Christopher Mark Greenacre (born 23 December 1977) is an English football manager and former player who is the head coach of the Wellington Phoenix FC Reserves.
Greenacre began his career with Manchester City in 1996. Whilst at Maine Road he was sent out on loan to Cardiff City, Blackpool, Scarborough, Northampton Town and Mansfield Town in order to gain first team experience. However, he failed to make the grade at Manchester City and so joined Mansfield Town on a permanent transfer. He became a prolific scorer for the "Stags" scoring 58 goals for the club in three seasons. This led to Division One side Stoke City signing him in August 2002. However, despite arriving with high expectations he struggled to cope with the higher level and managed just 9 goals in three seasons at the Britannia Stadium.
He left for Tranmere Rovers where he found his level and in four seasons at Tranmere Greenacre scored 53 goals. After his contract expired at Rovers he decided to join New Zealand based, A-League side Wellington Phoenix. He played three seasons for Wellington helping the club to three consecutive finals series places before retiring in 2012.
Club career
Greenacre was born in Wakefield and at the age of 13 he signed schoolboy forms at Manchester City, having previously been on the books at Leeds United.[1] He signed as an apprentice at 16, and turned professional in 1995.[1] His senior debut came in February 1997 against Swindon Town, when he came on as a substitute, replacing Paul Dickov.[2] He made three further substitute appearances that season, without scoring. During his time at Manchester City most of his first team football came in the form of loan spells with lower league clubs. In his first start for Manchester City in October 1997, he scored the winning goal in a 1–0 win against Crewe Alexandra.[3] This was his only goal for the club, and he started only two further matches.
Greenacre subsequently went on to play on loan for Cardiff City, Blackpool and Scarborough before joining Mansfield Town in 2000. He became a prolific goalscorer at the Field Mill scoring nine goals in 1999–2000, 21 in 2000–01 and 28 in 2001–02. This attracted the attentions from bigger club's and in the summer of 2002 he joined Stoke City.[4] His start at Stoke was however hampered by injury.[5] Greenacre had a frustrating 2002–03 which saw him make 33 appearances scoring six goals which included a vital winner against Brighton & Hove Albion.[6] In 2003–04 he found himself out of the team after the arrival of Ade Akinbiyi and made 16 appearances scoring twice.[7] In 2004–05 he played in 34 matches but only scored once and was released at the end of the season.[8]
He joined Tranmere Rovers in July 2005.[9] Under the management of Brian Little, Tranmere finished 18th in League One in the 2005–06 season, but Greenacre himself finished top scorer with 18 goals in 49 games for the club. This included a hat-trick against Yeovil Town on 28 December and two goals against Oldham Athletic in August. In 2006–07 under Ronnie Moore when Greenacre again finished top scorer, this time with a total of 19 goals, and signed a two-year extension to his contract at Prenton Park. A further 14 goals in all competitions during the 2007–08 season saw him again finish the season as the club's top scorer. He scored his first goals for the 2008–09 season with a brace away at Peterborough in a 2–2 draw.
On 21 April 2009, it was announced that Greenacre had signed with Wellington-based, New Zealand A-League club Wellington Phoenix on a two-year contract.[10] He made his league debut on 9 August 2009 scoring in a losing effort to the Newcastle Jets FC. Before a bothersome knee injury, Greenacre had scored five goals in 16 appearances for the Phoenix.
On 22 July 2011, Greenacre accepted a player/coaching role with his club Wellington Phoenix. Greenacre already holds a UEFA B coaching licence and will reportedly be coaching the forwards as well as playing when chosen.[12] On 18 July 2012 he announced his retirement from the game and accepted a position as assistant manager at Wellington Phoenix.[13]
In October 2012, Due to the absence of Ricki Herbert due to international duties, Greenacre was appointed as the caretaker manager of the Wellington Phoenix for their Round 2 clash with Melbourne Heart.[14] Despite missing 7 first team players due to international duties, and despite playing an away clash, the Phoenix managed to obtain a 1–1 draw with the Heart, courtesy of a Paul Ifill penalty.
On 26 February 2013, Greenacre was appointed interim manager of Wellington Phoenix until the end of the season after Ricki Herbert resigned.[15][16] He was replaced by Ernie Merrick for the 2013–14 A-League season.[17] Following Merrick's resignation on 5 December 2016, Greenacre was appointed as co-coach of the A-League side alongside Des Buckingham, originally as interim coaches, and in January 2017 confirmed for the roles until the end of the 2016-2017 season.[18] Greenacre and Buckingham applied for the role on a permanent basis at the end of the season, but were passed over in favour of Darije Kalezic.[19]
Greenacre began his third period with the Wellington Phoenix A-League side when he was again appointed interim head coach following the departure of Darije Kalezic on 5 March 2018.[22]
On 17 November 2021, Greenacre was confirmed as the head coach of the Wellington Phoenix FC Reserves. [23] In his first season in charge, he guided the team to a third placed finish.
Greenacre was appointed as an assistant coach to Darren Bazley's All Whites staff for the September 2023, Olympic Qualifiers in Auckland. New Zealand qualified in an unbeaten campaign and headed to Paris for the 2024, Olympic Games.They beat Fiji in the final.
Greenacre was appointed as the head coach of New Zealand's Men's U20's team in January 2024. He was placed in charge for the upcoming 2025 World Cup Qualifying campaign in Samoa. New Zealand became the champions of OFC where they beat New Caledonia in the final, 0-3. New Zealand qualified for the final by beating Fiji, 1-0 after a Ryan Watson goal secured qualification. Greenacre will lead the team for the 2025 U20 Men's World Cup in Chile.
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References
1 2 "New in blue: Chris Greenacre". CITY Magazine. 1 (2): 37. October 1995.
↑ James, Gary (2006). Manchester City – The Complete Record. Derby: Breedon. p.461. ISBN1-85983-512-0.
↑ James, Manchester City – The Complete Record, p. 463.
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