Garry William Flitcroft (born 6 November 1972) is an English

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

manager and former professional player who played as a

midfielder In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in t ...

. Between 1991 and 2006, Flitcroft spent four seasons 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 ...

with

Manchester City Manchester City Football Club is a professional association football, football club based in Manchester, England, that competes in the Premier League, the English football league system, top flight of Football in England, English footbal ...

, winning the club's Player of the Year award in only his second year in senior football. He joined

Blackburn Rovers Blackburn Rovers Football Club is a professional football club based in Blackburn, Lancashire, England, which competes in the , the second level of the English football league system. They have played home matches at Ewood Park since 1890. Th ...

in 1996, with whom he spent ten years, of which eight were in the Premier League, and won the 2001–02 Football League Cup. He also played briefly 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 ...

, beginning his career on loan to Bury and ending it with Sheffield United. He was capped 10 times by England U21, scoring three goals. In 2009 he became manager of Leigh Genesis and the following year took over as manager of

Chorley Chorley is a town and the administrative centre of the wider Borough of Chorley in Lancashire, England, north of Wigan, south west of Blackburn, north west of Bolton, south of Preston and north west of Manchester. The town's wealth ca ...

, where he won two promotions in five years, taking the team up to the

Conference North The National League North, officially known as Vanarama National League North for sponsorship reasons, is a professional Association football league in England. National League North is the second division of the National Leagues and step 2 o ...

Playing career

Flitcroft came through the youth ranks at

where he made 116 appearances in the

, scoring 13 goals. In only his second season of senior football he was awarded City's Player of the Season award for the 1992–93 season. He played for the England U21s 10 times in 1993. He was also called up to Terry Venables' get-together England squad in April 1995, but ultimately was never capped for the senior side. In March 1996, he was signed by reigning

Champions

for £3.5 million, but was sent off on his debut in a 3–0 defeat to Everton. Rovers were relegated to Division One in 1999 and new manager

Graeme Souness Graeme James Souness (; born 6 May 1953) is a Scottish former professional football player, manager and television pundit. A midfielder, Souness achieved his greatest period of success as an integral part of the Liverpool team of the late 19 ...

appointed Flitcroft captain ahead of the 2000–01 season, in which Rovers gained promotion back to the Premier League. Flitcroft continued in his role as club captain for the next three years, but was suspended for

Blackburn Blackburn () is an industrial town and the administrative centre of the Blackburn with Darwen borough in Lancashire, England. The town is north of the West Pennine Moors on the southern edge of the River Ribble, Ribble Valley, east of Preston ...

's 2001-02 League Cup victory although he did lift the trophy with match captain Henning Berg.

Managerial career

On 23 March 2009, it was announced that Flitcroft would replace Lee Merricks as manager of

Northern Premier League The Northern Premier League is an English Association football, football league that was founded in 1968. Together with the Isthmian League and the Southern Football League, Southern League it forms levels seven and eight of the English footba ...

side Leigh Genesis. This also came with the news that the club had moved into their new ground at

Leigh Sports Village Leigh Sports Village is a multi-use sports, retail and housing development in Leigh, Greater Manchester, England. The centrepiece of the development is a 12,000-capacity stadium which is home to professional rugby league team Leigh Leopards, th ...

. Flitcroft left Leigh Genesis after revealing to the media that he and many of his players had not been paid at Leigh for some time, and moved to Leigh's rivals, Chorley F.C. in May 2010. Flitcroft was hugely successful at Chorley, earning them two promotions – as Northern Premier League Division One play-off winners in 2010–11 and then Premier Division Champions in 2013–14. He immediately guided Chorley to 4th place in the Conference North but lost 3–2 at home to

Guiseley Guiseley ( ) is an area in the metropolitan borough of the City of Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. Historic counties of England, Historically part of the West Riding of Yorkshire, it is situated south of Otley and Menston and is now a north-west ...

in the Play Off Final. On 2 July 2015, Flitcroft stepped down as manager and his assistant

Matt Jansen Matthew Brooke Jansen (born 20 October 1977) is an English former professional association football, footballer who played as a Striker (association football), striker. Jansen was tipped to become one of English football brightest stars but his ...

was put in charge.

Personal life

Flitcroft's brother

David David (; , "beloved one") was a king of ancient Israel and Judah and the third king of the United Monarchy, according to the Hebrew Bible and Old Testament. The Tel Dan stele, an Aramaic-inscribed stone erected by a king of Aram-Dam ...

was also a midfielder who played in the lower divisions. Flitcroft married Karen, whom he had met at Turton High School, and the couple had three children. The couple subsequently divorced. Flitcroft, now owner of a timber frame business called "Flitcraft" with his son Thomas, faced trial in 2019 following a legal dispute. In September 2020 he won the case against a rival business.

Flitcroft and the Leveson Inquiry

During his marriage, Flitcroft had two affairs, one with a nursery nurse and the second with a lap dancer. After a disagreement with one of the women, the media began to pursue the story, so Flitcroft took out a High-Court injunction, banning media coverage of the affairs. After a long legal battle, during the 2001–02 season an injunction preventing Flitcroft being named ran out. The lawsuit resulting from this allegation, presided over by

Lord Chief Justice The Lord or Lady Chief Justice of England and Wales is the head of the judiciary of England and Wales and the president of the courts of England and Wales. Until 2005 the lord chief justice was the second-most senior judge of the English a ...

Lord Woolf, was notable for the way it weighed personal

privacy Privacy (, ) is the ability of an individual or group to seclude themselves or information about themselves, and thereby express themselves selectively. The domain of privacy partially overlaps with security, which can include the concepts of a ...

rights against the right to

freedom of expression Freedom of speech is a principle that supports the freedom of an individual or a community to articulate their opinions and ideas without fear of retaliation, censorship, or legal sanction. The rights, right to freedom of expression has been r ...

under the

European Convention on Human Rights The European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR; formally the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms) is a Supranational law, supranational convention to protect human rights and political freedoms in Europe. Draf ...

(applicable since the

Human Rights Act 1998 The Human Rights Act 1998 (c. 42) is an Act of Parliament (United Kingdom), Act of Parliament of the United Kingdom which received royal assent on 9 November 1998, and came into force on 2 October 2000. Its aim was to incorporate into UK law the ...

came into force in 2000). In September 2011, Flitcroft was named as a "core participant" in the Leveson Inquiry into the

News International phone hacking scandal Beginning in the 1990s, and going as far until its shutdown in 2011, employees of the now-defunct newspaper ''News of the World'' engaged in phone hacking, police bribery, and exercising improper influence in the pursuit of stories. Investi ...

Honours

As a player

Manchester City *Player of the Year: 1992–93 Blackburn Rovers * League Cup: 2001–02

As a manager

Chorley * Northern Premier League Division One: play-off winners 2010–11 *

: 2013–14

Managerial statistics

References

External links

A v B & C
2002 EWCA Civ 337, a discussion of Garry Flitcroft's lawsuit {{DEFAULTSORT:Flitcroft, Garry 1972 births Living people English men's footballers England men's under-21 international footballers Premier League players Manchester City F.C. players Bury F.C. players Blackburn Rovers F.C. players Sheffield United F.C. players Footballers from Bolton English Football League players Men's association football midfielders Chorley F.C. managers English football managers Leigh Genesis F.C. managers Northern Premier League managers