 Downes withWest Ham United in 2011 | |||
| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Walter John Downes[1] | ||
| Date of birth | (1961-06-09)9 June 1961 (age 63)[1] | ||
| Place of birth | Hammersmith, England | ||
| Height | 5 ft 10 in (1.78 m)[2] | ||
| Position(s) | Midfielder[1] | ||
| Youth career | |||
| Wimbledon | |||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
| 1979–1988 | Wimbledon | 207 | (15) |
| 1987 | →Newport County (loan) | 4 | (2) |
| 1988 | Sheffield United | 9 | (1) |
| 1988 | Hayes | ||
| Total | 220 | (18) | |
| Managerial career | |||
| 1988–2000 | Crystal Palace (assistant) | ||
| 2001–2002 | Brentford (assistant) | ||
| 2002–2004 | Brentford | ||
| 2004–2009 | Reading (assistant) | ||
| 2009–2010 | Southampton (first-team coach) | ||
| 2010 | Gillingham (assistant) | ||
| 2010–2012 | West Ham United (assistant) | ||
| 2013–2014 | Queens Park Rangers (assistant) | ||
| 2016–2017 | Kerala Blasters (assistant) | ||
| 2017–2018 | Jamshedpur (assistant) | ||
| 2018 | ATK (assistant) | ||
| 2018–2019 | AFC Wimbledon | ||
| *Club domestic league appearances and goals | |||
Walter John Downes (born 9 June 1961) is an English professionalfootball manager and formerplayer who played as amidfielder.[3] He was most recently manager ofAFC Wimbledon.
As a footballer, Downes played the majority of his career forWimbledon as well as shorter spells withNewport County,Sheffield United andHayes. He was the manager ofBrentford between 2002 and 2004.
Downes was born inHammersmith, London.[1] He is the nephew of former worldmiddleweight boxing championTerry Downes.[4]
Downes started out as an apprentice withWimbledon and was their first ever full-timeFootball League apprentice.[5] He is often cited as being the main instigator of theCrazy Gang spirit at the club,[6] as it rose from theFourth to theFirst Division inside a decade. In 1979, aged 17 he scored on his league debut againstBarnsley and went on to make over 200 appearances for Wimbledon, usually as a midfielder.[5]
In 1988, he left to join his mentor and former Wimbledon managerDave Bassett atSheffield United, but his career for his new club was severely limited by a number of serious injuries, and also by a poor disciplinary record, getting sent off twice in his nine appearances.
Following fourbroken legs he retired through injury.[5] Downes took a coaching position atCrystal Palace, and spent 12 years atSelhurst Park, most of these underSteve Coppell.
Downes then once again rejoined Coppell, this time atReading, initially on a casual basis, but quickly proved himself invaluable, and took on the job of coaching Reading's defence. As a result, Downes was a major reason for Reading's impressive defensive display in the2005–06 Championship season, where Reading had the best defensive statistics in the entireEnglish football pyramid, and were promoted to thePremier League with a record 106 points.
In January 2007, Downes was involved in a touchline scuffle with Sheffield United managerNeil Warnock after he accused Warnock of telling his players to 'break legs'. However Warnock said:"I made the kicking gesture to tell the referee thatSteve Sidwell's tackle onChris Armstrong had been the worst of the game. Fortunately for me, the referee heard exactly what was said and confirmed that." Downes was charged with improper conduct for his role in the affray.[7]
On 14 May 2009, the club announced that they would not renew his andKevin Dillon's contract after Reading failed to bounce back to the Premier League at the first attempt after getting knocked out of the play-offs byBurnley 3–0 on aggregate and the departure of Steve Coppell. This was officially announced on the day of Steve Coppell's press conference.[citation needed]
On 7 September 2009, Downes was appointed to a position within the backroom staff ofLeague 1 club,Southampton. He was dismissed along withAlan Pardew on 30 August 2010.[8]
For a few weeks in October and November 2010 Downes was hired as a part-time defensive coach forLeague Two sideGillingham. Then on 24 November 2010, Downes was appointed as a defensive coach atWest Ham United under managerAvram Grant. His appointment came a day after the West Ham board sacked assistant managerZeljko Petrovic.[9] In May 2011, shortly after West Ham were relegated from thePremier League, Grant was sacked however Downes kept his job and was named first team coach when new managerSam Allardyce took over.[10] On 11 December 2012 Downes' departure from his role with West Ham United was announced.[11] He went on to spend some time working underHarry Redknapp atQueens Park Rangers.[12]
Prior to the2017–18Indian Super League season, Downes joinedSteve Coppell atJamshedpur.[13] He subsequently coached at other Indian clubs,Kerala Blasters[14] andATK.[15]
Downes left Crystal Palace in 2000 and joinedBrentford as assistant manager.[16] After Ron Noades stepped down as manager, he carried on in the role under Ray Lewington and Steve Coppell.[16] When Coppell left Brentford in June 2002, Downes was appointed manager.[16] He had an unbeaten start to his reign in August 2002, winning the Division Two Manager of the Month award.[17] Downes led the club to 16th position in theSecond Division in2002–03, but was sacked in March 2004 after a run of poor results and the club near the bottom of the table and facingrelegation.[18]
On 4 December 2018, Downes took over afterNeal Ardley had left the club by mutual consent.[19] His assistant manager was fellow former Wimbledon FC midfielderGlyn Hodges.[20] When Downes was appointed, Wimbledon were six points from avoiding relegation from League One. They had slipped further behind to be nine points below 20th place in early March. Under Downes they won 21 points from their last 12 matches and successfully avoided relegation on the final day of the season.[21]
On 25 September 2019 he was suspended from his duties by the club after being charged by the FA for misconduct under FA Rule E1(b), in respect of eight small bets placed on various football matches in a period between 30 November 2013 and 12 July 2019.[22][23] In October, the FA issued Downes with a fine of £3,000 and banned him from football for four weeks after he admitted the offences.[24] Two days later, he and the club parted company.[25]
| Team | From | To | Record | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| P | W | D | L | Win % | |||
| Brentford | 28 June 2002 | 14 March 2004 | 97 | 29 | 22 | 46 | 029.9 |
| AFC Wimbledon | 4 December 2018 | 20 October 2019 | 42 | 11 | 13 | 18 | 026.2 |
| Total | 139 | 40 | 35 | 64 | 028.8 | ||
Individual
