Peter Ward (footballer, born 1964)

Last updated

Peter Ward
Wardy 01.jpg
Personal information
Full name Peter Ward
Date of birth (1964-10-15) 15 October 1964 (age 59)
Place of birth Chester le Street, County Durham, England
Height 6 ft 0 in (1.83 m) [1]
Position(s) Midfielder
Senior career*
YearsTeamApps(Gls)
1982–1985 Chester-le-Street Town
1985–1985 Newcastle United 0 (0)
1985–1986 Chester-le-Street Town
1986–1989 Huddersfield Town 37 (2)
1989–1991 Rochdale 84 (10)
1991–1995 Stockport County 142 (10)
1995–1999 Wrexham 120 (14)
1999 Morecambe 1 (0)
Managerial career
2011 Stockport County
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Peter Ward (born 15 October 1964) is an English professional football manager who played over 350 Football League games as a midfielder. He was a player, manager, assistant manager and coach at Stockport County.

Contents

Playing career

Ward played for Chester le Street, Newcastle United, Huddersfield Town, Rochdale, Stockport County, Wrexham and Morecambe. He started his career with the local Chester le Street town side and was spotted whilst playing in the Northern League by Jack Charlton at Newcastle United. However, following Jack Charlton's departure he was released by the St James' Park club and he returned to play for Chester-Le-Street Town. The following year he was given another opportunity when he was subsequently transferred to Huddersfield Town. Following a successful spell at the Yorkshire side where he featured alongside players such as Duncan Shearer he left for Spotland.

At Rochdale he helped the side into the 5th round of the FA Cup where they were defeated by Crystal Palace at Selhurst Park, in what was the club's most successful ever run in the competition. On the way Rochdale defeated Whitley Bay from Ward's home region of the North East. His most successful spell in his professional career came when he moved onto Edgeley Park, playing under the legendary Uruguayan Manager, Danny Bergara, for Stockport County and this is where he met Jim Gannon. During his time at Stockport he played at Wembley four times, however he lost on each occasion. Ward was also renowned for his set pieces and his tough tackling. Ward then saw out his professional career with Welsh side Wrexham with whom he helped reach the FA Cup quarter-finals in 1997, and played in the side that missed out on reaching the League One play-off's on goal difference in 1997/98. Ward retired from playing in the summer of 1999, but he was persuaded out of retirement to make one appearance for Football Conference side Morecambe in a 1–2 home defeat by Kingstonian in October 1999.

Coaching career

Following Ward's playing career being terminated due to a persistent injury, he took up coaching at Stockport County's Centre of Excellence, but following County's 6–0 loss to Macclesfield Town on 26 December 2005, Manager Chris Turner was sacked. Ward's former teammate Jim Gannon was appointed as manager, and Ward was promoted to his assistant at Edgeley Park. During this spell, Gannon & Ward led County from 24th in League Two up to 5th in League One by Christmas 2008. Overseeing one of the most successful periods in the club's history, including a Football League record of nine consecutive wins without conceding a goal between January–March 2007 and winning the Football League Two Playoffs in 2008. Gannon, Ward & much of the backroom staff were made redundant in May 2009, due to County entering administration. On 30 June 2009 he was appointed as Gannon's assistant at Motherwell. The tenure was short-lived, however, and they were both out of work by Christmas. Following the takeover of Stockport County by the 2015 consortium in June 2010, Ward took up the offer to take charge of first team training of his former club during the close season whilst the new board searched for a permanent manager. After the dismissal of their appointee, Paul Simpson, Ward was temporarily placed in charge of first team affairs as caretaker manager [2]

Following Gannon's appointment at League Two rivals Port Vale, Ward was thought to be favourite to get the Stockport job permanently. His first game in charge was a 5–1 home defeat by Gillingham. In his second match, however, a much improved performance resulted in a 3–3 draw against second-placed Rotherham United, with County at one point 3–1 ahead. He was replaced by Ray Mathias (also employed as caretaker manager) on 9 March 2011 [3] but joined the coaching staff. He left Stockport in July 2011. [4]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Stockport County F.C.</span> Association football club in Greater Manchester, England

