Wayne Biggins (born 20 November 1961) is an English former professional

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 ...

born in

Sheffield Sheffield is a city in South Yorkshire, England, situated south of Leeds and east of Manchester. The city is the administrative centre of the City of Sheffield. It is historically part of the West Riding of Yorkshire and some of its so ...

who made more than 450 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 ...

and also played in the

Scottish Football League The Scottish Football League (SFL) is a defunct league featuring professional and semi-professional football clubs mostly from Scotland.One club, Berwick Rangers, is based in the town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, which is located approximately 4&nbs ...

. He was a striker and was nicknamed "Bertie" throughout his career.

Playing career

Biggins was a latecomer to league football, for although he began his career with Lincoln City he played just eight games for them before he was released. He then played non-league football for

Matlock Town Matlock Town Football Club is a association football, football club based in Matlock, Derbyshire, Matlock, Derbyshire, England. Nicknamed 'the Gladiators', they are currently members of the and play at Causeway Lane. History The club was esta ...

and

King's Lynn King's Lynn, known until 1537 as Bishop's Lynn and colloquially as Lynn, is a port and market town in the borough of King's Lynn and West Norfolk in the county of Norfolk, England. It is north-east of Peterborough, north-north-east of Cambridg ...

while working as a hod carrier. Biggins found a way back into league football with

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 ...

, who signed Biggins from Matlock for a nominal fee in February 1984. He scored four goals in his first four appearances for the Lancashire club, including a hat-trick against his former side Lincoln. He was an ever-present for Burnley during the 1984–85 season but despite scoring 21 goals in all competitions he could not prevent the team being relegated to the Fourth Division for the first time in the club's history. Biggins scored four goals in twelve matches at the start of the following campaign and his form attracted the attention of

Norwich City Norwich City Football Club is a professional football club based in Norwich, Norfolk, England. The club competes in the Championship, the second tier of English football. The club was founded in 1902. Since 1935, Norwich have played their h ...

, whose manager Ken Brown signed him in October 1985 for a transfer fee of £35,000. Norwich were re-building their squad after relegation from the first division and were looking to bounce back to the top flight at the first attempt. They succeeded, and Biggins ended the season with a second division championship medal. He stayed at

Carrow Road Carrow Road is a association football, football stadium in Norwich, Norfolk, England, and is the home of EFL Championship club Norwich City F.C., Norwich City. The stadium is east of the city, near Norwich railway station and the River Wensum. ...

until the summer of 1988 when

Manchester City Manchester City Football Club is a professional association football, football club based in Manchester, England, that competes in the Premier League, the English football league system, top flight of Football in England, English footbal ...

's new manager

Mel Machin Melvyn Machin (born 16 April 1945) is an English former football player and manager. A midfielder, he started his career at Port Vale in 1962 before he moved on to Gillingham four years later. He made his name at the club from 1966 to 1970 bef ...

– who had until that summer been Brown's assistant at Norwich – took him to

Maine Road Maine Road was a football stadium in Moss Side, Manchester, England, that was home to Manchester City from 1923 to 2003. It hosted FA Cup semi-finals, the Charity Shield, a League Cup final and England matches. Maine Road's highest attenda ...

. He scored 9 goals in 32 games for Manchester City before moving to

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 ...

in August 1989 for a fee of £250,000. He was a number of expensive signings made by manager

Mick Mills Michael Dennis Mills MBE (born 4 January 1949) is an English former footballer who played for Ipswich Town, Southampton and Stoke City. He managed Stoke City, Colchester United and Birmingham City. During his career he achieved Ipswich Town's ...

in the summer of 1989 as Stoke looked to gain promotion. However results were very poor and cost Mills his job and the new manager Alan Ball failed to stop Stoke's slide and they ended up being relegated to the Third Division, Biggins top-scored in 1989–90 with 11 goals. In 1990–91 Biggins was again leading goalscorer with 12 before enjoying his most prolific season in his career in 1991–92. He scored 28 goals as Stoke lost in the play-offs to

Stockport County Stockport County Football Club is a professional association football club based in Stockport, Greater Manchester, England. The team competes in EFL League One, the third tier of the English football league system. Formed in 1883 as Heaton ...

