Neil David Dewsnip (born 13 August 1961) is an English

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 ...

coach. Dewsnip had been a youth player at

Liverpool Liverpool is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. It is situated on the eastern side of the River Mersey, Mersey Estuary, near the Irish Sea, north-west of London. With a population ...

and later worked as a teacher at a number of schools before becoming a coach. He worked with Everton's academy for 17 years before beginning work with the England national youth teams in 2013, leaving that role in 2019 to join

Plymouth Argyle Plymouth Argyle Football Club is a professional association football club based in the city of Plymouth, Devon, England. The team currently competes in EFL League One, the third level of the English football league system. The club has played ...

as director of football, where he had two spells as caretaker manager before leaving in 2025.

Early and personal life

Dewsnip was born in Whiston. His father Jim worked as a coach at

under manager

Bill Shankly William Shankly (2 September 1913 – 29 September 1981) was a Scottish association football, football player and Manager (association football), manager who is best known for his time as manager of Liverpool F.C., Liverpool. Shankly brought su ...

Playing and teaching career

Dewsnip was a youth player at

. His father "realised that he would not make the grade as a professional and so he steered him towards the academic route". Dewsnip trained as a PE teacher, attending the Carnegie College of Physical Education for four years, which later became part of

Leeds Beckett University Leeds Beckett University (LBU), formerly known as Leeds Metropolitan University (LMU) and before that as Leeds Polytechnic, is a public university in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. It has campuses in the Leeds city centre, city centre and Hea ...

. He began his teaching career in 1983 at Broad Oak High School in Bury, teaching there for a year-and-a-half. He later taught at New Heys Comprehensive School, where two of his former pupils,

Karl Robinson Karl Joseph Robinson (born 13 September 1980) is an English professional Manager (association football), football manager and former Association football, player. He is currently head coach of club Salford City F.C., Salford City. Robinson be ...

and

Jim Bentley James Graham Bentley (born 11 June 1976) is an English professional football manager and former player who played as a centre back. He was most recently the first team manager at Southport F.C. Playing career Bentley debuted for Telford Unite ...

, would later become managers in the Football League. He also taught at Cardinal Heenan Catholic High School in Liverpool, and taught future professional footballer

Steven Gerrard Steven George Gerrard MBE (born 30 May 1980) is an English professional football manager and a former player. Widely regarded as one of the greatest midfielders of all time and one of Liverpool's greatest ever players,

Coaching career

Dewsnip had worked at the Everton Academy for 17 years, coaching future

England national football team The England national football team have represented England in international Association football, football since the first international match in 1872. It is controlled by the Football Association (FA), the governing body for football in Eng ...

internationals

Wayne Rooney Wayne Mark Rooney (born 24 October 1985) is an English professional Manager (association football), football manager and former Association football, player who was most recently the head coach of EFL Championship club Plymouth Argyle F.C., Pl ...

Ross Barkley Ross Barkley (born 5 December 1993) is an English professional footballer who plays as a midfielder for club Aston Villa. Barkley began his professional career at Everton in 2010. After loan spells at Sheffield Wednesday and Leeds United he b ...

Leon Osman Leon Osman (born 17 May 1981) is an English former professional footballer who played as a midfielder. He spent almost all of his career at Everton, making 433 appearances and scoring 57 goals. Earlier in his career he spent time on loan at Foo ...

and

Jack Rodwell Jack Christian Rodwell (born 11 March 1991) is an English professional footballer who last played for A-League side Sydney FC as a centre-back or defensive midfielder. Born in Southport, Merseyside, Rodwell joined Everton F.C., Everton's acade ...

, before leaving in July 2013 to work for

the Football Association The Football Association (the FA) is the Sports governing body, governing body of association football in England and the Crown Dependencies of Jersey, Bailiwick of Guernsey, Guernsey and the Isle of Man. Formed in 1863, it is the oldest footb ...

