Steven Leslie Wignall (born 17 September 1954) is an English former 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 player. During his playing career, Wignall, who played as a

central defender In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield player whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Defenders fall into four main categories: centre-backs, full-backs, sweepers ...

, made over 600 appearances 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 ...

Playing career

Born in

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 ...

, Wignall played professionally for

Doncaster Rovers Doncaster Rovers Football Club is a professional association football club based in Doncaster, South Yorkshire, England. The team currently competes in EFL League One, the third level of the English football league system after winning the 202 ...

, Colchester United,

Brentford Brentford is a suburban town in West (London sub region), West London, England and part of the London Borough of Hounslow. It lies at the confluence of the River Brent and the River Thames, Thames, west of Charing Cross. Its economy has dive ...

and

Aldershot Aldershot ( ) is a town in the Rushmoor district, Hampshire, England. It lies on heathland in the extreme north-east corner of the county, south-west of London. The town has a population of 37,131, while the Farnborough/Aldershot built-up are ...

, making a total of 639 appearances in

. He retired as a player in 1991, barely a year before Aldershot went out of business.

Coaching career

After his retirement from playing he joined the coaching staff at

, before assisting Ian McDonald. After Aldershot went out of business in 1992, a new club, Aldershot Town was formed, and Wignall became their first ever manager, winning back to back promotions before former club Colchester United signed him in January 1995. During his time at Colchester he led the club to promotion via the play-offs in 1997/98 and to the

final Final, Finals or The Final may refer to: *Final examination or finals, a test given at the end of a course of study or training *Final (competition), the last or championship round of a sporting competition, match, game, or other contest which d ...

of the Associate Members' Cup the year before. He stayed as manager until he resigned in January 1999, believing he had taken the club as far as he could. In April 2000, he joined Stevenage Borough and was offered a two-year contract but never signed it and, when approached a month later by former club

, he decided to manage them instead, having only managed 8 games at Stevenage. He managed Doncaster for just one season. In 2003, he became manager of Southend United but only lasted seven months. He also worked as a first team coach and assistant at Wivenhoe Town from 2005 before leaving club due to financial reasons in January 2008. In 2009, Wignall published his autobiography titled ''You Can Have Chips''.

Managerial statistics

Honours

As a player

Brentford * Associate Members' Cup runner-up: 1984–85 Aldershot *

Football League Fourth Division The Football League Fourth Division was the fourth-highest division in the English football league system from the 1958–59 season until the creation of the Premier League prior to the 1992–93 season. Following the creation of the Premier ...

playoff: 1986–87

As a manager

Aldershot Town *

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 ...

Division Three: 1992–93 Colchester United *

Football League Trophy The English Football League Trophy, officially known as the Vertu Trophy for sponsorship reasons, is an annual English football knockout competition open to all clubs in EFL League One and EFL League Two and U-21 teams from the Premier Le ...

runner-up: 1996–97 *

Football League Third Division The Football League Third Division was the third tier of the English football league system in 1920–21 Football League, 1920–21 and again from 1958–59 Football League, 1958 until 1991–92 Football League, 1992. When the FA Premier League ...

playoff: 1997–98

References

External links

* *
Profile at Doncaster Rovers F.C. official websiteProfile at Aldershot Town official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wignall, Steve 1954 births Living people English men's footballers English football managers Liverpool F.C. players Doncaster Rovers F.C. players Colchester United F.C. players Brentford F.C. players Aldershot F.C. players English Football League players Aldershot Town F.C. managers Colchester United F.C. managers Stevenage F.C. managers Doncaster Rovers F.C. managers Southend United F.C. managers English Football League managers Men's association football defenders English autobiographers Footballers from Liverpool