John Schofield (footballer)

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John Schofield
Personal information
Full nameJohn David Schofield
Date of birth (1965-05-16) 16 May 1965
Place of birthBarnsley, England
Playing positionMidfielder
Club information
Current clubGillingham
(Assistant Manager)
Senior career*
YearsTeamApps†(Gls)†
Woolley Miners Welfare
Shepshed Charterhouse
Matlock Town
1987–1988Gainsborough Trinity?
1988–1994Lincoln City231(11)
1994–1997Doncaster Rovers110(12)
1997–1999Mansfield Town86(0)
1999–2000Hull City25(0)
2000–2001Lincoln City19(0)
Teams managed
2006–2007Lincoln City
2009Walsall (caretaker)
2009Cheltenham Town (caretaker)
2013Gillingham (caretaker)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only. † Appearances (Goals).

John David Schofield (born 16 May 1965) is an English football manager and former player who is assistant manager of League One side Gillingham.

He was manager of Lincoln City between May 2006 and October 2007 and was assistant manager of Walsall before leaving, following a brief stint as caretaker manager. He was assistant manager at to Martin Allen Cheltenham Town, where he briefly served as caretaker manager due Allen being suspended, and in 2010 he was appointed as coach at Cambridge United.

Playing career

A combative midfield player, John Schofield began his career in the non-League ranks, combining this with his job as an apprentice-trained motor mechanic. As a teenager, he had spent a season with Huddersfield Town's reserve side before joining the then Northern Counties East League side Woolley Miners Welfare who were based in the village of Woolley Colliery.

He then moved up the non-league pyramid, joining first Shepshed Charterhouse and then Matlock Town. In March 1988 he joined Gainsborough Trinity.

The then Lincoln City manager Colin Murphy soon spotted his talents and a fee of £10,000 was enough to secure his services. Schofield quickly established himself in the Lincoln team and would go on to make 231 league appearances, scoring 11 times, in his first spell at the club and later be voted as number 47 in Lincoln's list of 100 league legends.

Despite a successful 1993/94 season with Lincoln when he was both club captain and supporters' `Player of the Season', the 1994/95 season found Schofield out of favour with the newly installed Lincoln manager Sam Ellis and in November 1994 moved on to join Doncaster Rovers.

He spent three seasons with Doncaster before departing to Mansfield Town and then Hull City.

Schofield returned to Lincoln City in June 2000 to take up the post of Head of Youth Development.[1] With Lincoln beginning to struggle financially, Schofield was also called upon as a player, making a further 19 league appearances before he finally wound his playing career down.

Management career

He is a UEFA 'A' licence holder, Schofield made impressive progress with Lincoln's youth set-up with a number of promising players, such as Lee Frecklington, either making the first team squad or being sold to higher level clubs such as Jack Hobbs who was sold to Liverpool and Scott Loach who moved on to Watford.

Schofield's good work was rewarded with an increasing role with the first team and he was appointed First Team Coach prior to the start of the 2005/06. The departure of Keith Alexander as Lincoln's manager in the summer of 2006 saw him appointed as Head Coach with John Deehan appointed as Director of Football.

The 2006/07 season started extremely promisingly for Lincoln with a new-found commitment to attacking passing football which saw them top the table in October 2006 and be amongst the leading scorers in the league. However, Lincoln's form fell away in 2007 and rather than pushing for automatic promotion they were, for the fifth season running, forced to settle for a place in the play-offs where they were soundly beaten by Bristol Rovers. The initial promising start however was rewarded when he signed a new two-year deal with the club in April 2006.[2] while in June 2006 this was extended to three years and his title upgraded to Manager.[3]

The poor form exhibited by Lincoln in the second-half of the 2006/07 season has, sadly, been continued in the 2007/08 season and this was met with increasing unease by the Lincoln supporters with a feeling that Schofield has neglected the defence of the squad in favour of his attacking strategy. Schofield was sacked by Lincoln on 15 October 2007.[4] In February 2008 he began coaching at Scunthorpe United[5] where he helped carried out extra training sessions for players not involved in the first team before departing at the end of the season.[6] In June 2008 he was appointed first-team coach at Walsall. Schofield was then appointed manager on a caretaker basis after Jimmy Mullen was sacked on 10 January 2009. Schofield was then relieved of his duties after being in charge for just one match, a 1–0 defeat away to Peterborough Utd. New manager Chris Hutchings brought in his own right hand man in ex Walsall player Martin O'Connor.[7] Schofield was appointed as assistant manager at Cheltenham Town until the end of the season.

Cambridge United

On 6 July 2010 he joined Cambridge United on a trial basis to assist manager Martin Ling with the club's pre-season preparations.[8] Having impressed, he joined the club on a two-year contract to become first team coach.[9] Following a run of four successive defeats, culminating in a 4–0 defeat at Bath City on 29 January 2011, on 1 February 2011 he and Ling departed the club.[10]

Managerial stats

As of 22 December 2009.[11]
Team Nat From To Record
GWDLWin %
Lincoln City England 24 May 2006 15 October 2007 6423142736.0
Walsall (caretaker) England 10 January 2009 20 January 2009 10010.0
Cheltenham Town (caretaker) England 20 October 2009 22 December 2009 913511.1

References

  1. ↑ "Schofield back with City". Lincoln City F.C. 6 June 2000. Retrieved 17 June 2008. 
  2. ↑ "Coach Schofield signs Imps deal". BBC Sport. 13 April 2006. Retrieved 7 August 2007. 
  3. ↑ "Schofield rewarded with new deal". BBC Sport. 6 August 2007. Retrieved 6 August 2007. 
  4. ↑ "Lincoln City sack boss Schofield". BBC Sport. 15 October 2007. Retrieved 15 October 2007. 
  5. ↑ "Schofield coaching at United". Scunthorpe United F.C. 18 February 2008. Retrieved 17 June 2008. 
  6. ↑ "Schofield exits Glanford Park". Scunthorpe United F.C. 29 May 2008. Retrieved 17 June 2008. 
  7. ↑ "Schofield is new Saddlers coach". BBC Sport. 17 June 2008. Retrieved 17 June 2008. 
  8. ↑ "John Schofield on trial". Cambridge United F.C. 6 July 2010. Retrieved 2 February 2011. 
  9. ↑ "John Schofield joins club". Cambridge United F.C. 28 July 2010. Retrieved 2 February 2011. 
  10. ↑ "Ling and Schofield depart". Cambridge United F.C. 2 February 2011. Retrieved 2 February 2011. 
  11. ↑ "John Schofield's managerial career". Soccerbase. Retrieved 6 August 2007. 

External links

Lincoln City F.C. Player of the Year
Lincoln City F.C. – managers
(c) caretaker
Cheltenham Town F.C. – managers
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