Steve Wigley
Encyclopedia
Steve Wigley is an English
football coach and former player for Nottingham Forest
, Sheffield United
, Birmingham City
, Portsmouth
and Exeter City
. He made 340 appearances in the Football League
. He is the former manager of Southampton
and the former assistant/caretaker manager for Bristol City
. He is currently the first-team coach at Hull City
, Wigley earned a reputation as a tricky winger for home-town club Curzon Ashton
, jinking his way through defences and dazzling crowds with his skilful ball displays. It was this that attracted Brian Clough
who promptly signed him for Nottingham Forest
. After making his debut as a 21-year-old, Wigley played 82 times for Forest before moving to Sheffield United
in 1985. Unfortunately, he never found success in Sheffield
and moved to Birmingham City
soon after, where during a spectacular display against Portsmouth F.C.
, Pompey manager Alan Ball
was persuaded to sign him for the club. After spending four years of mixed fortunes on the South Coast, helping Portsmouth to the 1992 FA Cup semi final where they lost on a penalty shootout to Liverpool, Wigley moved to Exeter to finish his Football League playing career and then having a brief spell with non-league Bognor Regis Town before taking on his first managerial job at Aldershot
.
after the departure of Steve Wignall
. The Shots were by this time in the Isthmian League
first division but failed to achieve promotion under Wigley's leadership, finishing 4th, 5th and finally 7th in his three year period with the club. Wigley is one of only two Aldershot Town managers not to have achieved promotion during his spell in charge of the Club.
persuaded him to return to Nottingham Forest
as assistant academy director. In his time at Forest, Wigley moved up the ranks to become first team coach before short-lived Saints boss Stuart Gray lured him to Southampton
as academy
director in the summer of 2001. At the same time, David Platt, England Under 21 boss, asked Wigley to help out with coaching the young internationals.
's reign at Southampton, Wigley moved to focus more on the first team than the academy players. When Strachan left the club in 2004, Wigley was asked to step in as caretaker. Wigley clearly felt ill at ease in charge of the Saints so after two games in charge, Paul Sturrock
was brought in from Plymouth Argyle
. During the rumoured player disputes with Sturrock, Wigley stepped in as an intermediary and helped solve differences at the club.
When Sturrock left the club in August 2004 only two games into the new season, chairman Rupert Lowe
revealed that Wigley had been appointed full time boss of the Saints and not just caretaker. Opponents of Wigley claimed that he was not yet ready for Premier League management; with only three years in charge of Aldershot, a non-league club. However, some fans were happy with the appointment as it meant that Glenn Hoddle
, widely reviled by many Saints fans could not return.
Wigley's first tenure in the Premiership ended prematurely – he was dismissed by Southampton on 8 December after just 14 matches, the only win coming in the local derby against arch-rivals and former club Portsmouth. Wigley resumed duties with the club's young players but finally left St Mary's later in the season.
at Manchester City
as assistant manager/first team coach. During his first season at City, he guided City's reserve team to third place in the Premiership North Reserve League. Wigley left City after Pearce was sacked in May 2007.
appointed Wigley as 'National Coach', assuming responsibility for the 17–21 age groups to help develop young players.http://www.thefa.com/TheFA/NewsFromTheFA/Postings/2007/08/WigleyAppointed.htm
back room staff as head coach following a decision by Gary Megson
to restructure the club's coaching staff. On 30 December 2009, he was appointed as joint caretaker manager of Bolton with Chris Evans
following Megson's sacking, but on the appointment of new manager Owen Coyle
on 8 January 2010 he left the club.
, under new manager, Iain Dowie
.
at Bristol City
on a one-year-rolling contract. Millen stated: "Steve was the man I wanted. He was always the name at the front of the list."http://www.bcfc.co.uk/page/NewsDetail/0,,10327~2125765,00.html Subsequent to Millen's departure, on 2 November 2011, Wigley left the club by mutual consent.
backroom staff as first-team coach.
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
football coach and former player for Nottingham Forest
Nottingham Forest F.C.
Nottingham Forest Football Club is an English Association Football club based in West Bridgford, Nottingham, that plays in the Football League Championship...
, Sheffield United
Sheffield United F.C.
Sheffield United Football Club is a professional English football club based in the city of Sheffield, South Yorkshire.They were the first sporting team to use the name 'United' and are nicknamed 'The Blades', thanks to Sheffield's worldwide reputation for steel production...
