List of Walsall F.C. managers

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The following is a list of Walsall managers from the founding of Walsall Football Club in 1888 until the present day. The list includes only managers who were in charge permanently and does not include any temporary caretaker managers. The club has been served by 48 different permanently appointed managers,[1][2]:74–87 all of them born in the United Kingdom, aside from former Denmark international Jan Sørensen (1997–98).[2]:86

From 1888 to 1920, the team was selected by a committee whose secretary had the same powers and role as a manager has today. There are ten known secretaries from this period,[1] although there is a gap in the history books from 1901 to 1908. The dates for appointment of these should be taken only as approximate, although the years should be correct. In 1920, as was becoming the norm across all football clubs, Walsall broke from this tradition and appointed player Albert Groves as the club's first official manager.[2]:74

The club's longest serving and, arguably, most-successful manager is Bill Moore who took charge of 470 matches over two spells from 1957–63 and 1969–72. During his first spell he took the team from languishing towards the bottom of the Third Division South to their highest ever post-war league position of 14th in the Second Division in 1962.[2]:78–79

Only five managers have achieved promotion for the club since Bill Moore: Alan Buckley in 1979–80, Tommy Coakley in 1987–88, Chris Nicholl in 1994–95, Ray Graydon in 1998–99 and 2000–01, and Richard Money in 2006–07.

Managers

Only competitive first team matches are counted. Wins, losses and draws are results at the final whistle; the results of penalty shoot-outs are not counted. Correct as of match on 22 October 2024.[1][2]:74–87

