Gavin Richard Skelton (born 27 March 1981) is an English football coach, manager, and former professional footballer. As a player, he was primarily deployed as a defensive midfielder. He is the first-team coach of

Carlisle United Carlisle United Football Club ( , ) is a professional association football club based in Carlisle, Cumbria, England. The team compete in , the fourth tier of the English football league system. They have played their home games at Brunton Park ...

. Skelton's playing career including a seven-year spell at Gretna as well as stints at

Workington Workington is a coastal town and civil parish at the mouth of the River Derwent on the west coast in the Allerdale borough of Cumbria, England. The town was historically in Cumberland. At the 2011 census it had a population of 25,207. Loca ...

(two spells), Kilmarnock,

Hamilton Academical Hamilton Academical Football Club, often known as Hamilton Accies, or The Accies, is a Scottish football club from Hamilton, South Lanarkshire who currently compete in the Scottish Championship, having been relegated from the 2020–21 Scottis ...

, Barrow and Queen of the South. Skelton began his managerial career at

. After a stint as assistant manager at Queen of the South, Skelton was then manager of the club from April to November 2016.

Playing career

Skelton was born on 27 March 1981, in

Carlisle Carlisle ( , ; from xcb, Caer Luel) is a city that lies within the Northern English county of Cumbria, south of the Scottish border at the confluence of the rivers Eden, Caldew and Petteril. It is the administrative centre of the City ...

, England. He started his career at

as a trainee. In 1997, after three years at

Brunton Park Brunton Park is a football stadium and the home of Carlisle United. It is situated in the city of Carlisle and has a certified capacity of 17,949. The ground opened in 1909. Brunton Park's grandstand burned down in 1953 and the stadium floode ...

he moved to

non-League Non-League football describes association football, football leagues played outside the top leagues of a country. Usually, it describes leagues which are not fully professional. The term is primarily used for football in England, where it is s ...

club Workington Reds and one year later joined then

Northern Premier League The Northern Premier League is an English Association football, football league that was founded in 1968. It has four divisions: the Premier Division (which stands at level 7 of the English football league system), Division One East, Division ...

outfit Gretna. Gretna joined the

Scottish Football League The Scottish Football League (SFL) was a league featuring professional and semi-professional football clubs mostly from Scotland.One club, Berwick Rangers, is based in the town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, which is located approximately 4 km so ...

in 2002, eventually gaining promotion to the

Scottish Premier League The Scottish Premier League (SPL) was the top level league competition for professional football clubs in Scotland. The league was founded in 1998, when it broke away from the Scottish Football League (SFL). It was abolished in 2013, when t ...

during the 2006–07 season. In the

2006 Scottish Cup Final The 2006 Scottish Cup Final was played on 13 May 2006 at Hampden Park in Glasgow and was the final of the 120th Scottish Cup. The final was contested by Heart of Midlothian (Hearts), who beat Hibernian 4–0 in the semi-final, and Gretna, who ...

versus Hearts, Skelton missed the crucial kick in the

penalty shoot-out The penalty shootout is a method of determining a winner in sports matches that would have otherwise been drawn or tied. The rules for penalty shootouts vary between sports and even different competitions; however, the usual form is similar to pe ...

after a 1–1 draw. His miss denied Gretna their first major trophy, however they still qualified for the

UEFA Cup A cup is an open-top used to hold hot or cold liquids for pouring or drinking; while mainly used for drinking, it also can be used to store solids for pouring (e.g., sugar, flour, grains, salt). Cups may be made of glass, metal, china, cla ...

as a result of their run to the final. Due to Gretna's financial difficulties, in April 2008 it was reported that Skelton was in talks with Kilmarnock and

Aberdeen Aberdeen (; sco, Aiberdeen ; gd, Obar Dheathain ; la, Aberdonia) is a city in North East Scotland, and is the third most populous city in the country. Aberdeen is one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas (as Aberdeen City), ...

