| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Daniel Joseph Wilson | ||
| Date of birth | 1 January 1960 | ||
| Place of birth | Wigan, Lancashire, England | ||
| Height | 1.68 m (5 ft 6 in) | ||
| Playing position | Midfielder | ||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps† | (Gls)† |
| 1976–1977 | Wigan Athletic | 8 | (0) |
| 1977–1980 | Bury | 90 | (9) |
| 1980–1983 | Chesterfield | 100 | (13) |
| 1983 | Nottingham Forest | 10 | (1) |
| 1983 | → Scunthorpe United (loan) | 6 | (3) |
| 1983–1987 | Brighton & Hove Albion | 135 | (33) |
| 1987–1990 | Luton Town | 110 | (24) |
| 1990–1993 | Sheffield Wednesday | 98 | (11) |
| 1993–1995 | Barnsley | 77 | (2) |
| – | Total | 634 | (96 ) |
| National team | |||
| 1987–1992 | Northern Ireland | 24 | (1) |
| Teams managed | |||
| 1994–1998 | Barnsley | ||
| 1998–2000 | Sheffield Wednesday | ||
| 2000–2004 | Bristol City | ||
| 2004–2006 | Milton Keynes Dons | ||
| 2006–2008 | Hartlepool United | ||
| 2008–2011 | Swindon Town | ||
| 2011– | Sheffield United | ||
| * Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only. † Appearances (Goals). |
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Daniel Joseph "Danny" Wilson (born Wigan, Lancashire, 1 January 1960) is an English-born Northern Irish former footballer and manager currently Managing Sheffield United. He has previously coached Barnsley, Sheffield Wednesday, Bristol City, Milton Keynes Dons, Hartlepool United and Swindon Town.
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As a player, he won the League Cup with both Luton Town in 1988 and Sheffield Wednesday in 1991. His equaliser for Luton against Arsenal with seven minutes remaining in the 1988 final is arguably the most famous match-saving goal in the club's history. He was also a runner-up in both domestic cup finals with Sheffield Wednesday in 1993. He also won 24 caps for Northern Ireland, scoring one goal.
In 1993 he joined Barnsley on a free transfer. 12 months later his management career began, becoming player-manager of Barnsley whose previous manager Viv Anderson had been appointed assistant manager to Bryan Robson at Middlesbrough. Anderson had brought Wilson to Barnsley.
In 1994–95, Barnsley finished sixth in Division One. In an ordinary season this would have meant occupying a playoff place, but due to the Premier League reducing from 22 to 20 clubs, only two teams would be promoted (with fifth placed club occupying the final playoff place) and Barnsley missed out. The following season was a disappointment as the club finished mid-table, but in 1996–97 Wilson guided Barnsley to the Premier League as Division One runners-up. It was the first time that the 110-year-old Barnsley Football Club had won promotion to the top division of English football. Although their stay lasted only a single season before relegation, Wilson's side reached the FA Cup quarter final and in the fifth round knocked out favourites Manchester United.
In the summer of 1998, Wilson returned to his old club Sheffield Wednesday as manager and was hopeful of revitalising the club's fortunes. They had just finished 16th in the Premier League and five seasons earlier, when Wilson was still on the club's playing staff, they had reached both domestic cup finals and finished sixth in the first ever Premier League. In 1998–99, Wilson guided Sheffield Wednesday to a respectable 12th place in the Premier League and had hopes for a top half finish the following season. But he was sacked the following March, having led the club only toward relegation.[1] Four Sheffield based MPs including David Blunkett called for his head in January 2000 (he picked up the Premier League's Manager of the Month award in January 2000) following some poor results like losing 8–0 to Newcastle United. Bassetlaw MP Joe Ashton said after his sacking: "Danny was a lovely fellow, but he couldn't do it (manage Sheffield Wednesday).[2]
In June 2000, Wilson was appointed manager of Division Two Bristol City on a four-year contract. His contract expired at the end of the 2003–04 season, and was not renewed because he had failed to achieve promotion after several seasons.[3]
In December 2004, Wilson took over from Stuart Murdoch as the new manager of the controversial Coca Cola League One side Milton Keynes Dons.[4] In his first season, he managed to save the club from relegation – they would have gone down had it not been for a 10-point penalty imposed on Wrexham who had gone into receivership.
