Stan Cummins
Encyclopedia
Stan Cummins was an English footballer who played as an attacking midfielder or forward.
In 1970 Cummins, at age 11, was spotted by Middlesbrough Chief Scout Ray Grant playing for Ferryhill Grammar School. Some of Grant's other discoveries were Brian Clough
, Mark Proctor
and Tony Mowbray
. Grant told Boro's Assistant Manager Harold Shepherdson that Cummins had the keenest football brain he had encountered in a boy and was the most naturally talented player he had seen since Hughie Gallacher
. Shepherdson signed Cummins on Associate Schoolboy Forms for Middlesbrough at age 14, staving off competition from Chelsea, Arsenal and Aston Villa to name a few clubs wanting his signature. Grant died in February 2006.
Cummins began his career with Middlesbrough
in 1975 as an apprentice professional and was coached at youth level by former Scotland and Celtic great Bobby Murdoch
. He was voted Boro's Young Player of the Year in 1976. Manager Jack Charlton
gave him his debut in the old First Division (now called The Premiership) against Ipswich Town at Ayresome Park
on November 27, 1976 at the age of only 17 and Cummins went on to become a firm crowd favorite. He played for Boro in a friendly match against Scottish club Hearts a few weeks earlier and scored in a 3-0 win. Cummins signed professional forms with the club on his 18th birthday. He gained renown as a diminutive, skilful striker/midfielder. While still only a teenager Jack Charlton suggested that Cummins would one day be the first player to be sold for one million pounds. However, that was not to be the case for in 1979 Trevor Francis
became the first when Nottingham Forest bought him from Birmingham City. In 1977 Cummins had the honor of playing with 1966 World Cup Winner Sir Bobby Charlton
in John Hickton
's Testimonial Match against Sunderland at Ayresome Park. In the summer of 1977 he played in the North American Soccer League
(NASL) at the age of 18 for the Minnesota Kicks
against the likes of Pelé
, Franz Beckenbauer
and his idol George Best
, winning the Western Division Championship. In November of '77 Cummins scored his first league goal in Boro's 1-0 win against Aston Villa at Villa Park. By age 19 he established himself in Boro's first team and played in their F.A. Cup run of 1978 that ended with a quarter final defeat by Leyton Orient. In January of that year Boro beat Newcastle United 4-2 at St. James Park and Cummins scored Boro's fourth goal prompting match commentator Kenneth Wolstenholme
to say another of his famous one liners. Immediately after the goal Wolstenholme said "That gives him (Cummins) ten out of ten and one for neatness". Cummins played against Scotland in Willie Maddren
's Testimonial Match prior to their departure for the 1978 World Cup in Argentina. Former Boro colleague Graeme Souness also played. In February 1979 he was a member of the England U21 Squad versus Wales U21 along with Bryan Robson
, Glenn Hoddle
, Kenny Sansom
and Terry Butcher
coached by Dave Sexton
and Terry Venables
. He also used to write a weekly column for Scoop, a soccer magazine, as did Kenny Dalglish
, Glenn Hoddle and Peter Barnes
.
Cummins joined Sunderland
in November 1979 at the age of 20, for £300,000, the Club's most expensive signing in their 100 year history, scoring on his debut in the 3-1 win over Notts. County at Roker Park. He also won the Daily Express National Five-a-side Championship at Wembley Arena that same month. Cummins would also score vital goals for Sunderland in their promotion season of 1979/80. On February 9, 1980 he scored four goals and had 1 assist in the 5-0 win against Burnley at Roker Park. On April 5 he scored the only goal that beat Newcastle United in the local derby at Roker Park. That record stood for twenty-eight years until Sunderland beat Newcastle United again on home soil on October 25, 2008 when Sunderland won 2-1. He also scored in the 2-0 win against West Ham United to clinch promotion in front of 47,000 fans at Roker Park on May 12. The following season, he would score the goal which ensured Sunderland's First Division survival away to Liverpool at Anfield in the last game of the season. He was named Sunderland Player of the Year for 1981 and also the North-East of England Outfield Player of the Year for 1981. He was also the only Sunderland player to play in all 46 League and Cup games that season. In the summer of 1981 he returned to the NASL and played for the Seattle Sounders
alongside Bruce Rioch
and Alan Hudson
, winning the Trans-Atlantic Challenge Cup against the New York Cosmos
, Glasgow Celtic and Southampton
. He also played for the Sounders against the Washington Diplomats
featuring Dutch legend Johan Cruyff
.
