Sean Haslegrave

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Personal information
Sean Haslegrave
Full name	Sean Matthew Haslegrave
Date of birth	June 7, 1951 (1951-06-07) (age 57)
Place of birth	Stoke-on-Trent, England
Senior clubs¹
Years	Club	App (Gls)*
1970-1976 1976-1977 1977-1981 1981-1983 1983-1987 1987-1989	Stoke City Nottingham Forest Preston North End Crewe Alexandra York City Torquay United	113 (5) 007 (1) 113 (2) 082 (1) 142 (0) 036 (1)
¹ Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only. * Appearances (Goals)

Sean Matthew Haslegrave (born June 7, 1951) is an English former professional footballer. He is currently football coach at Cardinal Newman College in Preston and head coach of the English Colleges Team.^[1] He was born in Stoke-on-Trent.

[edit] Football career

Haslegrave had a trial with his local side Stoke City when he was 15, but was rejected due to his small stature. On leaving school he served an apprenticeship as a welder and played football for local amateur sides.

In November 1968 Haslegrave finally signed for Stoke City, by now under Tony Waddington's management, making his first team debut in 1970. He soon became a regular and would have played for Stoke in the 1972 League Cup Final at Wembley but for a knee injury.

In July 1976 Haslegrave signed for Nottingham Forest for a fee of £50,000 as new Forest manager Brian Clough's first signing. Although he began his Forest career as a regular, injuries to both ankles kept him out of the side and he struggled to get back into the first team.

When Forest signed Scottish international Archie Gemmill in September 1977, Haslegrave was further down the pecking order. On September 29, 1977, Haslegrave left to join Preston North End, managed by England World Cup star Nobby Stiles for a fee of £25,000. At the end of the season Preston were promoted to the Second Division (now the Football League Championship) with Haslegrave a regular in midfield. After two successful seasons, Preston struggled in 1980-81 and were eventually relegated on the last day of the season. Stiles was sacked soon afterwards and Haslegrave was released.

Haslegrave signed for Crewe Alexandra in August 1981 and after two seasons with a struggling Crewe side moved to York City, where his former Stoke teammate Dennis Smith was manager. He helped York to promotion to the Third Division, with a record points haul, and made over 150 first team appearances in four seasons.

In August 1987, Haslegrave joined a Torquay side that had just avoided relegation out of the league in the last few minutes of the previous season. However, under new manager Cyril Knowles the side was transformed and reached the Fourth Division play-offs and the Sherpa Van Trophy final at Wembley. Haslegrave began coaching at Torquay and by the time he left in 1989 had become Knowles' assistant. He was described in an autobiography by former England player Lee Sharpe, who had joined Torquay as an apprentice during Haslegrave's first season at the club, as the 'ultimate midfield terrier'.^[2]

On retiring he returned to Preston North End to coach the youth team and became Director of the club's Centre of Excellence. On leaving North End he became Head Coach at Cardinal Newman College and subsequently was also invited to coach the English Colleges side.

Haslegrave holds a UEFA (A) coaching badge.