On 19 May 2008, Skelton was one of the remaining 40 staff members who were released by Gretna. Two days earlier, Skelton had scored the winning goal on his side's final SPL fixture against Hearts. In June 2008, Skelton signed for SPL side Kilmarnock but left the club under freedom of contract in June 2010. After his release from Killie, Skelton signed for

. He was released by Hamilton following their relegation from the SPL in May 2011 and signed for Barrow on 6 July 2011. On 22 December 2016, Skelton was tempted back to sign for

Scottish League Two The Scottish League Two, known as cinch League Two for sponsorship reasons, is the fourth tier of the Scottish Professional Football League, the league competition for men's professional football clubs in Scotland. The Scottish League Two was ...

club Annan Athletic as a player, after he resigned as player-manager of Queen of the South on 7 November 2016 for personal reasons.

Coaching career

In order to gain coaching and managerial experience, Skelton coached the Stirling University team part-time, whilst playing for Kilmarnock. Skelton was appointed as the manager of

in May 2014, replacing

Ian MacDonald Ian MacCormick (known by the pseudonym Ian MacDonald; 3 October 1948 – 20 August 2003) was a British music critic and author, best known for both '' Revolution in the Head'', his critical history of the Beatles which borrowed techniques from ...

. He had joined the Reds as a player-coach in 2013. Skelton led the Borough Park side to the

Play-offs in his only full season in charge, finally falling to

Ilkeston Ilkeston is a town in the Borough of Erewash, Derbyshire, England, on the River Erewash, from which the borough takes its name, with a population at the 2011 census of 38,640. Its major industries, coal mining, iron working and lace making/texti ...

in front of 1,500 supporters at Borough Park. Skelton left Workington in June 2015 to be the assistant manager at Queen of the South in Dumfries. Skelton was appointed

caretaker manager In association footballing terms, a caretaker manager or interim manager is somebody who takes temporary charge of the management of a football team, usually when the regular manager is dismissed or leaves for a different club. However, a caret ...

of Queens on 18 April 2016 after James Fowler departed the club. Just over a month later, Skelton was appointed Queens

player-manager A player-coach (also playing coach, captain-coach, or player-manager) is a member of a sports team who simultaneously holds both playing and coaching duties. A player-coach may be a head coach or an assistant coach. They may make changes to the sq ...

on a permanent basis on 23 May 2016. Skelton resigned from Queens on 7 November 2016 for personal reasons. Skelton joined Carlisle United as the coach of their academy in May 2017. On 31 December 2018, Skelton was reappointed manager of Workington, however he resigned in January 2019 after just six days and two games in charge of the club. On 4 June 2019,

announced that they had appointed Skelton as assistant manager. He served as caretaker manager for two games, and signed a contract extension in November 2019.

Personal life

Skelton married Rebecca on 12 June 2015 and the couple had a son during the summer of 2016. They live together in

Appleby-in-Westmorland Appleby-in-Westmorland is a market town and civil parish in the Eden District of Cumbria, England, with a population of 3,048 at the 2011 Census. Crossed by the River Eden, Appleby was the county town of the historic county of Westmorland. ...

Cumbria Cumbria ( ) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in North West England, bordering Scotland. The county and Cumbria County Council, its local government, came into existence in 1974 after the passage of the Local Government Act 1972. ...

. Skelton's sister, Helen, is a

television presenter A television presenter (or television host, some become a "television personality") is a person who introduces, hosts television programs, often serving as a mediator for the program and the audience. Nowadays, it is common for people who garner ...

and broadcaster who formerly worked on the popular children's television programme ''

Blue Peter ''Blue Peter'' is a British children's television entertainment programme created by John Hunter Blair. It is the longest-running children's TV show in the world, having been broadcast since October 1958. It was broadcast primarily from BBC Te ...

''.

Managerial statistics

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Skelton, Gavin 1981 births Living people Footballers from Carlisle, Cumbria English men's footballers Men's association football midfielders Carlisle United F.C. players Workington A.F.C. players Gretna F.C. players Kilmarnock F.C. players Hamilton Academical F.C. players English Football League players National League (English football) players Northern Premier League players Scottish Premier League players Scottish Football League players Barrow A.F.C. players English football managers Workington A.F.C. managers Queen of the South F.C. managers Northern Premier League managers Scottish Professional Football League managers Queen of the South F.C. players Annan Athletic F.C. players Carlisle United F.C. non-playing staff Carlisle United F.C. managers People educated at Appleby Grammar School