| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Adrian Neil Boothroyd | ||
| Date of birth | 8 February 1971 | ||
| Place of birth | Baildon, Bradford, England | ||
| Playing position | Defender | ||
| Club information | |||
| Current club | Northampton Town | ||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps† | (Gls)† |
| 1989–1990 | Huddersfield Town | 10 | (0) |
| 1990–1992 | Bristol Rovers | 16 | (0) |
| 1992–1993 | Hearts | 4 | (0) |
| 1993–1996 | Mansfield Town | 102 | (3) |
| 1996–1998 | Peterborough United | 26 | (1) |
| Total | 158 | (4) | |
| Teams managed | |||
| 2005–2008 | Watford | ||
| 2009–2010 | Colchester United | ||
| 2010–2011 | Coventry City | ||
| 2011– | Northampton Town | ||
| * Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only. † Appearances (Goals). |
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Adrian Neil "Aidy" Boothroyd (born 8 February 1971 in Baildon, West Yorkshire) is an English former footballer and is currently managing Northampton Town after being sacked as manager of Coventry City on March 14, 2011. He was manager of Watford of the Championship until 3 November 2008. At the time of his departure, he was the youngest and the second longest serving manager in the division. He replaces Gary Johnson at Northampton Town, after his much speculated appointment was confirmed on the 30th November 2011.
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As a player Boothroyd was a lower division full back, who played for Huddersfield Town, Bristol Rovers, Hearts, Mansfield Town and Peterborough United. His playing career ended at the premature age of 26 due to injury.
He started as a youth team player at Huddersfield and made his first team debut for the club in 1989. He played 10 league matches before moving on to Bristol Rovers in 1990, where he played 16 games. After a short spell at Hearts, he signed for Mansfield Town, where he played 102 matches, scoring 3 goals in the process. He left the club in 1996 to play for Peterborough. Boothroyd unfortunately picked up a career ending injury after playing 26 games and scoring a single goal. He retired from the game in 1998.
After ending his playing career at Peterborough United, Boothroyd was appointed coach of the Under 17, Under 19 and reserve teams at the club. His tactical nous and drive impressed, and he left Peterborough in 2001 to join Norwich City as their youth team coach under Nigel Worthington. After two years at Carrow Road, Boothroyd assumed the positions of Youth Development Officer and Technical Director at West Bromwich Albion, joining in October 2003.[1] A short spell at The Hawthorns ended when he was appointed first-team coach at Leeds United in July 2004,[2]
He was appointed manager of Watford in March 2005 at the age of 34.[3] The board backed their decision despite initial scepticism by Watford fans and the club entered a new era under Boothroyd. He managed to steer the club clear of relegation, with 1–0 victories over Stoke City and Rotherham United.
At the beginning of the 2005–06 season, Boothroyd signalled his intentions by declaring that his aim for the forthcoming campaign would be promotion to the Premier League. As the season progressed, Boothroyd's side gained more and more confidence, and come the end of the season, had cemented a place in the play-offs. After overcoming Crystal Palace in the two-legged semi-final, Boothroyd's team came up against the club where he used to coach; Leeds United. Watford won 3–0 and claimed a place in the top league of English football. The rapid improvement in Watford's results in his first season in charge led to Boothroyd winning the Championship Manager of the Month in February 2006.[4] Boothroyd continued as Watford manager for the duration of the 2006–07 Premier League season, but Watford finished 20th and were relegated. Nevertheless, Watford reached the FA Cup semi-finals, and Boothroyd was awarded a new three-year contract.[5]
"Professional footballers should be professional. They have a responsibility to come in, listen and learn, watch their performances, analyse where they went wrong and improve. Not to come in, have a five-a-side, bugger off and play golf. I get quite passionate because I was that person. I was a mercenary who went from club to club on a free transfer and, really, that's not how football should be. "
A good start to the 2007–08 season saw Watford nine points clear at the top of the Championship after twelve games.[7] The good form saw Boothroyd named Championship Manager of the Month for October 2007 after Watford maintained a 100% record.[8] However this could not be sustained and a poor run of form in second half of the season saw Boothroyd coming in for criticism for his team selections, direct style of play and dealings in the transfer market.[9] One win in thirteen going into the last game of the season saw Watford in danger of missing out on a play-off spot altogether but a 1–1 draw against Blackpool was enough to secure sixth place on goal difference ahead of Wolverhampton Wanderers. In their play-off semi-final against Hull City Watford lost 2–0 at Vicarage Road and 4–1 at the KC Stadium.
After missing out on an immediate return to Premier League, Boothroyd announced his intention re-build the side for next season, and also change the team's style of play.[10] However, he left Watford by mutual consent on 3 November 2008.[11]
On Wednesday 2 September 2009, Boothroyd was announced as the new manager of League One side Colchester United, succeeding Paul Lambert.[12] In his first game as Colchester boss the team drew 0 – 0 with Southampton and the team won five of the first nine games in his charge. The first defeat came in his 10th game in a 2 – 1 defeat to Millwall.
His first signing as Colchester boss was the loan of John-Joe O'Toole and his first permanent signing was Kayode Odejayi. O'Toole was subsequently signed on a permanent basis and he also signed David Prutton from Leeds, Ian Henderson from Ankaragucu (Turkey) and Morten Knudsen from Norway. Boothroyd added another loan signing with Franck Queudrue arriving on loan from Birmingham.
Colchester, under Boothroyd, were in the top 6 for over half of the campaign. However, a poor run of form towards the end of the season which saw them win only 2 games of their last 14 games, and this saw them drop just outside the play-offs and finish in 8th position in Coca-Cola League One. At this time, Boothroyd indicated his intentions to cull the squad and remove some "dead wood" to put together another promotion push. On May 20th 2010, Boothroyd left the club to take over Championship side Coventry City.
On 20 May 2010, Boothroyd was announced as the new manager of Championship side Coventry City, succeeding Chris Coleman.[13] His first game in charge was on 7 August, in which Boothroyd led Coventry City to an opening day victory over Portsmouth with both goals from Freddy Eastwood.
On 14 March 2011, Boothroyd was sacked by Coventry City after a run of poor results which saw the club win only once in sixteen league games.[14]
Boothroyd was appointed as manager of Northampton Town on 30 November 2011 on a one year, rolling contract.[15]
Boothroyd is a consultant, and honourary manager, to the England Writers Football Team. He has been helping them since May 2009 when he took them for a two day training session. His work with them is on-going as they pit themselves against writers' teams from around the world.
Boothroyd currently lives in Bromsgrove with his wife Emma and their children, Nathan and Cerys.
| Team | Nat | From | To | Record | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| G | W | D | L | Won % | Drawn % | Lost% | ||||
| Watford | 29 March 2005 | 3 November 2008 | 176 | 65 | 51 | 60 | 36.93 | 28.98 | 34.09 | |
| Colchester United | 2 September 2009 | 20 May 2010 | 44 | 19 | 12 | 13 | 43.18 | 27.91 | 28.81 | |
| Coventry City | 20 May 2010 | 14 March 2011 | 39 | 12 | 8 | 19 | 30.77 | 20.51 | 48.72 | |
| Northampton Town | 30 November 2011 | 5 | 0 | 2 | 3 | 0 | 40.00 | 60.00 | ||
| Total | 264 | 96 | 73 | 95 | 36.36 | |||||
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