2nd April 1937

Dublin

Defender

Later playing for the Republic of Ireland and managing Charlton Athletic, Theo Foley played for Exeter City between 1955 and 1961. He joined the club from Home Farm as a teenager and later played for Northampton Town. Playing over 200 times for Northampton he was part of the team that climbed from the third-tier to the top-flight during the 1960s.

Signed by Exeter City from Irish club, Home Farm, in February 1955, Foley, then 18-years-old, was content to play with the Grecians’ reserve team, until eventually earning a first team call up for the 1-1 home draw against Norwich City in September of that year. He didn’t feature at all at senior level in 1956-57, but in 1957-58 finally established himself as a City regular. He was an ever present in 1958-59 as City just missed out on a promotion place, and he only missed one league match the following season. Although he asked for a transfer in February 1960, he remained with City until May 1961, when he was transferred to Northampton Town for £1,000.

He was to feature in 266 league matches for the Cobblers, scoring 8 goals, being a member of the team that took the club from Division Three right through to Division One. Foley won nine full caps for the Republic of Ireland and had a reputation as being a fast full-back, who was firm in the tackle, Charlton Athletic signed Foley in August 1967, but he only stayed one season as a player, making six league appearances.

By December 1967 Foley had been appointed chief coach at Charlton, and then promoted to manager between March 1970 and April 1974. He then became manager of Dulwich Hamlet in September 1974, before taking over as assistant manager at Millwall in April 1975, and caretaker manager in December 1977. He moved to Queens Park Rangers as their coach, but returned to Millwall in December 1982, again as assistant manager. In April 1986 Foley was appointed as assistant manager of Arsenal. However, he went back to one of his former clubs, Northampton Town, as their manager in May 1990, a post he held until April 1992 when the club went into administration. He became Fulham’s youth team manager in April 1993.

Theo Foley died on 20 June 2020 aged eighty-three.

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