In 1983, after his Sunderland contract had expired, Cummins joined Crystal Palace
instead of Newcastle United and Kevin Keegan
, a move he deeply regrets, returning to Sunderland a year later. He had played with Keegan in John Craggs
's Testimonial Match in 1982 and enjoyed Keegan's style of play. His second spell at Roker Park was short-lived. He was a member of the Sunderland Squad who got to the 1985 League Cup Final at Wembley Stadium but couldn't play because he was cup-tied
. He left the club following relegation in 1985 for the USA at the age of 26 and joined the Minnesota Strikers
on a three year contract in the Major Indoor Soccer League
(MISL). The Strikers reached the 1986 MISL Championship only to lose 4 games to 3 (best of seven) to the San Diego Sockers. However they were crowned MISL Eastern Division Champions in 1988 and on April 8 Cummins scored a hat-trick in the Strikers 4-2 victory against the Chicago Sting
and he was carried shoulder high from the playing field by his team-mates at the end of the game. The club folded at the end of the season and so Cummins joined the Kansas City Comets
for the 1988/89 season. He played in all of the Comets games that season along with team-mate Greg Ion. An entertaining and skilful player, Cummins' career spanned 14 years, 10 years in the English Football League where he made 251 appearances in both League and Cup Competitions scoring 50 goals, 2 seasons in the NASL and 4 years in the MISL, USA. He retired as a professional player in 1990 and has a UEFA 'B' coaching certificate.
While still a pro. in 1989 Cummins coached a youth team called the Mustangs. In 1990 he and friend Ken Viers formed a Youth Academy of eight teams. In 1991 its name was changed to Liverpool and the replica uniforms of the Liverpool F.C.
of England were provided by former 'Boro' legend Willie Maddren. Liverpool U15 boys won 16 trophies in four years before every player went to college on a soccer scholarship. In 1992 Cummins also coached a men's amateur team consisting of most of the premier youth coaches such as Andy Barney and Huw Williams. They reached the last eight of the National Amateur Indoor Championship in 1992 and 1993. The Academy had a very successful five years before Cummins disbanded it in 1994 due to his work commitments. During the last year of the Academy Cummins worked full time for a restoration company and coached his eight teams as well. By the end of the season Cummins found doing both to be too much. Some players went on to college and high school and Cummins recommended the rest to coaches of quality. He then concentrated fully on his day job. As a premier youth coach Cummins was well respected by his peers (evident by being asked by them to be their coach on the men's team). Also about 85% of his players that started with him in 1990 stayed with the Academy until the end in '94. That spoke volumes about his coaching ability. However, he was renowned for arguing with referees over (in his opinion) their lack of knowledge of the basic rules of the game for most refs were just young teenagers and it got him into trouble on several occasions. He also caused controversy by mixing his teams within the rules of the indoor five-a-side establishment. Opposing recreational coaches found his teams very difficult to beat because of this for they only had one team to work with. The establishment allowed a 20 player roster per team and allowed players to play on different teams providing they were of age and the teams were in different leagues. The establishment still does. Cummins monopolised the system and invited his younger players of quality to play up in older leagues, especially if their older brother was on that older Liverpool team. In his mind it was better for them that way than waiting around after their game for their older brothers game to conclude. He felt that it tested them against older, stronger, bigger and technically better players. Parents trusted his judgement where their children were concerned. He even did it with his own sons. It turned them into better players because of this. As long as it was within the rules to do so Cummins chose that option to coach by.