, Birmingham City
Birmingham City F.C.
Birmingham City Football Club is a professional association football club based in the city of Birmingham, England. Formed in 1875 as Small Heath Alliance, they became Small Heath in 1888, then Birmingham in 1905, finally becoming Birmingham City in 1943.They were relegated at the end of the...
, Portsmouth
Portsmouth F.C.
Portsmouth Football Club is an English football club based in the city of Portsmouth. The club is nicknamed Pompey. Portsmouth's home matches have been played at Fratton Park since the club's formation in 1898. The team currently play in the Football League Championship after being relegated from...
and Exeter City
Exeter City F.C.
Exeter City Football Club is an English football club, based in Exeter, which is owned by its fans through the Exeter City Supporters Trust.The club was a member of the Football League from 1920 to 2003...
. He made 340 appearances in the Football League
The Football League
The Football League, also known as the npower Football League for sponsorship reasons, is a league competition featuring professional association football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888, it is the oldest such competition in world football...
. He is the former manager of Southampton
Southampton F.C.
Southampton Football Club is an English football team, nicknamed The Saints, based in the city of Southampton, Hampshire. The club gained promotion to the Championship from League One in the 2010–2011 season after being relegated in 2009. Their home ground is the St Mary's Stadium, where the club...
and the former assistant/caretaker manager for Bristol City
Bristol City F.C.
Bristol City Football Club is one of two football league clubs in Bristol, England . They play at Ashton Gate, located in the south-west of the City...
. He is currently the first-team coach at Hull City
Hull City A.F.C.
Hull City Association Football Club is an English association football club based in Kingston upon Hull, East Riding of Yorkshire, founded in 1904. The club participates in the Football League Championship, the second tier of English football...
Playing career
Born in Ashton-under-LyneAshton-under-Lyne
Ashton-under-Lyne is a market town in the Metropolitan Borough of Tameside, Greater Manchester, England. Historically a part of Lancashire, it lies on the north bank of the River Tame, on undulating land at the foothills of the Pennines...
, Wigley earned a reputation as a tricky winger for home-town club Curzon Ashton
Curzon Ashton F.C.
Curzon Ashton F.C. are a football club who currently play in the Northern Premier League Division One North. Nicknamed "The Blues", the club play their home games at the Tameside Stadium in Ashton-under-Lyne.-History:...
, jinking his way through defences and dazzling crowds with his skilful ball displays. It was this that attracted 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...
who promptly signed him for Nottingham Forest
Nottingham Forest F.C.
Nottingham Forest Football Club is an English Association Football club based in West Bridgford, Nottingham, that plays in the Football League Championship...
. After making his debut as a 21-year-old, Wigley played 82 times for Forest before moving to Sheffield United
Sheffield United F.C.
Sheffield United Football Club is a professional English football club based in the city of Sheffield, South Yorkshire.They were the first sporting team to use the name 'United' and are nicknamed 'The Blades', thanks to Sheffield's worldwide reputation for steel production...
in 1985. Unfortunately, he never found success in Sheffield
Sheffield
Sheffield is a city and metropolitan borough of South Yorkshire, England. Its name derives from the River Sheaf, which runs through the city. Historically a part of the West Riding of Yorkshire, and with some of its southern suburbs annexed from Derbyshire, the city has grown from its largely...
and moved to Birmingham City
Birmingham City F.C.
Birmingham City Football Club is a professional association football club based in the city of Birmingham, England. Formed in 1875 as Small Heath Alliance, they became Small Heath in 1888, then Birmingham in 1905, finally becoming Birmingham City in 1943.They were relegated at the end of the...
soon after, where during a spectacular display against Portsmouth F.C.
Portsmouth F.C.
Portsmouth Football Club is an English football club based in the city of Portsmouth. The club is nicknamed Pompey. Portsmouth's home matches have been played at Fratton Park since the club's formation in 1898. The team currently play in the Football League Championship after being relegated from...
, Pompey manager Alan Ball
Alan Ball (footballer)
Alan James Ball, Jr., MBE was a professional English footballer and football club manager.He was the youngest member of England's 1966 World Cup winning team and played for various clubs, scoring more than 180 league goals in a career spanning 22 years...
was persuaded to sign him for the club. After spending four years of mixed fortunes on the South Coast, helping Portsmouth to the 1992 FA Cup semi final where they lost on a penalty shootout to Liverpool, Wigley moved to Exeter to finish his Football League playing career and then having a brief spell with non-league Bognor Regis Town before taking on his first managerial job at Aldershot
Aldershot Town F.C.
