17	2	0	0	2	2	0	0	19	4
	1977–78	Second Division	10	4	0	0	1	0	0	0	11	4
	1978–79	First Division	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	2	0
	Total		29	6	0	0	3	2	0	0	32	8
Leyton Orient	1978–79	Second Division	30	13	3	0	0	0	0	0	33	13
	1979–80	Second Division	26	0	3	0	0	0	0	0	29	0
	1980–81	Second Division	37	9	1	0	1	0	2	0	41	9
	1981–82	Second Division	24	4	5	3	2	2	3	1	34	10
	Total		117	26	12	3	3	2	5	1	137	32
Bolton Wanderers	1982–83	Second Division	29	5	0	0	4	2	0	0	33	7
Barnsley (loan)	1982–83	Second Division	3	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	3	0
Career Total			228	52	17	4	12	6	5	1	262	63

A. ^ The "Other" column constitutes appearances and goals in the Anglo-Scottish Cup and Football League Group Cup.