, although they did beat County in the 1992 Football League Trophy Final. Not long into the 1992–93 season, Biggins left to join

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 ...

where he spent a year before joining up with

Lou Macari Luigi Macari (born 7 June 1949) is a Scottish former footballer and manager. He began his playing career at Celtic where he was one of the Quality Street Gang, the outstanding reserve team that emerged in the late 1960s that also included Kenn ...

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 ...

. Biggins endured a poor three-month spell 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 ...

and returned to Stoke for £125,000 on transfer deadline day in March 1994, before playing out his league career with

Luton Town Luton Town Football Club is a professional association football, football club from Luton, Bedfordshire, England. The club currently competes in EFL League One, the third level of the English football league system. Nicknamed "The Hatters", L ...

Oxford United Oxford United Football Club () is a professional association football, football club based in Oxford, England. The club compete in the EFL Championship, the second tier of English football league system, English football. Founded as Headingto ...

and

Wigan Athletic Wigan Athletic Football Club is a professional association football club based in Wigan, Greater Manchester, England. The team competes in the EFL League One, the third level of the English football league system. Founded in 1932, they have p ...

. He won a Third Division championship medal with Wigan in 1997. He went back into

non-league football Non-League football describes association football, football leagues played outside the top leagues of a country. Usually, it describes leagues which are not fully professional. The term is primarily used for football in England, where it is ...

with Leek Town.

Management and coaching

After leaving Leek Town, Biggins moved to

Stocksbridge Park Steels Stocksbridge Park Steels Football Club is an English association football club based in Stocksbridge, South Yorkshire. They currently compete in the . The club was formed in 1986 after a merger between two clubs, and uses a yellow and blue hom ...

, where he became assistant manager and then manager until November 2003. He later played for and coached

Buxton Buxton is a spa town in the High Peak, Derbyshire, Borough of High Peak, Derbyshire, in the East Midlands region of England. It is England's highest market town, sited at some above sea level.Alston, Cumbria also claims this, but lacks a regu ...

Personal life

He is the father of footballer

Harrison Biggins Harrison Biggins (born 15 March 1996) is an English professional footballer who plays as a midfielder for club Shrewsbury Town. Personal life He is the son of former Stoke City footballer Wayne Biggins. Harrison and his parents all had COVID- ...

. Wayne, his wife, and Harrison all had

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2. In January 2020, the disease spread worldwide, resulting in the COVID-19 pandemic. The symptoms of COVID‑19 can vary but often include fever ...

during the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

Career statistics

Source:

Honours

Individual *

PFA Team of the Year The Professional Footballers' Association Team of the Year (often called the PFA Team of the Year, or simply the Team of the Year) is an annual award given to a set of 55 footballers across the top four tiers of men's Football in England, En ...

: 1990–91 Third Division, 1991–92 Third Division Norwich *2nd Division Championship 1985–86 Wigan *3rd Division Championship 1996–97 Stoke *Football League Trophy Winner 1992

References

External links

* *
Career information at ex-canaries.co.uk
{{DEFAULTSORT:Biggins, Wayne Living people 1961 births Footballers from Sheffield English men's footballers Men's association football forwards Lincoln City F.C. players King's Lynn F.C. players Matlock Town F.C. players Burnley F.C. players Norwich City F.C. players Manchester City F.C. players Stoke City F.C. players Barnsley F.C. players Celtic F.C. players Luton Town F.C. players Oxford United F.C. players Wigan Athletic F.C. players Leek Town F.C. players Stocksbridge Park Steels F.C. players Buxton F.C. players English Football League players Scottish Football League players