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List of Walsall F.C. managers

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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

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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 

Name From To P W D L Win% Honours Notes
England H. Smallwood sec 1 Aug 1888 1 Aug 1891 69 32 9 28 046.38
England A. G. Burton sec 1 Aug 1891 1 Aug 1893 49 15 6 28 030.61
England J. H. Robinson sec 1 Aug 1893 1 Aug 1895 62 22 3 37 035.48
England C. H. Aislo sec 1 Aug 1895 1 Aug 1896 31 19 6 6 061.29
England A. E. Parsloe sec 1 Aug 1896 1 Aug 1897 33 12 5 16 036.36
England Louis Ford sec 1 Aug 1897 1 Aug 1898 31 12 5 14 038.71
England G. Hughes sec 1 Aug 1898 1 Aug 1899 35 15 12 8 042.86
England Louis Ford sec 1 Aug 1899 1 Aug 1901 79 25 24 30 031.65 [a]
England J. E. Shutt sec 1 Aug 1908 1 Jul 1912 192 117 28 47 060.94
Wales Haydn Price sec 1 Jul 1912 1 Aug 1915 114 57 19 38 050.00
England Joe Burchell sec 1 Aug 1915 1 May 1920 56 20 12 24 035.71
Wales Albert Groves p 1 May 1920 1 Aug 1921 36 19 6 11 052.78
England Joe Burchell 1 Aug 1921 1 Feb 1926 201 74 36 91 036.82 [b]
Republic of Ireland David Ashworth 1 Feb 1926 1 Feb 1927 42 16 9 17 038.10
Scotland Jimmy Torrance 1 Feb 1927 1 May 1928 59 17 12 30 028.81
Scotland James Kerr 1 May 1928 1 Apr 1929 44 15 13 16 034.09
England Sid Scholey 1 Apr 1929 1 Oct 1930 59 19 9 31 032.20
Scotland Peter O'Rourke 1 Oct 1930 1 Feb 1932 62 21 11 30 033.87
England Bill Slade 1 Feb 1932 1 Oct 1934 117 55 23 39 047.01
Scotland Andrew Wilson 1 Oct 1934 1 Apr 1937 130 47 30 53 036.15 Third Division North Cup runners-up 1935
England Tommy Lowes 1 Apr 1937 1 Sep 1939 102 32 21 49 031.37
England Sam Longmore 1 Sep 1939 5 Aug 1944 166 54 34 78 032.53
England Harry Hibbs 5 Aug 1944 30 Jun 1951 305 113 73 119 037.05 Third Division South Cup runners-up 1946
Scotland Tony McPhee 1 Jul 1951 1 Dec 1951 26 8 3 15 030.77
England Brough Fletcher 1 Mar 1952 1 Apr 1953 59 10 11 38 016.95
England Frank Buckley 1 Apr 1953 1 Sep 1955 105 23 26 56 021.90
Scotland John Love 1 Sep 1955 1 Dec 1957 116 38 24 54 032.76
England Bill Moore 1 Dec 1957 1 Nov 1963 283 121 60 102 042.76 Fourth Division champions 1959–60
Third Division runners-up 1960–61
England Alf Wood 1 Nov 1963 1 Oct 1964 43 10 9 24 023.26
England Ray Shaw 1 Oct 1964 1 Mar 1968 179 79 36 64 044.13
England Dick Graham 1 Mar 1968 1 May 1968 15 6 4 5 040.00
England Ron Lewin 1 Jul 1968 1 Feb 1969 37 11 12 14 029.73
England Bill Moore 1 Feb 1969 16 Oct 1972 187 69 53 65 036.90 [c]
England John Smith 16 Oct 1972 23 Mar 1973 26 7 5 14 026.92
Scotland Jimmy MacEwan 23 Mar 1973 1 Jun 1973 9 3 2 4 033.33
England Ronnie Allen 6 Jun 1973 20 Dec 1974 26 6 9 11 023.08
Scotland Doug Fraser 1 Jan 1974 7 Mar 1977 163 60 45 58 036.81
Scotland Dave Mackay 9 Mar 1977 5 Aug 1978 72 30 27 15 041.67
England Alan Ashman 23 Aug 1978 17 Feb 1979 27 8 6 13 029.63
England Frank Sibley 1 Mar 1979 5 May 1979 19 2 6 11 010.53
England Alan Buckley p 27 Jun 1979 1 Jul 1981 102 38 36 28 037.25 Fourth Division runners-up 1979–80
England Alan Buckley p &
Scotland Neil Martin 		1 Jul 1981 1 Jan 1982 22 11 5 6 050.00
Scotland Neil Martin 1 Jan 1982 1 May 1982 30 4 11 15 013.33
England Alan Buckley p 1 May 1982 1 Jun 1986 225 99 51 75 044.00 [d]
Scotland Tommy Coakley 1 Aug 1986 27 Dec 1988 148 62 37 49 041.89 Third Division play-off winners 1987–88
Republic of Ireland John Barnwell 17 Jan 1989 1 Mar 1990 62 13 19 30 020.97
England Paul Taylor 1 Mar 1990 15 May 1990 15 4 4 7 026.67
England Kenny Hibbitt 16 May 1990 1 Aug 1994 213 72 57 84 033.80
Northern Ireland Chris Nicholl 1 Aug 1994 21 May 1997 157 72 38 47 045.86 Third Division runners-up 1994–95
Denmark Jan Sørensen 25 Jun 1997 5 May 1998 62 26 13 23 041.94
England Ray Graydon 5 May 1998 22 Jan 2002 199 79 49 71 039.70 Second Division runners-up 1998–99
Second Division play-off winners 2000–01
England Colin Lee 24 Jan 2002 16 Apr 2004 116 38 30 48 032.76
England Paul Merson † p 16 Apr 2004 6 Feb 2006 94 32 23 39 034.04
England Kevan Broadhurst 22 Feb 2006 24 Apr 2006 11 1 4 6 009.09
England Richard Money 3 May 2006 22 Apr 2008 102 44 33 25 043.14 League Two champions 2006–07
England Jimmy Mullen 22 Apr 2008 10 Jan 2009 29 10 5 14 034.48
England Chris Hutchings 20 Jan 2009 4 Jan 2011 98 31 24 43 031.63
England Dean Smith † 4 Jan 2011 30 Nov 2015 260 84 96 80 032.31 Football League Trophy runners-up 2015
Republic of Ireland Sean O'Driscoll 18 Dec 2015 6 Mar 2016 16 6 5 5 037.50
England Jon Whitney † 7 Mar 2016 12 Mar 2018 109 38 29 42 034.86
England Dean Keates 16 Mar 2018 6 Apr 2019 60 18 13 29 030.00
England Darrell Clarke 10 May 2019 15 Feb 2021 76 25 25 26 032.89
England Brian Dutton 15 Feb 2021 10 May 2021 20 3 8 9 015.00
England Matthew Taylor 19 May 2021 9 Feb 2022 36 9 10 17 025.00
Wales Michael Flynn 15 Feb 2022 19 Apr 2023 68 21 22 25 030.88
England Mat Sadler † 19 Apr 2023 present 74 31 18 25 041.89
Key
sec Secretary-manager.
p Player-manager.
† Served as caretaker manager before being appointed permanently.

Footnotes

[edit]
  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

[edit]
  1. ^ a b c "Walsall Managers". Soccerbase. Retrieved 14 July 2019.
  2. ^ a b c d e Matthews, Tony (1999). The Complete Record of Walsall Football Club. Breedon Books. ISBN 978-1859831564.
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