Aldershot Town Football Club is an association football club based in Aldershot, Hampshire, England, founded in the spring of 1992 just after the closure of debt-ridden Fourth Division club Aldershot Football Club...
.
Aldershot Town
Wigley was appointed as manager of Aldershot TownAldershot Town F.C.
Aldershot Town Football Club is an association football club based in Aldershot, Hampshire, England, founded in the spring of 1992 just after the closure of debt-ridden Fourth Division club Aldershot Football Club...
after the departure of Steve Wignall
Steve Wignall
Steven Leslie "Steve" Wignall is an English former professional football manager and player. During his playing career, Wignall, who played as a central defender, made over 600 appearances in the Football League.-Playing career:...
. The Shots were by this time in the Isthmian League
Isthmian League
The Isthmian League is a regional football league covering London and South East England featuring semi-professional and amateur clubs. It is sponsored by Ryman, and therefore officially known as the Ryman League. It was founded in 1905 by amateur clubs in the London area...
first division but failed to achieve promotion under Wigley's leadership, finishing 4th, 5th and finally 7th in his three year period with the club. Wigley is one of only two Aldershot Town managers not to have achieved promotion during his spell in charge of the Club.
Nottingham Forest
After three years at Aldershot, Academy Director Paul HartPaul Hart
Paul Hart is an English football manager and former football defender, who is currently Academy Director at Charlton Athletic. The son of Johnny Hart, a football inside forward and manager, Hart had five-year spells with both Blackpool and Leeds United, while also playing for Nottingham Forest and...
persuaded him to return to Nottingham Forest
Nottingham Forest F.C.
Nottingham Forest Football Club is an English Association Football club based in West Bridgford, Nottingham, that plays in the Football League Championship...
as assistant academy director. In his time at Forest, Wigley moved up the ranks to become first team coach before short-lived Saints boss Stuart Gray lured him to Southampton
Southampton F.C.
Southampton Football Club is an English football team, nicknamed The Saints, based in the city of Southampton, Hampshire. The club gained promotion to the Championship from League One in the 2010–2011 season after being relegated in 2009. Their home ground is the St Mary's Stadium, where the club...
as academy
Southampton F.C. Academy
Southampton Football Club Academy or Saints Academy is the youth organisation run by Southampton Football Club to encourage and develop young footballers in the South of England...
director in the summer of 2001. At the same time, David Platt, England Under 21 boss, asked Wigley to help out with coaching the young internationals.
Southampton
During Gordon StrachanGordon Strachan
Gordon David Strachan OBE is a Scottish football manager and former player. He is currently without a club, having last managed Middlesbrough. Strachan played for Dundee, Aberdeen, Manchester United, Leeds United and Coventry City, as well as the Scotland national team. Prior to Middlesbrough,...
's reign at Southampton, Wigley moved to focus more on the first team than the academy players. When Strachan left the club in 2004, Wigley was asked to step in as caretaker. Wigley clearly felt ill at ease in charge of the Saints so after two games in charge, Paul Sturrock
Paul Sturrock
Paul Whitehead Sturrock is a Scottish football manager who, since July 2010, is the manager of Southend United. Until this appointment, Sturrock had most recently been at English League 1 club Plymouth Argyle in a business support role, having been relieved of his managerial duties, until he quit...
was brought in from Plymouth Argyle
Plymouth Argyle F.C.
Plymouth Argyle Football Club is an English professional football club, based in Plymouth, Devon, that plays in Football League Two.Since becoming professional in 1903, the club has won five Football League titles, five Southern League titles and one Western League title. The 2009–10 season was the...
. During the rumoured player disputes with Sturrock, Wigley stepped in as an intermediary and helped solve differences at the club.
When Sturrock left the club in August 2004 only two games into the new season, chairman Rupert Lowe
Rupert Lowe
Rupert James Graham Lowe is a British businessman, who was the chairman of Southampton Football Club from 1996 to 2006. He regained his power in May 2008, teaming up with Michael Wilde, who had previously forced Lowe out, becoming chairman of the club's parent company, Southampton Leisure Holdings...
revealed that Wigley had been appointed full time boss of the Saints and not just caretaker. Opponents of Wigley claimed that he was not yet ready for Premier League management; with only three years in charge of Aldershot, a non-league club. However, some fans were happy with the appointment as it meant that 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....
