Steve Wignall

Steven Leslie Wignall (born 17 September 1954) is an English former professional football manager and player. During his playing career, Wignall, who played as a central defender, made over 600 appearances in the Football League.

Steve Wignall

Personal information
Full name	Steven Leslie Wignall[1]
Date of birth	(1954-09-17) 17 September 1954 (age 70)[1]
Place of birth	Liverpool,[1] England
Height	5 ft 11 in (1.80 m)[2]
Position(s)	Central defender
Youth career
1970–1972	Liverpool
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
1972–1977	Doncaster Rovers	130	(1)
1977–1984	Colchester United	281	(22)
1984–1986	Brentford	67	(2)
1986–1991	Aldershot	161	(4)
Total		639	(29)
Managerial career
1992–1995	Aldershot Town
1995–1999	Colchester United
2000	Stevenage Borough
2000–2001	Doncaster Rovers
2003	Southend United
* Club domestic league appearances and goals

Playing career

Born in Liverpool, Wignall played professionally for Doncaster Rovers, Colchester United, Brentford and Aldershot, making a total of 639 appearances in the Football League. 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 Aldershot, 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 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 Doncaster Rovers, he decided to manage them instead, having only managed 8 games at Stevenage.^[3][4] He managed Doncaster for just one season.^[4] In 2003, he became manager of Southend United but only lasted seven months.^[4] 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.^[5]

In 2009, Wignall published his autobiography titled You Can Have Chips.^[4]

Managerial statistics

Team	From	To	Record
			G	W	D	L	Won %!
Aldershot Town	23 May 1992	12 January 1995	146	97	24	25	66.43
Colchester United	12 January 1995	21 January 1999	218	81	66	71	37.16
Stevenage Borough	April 2000	31 May 2000	8	3	3	2	37.50
Doncaster Rovers	31 May 2000	26 December 2001	79	25	30	24	31.65
Southend United	18 April 2003	3 November 2003	23	6	3	14	26.09

Honours

As a player

Brentford^[6]

• Associate Members' Cup runner-up: 1984–85

Aldershot^[7]

• Football League Fourth Division playoff: 1986–87

As a manager

Aldershot Town

• Isthmian League Division Three: 1992–93

Colchester United

• Football League Trophy runner-up: 1996–97
• Football League Third Division playoff: 1997–98