Garry Flitcroft

Garry William Flitcroft (born 6 November 1972) is an English former professional footballer and most recently football manager of Conference North side Chorley.

Garry Flitcroft
Personal information
Full name Garry William Flitcroft
Date of birth (1972-11-06) 6 November 1972
Place of birth Bolton, Lancashire, England
Playing position(s) Midfielder
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1991–1996 Manchester City 116 (13)
1992 → Bury (loan) 12 (0)
1996–2006 Blackburn Rovers 248 (14)
2006 Sheffield United 6 (0)
Total 382 (27)
National team
1993 England U21 10 (3)
Teams managed
2009–2010 Leigh Genesis
2010–2015 Chorley
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only

As a player, he was a Midfielder from 1991 to 2006, and played in the Premier League for Manchester City, Blackburn Rovers and Sheffield United, as well as playing in the Football League for Bury. He was capped 10 times by England U21, scoring three goals. In 2009, he became manager of Leigh Genesis and the following year took over as manager of Chorley.

Playing career

Flitcroft played for the England U21s 10 times in 1993. He was also called up to Terry Venables' get-together England squad in April 1995,[1] but ultimately was never capped for the senior side.

In March 1996, he was signed by reigning Premier League Champions Blackburn Rovers for £3.5 million, but was sent off on his debut in a 3–0 defeat to Everton. Rovers were relegated to Division One in 1999 and new manager Graeme Souness appointed Flitcroft captain ahead of the 2000–01 season, in which Rovers gained promotion back to the Premier League. Flitcroft continued in his role as club captain for the next three years, but was suspended for Blackburn's 2001-02 League Cup victory although he did lift the trophy with match captain Henning Berg.

Managerial career

On 23 March 2009, it was announced that Flitcroft would replace Lee Merricks as manager of Northern Premier League side Leigh Genesis. This also came with the news that the club had moved into their new ground at Leigh Sports Village.[2] Flitcroft left Leigh Genesis after revealing to the media that he and many of his players had not been paid at Leigh for some time, and moved to Leigh's rivals, Chorley F.C. in May 2010.[3]

Flitcroft was hugely successful at Chorley, earning them two promotions - as Northern Premier League Division One play-off winners in 2010–11 and then Premier Division Champions in 2013–14. He immediately guided Chorley to 4th place in the Conference North but lost 3–2 at home to Guiseley in the Play Off Final. On 2 July 2015, Flitcroft stepped down as manager and his assistant Matt Jansen was put in charge. He is still at the club in a director's role.

Personal life

Flitcroft's brother David was also a midfielder who played in the lower divisions but who is now assistant manager of Bolton Wanderers. Flitcroft married Karen, whom he had met at Turton High School, and the couple had three children.[4] The couple subsequently divorced.[5]

During his marriage, Flitcroft had two affairs, one with a nursery nurse and the second with a lap dancer. After a disagreement with one of the women, the media began to pursue the story, so Flitcroft took out a High-Court injunction, banning media coverage of the affairs.[6] After a long legal battle, during the 2001–02 season Flitcroft was unmasked in the newspapers.[7] The lawsuit resulting from this allegation, presided over by Lord Chief Justice Lord Woolf, was notable for the way it weighed personal privacy rights against the right to freedom of expression under the European Convention on Human Rights (applicable since the Human Rights Act 1998 came into force in 2000).[8]

In September 2011, Flitcroft was named as a "core participant" in the Leveson Inquiry into the News International phone hacking scandal.[4][9]

Managerial statistics
As of July 2015.
Managerial record by team and tenure
Team From To Record Ref
PWDLWin %
Chorley May 2010 July 2015 197 102 44 51 051.8 [10]
Total 197 102 44 51 051.8 —
gollark: So you need to tell EVERYONE about SCM-0001?
gollark: We also need SCM-000A, becuase hex.
gollark: * SCM-0001
gollark: Can I add apeirohazards to the pages?
gollark: They should have UUIDs or fun WORD codenames.

References
  1. "Venables places emphasis on youth". The Independent. 19 April 1995. Retrieved 22 October 2014.
  2. "New manager, new home". Leigh Genesis F.C. 23 March 2009. Archived from the original on 27 March 2009. Retrieved 24 March 2009.
  3. "Garry Flitcroft appointed Chorley Manager". Lancashire Telegraph. 11 May 2010. Retrieved 11 May 2010.
  4. O'Carroll, Lisa (22 November 2011). "Leveson inquiry: Steve Coogan gives evidence on phone hacking - live | Media | guardian.co.uk". London: Guardian. Retrieved 28 November 2011.
  5. "Footballer exposed for two affairs blames the press for father's suicide". The Standard. 22 November 2011. Retrieved 29 October 2018.
  6. "I JUST DIDN'T HAVE A CLUE | Sunday Mirror Newspaper". Find Articles. Retrieved 28 November 2011.
  7. Allen, Peter. "Unmasked: the cheating soccer star". Daily Mail. London.
  8. "'Kiss and tell' case footballer may be named". Daily Mail. London.
  9. "Hacking inquiry: Core participant status for dozens". BBC News. 14 September 2011. Retrieved 14 September 2011.
  10. "Managers: Garry Flitcroft". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 7 February 2016.
  • A v B & C 2002 EWCA Civ 337, a discussion of Garry Flitcroft's lawsuit
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