Stuart Watkiss

Stuart Watkiss (born 8 May 1966) is an English former professional footballer and manager.

Stuart Watkiss
Personal information
Full name Stuart Watkiss
Date of birth (1966-05-08) 8 May 1966
Place of birth Wolverhampton, England
Height 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m)
Playing position(s) Defender
Youth career
1982–1984 Willenhall Town
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1984–1985 Wolverhampton Wanderers 2 (0)
1985–1986 Gresley 17 (0)
1986–1992 Crewe Alexandra 3 (0)
1992–1993 Rushall Olympic
1993–1996 Walsall 62 (2)
1996 Hereford United 19 (0)
1996–1999 Mansfield Town 35 (1)
Teams managed
Mansfield Town (Youth Team)
2002 Mansfield Town
2004 Barnsley (Academy Manager)
2004–2006 Kidderminster Harriers
2006 Grimsby Town (caretaker)
2008 Grimsby Town (caretaker)
2008–2013 Hull City (Development / Reserve Coach)
2013–2014 Grimsby Town (Youth Team)
2014–2016 Bharat FC
2016 Grimsby Town (caretaker)
2017 Naxxar Lions
2018– Bangladesh (Assistant coach)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only

As a player, he was a defender and notably played for Walsall, Hereford United and Mansfield Town. He became manager of Mansfield in 2002, and later Kidderminster Harriers. In 2006, he became assistant manager of Grimsby Town where he remained until 2009 where he then spent three years as a development coach at Hull City. He was briefly appointed assistant manager at Stockport County in 2013.

Playing career

Watkiss started his playing career at Ward's Bridge School in his hometown of Wolverhampton.[1][2] He then joined Willenhall Town, for the youth team, which reached the Midland Floodlit Youth League Cup final at Villa Park during the 1982–83 season.[3] He later joined his home town club Wolverhampton Wanderers, where he served his apprenticeship as a 17-year-old. His debut was on 17 March 1984 in a Division One game with Sunderland; however, after making only two appearances,[4] he joined West Midlands (Regional) League side Gresley Rovers in June 1985,[2] before making a move to Crewe Alexandra in January 1986.

He went on to play for Rushall Olympic, Walsall, and Hereford United before moving to Mansfield Town in 1996, scoring his only goal for the Stags in a 2–4 win at Darlington in October when he met a Ben Sedgemore cross with a header which bounced downward and up into the top corner of the net.[4] Watkiss remained with Town until hanging his boots up in 1999.[4]

Management and coaching career

Mansfield Town

Watkiss remained at Mansfield Town as youth team coach taking over from Tony Ford, producing at least ten players who progressed into the first team during his three years in charge of the club's youth set-up.[4] In June 2001, assistant manager Mark Kearney left to join Northampton Town as youth team coach.[5] Speculation mounted that Watkiss would step up to assistant manager. Watkiss told the press "I do feel that the job would be a natural progression for me. A lot of the lads who have come up through the club were with me and I would like the chance to work with them again." A few of weeks later, the club's official website revealed that "the worst kept secret in the club's history had been confirmed", and Watkiss was promoted to assistant manager.[4] Manager Billy Dearden explained, "I gave the position a lot of thought and have decided that Stuart is the best man for the job. He is a young coach who could go a long way in the game. He is at the right age to work with me, and it is a huge reward for him. He has done an excellent job with the youth team and it was a huge wrench to take him away from the youth team." Watkiss said "I am confident in my ability, I wouldn’t have gone for the job if not. Obviously time will tell if I am a success or not, but I am cautiously optimistic. It will be great working with Bill Dearden. He has a wealth of knowledge and experience within the game and I will be watching and learning all the time."[4]

Following the resignation of Billy Dearden to take over at Notts County,[4] Watkiss made the step up from assistant manager at Mansfield Town to become the team's manager in January 2002,[4] where he guided them to their first promotion in 10 years.[6] Due to his promotion success, he was then rewarded a three-year contract,[7] butMansfield struggled in the 2002–03 season and by December 2002, following a 4–2 defeat away to Port Vale,[8] the Stags were bottom of Division Two, Watkiss and assistant Neil Richardson were sacked after a meeting with Mansfield chairman Keith Haslam on the following Monday.[9]

Kidderminster Harriers

Watkiss became academy manager at Barnsley in September 2004,[10] before his next port of call to manage Kidderminster Harriers an 18-month contract between 2004 and 2006.[11]

Grimsby Town

Following his dismissal he became Assistant Manager to Graham Rodger at Grimsby Town, and took over team affairs briefly in November 2006 following the sacking of Rodger,[12] but he was overlooked for the job, which was given to Alan Buckley instead.[13]

Watkiss continued in his role as Assistant Manager for the 2006–07 and 2007–08 campaigns, signing a new one-year contract in June 2007, he said "I'm absolutely delighted to be staying and I can't wait for the season to begin, I've learned so much from Alan in such a short time and I have really enjoyed working with him."[14] He was once again given the role of Caretaker Manager

Grimsby appointed Mike Newell in October 2008 and Watkiss re-took his former position as Assistant Manager.[15] At the end of the 2008–09 season, Watkiss was relieved of his duties at the club, and replaced by the club's Chief Scout, Brian Stein.[16]

