Aaron Joseph Callaghan (born 8 October 1966) is an Irish football manager and retired player. He played 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 ...

for

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 ...

Crewe Alexandra Crewe Alexandra Football Club is a professional association football club based in the town of Crewe, Cheshire, England. Its first team competes in League Two, the fourth level of the English football league system. Nicknamed 'The Railwaymen' ...

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 ...

and

Preston North End Preston North End Football Club, commonly referred to as Preston, North End or PNE, is a professional association football club in Preston, Lancashire, England. They currently play in the EFL Championship, the second level of the English footbal ...

Playing career

Callaghan was born in

Dublin Dublin is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Situated on Dublin Bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, and is bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, pa ...

and began his career with English club

progressing through the youth ranks at the

Victoria Ground The Victoria Ground was the home ground of Stoke City from 1878 until 1997, when the club relocated to the Britannia Stadium after 119 years. At the time of its demolition it was the oldest operational ground in the Football League. Histor ...

and signed a professional contract in 1984. Stoke were having a woeful 1984–85 season and with the team already relegated Callaghan was given the chance to play First Division football playing in five matches towards the end of the season. He began the 1985–86 season on loan at

where he made 10 appearances. On his return to Stoke he played in eight matches under the management of Mick Mills. He made just three appearances for Stoke in 1986–87 and was sold to

in October 1986. Callaghan remained at

Boundary Park Boundary Park is a football stadium in Oldham, Greater Manchester, England. Its name originates from the fact that it lies at the northwestern extremity of Oldham, with Royton and Chadderton lying immediately north and west respectively. Bound ...

for two seasons making 21 appearances before joining

in May 1988. He spent four seasons at Crewe helping the side gain promotion in 1988–89 which was followed by relegation in 1990–91. In total he played in 197 games for Crewe scoring ten goals before leaving for

. He spent two seasons at

Deepdale Deepdale is a football stadium in the Deepdale area of Preston, England that is the home ground of Preston North End. Built in 1875 and in use since 1878, Deepdale is recognised as being one of the oldest continuously used football stadium ...

making 44 appearances scoring three goals before returning to Ireland to play for Shelbourne. He then went on to play for

Crusaders The Crusades were a series of religious wars initiated, supported, and at times directed by the Papacy during the Middle Ages. The most prominent of these were the campaigns to the Holy Land aimed at reclaiming Jerusalem and its surrounding ...

St Patrick's Athletic St Patrick's Athletic Football Club, commonly known as Pat's or The Athletic, is a professional List of association football clubs in the Republic of Ireland, Irish association football club based in Inchicore, Dublin, that plays in the League ...

Dundalk Dundalk ( ; ) is the county town of County Louth, Ireland. The town is situated on the Castletown River, which flows into Dundalk Bay on the north-east coast of Ireland, and is halfway between Dublin and Belfast, close to and south of the bor ...

and ended his playing career with

Longford Town Longford () is the county town of County Longford in Ireland. It had a population of 10,952 at the 2022 census. It is the biggest town in the county and about one third of the county's population lives there. Longford lies at the meeting of I ...

International career

Callaghan scored in Ireland's U-17 win over Northern Ireland in November 1983. He was in the panel for the

1984 UEFA European Under-18 Championship The UEFA European Under-18 Championship 1984 Final Tournament was held in the Soviet Union. It also served as the European qualification for the 1985 FIFA World Youth Championship. Qualification Group 8 Other Groups 1''The ma ...

as Liam Tuohy's side made it to the semi-finals in the USSR. On 26 February 1985, he produced a great performance as Ireland beat England 1–0 in the opening qualifying match of the 1986 UEFA European Under-18 Championship. He was selected for the

1985 FIFA World Youth Championship The 1985 FIFA World Youth Championship was the fifth edition FIFA U-20 World Cup, FIFA World Youth Championship, was held in the Soviet Union (USSR) from 24 August to 7 September 1985. The tournament took place in ten venues within eight host citie ...

finals in the Soviet Union but on 19 August, five days before it was scheduled to start, he was recalled by Stoke City as he was needed for first team duty by manager Mick Mills the following Saturday. However, Callaghan did not play and would not make a senior appearance for the club until six months later. The defender made two

Republic of Ireland national under-21 football team The Republic of Ireland national under-21 football team is a representative team of Irish football players. It is governed by the Football Association of Ireland and represents them at Under-21 level against the national teams of other national ...

appearances, playing alongside

Denis Irwin Joseph Denis Irwin (born 31 October 1965) is an Irish former professional footballer and sports television presenter. Irwin is the joint most successful Irish footballer in history, a record he shares with Ronnie Whelan and fellow Manchester U ...

and

Pat Dolan Patrick Dolan (born 20 September 1967) is an Irish former football player, manager, and executive. He is also a former soccer analyst on RTÉ Sport. He is a FIFA-registered players' agent and has represented a number of players based in the En ...

in a 0–0 draw in Belgium in September 1986 and in the 2–1 defeat to Scotland at Oriel Park in October 1987.

