Michael James Buxton (born 29 May 1943) 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 ...

and football

manager Management (or managing) is the administration of an organization, whether it is a business, a nonprofit organization, or a government body. It is the art and science of managing resources of the business. Management includes the activities ...

in England. He has managed

Huddersfield Town Huddersfield Town Association Football Club is a professional football club based in Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, England, which compete in the . The team have played home games at the Kirklees Stadium since moving from Leeds Road in 1994. ...

Scunthorpe United Scunthorpe United Football Club is a professional association football club based in the town of Scunthorpe, Lincolnshire, England. The side currently competes in the National League, the fifth tier of the English football league system. The tea ...

and

Sunderland Sunderland () is a port city in Tyne and Wear, England. It is the City of Sunderland's administrative centre and in the Historic counties of England, historic county of County of Durham, Durham. The city is from Newcastle-upon-Tyne and is on t ...

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, the league is the oldest such competition in the world. It was the top-level football league in Engla ...

for both

Burnley Burnley () is a town and the administrative centre of the wider Borough of Burnley in Lancashire, England, with a 2001 population of 73,021. It is north of Manchester and east of Preston, at the confluence of the River Calder and River ...

and Halifax Town, 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 Borough status in the United Kingdom, borough in Hertfordshire, England, 15 miles northwest of Central London, on the River Colne, Hertfordshire, River Colne. Initially a small market town, the Grand Junction Canal en ...

, Barnsley, Mansfield Town and

Southend United Southend United Football Club is a professional association football club based in Southend-on-Sea, Essex, England. As of the 2022–23 season, the team competes in the National League, the fifth tier of English football. Southend are known as ...

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 John James Haselden (3 August 1943 – 30 March 2020) was an English professional footballer, manager and physiotherapist. As a player, he was a central defender. Playing career Haselden played the professional game for 13 years and played for ...

, 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. 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 In sport, the Third Division, also called Division 3, Division Three, or Division III, is often the third-highest division of a league, and will often have promotion and relegation with divisions above and below. Association football *Belgian Thir ...

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 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 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.

Honours

Manager

;

Fourth Division Fourth or the fourth may refer to: * the ordinal form of the number 4 * ''Fourth'' (album), by Soft Machine, 1971 * Fourth (angle), an ancient astronomical subdivision * Fourth (music), a musical interval * ''The Fourth'' (1972 film), a Sovie ...

Champions (1): 1979–80 *

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 footballers English football managers 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