Michael James Buxton (born 29 May 1943,

Corbridge Corbridge is a village in Northumberland, England, west of Newcastle upon Tyne, Newcastle and east of Hexham. Villages nearby include Halton, Northumberland, Halton, Acomb, Northumberland, Acomb, Aydon and Sandhoe. Etymology Corbridge was k ...

) is a 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 ...

and football

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 ...

in England. He has managed

Huddersfield Town Huddersfield Town Association Football Club is a professional association football club based in Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, England. They compete in , the third tier of English football league system, English football. Huddersfield Town we ...

Scunthorpe United Scunthorpe United Football Club is a professional association football club based in Scunthorpe, North Lincolnshire, England. The team competes in the National League, the fifth tier of the English football league system. The club was formed in ...

and

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 ...

Playing career

During his playing career, Buxton played in

the Football League The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, it is the oldest football league in the world, and was the top-level football league in England from ...

for both

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 ...

and

Halifax Town FC Halifax Town is a professional association football club based in Halifax, West Yorkshire, England. They currently compete in the National League, the fifth level of English football league system. They replaced Halifax Town, who went i ...

, making a total of 53 professional appearances in nine seasons. He was plagued with injuries and broke his tibia twice while playing for Halifax.

Coaching career

Buxton became Trainer at Halifax Town whilst still playing and coached at

Watford Watford () is a town and non-metropolitan district with Borough status in the United Kingdom, borough status in Hertfordshire, England, northwest of Central London, on the banks of the River Colne, Hertfordshire, River Colne. Initially a smal ...

Barnsley Barnsley () is a market town in South Yorkshire, England. It is the main settlement of the Metropolitan Borough of Barnsley and the fourth largest settlement in South Yorkshire. The town's population was 71,422 in 2021, while the wider boroug ...

Mansfield Town Mansfield Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in the town of Mansfield, Nottinghamshire, England. The team competes in , the third level of the English football league system. The club was formed in 1897 as Mans ...

and

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 ...

Managerial career

Huddersfield Town

Buxton initially joined

in late 1977 from Southend United as the Physiotherapist under manager Tom Johnston. After Johnston's resignation in 1978 Buxton was appointed caretaker manager of Huddersfield Town. He quickly got the job permanently and set about revitalising the Fourth Division club. He installed John Haselden, who was already at the club, as his Assistant Manager and he would also take on the Physio duties. Buxton's first season was the 1978–79 season where Huddersfield finished 9th in the Fourth Division. It was the season after which would prove to be the catalyst for the most successful period of Town's history in the past 10 years. He offloaded the deadwood and brought in players such as Brian Stanton, Mick Laverick and

Steve Kindon Stephen Michael Kindon (born 17 December 1950) is a former professional footballer who played mainly on the left wing but also at centre forward. He was noted for his pace, and won "the Fastest Footballer in Britain award" seven times. Kindon w ...

. He would eventually go on to be one of the most successful managers in the club's recent history, winning promotion to the Third Division at the end of the 1979–80 season where the team scored 101 goals in the league. This team is still loved by the club to this day and have held reunions in 2000, 2010, 2016 and 2017 where the majority of the team and coaching staff still attend. Buxton then took Huddersfield up to the

Second Division In sport, the Second Division, also called Division 2 or Division II is usually the second highest division of a league, and will often have promotion and relegation with divisions above and below. Following the rise of Premier League style compet ...

in 1983. The Terriers would remain in the second tier for five seasons, but Buxton was sacked on 23 December 1986, to be replaced by Steve Smith. Mick Buxton later returned to Town in March 1993 as coach under Ian Ross, and helped the Terriers on one of their best runs in recent history where they only lost once in last eighteen games to avoid relegation. Buxton resigned at the end of the season and Ian Ross soon followed suit.

Scunthorpe United

would be Buxton's next managerial appointment. He remained there for four years, with the team occasionally mounting a promotion challenge in this period. He left by mutual consent on 31 January 1991. He returned to Scunthorpe in 1996, but left the following year.

Sunderland

Following the dismissal of

Terry Butcher Terry Ian Butcher (born 28 December 1958) is an English football manager and former player. During his playing career as a defender, Butcher captained the England national team, winning 77 caps in a ten-year international career that feature ...

with the side in the relegation zone, Buxton would be appointed

manager in 1993. A tightening of the team's defence led to an improvement in results and Sunderland finished the 1993-94 season in 12th place. Although a reasonable defensive record was maintained the following season, Sunderland were entangled in a relegation struggle and Buxton would be replaced by

Peter Reid Peter Reid (born 20 June 1956) is an English football manager, pundit and former player. A defensive midfielder in his playing days, Reid enjoyed a long and successful career. He built his reputation as one of England's brightest midfield tale ...

Honours

Manager

;

* Fourth Division Champions (1): 1979–80 * Third Division Third Place (1): 1982–83

References

External links

*
Mick Buxton's Legends feature (thisisthebarmyarmy.co.uk)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Buxton, Mick 1943 births Living people People from Corbridge Footballers from Northumberland English men's footballers English football managers Men's association football defenders Burnley F.C. players Halifax Town A.F.C. players Huddersfield Town A.F.C. managers Scunthorpe United F.C. managers Sunderland A.F.C. managers English Football League players Huddersfield Town A.F.C. non-playing staff