A rumbustuous centre forward, Tony Cunningham played for a total of eleven League clubs in a career that saw him net 116 League goals. He joined Lincoln City from non-League Stourbridge in May 1979 and in 1980-81 he helped Lincoln earn promotion (along with Rovers) to Division Three. An £80,000 move to Barnsley followed in 1981 and after a useful season at Oakwell he joined First Division Sheffield Wednesday. Although not a great success at Hillsborough, he moved on to Manchester City in 1984 and six months later he signed for First Division strugglers Newcastle United. He scored only four times in over 40 games for the Geordies, but subsequent moves to Blackpool, Bury, Bolton and Rotherham United were more fruitful.
Cunningham scored 24 goals in two seasons at Millmoor, and great things were expected of him when he joined Rovers in the summer of 1993. Unfortunately Cunningham was a big disappointment, finding the net only once in 25 League outings.
He did have a spell in charge of team affairs following the departure of Steve Beaglehole in December 1993, but Rovers took only one point from the four games he was in charge, and he was pleased to hand over the reins to Ian Atkins. In March 1994 he joined Football League new boys Wycombe Wanderers but he was soon on the move again to Gainsborough Trinity. An intelligent and personable character, Cunningham took a Business Studies degree and then trained to be a solicitor. He now works for Andrew Jay & Co. in Gainsborough, specialising in criminal law.

full name: Anthony Eugene Cunningham
born: Jamaica, West Indies
birth date: 12 November 1957

Rovers debut: 14 August 1993
League Division Three
Rovers 1 Chester City 0 (Moss)
Attendance: 2,752