During Cummins' last game of the '94 outdoor program in Missouri he accused the referee of being biased towards the opposition because her brother was playing for them. It was a conflict of interest and it was also the deciding game for the championship between the two teams. They had to beat Liverpool to win the league. The game ended 1-1. During the summer of '94 after the Academy had dispanded Cummins heard a rumor that the chairman of the Missouri league was on a 'witch hunt' to discredit him because the referee was the chairman's daughter. He accused Cummins of playing three ineligible players in two of his games. Prior to those games Cummins asked the league scheduler if he could play some of his Liverpool under-13 boys who played in Kansas on his Liverpool under-14 boys team who played in Missouri because he was going to be short of players on that team for a few weeks due to other commitments. He was told that he could but only three. On the game days Cummins gave the referee his team sheet and player ID cards as proof of their age and club. He used the Liverpool '81 (U13) ID cards for those three as proof of age and club. The ref. took them and they played. Administratively under the By-Laws Cummins was supposed to get issued new cards for those three players and register them to be eligible to play in the State of Missouri as well as Kansas even though the cards would have on them the same information about age, name and club except for instead of Liverpool '81 they would read Liverpool '80. Cummins didn't realise that. He thought that his '81 cards of who they were, their ages and what club they represented would suffice. It was enough for the chairman to accuse Cummins of irregularities and summoned him to attend a hearing by a three man panel, of which the chairman was one along with his vice-chairman, to answer the accusations. Cummins refused to attend because he knew it was a 'kangaroo court'. He admitted making an administrative error unknowingly by not getting new ID cards for the players in question but refuted the allegation of deliberately cheating. So therefore because of his absence the panel went ahead with the hearing and found Cummins guilty on a technicality of playing three ineligible players in the two games. Liverpool had their points deducted from those games that they won and the league title was awarded to the team that the chairman's son played for. Cummins was banned for one year from coaching Youth Soccer in the KC area even though he never received anything officially in writing and heard about the outcome of the hearing by word of mouth from Ken Viers. Cummins had no desire to coach Youth Soccer again after that. He stated that the action taken by the league chairman against him was very petty and not warranted to that degree but he had disbanded his Academy beforehand anyway so it didn't make one bit of difference to Cummins and the chairman didn't achieve anything at all except to embarrass himself.
During trips to England in 2002 through 2004 Cummins voluntarily coached in the Albany Northern League Division Two for Norton and Stockton Ancients, Shotton Comrades and Willington F.C. respectively. In July 2005, at the age of 46, he was asked to help coach his home town soccer club Ferryhill Athletic but one week after accepting he suffered a heart attack and under doctor's orders had to decline. Cummins has resided in the state of Kansas, USA since 1988 and became an American citizen in 1992, giving him dual citizenship. It is called the Right of Abode.
Career statistics
In 1970 Cummins, at age 11, was spotted by Middlesbrough Chief Scout Ray Grant playing for Ferryhill Grammar School. Some of Grant's other discoveries were Brian Clough
Brian Clough
Brian Howard Clough, OBE was an English footballer and football manager. He is most notable for his success with Derby County and Nottingham Forest. His achievement of winning back-to-back European Cups with Nottingham Forest, a traditionally moderate provincial English club, is considered to be...
, Mark Proctor
Mark Proctor (footballer)
Mark Proctor is an English former footballer and former football manager. He is currently first team coach of Middlesbrough.-Playing career:...
and Tony Mowbray
Tony Mowbray
Anthony Mark "Tony" Mowbray is an English former professional football player, who is currently the manager of Middlesbrough...
. Grant told Boro's Assistant Manager Harold Shepherdson that Cummins had the keenest football brain he had encountered in a boy and was the most naturally talented player he had seen since Hughie Gallacher
Hughie Gallacher
Hugh Kilpatrick "Hughie" Gallacher was a Scottish football player in the 1920s and 1930s. In 624 senior games, Gallacher scored 463 times....
. Shepherdson signed Cummins on Associate Schoolboy Forms for Middlesbrough at age 14, staving off competition from Chelsea, Arsenal and Aston Villa to name a few clubs wanting his signature. Grant died in February 2006.
Cummins began his career with Middlesbrough
Middlesbrough F.C.
Middlesbrough Football Club , also known as Boro, are an English football club based in Middlesbrough, who play in the Football League Championship. Formed in 1876, they have played at the Riverside Stadium since August 1995, their third ground since turning professional in 1889...
in 1975 as an apprentice professional and was coached at youth level by former Scotland and Celtic great Bobby Murdoch
Bobby Murdoch
Bobby Murdoch was a Scottish professional footballer who played for Celtic and was one of the Lisbon Lions, the Celtic team who won the European Cup in 1967. He and Bertie Auld formed Celtic's central midfield....