, widely reviled by many Saints fans could not return.
Wigley's first tenure in the Premiership ended prematurely – he was dismissed by Southampton on 8 December after just 14 matches, the only win coming in the local derby against arch-rivals and former club Portsmouth. Wigley resumed duties with the club's young players but finally left St Mary's later in the season.
Manchester City
After leaving Southampton, Wigley joined up with former Nottingham Forest team-mate Stuart PearceStuart Pearce
Stuart Pearce OBE is an English football manager and former player. He is currently the manager of the England national under-21 team and the Great Britain and Northern Ireland Olympic football team...
at Manchester City
Manchester City F.C.
Manchester City Football Club is an English Premier League football club based in Manchester. Founded in 1880 as St. Mark's , they became Ardwick Association Football Club in 1887 and Manchester City in 1894...
as assistant manager/first team coach. During his first season at City, he guided City's reserve team to third place in the Premiership North Reserve League. Wigley left City after Pearce was sacked in May 2007.
England Under-21
Wigley teamed up with Pearce again, this time as England Under-21 coach, after Pearce was appointed to this role in 2007. In August 2007 the Football AssociationThe Football Association
The Football Association, also known as simply The FA, is the governing body of football in England, and the Crown Dependencies of Jersey, Guernsey and the Isle of Man. It was formed in 1863, and is the oldest national football association...
appointed Wigley as 'National Coach', assuming responsibility for the 17–21 age groups to help develop young players.http://www.thefa.com/TheFA/NewsFromTheFA/Postings/2007/08/WigleyAppointed.htm
Bolton Wanderers
On 8 July 2008, Wigley joined the Bolton WanderersBolton Wanderers F.C.
Bolton Wanderers Football Club is an English professional association football club based in the area of Horwich in the Metropolitan Borough of Bolton, Greater Manchester. They began their current spell in the Premier League in 2001....
back room staff as head coach following a decision by Gary Megson
Gary Megson
Gary John Megson is an English former football player and is currently manager of Sheffield Wednesday.He has previously managed Norwich City, Blackpool, Stockport County, Stoke City, West Bromwich Albion, Nottingham Forest, Leicester City and Bolton Wanderers...
to restructure the club's coaching staff. On 30 December 2009, he was appointed as joint caretaker manager of Bolton with Chris Evans
Chris Evans (footballer)
Christopher Brian "Chris" Evans is a Welsh former footballer who is assistant manager at Sheffield Wednesday.Evans started his career at Arsenal, before joining Stoke City in 1981. After failing to make any appearances he joined York City in 1982, where he made over 100 appearances. He joined...
following Megson's sacking, but on the appointment of new manager Owen Coyle
Owen Coyle
Owen Columba Coyle is a Scottish-born Irish international former professional player and professional association football manager . He is currently the manager of Bolton Wanderers....
on 8 January 2010 he left the club.
Hull City
On 17 March 2010, he was appointed as coach at Premier League club, Hull CityHull City A.F.C.
Hull City Association Football Club is an English association football club based in Kingston upon Hull, East Riding of Yorkshire, founded in 1904. The club participates in the Football League Championship, the second tier of English football...
, under new manager, Iain Dowie
Iain Dowie
Iain Dowie is a former footballer and manager. He is currently without a club. He has previously managed Hull City and Queens Park Rangers and was assistant manager of Newcastle United...
.
Bristol City
On 18 August 2010, Wigley became assistant manager to Keith MillenKeith Millen
-External links:...
at Bristol City
Bristol City F.C.
Bristol City Football Club is one of two football league clubs in Bristol, England . They play at Ashton Gate, located in the south-west of the City...
on a one-year-rolling contract. Millen stated: "Steve was the man I wanted. He was always the name at the front of the list."http://www.bcfc.co.uk/page/NewsDetail/0,,10327~2125765,00.html Subsequent to Millen's departure, on 2 November 2011, Wigley left the club by mutual consent.
Hull City
On 18 November 2011 it was announced that Wigley would be rejoining Hull City'sHull City A.F.C.
Hull City Association Football Club is an English association football club based in Kingston upon Hull, East Riding of Yorkshire, founded in 1904. The club participates in the Football League Championship, the second tier of English football...
backroom staff as first-team coach.
External links
- Management statistics on Soccerbase
- League career statistics at Post War English & Scottish Football League A – Z Player's Database