Des Buckingham

Des Buckingham is an English professional football manager who was most recently manager of the New Zealand national under-23 football team.[1]

Des Buckingham
Personal information
Full name Desmond Buckingham
Date of birth (1985-02-07) 7 February 1985
Place of birth Cowley, Oxford, England
Playing position(s) Goalkeeper
Youth career
Team
Reading
Oxford United
Teams managed
Years Team
2004–2014 Oxford United (youth coach)
2015 Wellington Phoenix (assistant)
2016 Wellington Phoenix (interim)
2017 Wellington Phoenix
2017–2018 Stoke City U23 (assistant)
2018–2019 New Zealand U20
2018–2019 New Zealand (assistant)
2019–2020 New Zealand U23


Buckingham became the youngest head coach in the history of the A-League during the 2016–17 A-League season.[2]

Playing career

Born in Cowley, England, Buckingham had spells in the youth and reserve teams of English sides Reading and Oxford United.[3][4] A professional career did not materialise, and Buckingham subsequently joined Oxford & Cherwell Valley College in a full-time coaching and teaching role over a four-year period.[5][6]

Coaching career

Oxford United

Buckingham began his professional coaching career at Oxford United at the age of 18, initially working through the club's age-group squads. At the start of the 2013–14 Football League Two season, he progressed as a coach into the first team under then-manager Chris Wilder.[7]

In his time at the club, Buckingham was able to support the transition of 24 players from the youth ranks into their first professional contracts.[8]

Wellington Phoenix

Buckingham joined the Wellington Phoenix during the 2014–15 A-League season under head coach Ernie Merrick. On 1 January 2017, following the resignation of Merrick, he was appointed as manager until the end of the season.[9] At 31 years of age, he became the youngest manager in A-League history and was able to lift the club off the bottom of the table, finishing one place outside the playoffs at the end of the season.[10][11]

Stoke City

In July, 2017 Buckingham was granted permission to leave Wellington Phoenix and take up a role at then-Premier League club Stoke City as an assistant coach with their under-23 team.[12][13]

New Zealand Football

A return to New Zealand in 2018 saw Buckingham appointed as head coach of the New Zealand U20 team and assistant manager of the senior national team.[14][15]

In August, 2018 he led the team to the 2018 OFC U-19 Championship, qualifying for the 2019 FIFA U-20 World Cup.[16][17] At the World Cup, Buckingham’s New Zealand side equalled their highest ever finish at a men's FIFA tournament, eventually being knocked out by Colombia in the round of 16 after a controversial penalty shoot-out.[18][19][20] The team also posted New Zealand’s biggest ever win at a FIFA tournament with a 5-0 win over Honduras,[21] became the first New Zealand team to win back to back games at a FIFA event, and recorded their first ever win over European opposition with a 2-0 win over Norway.[22][23] Buckingham earned plaudits for the team's quality of football and style of play. Former All Whites Ricki Herbert and Wynton Rufer praised the positive and attacking approach to winning games rarely seen before in New Zealand.[24][25][26][27][28][29]

Despite being linked to clubs in the English Football League and A-League, Buckingham accepted the New Zealand U23 managerial position in June 2019, leading the side into the 2019 Pacific Games and OFC Olympic Qualifying Tournament.[30][31][32] He guided New Zealand to its first-ever win at the 2019 Pacific Games, leading a U-23 side through an otherwise senior international competition undefeated.[33][34]

In September 2019, the New Zealand U-23 side played out two draws against their Australian counterparts in the lead up to the OFC Olympic Qualifying Tournament.[35]

On 5 October 2019, Buckingham led New Zealand to its third Olympic Games, qualifying for Tokyo 2020 by winning the OFC U-23 Championship.[36][37] In doing so, the team became the most dominant men’s side to have played in an Oceania Football Confederation competition by winning all five games and finishing with a goal difference of +29.[38] The New Zealand U23 side remain unbeaten, winning nine and drawing three of its 12 games while overall in 23 games.[39]

New Zealand Football announced that Buckingham would leave his role as coach of the under-23 side in April 2020, following delays caused by the COVID-19 pandemic and the postponement of the 2020 Summer Olympics. He was replaced by Danny Hay.[40]

Personal life

Buckingham is a qualified pilot, and holds a Master's degree in advanced performance football coaching through the University of South Wales.

He was inducted into the 2019 edition of the High Performance Sport New Zealand Coach Accelerator Programme, a three year programme aimed at developing and increasing New Zealand’s pool of world-class coaches.[41]

Managerial statistics
As of match played 11 April 2020
TeamFromToRecord
MWDLGFGAGDWin %Ref.
Wellington Phoenix (interim)5 December 201631 December 2016 4 1 3 0 7 4 +3 025.00 [42]
Wellington Phoenix1 January 20177 June 2017 15 5 3 7 28 28 +0 033.33 [42]
New Zealand U2023 March 201831 December 2019 11 8 1 2 35 7 +28 072.73 [43][44]
New Zealand U2322 June 201930 April 2020 12 9 3 0 57 8 +49 075.00 [45]
Total 42 23 10 9 120 43 +77 054.76

