Ian Gary Cox CM (born 25 March 1971) is a

Trinidad and Tobago Trinidad and Tobago, officially the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago, is the southernmost island country in the Caribbean, comprising the main islands of Trinidad and Tobago, along with several List of islands of Trinidad and Tobago, smaller i ...

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 ...

. Cox was most recently joint manager at Whitstable Town, a post he took up in November 2015. He was part of the Trinidad and Tobago national team's squad at the

2006 FIFA World Cup The 2006 FIFA World Cup was the 18th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial international Association football, football world championship tournament. It was held from 9 June to 9 July 2006 in Germany, which had won the right to FIFA World Cup hosts ...

Playing career

Born in

Croydon Croydon is a large town in South London, England, south of Charing Cross. Part of the London Borough of Croydon, a Districts of England, local government district of Greater London; it is one of the largest commercial districts in Greater Lond ...

, England, Cox joined Crystal Palace from

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 ...

side Carshalton Athletic for a fee of £40,000 in 1994. Opportunities were limited and he eventually joined

AFC Bournemouth AFC Bournemouth ( ) is a professional association football club based in Kings Park, Boscombe, a suburb of Bournemouth, Dorset, England. The club compete in the Premier League, the top tier of English football league system, English football. ...

on a free transfer in 1996 having made just a handful of appearances for Crystal Palace. At Palace he scored his first professional goal in an

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual Single-elimination tournament, knockout association football, football competition in domestic Football in England, English football. First played during ...

defeat to Port Vale in January 1996. He enjoyed a hugely successful spell at Bournemouth where he played alongside Rio Ferdinand, his no-nonsense playing style endeared himself to the fans in a playing spell that included over 170 league appearances. In the 2000–01 season, Cox joined Burnley for £500,000. He notched up over 100 appearances for the

Championship In sport, a championship is a competition in which the aim is to decide which individual or team is the champion. Championship systems Various forms of competition can be referred to by the term championship. Title match system In this sys ...

side scoring five goals, before joining Gillingham on a free transfer, in the 2003–04 season. Predominantly a

central defender In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield player whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Defenders fall into four main categories: centre-backs, full-backs, sweepers ...

, Cox can also play in

midfield In many sports, midfield is the part of a sports field that is near the line that is equally far from the end lines. That is, in American football it is the part of the field near the 50-yard line; in association football (soccer) and field hoc ...

. On 28 March 2008, Cox was released by Gillingham and signed for

Isthmian League Premier Division The Isthmian League () is a regional football league covering Greater London, East and South East England, featuring mostly semi-professional clubs. Founded in 1905 by amateur clubs in the London area, the league now consists of 88 teams in fo ...

side and local rivals Maidstone United. Up until the turn of the year Cox was a permanent fixture in Maidstone's starting XI, playing a big part in what was one of the best defences in the league. However, in January 2009, Cox's work as a

prison officer A prison officer (PO) or corrections officer (CO), also known as a correctional law enforcement officer or less formally as a prison guard, is a uniformed law enforcement official responsible for the custody, supervision, safety, and regulation ...

meant he could no longer commit himself to the club. He did not appear for the Stones in over four months, however he did return in April 2009 to make three more appearances before retiring from football at the end of the season. In August 2013, however, he came out of retirement to play for Whitstable Town, managed by former teammate

Nicky Southall Leslie Nicholas Southall (born 28 January 1972) is an English former professional footballer and manager. During his time in professional football Southall was a midfielder from 1991 to 2014 who competed in the top four tiers of English league ...

