Dean Glover

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Personal information
Dean Glover
Full name	Dean Glover
Date of birth	December 29, 1963 (1963-12-29) (age 44)
Place of birth	Birmingham, England
Height	1.78 m (5 ft 10 in)
Playing position	Defender (retired)
Club information
Current club	Port Vale (Assistant manager)
Senior clubs¹
Years	Club	App (Gls)*
1981-1987 1987 1987-1989 1989-1998 1998-1999	Aston Villa → Sheffield United (loan) Middlesbrough Port Vale Kidderminster Harriers	039 (1) 005 (0) 050 (5) 363 (15)
Teams managed
2007-	Port Vale (caretaker)
¹ Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only. * Appearances (Goals)

Dean Glover (born 29 December 1963 in Birmingham, West Midlands) is a former English football player. He is currently the assistant manager of Port Vale, where he has also previously been caretaker manager.

[edit] Playing career

Glover began his footballing career with hometown club Aston Villa progressing through the youth ranks before signing professional terms in 1981. He remained with Villa until 1987 but never really became a first team fixture in the Division One side making just 39 appearances in 6 years scoring 1 goal. A brief loan spell at Sheffield United in early 1987 was followed by his sale to Middlesbrough during the close season.

In Glover's first season at Middlesbrough, the team were promoted to the old First Division (now the Premiership), finishing in 3rd place. The following season Boro were struggling to retain their place in the top flight and Glover was sold to then 2nd Division (now The Championship) side Port Vale, in February for £200,000. He had been at Middlesbrough for just under 18 months.

Port Vale became Glover's main club in his playing days as he remained at the Potteries side for 10 seasons, for the majority of his playing career. At Port Vale Glover became an instant hit with the fans as he marked then England International Steve Bull out of the game on his debut, a 0-0 draw with Wolves.

Glover became a mainstay of Vale's defence throughout one of Vale's most successful periods, in the late 80s and early 90s, forming an excellent partnership with fellow centre half Neil Aspin.[1] He was part of the Vale side that won the Autoglass Trophy in 1992/93, as well as promotion back to the second tier of the English League in 1993/94. He also helped Vale to the Final of the Anglo-Italian Cup in 1996, as well as being part of the Vale side that achieved the club's highest finish since 1931, when they finished 8th in the 1996/97 Division One (now The Championship).

Glover left Port Vale at the end of the 1997/98 season as Vale stayed up with a final day 4-0 win at Huddersfield. He had spent 9 years at the club, becoming a crowd favourite in the process for his committed displays at centre half and right back. The final year of his career was seen out at Conference National side Kidderminster Harriers although it wasn't a particularly successful season for the Worcestershire club, Glover was a regular fixture in defence but decided to retire from playing when the 1998/99 season ended.

[edit] Coaching & Management

Glover returned to Port Vale as a coach in Brian Horton's management team however when the club went into Administration in 2003 he was made redundant as a cost cutting measure. A short spell as manager of non-league side Stone Dominoes followed before he came back to Vale Park when he was appointed assistant to Martin Foyle when he succeeded Horton in March 2004. He has remained at the club ever since, taking over as caretaker manager hen Foyle left the club in September 2007. Glover was in contention for the permanent managers position, but his record of guiding Vale to only 2 wins from 8 games contributed to his failure to get the job. When Farsley Celtic manager Lee Sinnott was appointed as Port Vale manager, Glover returned to the assistant role.

[edit] External links

Dean Glover career stats at Soccerbase

v • d • e

Port Vale F.C. – Managers

Gleaves (1896–05) • Clare (1905–11) • Walker (1911–12) • Myatt (1912–14) • Holford (1919–24) • Schofield (1924–30) • Morgan (1930–32) • Holford (1932–35) • Cresswell (1936–37) • Morgan (1937–38) • Frith (1945–46) • Hodgson (1946–51) • Powell (1951) • Steele (1951–57) • Low (1957–62) • Steele (1962–65) • Mudie (1965–67) • Matthews (1967–68) • Lee (1968–74) • Sproson (1974–77) • Harper (1977) • Smith (1977–78) • Butler (1978–79) • Bloor (1979) • McGrath (1979–83) • Rudge (1984–99) • Dearden (1999) • Grew (1999) • Horton (1999–2004) • Foyle (2004–07) • Glover (2007) • Sinnott (2007–)