Honours

Manager

New Zealand Football

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References
  1. "Des Buckingham profile". Soccerway. 5 April 2017.
  2. "Former United Coach becomes youngest A-League boss". Oxford Mail. 13 January 2017.
  3. "Meet the mystery man of the Wellington Phoenix interim co-coaching duo". Stuff. 15 December 2016.
  4. "Former Oxford United Coach on his rise to take charge of Wellington Phoenix". Oxford Mail. 10 February 2017.
  5. "Meet the mystery man of the Wellington Phoenix interim cocoaching staff". 15 December 2016.
  6. "Who Phoenix Coach Des Buckingham". 5 January 2017.
  7. "Former Oxford United Coach Des Buckingham rise take charge Wellington Phoenix". Oxford Mail. 10 February 2017.
  8. "From Oxford To The Olympics – The British Manager Taking New Zealand To Tokyo". The Sportsman. 14 November 2019.
  9. "Who Phoenix Coach Des Buckingham". A-League. 5 January 2017.
  10. "Former Oxford United Coach Des Buckingham becomes youngest A League boss Wellington Phoenix". Oxford Mail. 13 January 2017.
  11. "Phoenix sign new coach". New Zealand Herald. 19 May 2017.
  12. "Wellington Phoenix coach departs for Premier League club". wellingtonphoenix.com. Retrieved 6 July 2017.
  13. "The A-League's youngest manager joins Stoke City". Oceaniafc.com. Retrieved 3 July 2017.
  14. "NZ U-17 and U-20 Head Coaches confirmed". nzfootball.co.nz. Retrieved 23 January 2018.
  15. "Des Buckingham returning to NZ to coach U20s as Jose Figueira gets U17s nod". Stuff. Retrieved 21 August 2018.
  16. "New Zealand win seventh title | Oceania Football Confederation". Oceania Football Confederation. 19 August 2018. Retrieved 21 August 2018.
  17. "U-20 men book berth at World Cup". nzfootball.co.nz. Retrieved 15 August 2018.
  18. "Oceania gear up to compete for sole Tokyo 2020 ticket". FIFA.com. Retrieved 20 September 2019.
  19. "U-20s go out in heart-breaking fashion". nzfootball.co.nz. Retrieved 3 June 2019.
  20. "New Zealand suffers heartbreaking loss to Columbia at FIFA U20 World Cup". NewsHub. 5 April 2019.
  21. "New Zealand make history in Poland 2019 bow". FIFA.com. Retrieved 24 May 2019.
  22. "Stensness screamer seals U-20 passage". nzfootball.co.nz. Retrieved 28 May 2019.
  23. "History in sight for U-20s". nzfootball.co.nz. Retrieved 30 May 2019.
  24. "How a football team of immigrants brings us closer together". Stuff. 2 June 2019.
  25. "NZ under 20s fire". TVNZ. 29 May 2019.
  26. "Progress made as FIFA Under-20 World Cup campaign ends with heartbreak, not history". Stuff. 3 June 2019.
  27. "Ex Oxford United Coach one win Olympic qualification". Oxford Mail. 3 October 2019.
  28. "Ricki Herbert calls for NZ Football to get more games for under-20 tournament stars". Stuff. 5 June 2019.
  29. "Wynton Rufer hails NZ football's future after under-20 team's 'brilliant' effort". Stuff. 4 June 2019.
  30. "Brisbane Roar lose to Sydney FC as club consider head coach options". The Guardian. 30 December 2018.
  31. "The contenders to replacing outgoing Wellington Phoenix coach Mark Rudan". Stuff. 16 April 2019.
  32. "Des Buckingham to coach OlyWhites until end of Tokyo Olympics campaign". Stuff. 27 June 2019.
  33. "New Zealand Men's footballers produce epic comeback to win Pacific Games Gold". Stuff. 20 July 2019.
  34. "U-23s come from behind to claim gold". nzfootball.co.nz. Retrieved 20 July 2019.
  35. "OlyWhites impressive against Olyroos as qualifiers for Tokyo Olympics draw closer". Stuff. 10 September 2019.
  36. "U-23s book ticket to Tokyo". nzfootball.co.nz. Retrieved 5 October 2019.
  37. "New Zealand impress en route to Japan". FIFA.com. Retrieved 7 October 2019.
  38. "OlyWhites ease past Solomon Islands to book their place at the Tokyo Olympics". Stuff. 5 October 2019.
  39. "Ex-Oxford United coach Des Buckingham: Olympic qualification is career highlight". Stuff. 11 October 2019.
  40. Voerman, Andrew (30 April 2020). "Des Buckingham not being kept on by NZ Football for rescheduled Tokyo Olympics". Stuff.co.nz. Retrieved 3 May 2020.
  41. "Buckingham follows in famous footsteps". nzfootball.co.nz. Retrieved 17 April 2019.
  42. "Wellington Phoenix matches". Soccerway. 7 June 2017. Retrieved 8 April 2017.
  43. "NZ U19 Matches". Flashscore.com. 6 April 2020. Retrieved 6 April 2020.
  44. "NZ U20 Matches". ESPN.com. 6 April 2020. Retrieved 6 April 2020.
  45. "NZF U23 results". Flashscore.com. 6 April 2020. Retrieved 6 April 2020.
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