Despite being born in England, Townsend played in World Cups for the Republic of Ireland national team, making 70 appearances and scoring seven goals.

[3] He began his playing career in August 1980 with Welling United in the Athenian League, while working as an ICL computer operator for Greenwich Borough Council in south-east London.

[5] Over the next season, he was in and out of the team (then managed by Chris Nicholl) but broke his leg in a pre-season friendly against his old club Weymouth in August 1986.

[4] He made his debut as a substitute against Middlesbrough on 3 September 1988, before replacing the suspended Trevor Putney for his first full appearance in a 3–1 win over Spurs on 22 October.

Under manager Dave Stringer, he was a member of the Canaries' 1988–89 side that finished fourth in the top flight and reached the semi-finals of the FA Cup.

[5] After making a total of 138 appearances for Chelsea, scoring 12 goals but winning no trophies (they never finished higher than 11th in the league while he was there), he transferred to Aston Villa in July 1993 for £2.1million.

Townsend's high wage demands prevented a move back to Norwich or a loan spell with non-league Boston United.

[7] His contribution to Norwich's successful season saw Townsend selected for the Republic of Ireland, making his debut against France in February 1989.

[10] Townsend's most prominent role was as part of ITV Sport's live Champions League, FA Cup and England internationals coverage.

He took over from Ron Atkinson as the channel's lead co-commentator, forming a long-running partnership with main commentator Clive Tyldesley, as well as appearing as a studio pundit.

He co-hosted Talksport's Weekend Sports Breakfast on Sundays with Mike Parry, and hosted the station's drive-time show on Fridays.

He also hosted the mid morning discussion on talkSPORT from 10 am to 1 pm from Monday to Friday, having replaced Jon Gaunt, who was sacked for calling a guest a Nazi.

Townsend was part of ITV's coverage of the Premier League after they won the rights from the BBC to show top flight football on Saturday evening.