Northampton Town Football Club are deeply saddened to learn of the passing of former Cobbler Theo Foley.
Theo was born in Dublin and began his career with Home Farm.
He spent some time on trial at Burnley before moving to Exeter City who were then in Division Three South and he would go on to spend five seasons at St. James Park.
In 1961 Dave Bowen signed him for the Cobblers for a small fee. Theo captained the Cobblers as the club rose through the divisions but in Division One injury took its toll. He also missed a large chunk of the following season (66-67) and was released at the end of that campaign.
Theo made over 220 appearances for the Cobblers, scoring over 11 goals and although Theo was offered a coaching job with Northampton he instead decided to continue playing, joining Charlton as player coach.
In January 1970 he was promoted to assistant manager and three months later he was acting manager, being promoted to team manager in the close season.
He was sacked in April 1974 just days after receiving a rose bowl from the supporters and ten days before Charlton were awarded £4,000 for being one of the highest scoring clubs.
After a spell with Dulwich Hamlet as coach and advisor he joined LBC radio station and took on broadcasting duties. After a short spell with Dartford he moved to Millwall as coach and was promoted to caretaker manager when Gordon Jago left but when George Petchley was put in as manager three weeks later, Theo resigned.
Loftus Road was the next stop as he coached the QPR reserves side before returning to Millwall as assistant to George Graham. Both manager and coach moved to Arsenal in 1986 with tremendous success.
Theo felt he wanted to become a team manager again and applied for the vacant job at the Cobblers with the club back in to Division Four BY this time, and he built a side that was challenging for a promotion spot until the last few games when injuries struck.
The following season there was a change of board, the better players were sold and the administrators sacked Theo. He joined Fulham as their youth team coach then became a coach at Southend United under Ronnie Whelan.
Theo’s final coaching position was at Tottenham where there was a strong Northampton connection. Graham Carr was Chief Scout, John Alexander was secretary, Colin Calderwood, who would later be a Northampton manager, was also a coach and Justin Edinburgh was a player.
We send our condolences and best wishes to Theo’s Family and friends.
Ethan Grande - Cobblerspast.com