Kenneth Knighton (born 20 February 1944) is an English former

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 ...

, coach and

manager Management (or managing) is the administration of organizations, whether businesses, nonprofit organizations, or a government bodies through business administration, nonprofit management, or the political science sub-field of public administra ...

. He is most well known for his spell as manager at

Sunderland Sunderland () is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England. It is a port at the mouth of the River Wear on the North Sea, approximately south-east of Newcastle upon Tyne. It is the most p ...

during which time the club was promoted to the

First Division 1st Division or First Division may refer to: Military Airborne divisions *1st Parachute Division (Germany) *1st Airborne Division (United Kingdom) * 1st Airmobile Division (Ukraine) * 1st Guards Airborne Division Armoured divisions *1st Armoure ...

, and he also managed Football League club

Orient The Orient is a term referring to the East in relation to Europe, traditionally comprising anything belonging to the Eastern world. It is the antonym of the term ''Occident'', which refers to the Western world. In English, it is largely a meto ...

and non-league clubs

Dagenham Dagenham () is a town in East London, England, within the London Borough of Barking and Dagenham. Dagenham is centred east of Charing Cross. It was historically a rural parish in the Becontree Hundred of Essex, stretching from Hainault Fo ...

and

Trowbridge Town Trowbridge Town Football Club is a football club based in Trowbridge, Wiltshire, England. They compete at Step 7 in the and play at Woodmarsh, on the southern edge of the town. History A Trowbridge Town team was originally formed in 1880 and ...

. As a player, he played as a defender for

Wolverhampton Wanderers Wolverhampton Wanderers Football Club ( ), commonly referred to as Wolves, is a professional association football, football club based in Wolverhampton, England. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football league s ...

Oldham Athletic Oldham Athletic Association Football Club is a professional association football club in Oldham, Greater Manchester, England. As of the 2025–26 EFL League Two, 2025–26 season, the team competes in EFL League Two, the fourth level of the Eng ...

Preston North End Preston North End Football Club, commonly referred to as Preston, North End or PNE, is a professional association football club in Preston, Lancashire, England. They currently play in the EFL Championship, the second level of the English footbal ...

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 ...

Hull City Hull City Association Football Club is a professional association football club based in Kingston upon Hull, East Riding of Yorkshire, England. They compete in the , the second level of the English football league system. They play their home ...

and

Sheffield Wednesday Sheffield Wednesday Football Club is a professional association football club based in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England. They compete in the EFL Championship, the second level of the English football league system. Formed in 1867 as an off ...

Playing career

Knighton was born in

Darton Darton is a large village in the Metropolitan Borough of Barnsley (part of South Yorkshire), on the border with West Yorkshire, England. At the time of the 2001 UK census, it had a population of 14,927, increasing to 21,345 for both Darton War ...

. After playing Barnsley schoolboy football and amateur football for Wath Wanderers whilst working as a trainee miner, he joined

as a non-contract player in August 1959. He became an apprentice at the club in August 1960 before turning professional in February 1961. He made 16 league appearances for Wolves prior to signing for

in November 1966 for a fee of £12,000. He joined

for £35,000 in December 1967 before switching to

in July 1969 for £45,000. In 1969, Knighton was asked to tour New Zealand as part of an FA XI. He was sold to

in March 1971 for £60,000 before joining

two years later, where he would retire in January 1976.

Coaching career

Following his retirement as a player, Knighton worked as a youth-team coach at

and a first-team coach at

before becoming manager in June 1979. Considered a strict disciplinarian during his time as Sunderland manager, he won the club promotion to the First Division as Second Division runners-up in his debut season at the club. He was sacked towards the end of the following season after

Tom Cowie Sir Thomas Cowie (9 September 1922 – 18 January 2012) was an English businessman who was the honorary Life President of the Arriva Group, formerly known as Cowie Group plc. Career Cowie Group Cowie's father, Thomas Stephenson Knowles Cowi ...

took over as chairman. After briefly working as a scout for

Manchester United Manchester United Football Club, commonly referred to as Man United (often stylised as Man Utd) or simply United, is a professional association football, football club based in Old Trafford (area), Old Trafford, Greater Manchester, Engl ...

, he became

manager in October 1981, but the club were relegated to the Third Division and Knighton was sacked in May 1983 when they struggled in the following season. He later worked as manager of

and

References

External links

*
Ken Knighton
at TheStatCat {{DEFAULTSORT:Knighton, Ken 1944 births Living people English men's footballers English football managers People from Darton Sportspeople from the Metropolitan Borough of Barnsley Footballers from South Yorkshire Men's association football defenders Wolverhampton Wanderers F.C. players Oldham Athletic A.F.C. players Preston North End F.C. players Blackburn Rovers F.C. players Hull City A.F.C. players Sheffield Wednesday F.C. players English Football League players Sheffield Wednesday F.C. non-playing staff Sunderland A.F.C. non-playing staff Sunderland A.F.C. managers Manchester United F.C. non-playing staff English football coaches