, initially as the technical lead for the England under-17 to under-21 teams. He was working as the under-18 team manager by September 2014. Whilst still under-18 manager, he managed the under-17 team at the

2015 FIFA U-17 World Cup The 2015 FIFA U-17 World Cup was the sixteenth tournament of the FIFA U-17 World Cup, held in Chile from 17 October to 8 November 2015. Host selection The following four countries bid to host the tournament: * * * * Venues Along with proposing ...

following the departure of John Peacock, and he also managed the under-20s in their title winning campaign at the

2017 Toulon Tournament The 2017 Toulon Tournament (officially ) was the 45th edition of the Toulon Tournament. The tournament was named after Maurice Revello, who started the tournament in 1967 and died in 2016. It was held in the department of Bouches-du-Rhône from 29 ...

. In August 2021 Dewsnip was part of

Bev Priestman Beverly Priestman (born 29 April 1986) is an English professional Association football, football manager who was the head coach of the Canada women's national soccer team, Canada women's national team. Early life At age 12, Priestman signed-up ...

's coaching and mentoring team for the Canada women's team that won Gold at the

Tokyo 2020 Olympics The officially the and officially branded as were an international multi-sport event that was held from 23 July to 8 August 2021 in Tokyo, Japan, with some of the preliminary sporting events beginning on 21 July 2021. Tokyo ...

Plymouth Argyle

In August 2019 he joined then

EFL League Two The English Football League Two, simply known as League Two and for sponsorship purposes as Sky Betting & Gaming, Sky Bet League Two, is a professional association football league in England. EFL League Two is the fourth division of the English ...

side

as a technical consultant. On 30 November of the same year, Dewsnip was formally appointed as

director of football A sporting director, or director of sport, is an senior management, executive management position in a sports club. The role is well known as a manager role for European football clubs, which are sometime also "sports clubs", offering many typ ...

at the club, overseeing the club's entire footballing operations. In December 2023, with the club in the

EFL Championship The English Football League Championship, known simply as the Championship and for sponsorship purposes as Sky Bet Championship, is a professional association football league in England and Wales. Contested by 24 clubs, it is the highest divi ...

, Dewsnip, supported by first team coach Kevin Nancekivell, took on

caretaker manager In association footballing terms, a caretaker manager or interim manager is somebody who takes temporary charge of the management of a football team, usually when the regular manager is dismissed or leaves for a different club. However, a caret ...

duties, following the departure of

Steven Schumacher Steven Thomas Schumacher (born 30 April 1984) is an English football manager and former professional footballer, who is currently head coach of club Bolton Wanderers. He graduated from the youth sides at Everton, and during his playing caree ...

Stoke City Stoke City Football Club is a professional association football club based in Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, England. The team competes in the , the second level of the English football league system. Founded as Stoke Ramblers in 1863, the cl ...

. Dewsnip took charge of four games as caretaker, with three score draws against

Birmingham City Birmingham City Football Club is a professional football club based in Birmingham, England. Formed in 1875 as Small Heath Alliance, it was renamed Small Heath in 1888, Birmingham in 1905, and Birmingham City in 1943. The team compete in the ...

Cardiff City Cardiff City Football Club () is a professional association football club based in Cardiff, Wales. It currently competes in , the third tier of the English football league system in the 2025–26 season following relegation. Founded in 1899 a ...

and

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 ...

, and a defeat to

Southampton Southampton is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and unitary authority in Hampshire, England. It is located approximately southwest of London, west of Portsmouth, and southeast of Salisbury. Southampton had a population of 253, ...

. On 5 January 2024 Ian Foster was named as the new head coach at Argyle, and despite Dewsnip setting up the team for the following day's match against

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, ...

in the

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 ...

, it was Foster who was credited as officially 'managing' the team. Following Ian Foster's sacking on 1 April 2024, Dewsnip, again supported by Kevin Nancekivell, was re-appointed as caretaker manager until the end of the 2023–24 season. At the time of appointment, Argyle sat just one point above the

relegation zone, with six games to play. He left Plymouth in January 2025.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dewsnip, Neil 1961 births Living people English men's footballers Liverpool F.C. players Schoolteachers from Merseyside English football managers Everton F.C. non-playing staff Men's association football players not categorized by position Sportspeople from Whiston, Merseyside Plymouth Argyle F.C. non-playing staff English football coaches Plymouth Argyle F.C. managers England national football team non-playing staff