Steve Wignall

Steve Wignall
Personal information
Full name Steven Leslie Wignall[1]
Date of birth (1954-09-17) 17 September 1954 (age 70)[1]
Place of birth Liverpool,[1] England
Height 5 ft 11 in (1.80 m)[2]
Position(s) Central defender
Youth career
1970–1972 Liverpool
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1972–1977 Doncaster Rovers 130 (1)
1977–1984 Colchester United 281 (22)
1984–1986 Brentford 67 (2)
1986–1991 Aldershot 161 (4)
Total 639 (29)
Managerial career
1992–1995 Aldershot Town
1995–1999 Colchester United
2000 Stevenage Borough
2000–2001 Doncaster Rovers
2003 Southend United
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Steven Leslie Wignall (born 17 September 1954) 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

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Born in Liverpool, Wignall played professionally for Doncaster Rovers, Colchester United, Brentford and Aldershot, making a total of 639 appearances in the Football League. He retired as a player in 1991, barely a year before Aldershot went out of business.

Coaching career

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After his retirement from playing he joined the coaching staff at Aldershot, before assisting Ian McDonald. After Aldershot went out of business in 1992, a new club, Aldershot Town was formed, and Wignall became their first ever manager, winning back to back promotions before former club Colchester United signed him in January 1995. During his time at Colchester he led the club to promotion via the play-offs in 1997/98 and to the final of the Associate Members' Cup the year before. He stayed as manager until he resigned in January 1999, believing he had taken the club as far as he could. In April 2000, he joined Stevenage Borough and was offered a two-year contract but never signed it and, when approached a month later by former club Doncaster Rovers, he decided to manage them instead, having only managed 8 games at Stevenage.[3][4] He managed Doncaster for just one season.[4] In 2003, he became manager of Southend United but only lasted seven months.[4] He also worked as a first team coach and assistant at Wivenhoe Town from 2005 before leaving club due to financial reasons in January 2008.[5]

In 2009, Wignall published his autobiography titled You Can Have Chips.[4]

Managerial statistics

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Team From To Record
G W D L Won %!
Aldershot Town 23 May 1992 12 January 1995 146 97 24 25 66.43
Colchester United 12 January 1995 21 January 1999 218 81 66 71 37.16
Stevenage Borough April 2000 31 May 2000 8 3 3 2 37.50
Doncaster Rovers 31 May 2000 26 December 2001 79 25 30 24 31.65
Southend United 18 April 2003 3 November 2003 23 6 3 14 26.09

Honours

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As a player

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Brentford[6]

Aldershot[7]

As a manager

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Aldershot Town

Colchester United

References

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  1. ^ a b c "Steve Wignall". Barry Hugman's Footballers. Retrieved 1 April 2020.
  2. ^ Dunk, Peter, ed. (1987). Rothmans Football Yearbook 1987–88. London: Queen Anne Press. p. 42. ISBN 978-0-356-14354-5.
  3. ^ Marston, Carl (8 May 2000). "Wignall - I never signed Borough contract". East Anglian Daily Times. p. 38.
  4. ^ a b c d "Steve Wignall biography". Stevenage F.C. History.
  5. ^ Wignall leaves Dragons (From Gazette)
  6. ^ "Associate Members Cup Finalists". Coludaybyday.co.uk.
  7. ^ "Division Three (League Two) Play-Off Finalists". Coludaybyday.co.uk.
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