. He was voted Boro's Young Player of the Year in 1976. Manager Jack Charlton
Jack Charlton
John "Jack" Charlton, OBE, DL is a former footballer and manager who played for Leeds United in the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s, and was part of the England team who won the 1966 World Cup...
gave him his debut in the old First Division (now called The Premiership) against Ipswich Town at Ayresome Park
Ayresome Park
-External links:**-References:...
on November 27, 1976 at the age of only 17 and Cummins went on to become a firm crowd favorite. He played for Boro in a friendly match against Scottish club Hearts a few weeks earlier and scored in a 3-0 win. Cummins signed professional forms with the club on his 18th birthday. He gained renown as a diminutive, skilful striker/midfielder. While still only a teenager Jack Charlton suggested that Cummins would one day be the first player to be sold for one million pounds. However, that was not to be the case for in 1979 Trevor Francis
Trevor Francis
Trevor John Francis , is a former footballer who won the European Cup with Nottingham Forest and played for England 52 times. He was England's first £1 million player...
became the first when Nottingham Forest bought him from Birmingham City. In 1977 Cummins had the honor of playing with 1966 World Cup Winner Sir Bobby Charlton
Bobby Charlton
Sir Robert "Bobby" Charlton CBE is an English former professional football player, a member of the England team who won the World Cup and Ballon d'Or for European Footballer of the Year in 1966...
in John Hickton
John Hickton
John Hickton is an English former professional footballer who played in the Football League as a striker for Sheffield Wednesday, Middlesbrough, Hull City and Middlesbrough, and in the North American Soccer League for Fort Lauderdale Strikers...
's Testimonial Match against Sunderland at Ayresome Park. In the summer of 1977 he played in the North American Soccer League
North American Soccer League
North American Soccer League was a professional soccer league with teams in the United States and Canada that operated from 1968 to 1984.-History:...
(NASL) at the age of 18 for the Minnesota Kicks
Minnesota Kicks
Minnesota Kicks were a professional soccer team that played at Metropolitan Stadium in Bloomington, Minnesota from 1976 to 1981. The team was a member of the now defunct North American Soccer League. The team had relocated to Minnesota after having been based in Denver, Colorado as the Denver Dynamos...
against the likes of Pelé
Pelé
However, Pelé has always maintained that those are mistakes, that he was actually named Edson and that he was born on 23 October 1940.), best known by his nickname Pelé , is a retired Brazilian footballer. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest football players of all time...
, Franz Beckenbauer
Franz Beckenbauer
Franz Anton Beckenbauer is a German football coach, manager, and former player, nicknamed Der Kaiser because of his elegant style, his leadership, his first name "Franz" , and his dominance on the football pitch...
and his idol George Best
George Best
George Best was a professional footballer from Northern Ireland, who played for Manchester United and the Northern Ireland national team. He was a winger whose game combined pace, acceleration, balance, two-footedness, goalscoring and the ability to beat defenders...
, winning the Western Division Championship. In November of '77 Cummins scored his first league goal in Boro's 1-0 win against Aston Villa at Villa Park. By age 19 he established himself in Boro's first team and played in their F.A. Cup run of 1978 that ended with a quarter final defeat by Leyton Orient. In January of that year Boro beat Newcastle United 4-2 at St. James Park and Cummins scored Boro's fourth goal prompting match commentator Kenneth Wolstenholme
Kenneth Wolstenholme
Kenneth Wolstenholme DFC & Bar was the football commentator for BBC television in the 1950s and 1960s, most notable for his commentary during the 1966 FIFA World Cup which included the famous phrase "some people are on the pitch...they think it's all over....it is now!", as Geoff Hurst scored...
to say another of his famous one liners. Immediately after the goal Wolstenholme said "That gives him (Cummins) ten out of ten and one for neatness". Cummins played against Scotland in Willie Maddren
Willie Maddren
William Dixon 'Willie' Maddren was a football player for Middlesbrough Football Club between 1968 and 1979.-Footballer at Middlesbrough:...
's Testimonial Match prior to their departure for the 1978 World Cup in Argentina. Former Boro colleague Graeme Souness also played. In February 1979 he was a member of the England U21 Squad versus Wales U21 along with Bryan Robson
Bryan Robson
Bryan Robson OBE is an English football manager and a former player. He is best known for playing in midfield for Manchester United, where he was the longest serving captain in club history. He was the manager of Sheffield United, being relieved of his first team duties at the club in February 2008...
, Glenn Hoddle
Glenn Hoddle
Glenn Hoddle is an English former footballer and manager who played as an attacking midfielder for Tottenham Hotspur, AS Monaco, Chelsea and Swindon Town and at international level for England....
