| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Ian Brett Culverhouse[1] | ||
| Date of birth | (1964-09-22)22 September 1964 (age 61)[1] | ||
| Place of birth | Bishop's Stortford,[1] England | ||
| Height | 5 ft 10 in (1.78 m)[2] | ||
| Position | Defender | ||
| Team information | |||
Current team | King's Lynn Town (manager) | ||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
| 1982–1985 | Tottenham Hotspur | 2 | (0) |
| 1985–1994 | Norwich City | 297 | (1) |
| 1994–1998 | Swindon Town | 97 | (0) |
| 1998 | Kingstonian | 1 | (0) |
| 1998–2000 | Brighton & Hove Albion | 36 | (0) |
| Total | 433 | (1) | |
| International career | |||
| 1982 | England U17 | 4 | (0) |
| 1982 | England Youth | 2 | (0) |
| Managerial career | |||
| 2017–2018 | King's Lynn Town | ||
| 2018 | Grantham Town | ||
| 2018–2021 | King's Lynn Town | ||
| 2022 | Kettering Town | ||
| 2022–2024 | Boston United | ||
| 2024–2025 | St Albans City | ||
| 2025– | King's Lynn Town | ||
| * Club domestic league appearances and goals | |||
Ian Brett Culverhouse (born 22 September 1964) is an English former professionalfootballer and manager who played as adefender. He currently managesKing's Lynn Town.
Culverhouse began his career withTottenham Hotspur. He found first team opportunities limited there and made just two league appearances for the club, though he did get a winner's medal in theUEFA Cup as he was an unused substitute for Spurs in the1984 final againstAnderlecht.
In October 1985,Norwich City managerKen Brown paid £50,000 for Culverhouse, who would go on to spend almost a decade atCarrow Road. At the time Culverhouse joined Norwich, they were in the Second Division and were favourites to win promotion back to the First Division. They duly did so, and Culverhouse ended his first season at Carrow Road with a Second Division championship medal. For a while it look as though he might add a First Division title medal the following season, as Norwich emerged as surprise title contenders, although they eventually had to settle to a fifth-place finish – the highest final position in the club's history at the time.
After injury during end of the 1986–87 season, Culverhouse found himself contesting a first team spot with the manager's son Kenny Brown at the start of the 1987–88 campaign.[3] After Brown was replaced byDave Stringer Culverhouse regained his first team place and attained a level of performance and consistency that made him a fixture in the starting eleven for the best part of a decade. He was part of some of the greatest moments in the club's history – the 1988–89 season that saw Norwich come close to winning the League andFA Cup double, the 1992–93 campaign when the Canaries finished third in the inaugural season of theFA Premier League, and the subsequent European campaign of 1993–94. Culverhouse acquitted himself well on the European stage, playing as asweeper in a system introduced by managerMike Walker for the European campaign,[4][5] although he missed the away leg atInter Milan's Giuseppe Miazza stadium – the match that saw City eliminated from the UEFA Cup – due to suspension, having picked up two yellow cards in the competition.[3][6]
Culverhouse scored two goals for Norwich in his 369 appearances – one in a 1988Full Members Cup match againstSwindon Town, the other in a 1994 league match againstEverton.[3] His reliable performances in defence, however, led him to be a very popular figure with the club's supporters. In 1991, he was votedNorwich City player of the year and in 2002 – in a poll amongst supporters to mark the club's centenary – he was voted the best right-back ever to play for the club and made the 'all-time City XI'.
He was sold toSwindon Town for £150,000 in December 1994, having lost his regular place in theCarrow Road first team to new signingCarl Bradshaw at the start of the season.[7]
Culverhouse is a member of theNorwich City F.C. Hall of Fame.
A contract dispute led to Culverhouse falling out of favour and being dropped from the first team during the 1994–95 season. He was sold toSwindon Town for £150,000, to the displeasure of many Norwich supporters. He was released by the Robins in 1998 and played briefly forKingstonian andBrighton & Hove Albion. He began his coaching career while at Brighton where he coached the youth team. He has subsequently been youth team coach atBarnet,Leyton Orient andWycombe Wanderers.
Culverhouse was namedColchester United assistant manager underPaul Lambert. Culverhouse, Lambert and 'football operations manager', Gary Karsa all resigned from Colchester to take up positions atNorwich City on 17 August 2009.
On 5 July 2012, it was confirmed that Culverhouse and Gary Karsa would be joiningPaul Lambert atAston Villa, following him fromNorwich City.[8] Having been in charge of the majority of the training sessions at the club, he was dismissed in May 2014, following an internal investigation into off-field allegations.[9] Having worked with Paul Lambert at Norwich City, Wycombe Wanderers, Colchester United and then Aston Villa, the duo were now separated.[9]
In 2017 Culverhouse was appointed manager of Southern League Premier Division clubKing's Lynn Town. He led the club to a second-place finish, after which they lost in the play-off final. He subsequently left King's Lynn, and was named manager ofGrantham Town at the end of May 2018.[10] However, after resigning as Grantham manager in October 2018,[11] he returned to King's Lynn as manager on 1 November.[12] Despite King's Lynn being in the bottom half of the Southern League Central Premier table when Culverhouse rejoined the club, form improved and the team climbed the table strongly in the second half of the season. They clinched the runners up spot on the final day of the season before winning the play-offs and Super play-offs to earn themselves a place in the National League North for the 2019/20 season.
Despite being relegation favourites and suffering a 3–0 defeat to Guiseley on the opening day of the season; Culverhouse and his team defied the odds and found themselves embroiled in a promotion battle with York City. When the season was suspended in March 2020 due to the COVID-19 outbreak; King's Lynn were in 2nd position, two points behind York but crucially had two games in hand. Following much deliberation by the National League and Football Association, the League was finally settled on a points-per-game calculation, crowning King's Lynn as champions and securing them and Culverhouse a second successive promotion.
On 23 January 2022, Culverhouse was appointed manager of National League North sideKettering Town.[13] He left the club on 15 May 2022.[14]
On 6 September 2022, Culverhouse was appointed manager ofBoston United following the sacking ofPaul Cox, the manager Culverhouse had replaced at Kettering Town.[15] Having guided the club to promotion through the play-offs in the2023–24 season, Culverhouse was sacked in October 2024 with the club sitting in 23rd position in theNational League.[16]
On 28 November 2024, Culverhouse was appointed manager ofNational League South sideSt Albans City.[17] The season ended in disappointment forthe Saints as they were relegated to theIsthmian League Premier Division after eleven years in the National League South.[18]
On 28 October 2025, Culverhouse returned to National League North club King's Lynn Town for a third spell as manager.[19]
Tottenham Hotspur
Individual
King's Lynn Town F.C.
Boston United