| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Ifem Onuora | ||
| Date of birth | (1967-07-28)28 July 1967 (age 57) | ||
| Place of birth | Glasgow, Scotland | ||
| Position(s) | Striker | ||
| Team information | |||
Current team | England U21 (coach) | ||
| Youth career | |||
| Everton | |||
| 1988–1989 | Bradford University F.C. | ||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
| 1989–1994 | Huddersfield Town | 165 | (30) |
| 1994–1996 | Mansfield Town | 28 | (8) |
| 1996–1998 | Gillingham | 62 | (23) |
| 1998–2000 | Swindon Town | 74 | (25) |
| 2000 | →Gillingham (loan) | 1 | (0) |
| 2000–2002 | Gillingham | 85 | (26) |
| 2002–2004 | Sheffield United | 7 | (1) |
| 2003 | →Wycombe Wanderers (loan) | 6 | (0) |
| 2003 | →Grimsby Town (loan) | 8 | (1) |
| 2003–2004 | Grimsby Town | 11 | (2) |
| 2004 | Tranmere Rovers | 3 | (0) |
| 2004 | Huddersfield Town | 3 | (1) |
| 2004 | Walsall | 0 | (0) |
| Total | 453 | (117) | |
| Managerial career | |||
| 2005–2006 | Swindon Town | ||
| 2007 | Gillingham (caretaker) | ||
| 2008 | Lincoln City (caretaker) | ||
| 2010–2011 | Ethiopia | ||
| *Club domestic league appearances and goals | |||
Ifem "Iffy" Onuora (born 28 July 1967) is a Scottish former professionalfootballer,manager, and coach for theEngland U21 national team. He is also the current equalities coach for theProfessional Footballers Association.
As a player, he was aforward from 1988 until 2004. He notably had spells withHuddersfield Town,Swindon Town andGillingham and spent his entire career playing in England. He also played in theFootball League forMansfield Town,Sheffield United,Wycombe Wanderers,Grimsby Town,Tranmere Rovers andWalsall. Having moved into coaching with the latter, he moved back to former clubs Swindon and Gillingham before briefly taking over as caretaker manager ofLincoln City before his move to Ethiopia. He now acts as a Match Delegate for referees in the Premier League.[1] Between 2010 and 2011 Onuora coached theEthiopian national football team.[2]
Onuora was ajourneyman striker who got his professional break playing forHuddersfield Town. He went on to play just under 200 times for The Terriers and scored over 30 goals for the club before he was transferred toMansfield Town in 1994.
Onoura stayed with The Stags untilGillingham paid£25,000 for him in August 1996. It was atPriestfield Stadium where Onuora's goal scoring ability started to show, as he notched himself a tally of just under 30 goals in an 18-month stay with the club, before the Gills cashed in on their big front man by selling him toSwindon Town in March 1998. More goal scoring success was on the cards and he remained at the club until he secured a move back to Gillingham in January 2000, following a short loan spell.
Onuora went on to feature heavily for The Gills for the next two seasons beforeNeil Warnock tempted the player into moving toBramall Lane to sign a two-year deal withSheffield United, reuniting Onuora with his former Gillingham strike partnerCarl Asaba. However football for Onoura was rare with the club and after starting the season alongside Asaba, he only made 8 appearances in both league and cup competitions, scoring one goal against Burnley.[3] But after a season-ending Achilles injury, he never played for United again.[4] In August 2003, it was announced that he would be carrying on with The Blades, but was loan listed where he signed forWycombe Wanderers at the start of the season on a one-month loan deal.
After appearing six times for The Chairboys, Onuora returned to Sheffield, only to be poached byPaul Groves to sign forGrimsby Town also on a one-month loan. After a reasonable month with Grimsby, Onuora made his move toBlundell Park a permanent one, with the club pairing him up front withMichael Boulding in the absence of the injuredPhil Jevons.
This seemed to work as a jinx for Onuora, as despite earning himself a permanent deal, his performances slipped and he was singled out by the club's supporters for booing, something which the player later spoke publicly about to theGrimsby Telegraph. Following the club's huge dip in form, Paul Groves was dismissed from his managerial duties and Onuora was to be the first player shown the door, after only signing a permanent deal four months previously.
He made his next port of callTranmere Rovers but after three league appearances, the club decided to release him a month later. On 25 March 2004, Onuora signed professional terms once again forHuddersfield Town, who were his first career club. He played five times for The Terriers, scoring an important goal in the play-off semi final againstLincoln City[5] but didn't make an appearance in the final at theMillennium Stadium.In July 2004,Paul Merson hired Onoura as a player/coach forWalsall, but this was short lived, and he was released in October 2004 and subsequently retired from playing. He scored 133 goals in nearly 500 professional matches.