, Kenny Sansom
Kenny Sansom
Kenneth Graham Sansom is an English former footballer. Until overtaken by Ashley Cole in February 2011, he held the record for the number of caps for an England national football team full back, having appeared 86 times for his country between 1979 and 1988.- Crystal Palace :Sansom started out...
and Terry Butcher
Terry Butcher
Terence Ian "Terry" Butcher is an English football manager and former player. He was a highly successful football player and made his name as an uncompromising defender with Ipswich Town and Rangers in the 1980s. He was also a captain of England and won 77 caps in a ten-year international career...
coached by Dave Sexton
Dave Sexton
David "Dave" Sexton OBE is an English former football manager and player.-Playing career:Son of former professional boxer Archie Sexton, he started his playing career with West Ham United in 1948. Playing mainly at inside-forward, he would finish his career with time at Luton Town, Leyton Orient,...
and Terry Venables
Terry Venables
Terence Frederick "Terry" Venables , often referred to as "El Tel", is a former football player and manager, as well as being a media pundit. During the 1960s and 70s, he played for various clubs including Chelsea, Tottenham Hotspur and Queens Park Rangers, and gained two caps for England...
. He also used to write a weekly column for Scoop, a soccer magazine, as did Kenny Dalglish
Kenny Dalglish
Kenneth Mathieson "Kenny" Dalglish MBE is a Scottish former footballer and the current manager of Liverpool F.C.. In a 22-year playing career, he played for two club teams, Celtic and Liverpool, winning numerous honours with both. He is the most capped Scottish player, with 102 appearances, and...
, Glenn Hoddle and Peter Barnes
Peter Barnes
Peter Barnes was an English Olivier Award-winning playwright and screenwriter. His most famous work is the play The Ruling Class, which was made into a 1972 film for which Peter O'Toole received an Oscar nomination....
.
Cummins joined Sunderland
Sunderland A.F.C.
Sunderland Association Football Club is an English association football club based in Sunderland, Tyne and Wear who currently play in the Premier League...
in November 1979 at the age of 20, for £300,000, the Club's most expensive signing in their 100 year history, scoring on his debut in the 3-1 win over Notts. County at Roker Park. He also won the Daily Express National Five-a-side Championship at Wembley Arena that same month. Cummins would also score vital goals for Sunderland in their promotion season of 1979/80. On February 9, 1980 he scored four goals and had 1 assist in the 5-0 win against Burnley at Roker Park. On April 5 he scored the only goal that beat Newcastle United in the local derby at Roker Park. That record stood for twenty-eight years until Sunderland beat Newcastle United again on home soil on October 25, 2008 when Sunderland won 2-1. He also scored in the 2-0 win against West Ham United to clinch promotion in front of 47,000 fans at Roker Park on May 12. The following season, he would score the goal which ensured Sunderland's First Division survival away to Liverpool at Anfield in the last game of the season. He was named Sunderland Player of the Year for 1981 and also the North-East of England Outfield Player of the Year for 1981. He was also the only Sunderland player to play in all 46 League and Cup games that season. In the summer of 1981 he returned to the NASL and played for the Seattle Sounders
Seattle Sounders (NASL)
The Seattle Sounders were a U.S. professional soccer team based in Seattle, Washington. Founded in 1974, the team belonged to the North American Soccer League where it played both indoor and outdoor soccer. The team folded after the 1983 NASL outdoor season.-Stadium:The Sounders played at Memorial...
alongside Bruce Rioch
Bruce Rioch
Bruce David Rioch is an English-born football manager and former player. He was manager of Aalborg BK in the Danish Superliga, until his sacking on 23 October 2008....
and Alan Hudson
Alan Hudson
Alan Anthony Hudson is a former English footballer.-Biography:Born and brought up near the King's Road, Hudson was rejected by boyhood club Fulham as a schoolboy before signing for Chelsea Juniors...
, winning the Trans-Atlantic Challenge Cup against the New York Cosmos
New York Cosmos
The New York Cosmos were an American soccer club based in New York City, New York and its suburbs. The team played home games in three stadiums around New York before moving in 1977 to Giants Stadium, East Rutherford, New Jersey, where it remained for the rest of its history...
, Glasgow Celtic and Southampton
Southampton
Southampton is the largest city in the county of Hampshire on the south coast of England, and is situated south-west of London and north-west of Portsmouth. Southampton is a major port and the closest city to the New Forest...