International career

Cox was born in

, England, but qualified for Trinidad and Tobago through his Tobago-born mother. He made his debut in a 0–1 loss to

Morocco Morocco, officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It has coastlines on the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has land borders with Algeria to Algeria–Morocc ...

in January 2000, and was named in the Soca Warriors'

2000 CONCACAF Gold Cup The 2000 CONCACAF Gold Cup was the fifth edition of the Gold Cup, the soccer championship of North America, Central America and the Caribbean (CONCACAF), and the 15th overall CONCACAF tournament. It was held in Los Angeles, Miami, and San Diego ...

squad shortly thereafter. After frustration from his then

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 ...

manager

Stan Ternent Francis Stanley Ternent (born 16 June 1946) is an English former footballer and manager. He managed Blackpool, Hull City, Bury, Burnley, Gillingham and Huddersfield Town. He was a scout for Hull City until January 2017. As a manager, he won ...

that his international duties were limiting his availability for club football, in April 2001 Cox chose to withdraw from the international side. However, after a consistent run of form for Gillingham, as well as a return to the helm of Bertille St Clair who had handed him his international debut, Cox came out of international retirement in 2004. After appearing as a substitute in the crucial second-leg of Trinidad and Tobago's qualifying play-off against

Bahrain Bahrain, officially the Kingdom of Bahrain, is an island country in West Asia. Situated on the Persian Gulf, it comprises a small archipelago of 50 natural islands and an additional 33 artificial islands, centered on Bahrain Island, which mak ...

, Cox was named in the Trinidad and Tobago squad for the

. He was on the bench against

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north, and Finland to the east. At , Sweden is the largest Nordic count ...

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

and

Paraguay Paraguay, officially the Republic of Paraguay, is a landlocked country in South America. It is bordered by Argentina to the Argentina–Paraguay border, south and southwest, Brazil to the Brazil–Paraguay border, east and northeast, and Boli ...

in Trinidad and Tobago's first ever games in a World Cup, but did not feature. Cox retired from international football immediately after Trinidad's elimination from the tournament.

Coaching career

In June 2015, Cox joined

Isthmian League Division One South The Isthmian League () is a regional football league covering Greater London, East and South East England, featuring mostly semi-professional clubs. Founded in 1905 by amateur clubs in the London area, the league now consists of 88 teams in fo ...

side

Ramsgate Ramsgate is a seaside resort, seaside town and civil parish in the district of Thanet District, Thanet in eastern Kent, England. It was one of the great English seaside towns of the 19th century. In 2021 it had a population of 42,027. Ramsgate' ...

as head coach, and in November of the same year moved to Whitstable Town as joint manager with Wayne Wilson. He left the club by mutual consent on 1 March 2016. Cox has also worked as an Equality Officer and first-team coach at his former club Gillingham, and coordinator of the

National Citizen Service National Citizen Service, also known as NCS, was a Government-funded personal and social development programme in England available for 16-17 year olds. The scheme was run by the NCS Trust, a public body for youth and a key component of the Gover ...

programme at former club

Bournemouth Bournemouth ( ) is a coastal resort town in the Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole unitary authority area, in the ceremonial county of Dorset, England. At the 2021 census, the built-up area had a population of 196,455, making it the largest ...

Awards

As a member of the Trinidad and Tobago squad that competed at the

in Germany, Cox was awarded the Chaconia Medal (Gold Class), the second highest

state decoration A state decoration is an object, such as a medal or the insignia of an Order (distinction), order, that is awarded by a sovereign state to honor the recipient. The term includes civil awards and decorations, as well as military awards and decorat ...

of Trinidad and Tobago.

References

External links

*
Ian Cox Stats at neilbrown.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cox, Ian 1971 births Living people Trinidad and Tobago men's footballers 21st-century Trinidad and Tobago sportsmen Trinidad and Tobago men's international footballers Carshalton Athletic F.C. players Crystal Palace F.C. players AFC Bournemouth players Burnley F.C. players Maidstone United F.C. players Gillingham F.C. players Whitstable Town F.C. players 2000 CONCACAF Gold Cup players 2006 FIFA World Cup players Footballers from the London Borough of Croydon People from Croydon English people of Trinidad and Tobago descent Sportspeople of Trinidad and Tobago descent Premier League players English Football League players British prison officers Recipients of the Chaconia Medal Men's association football defenders English men's footballers