Hull City

He was appointed as Development Coach by Phil Brown at Hull City in July 2009.[17] Subsequent to the appointment of Steve Bruce as team manager, on 8 June 2012, Watkiss and fellow first team coach Steve Wigley left the club.[18]

Stockport County

On 28 January 2013 Watkiss was appointed assistant manager of Stockport County on an initial three-month deal, working under Darije Kalezić.[19]

Return to Grimsby Town

On 11 September 2013 Watkiss rejoined Grimsby Town as the club's new youth team manager following the resignation of Adam Smith.[20]

Bharat FC

On 4 November 2014 it was announced that Watkiss would become the first ever head coach of the Bharat FC for the 2014–15 season.[21]

Third spell with Grimsby

On 26 October 2016 Watkiss returned to Grimsby on a temporary basis as joint caretaker manager with Dave Moore. Watkiss and Moore oversaw the club's 0-0 draw with Yeovil Town and 1-0 FA Cup defeat to Bolton Wanderers. In January 2017 Watkiss signed for the club on a permanent basis as a Development Coach.

Naxxar Lions

In September 2017 Watkiss was appointed manager of Maltese Premier League side Naxxar Lions in Malta.[22] He resigned for personal reasons from the position in November 2017.[23]

Managerial statistics
As of match played 17 November 2017
Managerial record by team and tenure
Team From To Record Ref
PWDLWin %
Mansfield Town 9 January 2002 2 December 2002 45 16 5 24 035.6 [24]
Kidderminster Harriers 30 November 2004 1 January 2006 55 17 11 27 030.9 [24]
Grimsby Town 5 March 2018 6 October 2008 3 0 1 2 000.0 [24]
Bharat FC 4 November 2014 30 May 2015 20 4 6 10 020.0 [25]
Naxxar Lions 3 September 2017 17 November 2017 8 1 3 4 012.5 [26]
Total 131 38 26 67 029.0 —

Honours

Club

Walsall

Manager

Mansfield Town

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References
  1. "WFSA Roll of Honour". Wolverhampton Schools FA. 18 September 2007. Retrieved 31 August 2012.
  2. "Player Database – Stuart Watkiss". Gresley F.C. Retrieved 31 August 2012.
  3. "Willenhall Town stars of the '70s & '80s". The Black Country Bugle. 3 May 2007. Archived from the original on 19 April 2013. Retrieved 30 August 2012.
  4. Shaw, Martin (1 March 2003). "Profile of Stuart Watkiss". Stagsnet. Retrieved 30 August 2012.
  5. Bracegirdle, Dave & Hartshorn, Steve (2004). The Legends of Mansfield Town. Breedon Books. ISBN 1-85983-435-3.
  6. "Mansfield on the up". BBC Sport. 20 April 2002. Retrieved 30 August 2012.
  7. "Watkiss boost for Stags". BBC Sport. 9 August 2002. Retrieved 30 August 2012.
  8. "Port Vale 4–2 Mansfield". BBC Sport. 30 November 2002. Retrieved 30 August 2012.
  9. "Mansfield sack Watkiss". BBC Sport. 2 December 2002. Retrieved 30 August 2012.
  10. "Watkiss appointed academy manager at Barnsley". Stagsnet. 13 September 2004. Retrieved 30 August 2012.
  11. "Watkiss given Kidderminster post". BBC Sport. 30 November 2004. Retrieved 30 August 2012.
  12. "Grimsby Town sack manager Rodger". BBC Sport. 6 November 2006. Retrieved 31 August 2012.
  13. "Grimsby unveil Buckley as manager". BBC Sport. 9 November 2006. Retrieved 31 August 2012.
  14. "Watkiss pens new Grimsby contract". BBC Sport. 4 June 2007. Retrieved 31 August 2012.
  15. "Newell takes over as Grimsby boss". BBC Sport. 6 October 2008. Retrieved 31 August 2012.
  16. Sedgwick, Rob (9 May 2009). "Watkiss Leaves Grimsby". The Fishy. Retrieved 31 August 2012.
  17. "Hull bring in Watkiss and Davison". BBC Sport. 7 July 2009. Retrieved 30 August 2012.
  18. "Former first-team coach Steve Wigley leaves Hull City". BBC Sport. 13 June 2012. Retrieved 13 June 2012.
  19. Browne, Gavin (30 January 2013). "Coming to County was an 'easy decision': Watkiss". Manchester Evening News. Retrieved 11 June 2018.
  20. Page, Mark (9 September 2013). "Grimsby Town Youth coach Adam Smith to leave club". Grimsby Telegraph. Retrieved 11 September 2013.
  21. "I-League: Kalyani Group appoints Stuart Watkiss as head coach". IBN Live. 4 November 2014. Retrieved 5 November 2014.
  22. "New Technical Director Stuart Watkiss". Naxxar Lions F.C. 3 September 2017. Archived from the original on 12 June 2018. Retrieved 11 June 2018.
  23. "Spiteri to replace Watkiss as Naxxar coach". Times of Malta. Valletta. 17 November 2017. Retrieved 13 February 2018.
  24. "Managers: Stuart Watkiss". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 16 June 2018.
  25. "Bharat 2014–15: Fixtures & Results". Bharat F.C. Archived from the original on 19 March 2016.
  26. "BOV Premier League Results: 2017–18". Malta Football Association. Retrieved 16 June 2018.
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