. He also played for the Sounders against the Washington Diplomats
Washington Diplomats
The Washington Diplomats were an American soccer club based in Washington, D.C.. Throughout their existence, the club played their home games at Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Stadium...
featuring Dutch legend Johan Cruyff
Johan Cruyff
Hendrik Johannes Cruijff OON , known as Johan Cruyff, is a retired Dutch footballer and is currently the manager of the Catalan national team as well as a member of the AFC Ajax board of directors. He won the Ballon d'Or three times, in 1971, 1973 and 1974, which is a record jointly held with...
.
In 1983, after his Sunderland contract had expired, Cummins joined Crystal Palace
Crystal Palace F.C.
Crystal Palace Football Club are an English Football league club based in South Norwood, London. The team plays its home matches at Selhurst Park, where they have been based since 1924. The club currently competes in the second tier of English Football, The Championship.Crystal Palace was formed in...
instead of Newcastle United and Kevin Keegan
Kevin Keegan
Joseph Kevin Keegan, OBE is a former international footballer and former manager of the England national football team and several English clubs, most notably Newcastle United....
, a move he deeply regrets, returning to Sunderland a year later. He had played with Keegan in John Craggs
John Craggs
John "Jack" Craggs was an English footballer who played for Sunderland, Nottingham Forest andReading as a forward.-Club career:...
's Testimonial Match in 1982 and enjoyed Keegan's style of play. His second spell at Roker Park was short-lived. He was a member of the Sunderland Squad who got to the 1985 League Cup Final at Wembley Stadium but couldn't play because he was cup-tied
Cup-tied
Cup-tied is an adjective, used primarily in association football, to describe a player who is ineligible to play in a knockout cup competition after transferring from another club during that competition.-Application:...
. He left the club following relegation in 1985 for the USA at the age of 26 and joined the Minnesota Strikers
Minnesota Strikers
The Minnesota Strikers was an American professional soccer team located in the Minneapolis/St. Paul metropolitan area. The team played one season in the North American Soccer League and 4 seasons in the Major Indoor Soccer League....
on a three year contract in the Major Indoor Soccer League
Major Soccer League
The Major Indoor Soccer League, known in its final two seasons as the Major Soccer League, was an indoor soccer league in the USA from 1978 to 1992. After the folding of the North American Soccer League in 1984, the MISL was the Division I soccer league for the United States...
(MISL). The Strikers reached the 1986 MISL Championship only to lose 4 games to 3 (best of seven) to the San Diego Sockers. However they were crowned MISL Eastern Division Champions in 1988 and on April 8 Cummins scored a hat-trick in the Strikers 4-2 victory against the Chicago Sting
Chicago Sting
The Chicago Sting was an American professional soccer team based in Chicago, Illinois. The Sting played in the North American Soccer League from 1975 to 1984 and in the Major Indoor Soccer League from in the 1982-83 season and again from 1984 to 1988...
and he was carried shoulder high from the playing field by his team-mates at the end of the game. The club folded at the end of the season and so Cummins joined the Kansas City Comets
Kansas City Comets
The Kansas City Comets were a professional indoor soccer team based for most of its existence in Kansas City, Missouri. They played in the original Major Indoor Soccer League from 1979–1991, when they folded...
for the 1988/89 season. He played in all of the Comets games that season along with team-mate Greg Ion. An entertaining and skilful player, Cummins' career spanned 14 years, 10 years in the English Football League where he made 251 appearances in both League and Cup Competitions scoring 50 goals, 2 seasons in the NASL and 4 years in the MISL, USA. He retired as a professional player in 1990 and has a UEFA 'B' coaching certificate.
While still a pro. in 1989 Cummins coached a youth team called the Mustangs. In 1990 he and friend Ken Viers formed a Youth Academy of eight teams. In 1991 its name was changed to Liverpool and the replica uniforms of the Liverpool F.C.
Liverpool F.C.