Stockport County Football Club are a professional football club based in Stockport, Greater Manchester, England, who compete in EFL League Two, the fourth tier of the English football league system. Formed in 1883 as Heaton Norris Rovers, they were renamed Stockport County in 1890 after the County Borough of Stockport. The team have played in blue and white kits since 1914; their original colours were red and white. The club is nicknamed "The Hatters" after the town's former hat-making industry. Stockport have played at Edgeley Park since 1902.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jim Gannon</span> Footballer and football manager

James Paul Gannon is a professional football manager and former player who most recently was manager of Hyde United. He started and finished his career as a player in Ireland, but made most of his professional appearances in the English Football League at Stockport County, where supporters elected him as a member of the Hall of Fame.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Phil Jevons</span> English footballer and coach

Phillip Jevons is an English football coach and former professional footballer who is a first team coach at EFL League Two side Rochdale.

Raymond Mathias is an English football coach and former player. He has spent most of his career in the lower leagues of English football. Mathias played for Tranmere Rovers between 1964 and 1985, and remains their record appearance holder having played 637 games for the club. After his retirement he spent three years as manager of Wigan Athletic, briefly returning to the role for the 1998–99 season; between these two spells he returned to Tranmere as a coach, and later managed the side before moving on to Chester City in a caretaker role.

Liam Michael Dickinson is an English former semi-professional footballer who played as a striker.

Ian Thomas William Craney is an English former professional footballer who played as a midfielder. He was most recently a first-team coach at Ipswich Town.

Leslie Chapman, commonly known as Les and sometimes as Chappy, is an English former football player and manager. As a player, he made 747 appearances in the Football League in a career that spanned 22 seasons, playing for Oldham Athletic, Huddersfield Town, Stockport County, Bradford City, Rochdale and Preston North End, and also spent a season in the North American Soccer League with the San Jose Earthquakes. As a manager, he took charge of Stockport County and Preston North End. After his spell in club management he became a long-standing kit manager for Manchester City before moving to his current role as a presenter and content producer for the club's media department. He also had a brief cameo in the song "Parklife" by Blur.

Keith John Hill is an English professional former footballer and football manager who was most recently manager of National League club Scunthorpe United.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Danny Bergara</span> Uruguayan footballer and manager (1942-2007)

Daniel Alberto Bergara de Medina was a Uruguayan footballer and manager.

Stockport County F.C. is an association football club based in Stockport, Greater Manchester, England.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Paul Turnbull</span> English footballer

Paul Daniel Turnbull is an English footballer who plays as a midfielder. He is currently player manager of Stockport Town.

The 1992–93 season was the 94th completed season of the Football League.

The 1993–94 Football League season was the 95th completed season of The Football League. From 1993 to 1996 the league was sponsored by Endsleigh.

The 2008–09 season was the seventy-seventh season in which football club Gillingham F.C. competed in the Football League, and the fifty-ninth since the club's return to the League in 1950. Gillingham finished the season in fifth place in Football League Two, gaining promotion to League One through play-off victories over Rochdale and Shrewsbury Town.

The 2010–11 season was Stockport County's 100th season in the Football League, and 96th consecutively. However, they eventually finished 24th in Football League Two and were relegated to the Football Conference.

Jason Oswell is an English footballer who plays as a striker for Cymru Premier side Newtown.

Paul Philip Mullin is an English professional footballer who plays as a forward for EFL League Two club Wrexham.

Elliot James Osborne is an English professional footballer who plays as a midfielder for National League club Altrincham.

The 2007–08 Rochdale A.F.C. season was the club's 87th season in the Football League, and the 34th consecutive season in the bottom division of the League. Rochdale finished the season in 5th place in League Two, but missed out on promotion to League One after losing in the play-off final against Stockport County.

This page shows the progress of Accrington Stanley F.C. in the 2007–08 football season. During the season, Accrington Stanley competed in League Two in the English league system.

References

  1. ↑ Dunk, Peter, ed. (1987). Rothmans Football Yearbook 1987–88. London: Queen Anne Press. p. 194. ISBN   978-0-356-14354-5.
  2. ↑ "Manager leaves County". Stockport County.com. 5 January 2011.
  3. ↑ BBC report on Ray Mathias
  4. ↑ "Stockport County | News | Latest News | Latest News | Club says goodbye to Wardy". Archived from the original on 2 April 2012.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.