| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Michael Wadsworth[1] | ||
| Date of birth | (1950-11-03)3 November 1950 (age 75) | ||
| Place of birth | Barnsley, England | ||
| Position | Striker | ||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
| 1976–1977 | Scunthorpe United | 28 | (3) |
| Managerial career | |||
| 1985 | Matlock Town | ||
| 1993–1996 | Carlisle United | ||
| 1996–1999 | Scarborough | ||
| 1999 | Colchester United | ||
| 2001–2002 | Oldham Athletic | ||
| 2002–2003 | Huddersfield Town | ||
| 2003–2004 | DR Congo | ||
| 2005–2006 | Beira-Mar | ||
| 2008 | Gretna (caretaker) | ||
| 2009 | Chester City | ||
| 2010–2011 | Hartlepool United | ||
| 2013 | Celtic Nation | ||
| 2014 | Sheffield F.C. | ||
| * Club domestic league appearances and goals | |||
Michael Wadsworth (born 3 November 1950) is an Englishfootball coach and former player.
Born inBarnsley his playing career spanned only one season inThe Football League withScunthorpe United, along with spells playing forGainsborough Trinity,Mossley andFrickley Athletic. Following the end of his playing career he took up coaching and has had a number of roles at a range of clubs including spells as manager ofFrickley Athletic,Carlisle United,Scarborough,Colchester United,Oldham Athletic,Huddersfield Town, Portuguese sideBeira-Mar,Chester City andCeltic Nation. He has also managed the national sides of bothSt. Kitts & Nevis andDemocratic Republic of Congo. Wadsworth has also held a number of coaching roles, including eight years working in a number of roles forThe FA.
Although Wadsworth played inThe Football League for a short period of time, his playing experience was limited to 28 appearances forScunthorpe United in the1976–77 season.[1] Thus, he is best known for coaching.
Anon-League playing career with clubs includingGainsborough Trinity andMossley ended atFrickley Athletic, where Wadsworth wasplayer-manager. Wadsworth was then employed by the FA until commencing his club management career in 1993.
In 1985, Wadsworth was appointed as an FA regional coach in the north-west region of England, a position he would hold until 1991, when he became a Technical Co-ordinator on the FA's Excellence Programme, working on the futures of promising youngsters. Between 1988 and 1992, he was also an official match observer for theEngland national team under Bobby Robson and thenGraham Taylor.
Wadsworth also coached some of the FA's representative teams during his time in their employ, including a coaching role with the national team at the1990 FIFA World Cup. He spent two years as manager of theEngland non-league team, five years as manager of the England youth team and had a coaching role with theEngland U-21 team.
In 1993, Wadsworth was offered a coaching role atPSV Eindhoven, but could not accept due to a lack of Dutch coaching credentials. In August, however he was appointedCarlisle United manager. Carlisle finished 7th inDivision Three and made the playoffs, but lost in the semi-final. The following season Carlisle reached theAuto Windscreens Trophy final but lost to Barry Fry'sBirmingham City. In the league the club finished 1st in Division Three, winning promotion.
After a poor start to1995–96 inDivision Two, Wadsworth resigned from his post as Director of Coaching.
In January 1996 Wadsworth became the assistant to the inexperiencedGary Megson atNorwich City. Norwich were to finish the season 16th of 24 inDivision One. At the end of the disastrous season he moved toScarborough as manager and took the club to the play-off semi-finals in his second season.
In January 1999 Wadsworth left Scarborough to manageColchester United. He brought in a host of new players and the club escaped from relegation by finishing 18th in Division Two that May. In the close-season, he released a number of the fans favourite players includingJoe Dunne andTony Adcock. Wadsworth held a short-term coaching role withSt. Kitts & Nevis. Not long afterwards, however, Wadsworth resigned from Colchester on 25 August 1999 citing difficulties with commuting from his home at Pontefract.[2]
It was therefore somewhat ironic that after leaving Colchester, Wadsworth spent two weeks working withSteve Coppell even further south atCrystal Palace before becoming assistant manager to SirBobby Robson atNewcastle United.
In May 2000, Newcastle finished 11th in thePremier League, a position they would repeat in 2001.
Wadsworth was to leave Newcastle in June 2001, without telling Sir Bobby, to become assistant manager toStuart Gray atSouthampton. In November the duo were sacked after a very poor start to the season. The following month he was appointed manager ofOldham Athletic but was fired at the end of the season after finishing ninth in Division Two.
AfterLou Macari andJoe Jordan's dismissal Wadsworth was appointed manager ofHuddersfield Town in July 2002, after being recommended to chairman David Taylor for the job. Firstly he brought inDave Wilkes as his First Team Coach and former Barnsley keeper Dave Watson but by January 2003 he was sacked but as Wadsworth and the club could not agree a severance package, he was reinstated until March.
In November 2003 he was appointed manager ofDemocratic Republic of Congo ahead ofAfrican Nations Cup, for which they had qualified. He was sacked from "The Simbas" on 2 February 2004, the day after the team had lost their third of three matches in the tournament.
In June 2004, he was appointed manager of Portuguese clubBeira-Mar, but left in September amid claims of boardroom interference. Wadsworth re-surfaced atShrewsbury Town in January 2005 as assistant manager toGary Peters and remained with the club until March 2006.
Wadsworth was appointed Director of Club Development at Scottish sideGretna in July 2006, and he later took on a dual role asDirector of Football and assistant manager whenDavid Irons was appointed as Gretna's new manager in July 2007.[3] On 19 May 2008, forty members of staff at Gretna, including Wadsworth, were laid off due to financial difficulties and after relegation.[4]
Wadsworth was then appointedChester City manager on 29 June 2009.[5] After just two wins in 13 Football Conference games, Wadsworth was sacked.[6]
Wadsworth was appointed First Team Coach atFootball League One clubHartlepool United in June 2010[7]and Caretaker Manager on 19 August following the resignation of Director of Sport Chris Turner.[8] After a successful season in League One where Pools finished 16th and on 23 June Wadsworth was rewarded with an extension to his contract; becoming the club's first permanent manager in 920 days. On 6 December 2011, following a run of bad home form the club announced he had been relieved of his duties.[9]
In October 2013 Wadsworth was appointed as temporary first team coach atSheffield United to support caretaker managerChris Morgan.[10]
Mick had a six-month spell as manager of non-leagueSheffield F.C., in 2014, and returned toSheffield United as the club's Senior Youth Development in July 2015.[11] He left the club in August 2019.[12]
Wadsworth grew up in the village ofDodworth which is in the metropolitan borough ofBarnsley. His father was a collier and Wadsworth himself began his career working down the pit.[citation needed] Prior to working as a football coach, Wadsworth worked as a PE teacher and taught future footballerDavid Hirst.[13][14] Wadsworth is a boyhood fan ofSheffield Wednesday.Wadsworth is a keen artist and has auctioned off some of his drawing of football grounds for charity.[15] Wadsworth can also play the piano, guitar and harmonica.[citation needed]
Wadsworth's son, Greg, is a football agent.[15][16]
Carlisle United
Individual