Liverpool Football Club is an English Premier League football club based in Liverpool, Merseyside. Liverpool has won eighteen League titles, second most in English football, seven FA Cups and a record seven League Cups...
of England were provided by former 'Boro' legend Willie Maddren. Liverpool U15 boys won 16 trophies in four years before every player went to college on a soccer scholarship. In 1992 Cummins also coached a men's amateur team consisting of most of the premier youth coaches such as Andy Barney and Huw Williams. They reached the last eight of the National Amateur Indoor Championship in 1992 and 1993. The Academy had a very successful five years before Cummins disbanded it in 1994 due to his work commitments. During the last year of the Academy Cummins worked full time for a restoration company and coached his eight teams as well. By the end of the season Cummins found doing both to be too much. Some players went on to college and high school and Cummins recommended the rest to coaches of quality. He then concentrated fully on his day job. As a premier youth coach Cummins was well respected by his peers (evident by being asked by them to be their coach on the men's team). Also about 85% of his players that started with him in 1990 stayed with the Academy until the end in '94. That spoke volumes about his coaching ability. However, he was renowned for arguing with referees over (in his opinion) their lack of knowledge of the basic rules of the game for most refs were just young teenagers and it got him into trouble on several occasions. He also caused controversy by mixing his teams within the rules of the indoor five-a-side establishment. Opposing recreational coaches found his teams very difficult to beat because of this for they only had one team to work with. The establishment allowed a 20 player roster per team and allowed players to play on different teams providing they were of age and the teams were in different leagues. The establishment still does. Cummins monopolised the system and invited his younger players of quality to play up in older leagues, especially if their older brother was on that older Liverpool team. In his mind it was better for them that way than waiting around after their game for their older brothers game to conclude. He felt that it tested them against older, stronger, bigger and technically better players. Parents trusted his judgement where their children were concerned. He even did it with his own sons. It turned them into better players because of this. As long as it was within the rules to do so Cummins chose that option to coach by.
During Cummins' last game of the '94 outdoor program in Missouri he accused the referee of being biased towards the opposition because her brother was playing for them. It was a conflict of interest and it was also the deciding game for the championship between the two teams. They had to beat Liverpool to win the league. The game ended 1-1. During the summer of '94 after the Academy had dispanded Cummins heard a rumor that the chairman of the Missouri league was on a 'witch hunt' to discredit him because the referee was the chairman's daughter. He accused Cummins of playing three ineligible players in two of his games. Prior to those games Cummins asked the league scheduler if he could play some of his Liverpool under-13 boys who played in Kansas on his Liverpool under-14 boys team who played in Missouri because he was going to be short of players on that team for a few weeks due to other commitments. He was told that he could but only three. On the game days Cummins gave the referee his team sheet and player ID cards as proof of their age and club. He used the Liverpool '81 (U13) ID cards for those three as proof of age and club. The ref. took them and they played. Administratively under the By-Laws Cummins was supposed to get issued new cards for those three players and register them to be eligible to play in the State of Missouri as well as Kansas even though the cards would have on them the same information about age, name and club except for instead of Liverpool '81 they would read Liverpool '80. Cummins didn't realise that. He thought that his '81 cards of who they were, their ages and what club they represented would suffice. It was enough for the chairman to accuse Cummins of irregularities and summoned him to attend a hearing by a three man panel, of which the chairman was one along with his vice-chairman, to answer the accusations. Cummins refused to attend because he knew it was a 'kangaroo court'. He admitted making an administrative error unknowingly by not getting new ID cards for the players in question but refuted the allegation of deliberately cheating. So therefore because of his absence the panel went ahead with the hearing and found Cummins guilty on a technicality of playing three ineligible players in the two games. Liverpool had their points deducted from those games that they won and the league title was awarded to the team that the chairman's son played for. Cummins was banned for one year from coaching Youth Soccer in the KC area even though he never received anything officially in writing and heard about the outcome of the hearing by word of mouth from Ken Viers. Cummins had no desire to coach Youth Soccer again after that. He stated that the action taken by the league chairman against him was very petty and not warranted to that degree but he had disbanded his Academy beforehand anyway so it didn't make one bit of difference to Cummins and the chairman didn't achieve anything at all except to embarrass himself.
During trips to England in 2002 through 2004 Cummins voluntarily coached in the Albany Northern League Division Two for Norton and Stockton Ancients, Shotton Comrades and Willington F.C. respectively. In July 2005, at the age of 46, he was asked to help coach his home town soccer club Ferryhill Athletic but one week after accepting he suffered a heart attack and under doctor's orders had to decline. Cummins has resided in the state of Kansas, USA since 1988 and became an American citizen in 1992, giving him dual citizenship. It is called the Right of Abode.
Career statistics