Trevor John Wood (born 3 November 1968) is a former professional footballer who played as a

goalkeeper In many team sports that involve scoring goal (sport), goals, the goalkeeper (sometimes termed goaltender, netminder, GK, goalie, or keeper) is a designated player charged with directly preventing the opposing team from scoring by blocking or i ...

. He played 130 league games in the

English Football League The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional association football, football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, it is the oldest football league in Association football around the world, the w ...

and 100 league games in the

League of Ireland The League of Ireland is a national association football Sports league, league consisting of professional clubs in the Republic of Ireland and Derry, Derry City in Northern Ireland. It is governed by the Football Association of Ireland. It was ...

. He won one international

cap A cap is a flat headgear, usually with a visor. Caps have crowns that fit very close to the head. They made their first appearance as early as 3200 BC. The origin of the word "cap" comes from the Old French word "chapeau" which means "head co ...

for

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ; ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, part of the United Kingdom in the north-east of the island of Ireland. It has been #Descriptions, variously described as a country, province or region. Northern Ireland shares Repub ...

in 1995. Wood began his career at

Brighton & Hove Albion Brighton & Hove Albion Football Club, commonly referred to as Brighton, is a professional football club based in Brighton and Hove, East Sussex, England. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football. Their home gr ...

. He did not feature in the first team, though he spent time on loan at Salisbury City. He signed with Port Vale in May 1988. Mostly a backup keeper for the "Valiants", he moved on to

Walsall Walsall (, or ; locally ) is a market town and administrative centre of the Metropolitan Borough of Walsall, in the West Midlands (county), West Midlands, England. Historic counties of England, Historically part of Staffordshire, it is located ...

in May 1994. He helped the "Saddlers" to

promotion Promotion may refer to: Marketing * Promotion (marketing), one of the four marketing mix elements, comprising any type of marketing communication used to inform or persuade target audiences of the relative merits of a product, service, brand or i ...

out of the Third Division in 1994–95, before he signed with

Hereford United Hereford United Football Club was an association football club based in Hereford, England. They played at Edgar Street for their entire history. They were nicknamed 'The Whites' or 'The Lilywhites', after their predominantly white kit, or 'Th ...

in 1997. He then moved to Ireland to play for St Patrick's Athletic, and helped his new club to the League of Ireland title in 1997–98 and 1998–99, before he retired in 2001.

Playing career

Brighton & Hove Albion

Wood was a squad member for

and spent the 1987–88 season on

loan In finance, a loan is the tender of money by one party to another with an agreement to pay it back. The recipient, or borrower, incurs a debt and is usually required to pay interest for the use of the money. The document evidencing the deb ...

at Salisbury City in the Southern League Southern Division.

Port Vale

After a successful trial, he moved to John Rudge's Port Vale in May 1988. He kept a

clean sheet In team sports, a shutout ( US) or clean sheet ( UK) is a game in which the losing team fails to score. While possible in most major sports, they are highly improbable in some sports, such as basketball. Shutouts are usually seen as a result of ...

on his debut; a 2–0 home win over

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 ...

on 3 October 1988. Despite this he was used mainly as a reserve keeper. He made only two appearances in the Third Division as back-up to Mark Grew and

ee Mike Stowell during the

campaign of 1988–89. He played just three Second Division games in 1989–90, with Grew retaining his place between the sticks at

Vale Park Vale Park is a football stadium in the area of Burslem, Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, England, and it has been the home ground of Port Vale Football Club since its opening in 1950. It has a current capacity of 15,695, and was renovated durin ...

. Wood earned the first-team jersey in August 1990. He injured his

thigh In anatomy, the thigh is the area between the hip (pelvis) and the knee. Anatomically, it is part of the lower limb. The single bone in the thigh is called the femur. This bone is very thick and strong (due to the high proportion of bone tissu ...

however, in a 2–0 defeat at

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 16 February 1991, and took two months to win his first-team place back. He made 37 appearances in all competitions in 1990–91, being preferred ahead of Grew. In August 1991, he once more fell out of favour, as Grew played every minute of the 1991–92 campaign. Wood was in goal for the 4–3 defeat on penalties to

Go Ahead Eagles The Go Ahead Eagles are a Dutch professional football club from the city of Deventer in the province of Overijssel. They play in the Eredivisie, the top tier of Dutch football, having achieved promotion from the second tier Eerste Divisie in th ...

in the TNT Tournament on 9 August 1992, a tournament the Vale still managed to win. He started the 1992–93 season as first-choice keeper. Still, he lost his place to new signing Paul Musselwhite after five league games, having conceded a penalty at

Vetch Field The Vetch Field was a football stadium in Swansea, Wales, and was the home ground of Swansea City A.F.C. from the club’s founding until 2005. Following its closure, the club relocated to a newly constructed stadium, originally named the Libert ...

in an ' off the ball' incident with a

Swansea Swansea ( ; ) is a coastal City status in the United Kingdom, city and the List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, second-largest city of Wales. It forms a Principal areas of Wales, principal area, officially known as the City and County of ...

player. At the end of the 1993–94 season, Wood was given a free transfer.

Walsall

Wood signed with

in May 1994. The "Saddlers" won promotion out of the Third Division as runners-up in 1994–95 under the stewardship of

Chris Nicholl Christopher John Nicholl (12 October 1946 – 24 February 2024) was a professional footballer who later worked as a coach and manager. A centre-back, Nicholl began his playing career at Burnley, but moved to Witton Albion after failing to br ...

