Albert Gary Pickering (born 22 June 1967) is an English football manager and former professional

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby lea ...

. As a player, he played as a defender from 1989 until 2003 notably in the

Premier League The Premier League is a professional association football league in England and the highest level of the English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Football Lea ...

for

Coventry City Coventry City Football Club is an English professional football club based in Coventry, West Midlands. The club plays in the EFL Championship, the second tier of English football. The club is nicknamed The Sky Blues after the sky blue colou ...

. He has also played in the

Football League The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional association football, football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, it is the oldest football league in Association football around the world, the w ...

for

Rotherham United Rotherham United Football Club, nicknamed The Millers, is a professional association football club based in Rotherham, South Yorkshire, England. The team plays in EFL League One, the third tier of English football, after suffering relegation fr ...

Stoke City Stoke City Football Club is a professional association football club based in Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, England. The team competes in the , the second level of the English football league system. Founded as Stoke Ramblers in 1863, the cl ...

Burnley Burnley () is a town and the administrative centre of the wider Borough of Burnley in Lancashire, England, with a 2021 population of 78,266. It is north of Manchester and east of Preston, at the confluence of the River Calder and River B ...

, Chesterfield and Chester City, as well as spells in Non-League football for

Altrincham Altrincham ( , locally ) is a market town in Trafford, Greater Manchester, England, south of the River Mersey. It is southwest of Manchester, southwest of Sale, Greater Manchester, Sale and east of Warrington. At the 2021 United Kingdom ce ...

Hyde United Hyde United Football Club is a semi-professional football club in Hyde, Greater Manchester, England, formed in 1919. The team's strip is red shirts and black shorts and their home ground is the 4,250 capacity Ewen Fields. Hyde United's record ...

Gainsborough Trinity Gainsborough Trinity Football Club is a Association football, football club based in Gainsborough, Lincolnshire, Gainsborough, Lincolnshire, England. Established in 1873, the club became members of the English Football League, Football League i ...

and

Mossley Mossley (/ˈmɒzli/) is a town and civil parish in Tameside, Greater Manchester, England, in the upper River Tame, Greater Manchester, Tame Valley and the foothills of the Pennines, south-east of Oldham and east of Manchester. The town grew ...

. In 2001 he took charge of Mossley in a player/manager role and then went on to have spells in charge of

Woodley Sports Stockport Sports F.C. was a football club based in Woodley, Stockport, Greater Manchester, England. They were established in 1970 as Woodley Athletic, and played at the Neil Rourke Memorial Stadium. The club's name was changed to Woodley Sports ...

and

New Mills New Mills is a small town in the Borough of High Peak, Derbyshire, England, south-east of Stockport and from Manchester at the confluence of the River Goyt and River Sett, Sett. It is close to the border with Cheshire and above the Torrs, a ...

before joining Hyde as their reserve team manager.

Playing career

Pickering was born in

Manchester Manchester () is a city and the metropolitan borough of Greater Manchester, England. It had an estimated population of in . Greater Manchester is the third-most populous metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, with a population of 2.92&nbs ...

and began his career with non-league

Buxton Buxton is a spa town in the High Peak, Derbyshire, Borough of High Peak, Derbyshire, in the East Midlands region of England. It is England's highest market town, sited at some above sea level.Alston, Cumbria also claims this, but lacks a regu ...

before becoming a professional with

. He spent five seasons at

Millmoor The Millmoor Ground, commonly known as Millmoor, is a football stadium in Rotherham, South Yorkshire, England. It was the home ground of Rotherham County between 1907 and 1925, and then its successor Rotherham United until 2008. The stadium ...

making 111 appearances scoring twice helping the side gain promotion in 1991–92. He earned a move to

side

in October 1993 and was a regular for two seasons at

Highfield Road Highfield Road was a football stadium in the city of Coventry, England. It was the home ground for Coventry City for 106 years. History It was built in 1899 in the Hillfields district, close to the city centre, and staged its final game on 30 ...

making 75 appearances. He joined

in August 1996 and became the regular right back for the Potters making 45 appearances in 1996–97. In 1997–98 he was an ever-present playing in all of the club's 48 fixtures as Stoke suffered relegation. Pickering did score his only goal for Stoke in a 2–1 victory over

Portsmouth Portsmouth ( ) is a port city status in the United Kingdom, city and unitary authority in Hampshire, England. Most of Portsmouth is located on Portsea Island, off the south coast of England in the Solent, making Portsmouth the only city in En ...

on 11 April 1998. New Stoke manager

Brian Little Brian Little (born 25 November 1953) is an English football manager and former player. As a player, Little was a striker who spent his entire career for Aston Villa in a career that spanned from 1971 to 1980. He made 247 league appearances, ...

deemed him to surplus to requirements at the start of the 1998–99 campaign and he joined

. After a season at

Turf Moor Turf Moor is an association football stadium in Burnley, Lancashire, England, which has been the home of Burnley F.C., Burnley Football Club since 1883. This unbroken service makes Turf Moor the second-longest continuously used ground in Footbal ...

Pickering went on to play for

, Chesterfield and made seven appearances for Chester City. He then dropped into non-league football with

and

Managerial career

From November 2001 to July 2003 Pickering was the manager of

. A month after leaving he became assistant manager of

, becoming their manager in 2005. He left in February 2007. He began a second spell as manager of

in May 2008 but left for a second time in December 2008. On 24 March 2010, Pickering took over as manager at

, initially as caretaker until the end of the season. Pickering remained at New Mills until October 2012, when he and the club parted company by mutual consent. In September 2013, Pickering joined Hyde as their reserve team manager.

Career statistics

Source: :A. The "Other" column constitutes appearances and goals in the

Football League Trophy The English Football League Trophy, officially known as the Vertu Trophy for sponsorship reasons, is an annual English football knockout competition open to all clubs in EFL League One and EFL League Two and U-21 teams from the Premier Le ...

References

External links

*
Burnley career stats
{{DEFAULTSORT:Pickering, Ally 1967 births Living people English men's footballers Buxton F.C. players Rotherham United F.C. players Coventry City F.C. players Stoke City F.C. players Burnley F.C. players Altrincham F.C. players Chesterfield F.C. players Chester City F.C. players Hyde United F.C. players Gainsborough Trinity F.C. players Mossley A.F.C. players Mossley A.F.C. managers Radcliffe F.C. players Premier League players English football managers Footballers from Manchester English Football League players National League (English football) players Men's association football defenders