Luke Garrard (born 22 September 1985) is an English professional

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 player who manages club

Boreham Wood Borehamwood (, historically also Boreham Wood) is a town in southern Hertfordshire, England, from Charing Cross. Borehamwood has a population of 36,322, and is within the London commuter belt. The town's film and TV studios are commonly known ...

Career

Garrard started his career as a trainee at

Tottenham Hotspur Tottenham Hotspur Football Club, commonly referred to as simply Tottenham (, , , ) or Spurs, is a professional Association football, football club based in Tottenham, North London, England. The club itself has stated that it should always ...

but was released as a schoolboy. He went on to sign as an apprentice for

Swindon Town Swindon Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in Swindon, Wiltshire, England. The team, known as the "Robins", currently compete in , the fourth level of the English football league system. Founded as Swindon A ...

, making his professional league debut against

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 ...

on 26 April 2003. Between 2002 and 2005, Garrard made 17 appearances for Swindon, before being released on 19 April 2005. Garrard went on to have spells with

Bishop's Stortford Bishop's Stortford is a historic market town and civil parish in the East Hertfordshire district, in the county of Hertfordshire, England. It is in the London metropolitan area, London commuter belt, near the border with Essex, just west of the ...

and Northwood, before joining

AFC Wimbledon AFC Wimbledon is an English professional association football club based in Wimbledon, London, Wimbledon, London Borough of Merton, London. The team competes in , the third tier of the English football league system. The club was founded in ...

in March 2006. A popular figure with Wimbledon's fans, he made over 100 appearances for the club, mainly in a right side defensive role, but in November 2008 Garrard picked up an injury during training that kept him out for the rest of that season. From the start of the 2009–10 season, he made only occasional appearances for the team and eventually in January 2010, he was allowed to re-join

after his request for regular first team football could not be guaranteed.

Coaching career

On 14 October 2015, Garrard was appointed as the manager of Boreham Wood, following the resignation of

Ian Allinson Ian James Robert Allinson (born 1 October 1957) is an English football manager and former player. In his playing career, Allinson amassed over 300 league appearances for Colchester United in two spells, and played over 100 games in all competi ...

, making him the youngest manager in England's top five divisions. In Garrard's third season in charge, he led Boreham Wood to the National League play-offs for the first time. His side defeated

AFC Fylde AFC Fylde is a professional football club based in Wesham in the Borough of Fylde, Lancashire, England. They are currently members of the and play at Mill Farm. Originally known as Kirkham & Wesham following a merger of Kirkham Town and Wes ...

and

Sutton United Sutton United Football Club is a professional association football club from Sutton, South London, England. The team competes in the National League, the fifth level of the English football league system. Sutton started out playing in junior, ...

to set up a play-off final with

Tranmere Rovers Tranmere Rovers Football Club are a professional association football club based in Birkenhead, Merseyside, England. The team competes in , the fourth level of the English football league system. Founded in 1884 as Belmont Football Club, they ...

Wembley Stadium Wembley Stadium, currently branded as Wembley Stadium connected by EE Limited, EE for sponsorship reasons, is an association football stadium in Wembley, London. It opened in 2007 on the site of the Wembley Stadium (1923), original Wembley Sta ...

in which Garrard's side were defeated 2–1. Also in this season, Boreham Wood defeated Football League opposition for the first time in their history when they defeated

League One League One or League 1 may refer to: Association football * EFL League One, the third tier of football in England. * China League One, the second tier of football in China * K League 1, the top-tier football in South Korea * Lao League 1 * Lea ...

side

Blackpool Blackpool is a seaside town in Lancashire, England. It is located on the Irish Sea coast of the Fylde peninsula, approximately north of Liverpool and west of Preston, Lancashire, Preston. It is the main settlement in the Borough of Blackpool ...

in the FA Cup first round. In the 2021–22 season, Boreham Wood reached the fifth round of the FA Cup for the first time in their history. Having reached the third round, his side defeated League One side

2–0 before winning away at

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 ...

promotion chasers

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. ...

1–0. His side were eventually defeated 2–0 at

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 ...

club Everton. In the

2022–23 The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen ...

season, Boreham Wood reached the play-offs again but lost in the semi-finals to

Notts County Notts County Football Club is a professional association football, football club in Nottingham, England, which competes in EFL League Two, the fourth tier of Football in England, English football, following promotion and relegation, promotion ...

after a late goal in extra time. On 2 April 2024, following a defeat to

Southend United Southend United Football Club is a professional association football club based in Southend-on-Sea, Essex, England, which competes in the National League, the fifth level of English football. The team are known as "The Shrimpers", a reference ...

that left relegation-threatened Boreham Wood three points from safety with just four matches remaining, the club announced that they would part company with Garrard following the final match of the season. Following a 0–0 draw with

Ebbsfleet United Ebbsfleet United Football Club is a professional association football club based in Northfleet, Kent, England. The club compete in the National League South, the sixth level of the English football league system. Founded in 1946 from the merger ...

on the final day of the season, Wood's relegation was confirmed. On 13 September 2024, Garrard returned to Boreham Wood as manager following the sacking of Ross Jenkins.

Managerial Statistics

Honours

Player

AFC Wimbledon *

Conference South The National League South, officially Vanarama National League South, is a professional Association football league in England. National League South is the second division of the National Leagues and step 2 of the NLS and sixth-highest ti ...

: 2008–09 *

Isthmian League The Isthmian League () is a regional Association football, football league covering Greater London, East of England, East and South East England, featuring mostly semi-professional clubs. Founded in 1905 by amateur clubs in the London area, th ...

Premier Division play-offs:

2008 2008 was designated as: *International Year of Languages *International Year of Planet Earth *International Year of the Potato *International Year of Sanitation The Great Recession, a worldwide recession which began in 2007, continued throu ...

Individual *

Young Player of the Year: 2006–07

Manager

Boreham Wood *

National League South The National League South, officially Vanarama National League South, is a professional Association football league in England. National League South is the second division of the National League (English football), National Leagues and step ...

play-offs:

2025 So far, the year has seen the continuation of major armed conflicts, including the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Sudanese civil war (2023–present), Sudanese civil war, and the Gaza war. Internal crises in Bangladesh post-resignation v ...

Herts Senior Cup The Hertfordshire County Football Association Senior Challenge Cup, commonly called the Herts Senior Cup, is the oldest County-based football Cup competition based exclusively in Hertfordshire, England. It was first contested in the 1886-87 sea ...

: 2017–18, 2018–19 Individual *National League Manager of the Month: February 2022, December 2020

References

External links

* (Swindon Town) * (AFC Wimbledon & Boreham Wood) * {{DEFAULTSORT:Garrard, Luke 1985 births Living people English men's footballers Men's association football defenders Tottenham Hotspur F.C. players Swindon Town F.C. players Bishop's Stortford F.C. players Northwood F.C. players AFC Wimbledon players Boreham Wood F.C. players English Football League players National League (English football) players Isthmian League players Southern Football League players English football managers Boreham Wood F.C. managers National League (English football) managers Footballers from the London Borough of Barnet 21st-century English sportsmen