Wilson was unable to save MK Dons from relegation to League Two at the end of the 2005–06 season, and he was sacked on 10 May 2006.[5]
On 13 June 2006, Wilson was appointed manager of Hartlepool United.[6] Wilson took over from Youth Team Coach Paul Stephenson who took temporary charge of the First Team for the late stages of the 2005–06 season. Hartlepool United were relegated alongside MK Dons to League Two.
In the 2006–07 season, he brought Hartlepool to second from top of League 2 and won promotion back to League 1.
He left Hartlepool United on 15 December 2008, leaving Chris Turner in temporary charge.[7]
Appointed manager of Swindon Town on 26 December 2008, Wilson saved the team from relegation that season. Wilson brought in many new signings, including Gordon Greer, Alan O'Brien, Jonathan Douglas, David Lucas and Charlie Austin[8] After getting Swindon into the 10 League 1 Play-Off Final, the club lost 0–1 against Millwall F.C.. The following 2009–10 play off season saw Wilson and club chairman Andrew Fitton forge many relationships with Premier League and SPL sides, most notably Liverpool, Manchester City and Celtic, who all loaned Wilson players to aid his development of the squad. Wilson released youth team goalkeeper Jamie Stephens to the Liverpool youth academy, who in turn loaned Swindon Stephen Darby, who later scored the winning penalty that put Swindon through to the 2009–10 play off final. Simon Ferry and Paul Caddis were loaned from Celtic, both having since been signed on permanent deals from the club. Manchester City loaned Wilson striker David Ball for the 2010–11 season. On 2 March 2011, Wilson resigned his post after a poor run of form that had seen the club slip into the relegation zone.[9]
On Friday 27 May 2011, Wilson was appointed the manager of Sheffield United. The appointment was greeted with some dissatisfaction amongst the Blades support, as approximately 400 fans gathered outside Bramall Lane to voice their anger at the appointment, particularly considering his links as a former player and manager of bitter rivals Sheffield Wednesday. Disapproving chants against his appointment could be heard throughout the announcing Press Conference. Wilson's subsequent statements suggested that he already felt the pressure resultant from having crossed the divide.
As part of the restructure of the Blades managerial setup, captain Chris Morgan was promoted to a player-coach position. Morgan had played under Wilson during his earlier years at Barnsley. A couple of weeks later, Wilson appointed the Sheffield-born former Blades player and well respected coach Frank Barlow as his assistant.[10] On 28 June 2011, it was confirmed that Wilson would further add to his backroom staff by appointing former professional footballer and former Swindon Town fitness coach Dave Morrison as the new fitness coach at Bramall Lane.
Wilson made a positive start at the Blades, winning his first league game in charge with a 2-0 victory over Oldham Athletic. This was then followed up by a Carling Cup victory over Hartlepool United and a comfortable 2-0 home victory over Brentford in Wilson's first home league game.
| Team | Nat | From | To | Record | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| G | W | L | D | Win % | ||||
| Barnsley | 2 June 1994 | 7 July 1998 | 201 | 74 | 72 | 55 | 36.82 | |
| Sheffield Wednesday | 7 July 1998 | 21 March 2000 | 80 | 23 | 40 | 17 | 28.75 | |
| Bristol City | 27 June 2000 | 5 June 2004 | 226 | 107 | 64 | 55 | 47.35 | |
| MK Dons | 7 December 2004 | 21 June 2006 | 81 | 25 | 32 | 24 | 30.86 | |
| Hartlepool United | 31 June 2006 | 15 December 2008 | 133 | 58 | 46 | 29 | 43.61 | |
| Swindon Town | 26 December 2008 | 2 March 2011 | 120 | 43 | 37 | 40 | 35.83 | |
| Sheffield United | 27 May 2011 | 31 | 18 | 6 | 7 | 58.06 | ||
| Total | 868 | 336 | 302 | 230 | 38.71 | |||
Danny's son Laurie was also a professional footballer, including spells at Sheffield Wednesday and Burton Albion. He currently plays for Harrogate Town.[12]
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