Matt Healey continues the series.
The man who frightened the life out of PA announcers across the football pyramid. Andy was born on the 30th October 1970. He began as a trainee at Tottenham, then switched to Norwich City, and joined Hereford United in the summer of 1991.
His nickname was Topper, I asked him how it came about “When I was an apprentice at Tottenham, they were playing about with my surname and after various attempts at pronouncing my name the word Topper came about and it just stuck”
Andy Theodosiou 1991 (c) MH Archive
John Sillett had returned as Hereford United manager in 1991, and Theodosiou was one of his first signings. “I had spoke to Greg Downs (player coach) first of all, then spoke to John, I wanted to play first team football, felt confident I would play and with John and Greg having such good reputations in the game, I felt Hereford would be a great challenge”
Andy opened the scoring in the 2nd game of the 1991/1992 season which was a 4-1 win over Scarborough. Hereford were flying and were top of the league by mid September 1991.
A few days later he was on the scoresheet in a 2-1 win over Torquay in the League Cup.
“John Sillett was such a big character, I was scared of him, I loved him, he was really good for me and gave me a lot of confidence, he was good for my game. I can’t speak highly enough of him. The best manager I played for”
Jon Narbett was a big fan of Theodosiou ” He was a big character who had an immediate influence on the dressing room, he was a natural leader who fitted in quickly”
Theodosiou’s biggest game was against Nottingham Forest in the FA Cup 4th round. A crowd of 24,239 saw Hereford lose 2-0. “It was the highlight of my career, I marked Teddy Sheringham. I never got near him all day”
Hereford finished the 1991/1992 season a disappointing 17th. John Sillett has stepped down just before the season ended, and Greg Downs took over as player manager.
Hereford United v Chesterfield – February 1992 (c) MH Archive
Peter Heritage and Theodosiou were great friends at Edgar Street. Heritage told us “Topper was a great team mate, luckily through social media we’ve managed to catch up again. He didn’t take any prisoners, and was a winner, we hit it off straightaway when he joined Hereford and was brilliant in the dressing room, his birthday celebrations in the Crystal Rooms was one of the funniest nights of my life”
Hereford United v Doncaster Rovers – March 1992 (c) MH Archive
Hereford United 1992/1993 season (c) MH Archive
A change of manager can always been an anxious time for a player and Theodosiou didn’t play as much in his 2nd season at Edgar Street.
“Me and Greg Downs didn’t get on so well, I felt he had an impossible job, he was manager, player coach, coach, assistant manager, fitness coach, he did everything, a lot of the experienced players from the season before had been let go and it was so hard for him, we didn’t get on great, but it was really tough for the guy”
Theodosiou was one of the four players sent off in the infamous 1-1 draw away at Northampton on the 6th September 1992.
Theodosiou tells me the background story “A couple of weeks before we went to Torquay and got walloped 5-0 in the League Cup.
Greg said as a team we need to toughen up, I think we took it too far, it was a fairly mundane game 0-0, I had a tangle with their striker”
Theodosiou continued “I dug my foot into his thigh, the referee spotted it, i got sent off, I’ve gone into the dressing room. I didn’t know Greg had been sent off. I then was having a shower, and David Titterton came in, he had been sent off, I then went through the tunnel and Richard Jones was coming down, he had been sent off as well, there was so much going on, it was a strange afternoon. looking back on the video some of the tackles were horrific, it was a really strange day”
Theodosiou scored the opening goal in a 3-1 defeat at home to Chesterfield on the 7th November 1992.
His appearances after that were sparse and he was released by Greg Downs in the summer of 1993.
“I left Hereford and played in Cyprus for two seasons, then played for Dover Athletic in the GM Vauxhall Conference and flirted around a few non league clubs in the south east with a few coaching roles”
I asked Theodosiou if he was still involved in the game “Not anymore you don’t get much reward in the lower level and I don’t have that enthusiasm now” Theodosiou now resides in Hertfordshire with his family.
Andy Theodosiou and his wife Gina – October 2020