Managerial career

He was also player-manager of

for one year and in 2000 the club qualified for Europe after he had made three European appearances as a player. Apart from a brief spell as

Athlone Town Athlone Town Association Football Club is an Irish football club from Athlone who are playing in the League of Ireland. The club is the oldest in the League as it was founded in 1887. First elected to the League of Ireland in 1922, they play t ...

manager in 2004, Aaron had been a coach at Longford Town from July 2002 until the end of the 2006 season. Following a year out from the game, Aaron was appointed

Longford Town FC Longford Town Football Club is an Irish professional football club based in Longford, County Longford. The club, which was founded in 1924 and elected to the league in 1984, plays in the League of Ireland First Division as of 2025. The club pl ...

manager in December 2007. Due to financial constraints at the club Aaron resigned as manager on 30 August 2008. Aaron was one of the first coaches in Ireland to obtain the UEFA Pro Licence in 2007. He is a coach education tutor for the Football Association of Ireland and sports development officer for Dublin City Council. Aaron has played for the Republic of Ireland U21s and was appointed Rep of Ireland U.14 International Coach for 2 years in 1997. He was the 1st team coach at UCD and St.Patrick's Athletic before taking over as manager of

Bohemians Bohemian or Bohemians may refer to: *Anything of or relating to Bohemia Culture and arts * Bohemianism, an unconventional lifestyle, originally practised by 19th–20th century European and American artists and writers. * Bohemian style, a f ...

in time for the 2012 season. Callaghan was appointed as

manager on 31 December 2011. Despite financial constraints at the club, he led his team to a comfortable midtable finish in a season that included a 4–0 victory over

Shamrock Rovers Shamrock Rovers Football Club is an Irish professional Association football, football club based in Tallaght, South Dublin. The club's senior team competes in the League of Ireland Premier Division and it is List of football clubs by competit ...

and Bohs' first league win in

Tallaght Stadium Tallaght Stadium () is an List of association football stadiums in the Republic of Ireland, association football stadium in Ireland based in Tallaght, South Dublin. The club Shamrock Rovers F.C., Shamrock Rovers originally announced details of ...

. He was rewarded for this good season by being offered a two-year contract extension by the Bohs board of directors, which he signed in November 2012. On 15 July 2013 Callaghan was relieved of his duties by the club's board of directors. On 13 October 2016, Callaghan returned to management in Northern Ireland, taking over at Carrick Rangers. Within a few months at the club, Callaghan saw his side through to their first ever League Cup Final.

Media work

In 2015 Aaron Callaghan joined the LeagueofIreland.ie team as a journalist giving the views on a number of topics in the League of Ireland from a manager points of view. Currently still involved in the site.

Career statistics

Source: :A. The "Other" column constitutes appearances and goals in the

Full Members Cup The Full Members' Cup was an association football cup competition held in English football from 1985 to 1992. It was also known under its sponsored names of the Simod Cup from 1987 to 1989 and the Zenith Data Systems Cup from 1989 to 1992. T ...

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 ...

and

Football League play-offs The English Football League (EFL) play-offs are a series of play-offs, play-off matches contested by four association football teams finishing immediately below the automatic Promotion and relegation, promotion places in the second, third and four ...

Honours

; Crewe Alexandra *

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 ...

third-place promotion: 1990–91 ; Crusaders * Irish League: 1994–95, 1996–97 *

Irish League Cup The Northern Ireland Football League Cup (known as the BetMcLean Cup for sponsorship purposes, and commonly known as the Irish League Cup) is a national football knock-out cup competition in Northern Ireland open to all member clubs of the ...

: 1996–97 * Gold Cup: 1995–96 ; Shelbourne *

League of Ireland Cup The League of Ireland Cup, also referred to in Ireland as the 'League Cup', was an annual knockout competition in men's football in Ireland. It was contested by League of Ireland clubs and invited clubs from the lower levels of the Irish footb ...

: 1995–96 ; Dundalk *

FAI Cup The Football Association of Ireland Senior Challenge Cup (FAI Cup), known as the Sports Direct FAI Cup for sponsorship reasons, is a knock-out association football competition contested annually by teams from the Republic of Ireland (as well as D ...

: 2002

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Callaghan, Aaron 1966 births Living people Republic of Ireland men's association footballers Republic of Ireland men's under-21 international footballers Stoke City F.C. players Crewe Alexandra F.C. players Oldham Athletic A.F.C. players Preston North End F.C. players Republic of Ireland association football managers Shelbourne F.C. players St Patrick's Athletic F.C. players Dundalk F.C. players League of Ireland players League of Ireland managers Longford Town F.C. managers Crusaders F.C. players Glenavon F.C. players Crusaders F.C. managers NIFL Premiership players English Football League players Men's association football defenders People from Lucan, Dublin Sportspeople from South Dublin (county) Carrick Rangers F.C. managers Athlone Town A.F.C. managers Association footballers from County Dublin Irish expatriate sportspeople in England Republic of Ireland expatriate men's association footballers Expatriate men's footballers in England 20th-century Irish sportsmen Bohemian F.C. managers University College Dublin A.F.C. managers Men's association football player-managers NIFL Premiership managers