I never met Tony, but I had the pleasure of meeting and filming with his son Mark last year for our film about Nottingham's AC Milan links The Lord of Milan.
Mark knew lots about both Nottingham and Notts. I asked him if he was ever close to signing for us under Pavis (which we were led to believe at the time) and the answer was "not really".
Tony gets a mention in our film via his son, Mark. So I've just left a little tribute on our Facebook page (mainly populated by AC Milan fans) for them all to see...
https://m.facebook.com/thelordofmilan