More information Name, From ...
Name From To P W D L Win% Honours Notes
England H. Smallwood sec 1 Aug 1888 1 Aug 1891 6932928046.38
England A. G. Burton sec 1 Aug 1891 1 Aug 1893 4915628030.61
England J. H. Robinson sec 1 Aug 1893 1 Aug 1895 6222337035.48
England C. H. Aislo sec 1 Aug 1895 1 Aug 1896 311966061.29
England A. E. Parsloe sec 1 Aug 1896 1 Aug 1897 3312516036.36
England Louis Ford sec 1 Aug 1897 1 Aug 1898 3112514038.71
England G. Hughes sec 1 Aug 1898 1 Aug 1899 3515128042.86
England Louis Ford sec 1 Aug 1899 1 Aug 1901 79252430031.65 [a]
England J. E. Shutt sec 1 Aug 1908 1 Jul 1912 1921172847060.94
Wales Haydn Price sec 1 Jul 1912 1 Aug 1915 114571938050.00
England Joe Burchell sec 1 Aug 1915 1 May 1920 56201224035.71
Wales Albert Groves p 1 May 1920 1 Aug 1921 3619611052.78
England Joe Burchell 1 Aug 1921 1 Feb 1926 201743691036.82 [b]
Republic of Ireland David Ashworth 1 Feb 1926 1 Feb 1927 4216917038.10
Scotland Jimmy Torrance 1 Feb 1927 1 May 1928 59171230028.81
Scotland James Kerr 1 May 1928 1 Apr 1929 44151316034.09
England Sid Scholey 1 Apr 1929 1 Oct 1930 5919931032.20
Scotland Peter O'Rourke 1 Oct 1930 1 Feb 1932 62211130033.87
England Bill Slade 1 Feb 1932 1 Oct 1934 117552339047.01
Scotland Andrew Wilson 1 Oct 1934 1 Apr 1937 130473053036.15 Third Division North Cup runners-up 1935
England Tommy Lowes 1 Apr 1937 1 Sep 1939 102322149031.37
England Sam Longmore 1 Sep 1939 5 Aug 1944 166543478032.53
England Harry Hibbs 5 Aug 1944 30 Jun 1951 30511373119037.05 Third Division South Cup runners-up 1946
Scotland Tony McPhee 1 Jul 1951 1 Dec 1951 268315030.77
England Brough Fletcher 1 Mar 1952 1 Apr 1953 59101138016.95
England Frank Buckley 1 Apr 1953 1 Sep 1955 105232656021.90
Scotland John Love 1 Sep 1955 1 Dec 1957 116382454032.76
England Bill Moore 1 Dec 1957 1 Nov 1963 28312160102042.76 Fourth Division champions 1959–60
Third Division runners-up 1960–61
England Alf Wood 1 Nov 1963 1 Oct 1964 4310924023.26
England Ray Shaw 1 Oct 1964 1 Mar 1968 179793664044.13
England Dick Graham 1 Mar 1968 1 May 1968 15645040.00
England Ron Lewin 1 Jul 1968 1 Feb 1969 37111214029.73
England Bill Moore 1 Feb 1969 16 Oct 1972 187695365036.90 [c]
England John Smith 16 Oct 1972 23 Mar 1973 267514026.92
Scotland Jimmy MacEwan 23 Mar 1973 1 Jun 1973 9324033.33
England Ronnie Allen 6 Jun 1973 20 Dec 1974 266911023.08
Scotland Doug Fraser 1 Jan 1974 7 Mar 1977 163604558036.81
Scotland Dave Mackay 9 Mar 1977 5 Aug 1978 72302715041.67
England Alan Ashman 23 Aug 1978 17 Feb 1979 278613029.63
England Frank Sibley 1 Mar 1979 5 May 1979 192611010.53
England Alan Buckley p 27 Jun 1979 1 Jul 1981 102383628037.25 Fourth Division runners-up 1979–80
England Alan Buckley p &
Scotland Neil Martin
1 Jul 1981 1 Jan 1982 221156050.00
Scotland Neil Martin 1 Jan 1982 1 May 1982 3041115013.33
England Alan Buckley p 1 May 1982 1 Jun 1986 225995175044.00 [d]
Scotland Tommy Coakley 1 Aug 1986 27 Dec 1988 148623749041.89 Third Division play-off winners 1987–88
Republic of Ireland John Barnwell 17 Jan 1989 1 Mar 1990 62131930020.97
England Paul Taylor 1 Mar 1990 15 May 1990 15447026.67
England Kenny Hibbitt 16 May 1990 1 Aug 1994 213725784033.80
Northern Ireland Chris Nicholl 1 Aug 1994 21 May 1997 157723847045.86 Third Division runners-up 1994–95
Denmark Jan Sørensen 25 Jun 1997 5 May 1998 62261323041.94
England Ray Graydon 5 May 1998 22 Jan 2002 199794971039.70 Second Division runners-up 1998–99
Second Division play-off winners 2000–01
England Colin Lee 24 Jan 2002 16 Apr 2004 116383048032.76
England Paul Mersonp 16 Apr 2004 6 Feb 2006 94322339034.04
England Kevan Broadhurst 22 Feb 2006 24 Apr 2006 11146009.09
England Richard Money 3 May 2006 22 Apr 2008 102443325043.14 League Two champions 2006–07
England Jimmy Mullen 22 Apr 2008 10 Jan 2009 2910514034.48
England Chris Hutchings 20 Jan 2009 4 Jan 2011 98312443031.63
England Dean Smith 4 Jan 2011 30 Nov 2015 260849680032.31 Football League Trophy runners-up 2015
Republic of Ireland Sean O'Driscoll 18 Dec 2015 6 Mar 2016 16655037.50
England Jon Whitney 7 Mar 2016 12 Mar 2018 109382942034.86
England Dean Keates 16 Mar 2018 6 Apr 2019 60181329030.00
England Darrell Clarke 10 May 2019 15 Feb 2021 76252526032.89
England Brian Dutton 15 Feb 2021 10 May 2021 20389015.00
England Matthew Taylor 19 May 2021 9 Feb 2022 3691017025.00
Wales Michael Flynn 15 Feb 2022 19 Apr 2023 68212225030.88
England Mat Sadler 19 Apr 2023 11 Mar 2026 158703454044.30
Jamaica Darren Byfield 18 Mar 2026 present 2110050.00
Close
Key
sec Secretary-manager.
p Player-manager.
Served as caretaker manager before being appointed permanently.

Footnotes

  1. Louis Ford's second spell in charge after 1897–88.
  2. Joe Burchell's second spell in charge after being secretary-manager 1915–20.
  3. Bill Moore's second spell in charge after 1957–63.
  4. Alan Buckley's second spell in charge after 1979–82.

References

Related Articles

Wikiwand AI