. They then went on to finish eleventh in the Second Division in 1995–96.

Later career

Wood moved on to

Graham Turner Graham John Turner (born 5 October 1947) is an English former footballer who became a manager. His son Mark was also a professional footballer. He is fourth behind only Alex Ferguson, Neil Warnock and Arsène Wenger in terms of most games man ...

in the 1996–97 campaign. The "Bulls" finished bottom of the

Football League The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional association football, football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, it is the oldest football league in Association football around the world, the w ...

, and were

relegated Promotion and relegation is used by sports leagues as a process where teams can move up and down among divisions in a league system, based on their performance over a season. Leagues that use promotion and relegation systems are sometimes call ...

into the

Conference A conference is a meeting, often lasting a few days, which is organized on a particular subject, or to bring together people who have a common interest. Conferences can be used as a form of group decision-making, although discussion, not always d ...

. He then signed for St. Patrick's Athletic and played in the Champions League

preliminary round A tournament is a competition involving at least three competitors, all participating in a sport or game. More specifically, the term may be used in either of two overlapping senses: # One or more competitions held at a single venue and concentr ...

against

Celtic Celtic, Celtics or Keltic may refer to: Language and ethnicity *pertaining to Celts, a collection of Indo-European peoples in Europe and Anatolia **Celts (modern) *Celtic languages **Proto-Celtic language *Celtic music *Celtic nations Sports Foot ...

in 1998, keeping a clean sheet in a 0–0 draw at

Celtic Park Celtic Park is a Soccer-specific stadium, football stadium and the home of Scottish Premiership team Celtic F.C., Celtic, in the Parkhead area of Glasgow, Scotland. With a capacity of 60,832, it is the largest List of football stadiums in Sco ...

. Celtic won the second leg 2–0 at

Tolka Park Tolka Park () is an Ireland, Irish association football ground located in the Northside Dublin, north Dublin suburb of Drumcondra, Dublin, Drumcondra, on the northern banks of the River Tolka. It is currently the home ground of League of Irelan ...

. The "Saints" won the

title in 1997–98 and 1998–99, also boasting the best defensive record on both occasions. However, they dropped to sixth and fifth in 1999–2000 and 2000–01, and Wood left the club, having made 100 league appearances.

International career

FIFA regulations at the time allowed a player born outside of the United Kingdom with a British passport to choose which national team he wanted to represent, despite the

Jersey Football Association The Jersey Football Association (JFA) is the body which co-ordinates football in Jersey. The Jersey FA acts as a County football association of The Football Association, although in 2015 it applied to join UEFA as a full member. The Jersey ...

having county football association status within

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

Football Association A football association, also known as a football federation, soccer federation, or soccer association, is a governing body for association football. Many of them are members of the sport's regional bodies such as UEFA and CONMEBOL and the world gov ...

. Wood was the first player to take advantage of the lax regulations when he was called up for a qualifying game against Republic of Ireland for

UEFA Euro 1996 The 1996 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as Euro 96, was the 10th UEFA European Championship, a quadrennial Association football, football tournament contested by European nations and organised by UEFA. It took place in ...

in March 1995. Wood earned a Northern Ireland cap on 11 October 1995 during the same qualifying campaign, coming on for Alan Fettis at

half-time In several team sports, matches are played in two halves. Half-time (also written halftime or half time) is the name given to the interval between the two halves of the match. Typically, after half-time, teams swap ends of the field of play in or ...

in a 4–0 win over

Liechtenstein Liechtenstein (, ; ; ), officially the Principality of Liechtenstein ( ), is a Landlocked country#Doubly landlocked, doubly landlocked Swiss Standard German, German-speaking microstate in the Central European Alps, between Austria in the east ...

at the

Sportpark Eschen-Mauren Sportpark Eschen-Mauren is a multi-sport complex in Eschen, Liechtenstein. It is used mostly for football (soccer), football matches and is the home ground of USV Eschen/Mauren as well as Liechtenstein national youth football teams. It was the ...

. He had been suggested to coach Bryan Hamilton by

, his

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 ...

. He then slipped down the international pecking order behind Fettis, Tommy Wright,

Roy Carroll Roy Eric Carroll (born 30 September 1977) is a Northern Irish former professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper. He is best known for his spells at Wigan Athletic, Manchester United (where he won a Premier League winners medal and the ...

, and Aidan Davison. On 26 March 1996, he played in a rare Northern Ireland B team game, a 3–0 win over Norway Olympic XI at The Showgrounds in

Coleraine Coleraine ( ; from , 'nook of the ferns'Flanaghan, Deirdre & Laurence; ''Irish Place Names'', page 194. Gill & Macmillan, 2002. ) is a town and Civil parishes in Ireland, civil parish near the mouth of the River Bann in County Londonderry, No ...

Career statistics

Source:

Honours

Walsall *

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 ...

second-place promotion: 1994–95 St Patrick's Athletic *

: 1997–98, 1998–99

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wood, Trevor 1968 births Living people Sportspeople from Saint Helier Jersey people of Irish descent Jersey men's footballers Northern Ireland men's international footballers Northern Ireland men's B international footballers Men's association football goalkeepers Brighton & Hove Albion F.C. players Salisbury City F.C. players Port Vale F.C. players Walsall F.C. players Hereford United F.C. players St Patrick's Athletic F.C. players Southern Football League players English Football League players League of Ireland players