Upon retiring in 2004, Onuora moved into coaching. In July 2007 he successfully completed the final part of the UEFA Pro Licence course and joined a group of only 111 coaches holding the game's top qualification.[6][7]
His coaching career began when he was appointed first-team coach atWalsall in July 2004 but his contract was terminated by Walsall's managerPaul Merson in October 2004, with Merson feeling a more experienced coach was required.[8]
Later in the 2004–05 season, Onuora became a coach and youth development officer atSwindon Town. WhenAndy King was sacked after a poor start to the 2005–06 season, Onuora was appointed as Swindon's caretaker manager. In December 2005,Ron Atkinson, who had previously been fired from TV jobs for making racist remarks, was reportedly appointed to work alongside Onuora – one of the league's few black managers. Onuora later denied that this was the case, claiming that Atkinson was at the club to film afly-on-the-wall documentary calledBig Ron Manager.
Dennis Wise later became the new Swindon manager and Onoura was offered the chance to stay in a reduced capacity but he turned down that offer and left the club.[9] He later commentated onGillingham matches onBBC Radio Kent.
He returned to Gillingham in June 2007 as a first team coach.[10] When managerRonnie Jepson resigned in September 2007 he was named, initially alongsideMick Docherty, as joint caretaker manager.[11] He held the position until the appointment ofMark Stimson on 1 November 2007 and briefly remained as a first team coach under the new regime before departing approximately two weeks later.[12][13] In February 2008 he was appointed assistant toPeter Jackson atLincoln City.[14]
As of 1 March 2008, he became Lincoln's acting manager,[15] whilst Peter Jackson underwent treatment forthroat cancer. He was assisted in this role byGrant Brown. Under Onuora's tenure, Lincoln won five and lost six of their remaining fixtures. On 2 September 2009 both Peter Jackson and Iffy Onuora were sacked from their posts at Lincoln after the board were disappointed with the club's poor start to the season[16]
On 30 June 2010, he signed a one-year deal to coach theEthiopia national team.[17] Under the contract received a monthly salary of $13,000, free accommodation, a car, two free air tickets and phone service. His salary and other expenses were covered byMIDROC Ethiopia, a company owned by Ethiopian-born billionaire SheikhMohammed Al Amoudi.[18]
Onuora was sacked by Ethiopia in April 2011.[19] The Ethiopian Football Federation cited disciplinary grounds for his dismissal just a month after the team's 4–0 defeat at the hands ofNigeria in a2012 Africa Cup of Nationsqualification match inAbuja.[20] The Ethiopian national team had played 11 matches during his tenure, winning four, drawing in one and losing six matches.[21]
An account of Onoura's time with Ethiopia,There's some cows on the pitch, they think it's all over...it is now!, was published in 2012 by JMD Media.[22]
In 2012, he began working as an equalities officer and regional coach for theProfessional Footballers Association.[23]
In March 2018 he joined the coaching setup of theEngland U21 national team.[24]
Born inGlasgow to Nigerian parents, Onuora grew up on Merseyside and attendedSacred Heart Catholic College inCrosby which his cousinVictor Anichebe later attended.[25] He was first spotted playing football on Merseyside and briefly played forEverton's youth team during the mid-eighties.
Onuora is a known supporter of Everton.[26] He is the brother of the Olympic Bronze medallist sprinterAnyika Onuora and the academic Emy Onuora, the author ofPitch Black, a 2015 book on black British footballers.[27][28] He has a degree in economics from theUniversity of Bradford.[29]
As of 2000, Onuora was married to Helen and had two daughters, Roxanne and Elisha.[30]
| Team | Nat | From | To | Record[31] | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| G | W | L | D | Win %[32] | ||||
| Swindon Town |  | 26 September 2005 | 2 May 2006 | 40 | 9 | 15 | 16 | 22.5 |
| Gillingham (withMick Docherty) | | 9 September 2007 | 8 October 2007 | 5 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 40 |
| Gillingham | | 9 September 2007 | 8 October 2007 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 50 |
| Lincoln City (withGrant Brown, inPeter Jackson's absence) | | 1 March 2008 | 6 May 2008 | 11 | 5 | 6 | 0 | 45.45 |
| Ethiopia |  | 30 June 2010 | 18 April 2011 | 11 | 4 | 6 | 1 | 36.36 |
