Aaron Thomas Wilbraham (born 21 October 1979) is an English football manager and former professional footballer who played as a forward. He is currently assistant manager of side

Shrewsbury Town Shrewsbury Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in Shrewsbury, Shropshire, England. The team competes in League One, the third tier of English football. The club plays its home games at the New Meadow, having mo ...

Playing career

Early career

Born in

Knutsford Knutsford () is a market town in the borough of Cheshire East, in Cheshire, England. Knutsford is south-west of Manchester, north-west of Macclesfield and 12.5 miles (20 km) south-east of Warrington. The population at the 2011 Census was ...

, Cheshire, Wilbraham started his career at

Stockport County Stockport County Football Club are a professional football club in Stockport, England, who compete in EFL League Two, the fourth tier of the English football league system. Formed in 1883 as Heaton Norris Rovers, they were renamed Stockport Co ...

, scoring his first goal in a 4-1 loss to Manchester City in 1997. Altogether, he made 172 league appearances for the club. During that time he also went out on loan to Norwegian club

Moss FK Moss Fotballklubb is a Norwegian football club, founded on 28 August 1906. They play in the 2. divisjon, the third highest division in the Norwegian football league system. They played in the Norwegian top flight between 1937-1939, 1953-1954, ...

. He then signed for

Hull City Hull City Association Football Club is a professional football club based in Hull, East Riding of Yorkshire, England, that compete in the . They have played home games at the MKM Stadium since moving from Boothferry Park in 2002. The club's t ...

for £100,000 and played his part in winning promotion to the championship. During that time he also had a month on loan at

Oldham Athletic Oldham Athletic Association Football Club is a professional football club in Oldham, Greater Manchester, England, which competes in the National League, the fifth tier of the English football league system. The history of Oldham Athletic be ...

in November 2004. In the summer of 2005 he was snapped up by MK Dons.

Milton Keynes Dons

In the 2005–06 season, he was loaned out to

Bradford City Bradford City Association Football Club is an English professional football club in Bradford, West Yorkshire. The team competes in League Two, the fourth tier of the English football league system and are currently managed by Mark Hughes. ...

for two months, scoring once against

. From the 2006–07 season, Wilbraham became a first team regular for the Dons. In January 2007 he was rewarded for his performances earlier in the season with a new contract until 2009. Wilbraham helped the MK Dons to win the 2007–08 Football League Two title by scoring seven goals in their last 11 matches. He was also a member of the Dons team that won the 2007–08

Football League Trophy The English Football League Trophy, known for sponsorship purposes as the Papa Johns Trophy after restaurant chain Papa John's Pizza, is an annual English association football knockout competition open to all clubs in EFL League One and EFL Le ...

. He scored a hat-trick in a 5–3 victory against

Cheltenham Town Cheltenham Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in the town of Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, England. From the 2021–22 season, the club compete in League One, the third tier of the English football league sy ...

, whose own striker Damian Spencer also scored three goals. In the 2008–09 season under

Roberto Di Matteo Roberto Di Matteo (; born 29 May 1970) is an Italian professional football manager and former player. During his playing career as a midfielder, he played for Swiss clubs Schaffhausen, Zürich and Aarau before joining Lazio of Italy and Chels ...

, he scored 17 goals. He scored his 50th and 51st goal in the 3–3 draw against Brentford on 13 March 2010.

Norwich City

On 30 December 2010, it was announced he was to join

Norwich City Norwich City Football Club (also known as The Canaries or The Yellows) is an English professional football club based in Norwich, Norfolk. The club competes in the EFL Championship following their relegation from the Premier League in the 20 ...

on 1 January 2011 for an undisclosed fee on an 18-month deal. He would join the club on loan to enable him to play the match versus

Queens Park Rangers Queens Park Rangers Football Club, commonly abbreviated to QPR, is a professional football club based in Shepherd's Bush, West London, England, which compete in the . After a nomadic early existence, they have played home matches at Loftus Ro ...

before making the deal permanent later that day. He made his debut in the 1–0 victory over QPR. He opened his account against

Leicester City Leicester ( ) is a city, unitary authority and the county town of Leicestershire in the East Midlands of England. It is the largest settlement in the East Midlands. The city lies on the River Soar and close to the eastern end of the National ...

in a 3–2 win on 8 March 2011. The same season Norwich clinched promotion to the Premier League, meaning Wilbraham had won promotion from all three divisions of the Football League. Wilbraham made his Premier League debut at

Goodison Park Goodison Park is a association football, football stadium in the Walton, Liverpool, Walton area of Liverpool, England. It has been the home stadium of Premier League club Everton F.C. since its completion in 1892. Located in a residential area ...

, coming on as a substitute for Steve Morison in a 1–1 draw against Everton. He had been an unused substitute for the majority of the season. He scored his 100th career goal as a substitute against Fulham – his first

Premier League The Premier League (legal name: The Football Association Premier League Limited) is the highest level of the men's English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Fo ...

goal. This goal meant Wilbraham had scored in all four levels of English league football. He made his first Premier League start on 9 April 2012 in a 2–1 win at

Tottenham Hotspur Tottenham Hotspur Football Club, commonly referred to as Tottenham () or Spurs, is a professional football club based in Tottenham, London, England. It competes in the Premier League, the top flight of English football. The team has playe ...

Crystal Palace

On 4 July 2012, Wilbraham signed a 2-year deal with

Crystal Palace Crystal Palace may refer to: Places Canada * Crystal Palace Complex (Dieppe), a former amusement park now a shopping complex in Dieppe, New Brunswick * Crystal Palace Barracks, London, Ontario * Crystal Palace (Montreal), an exhibition building ...

on a free transfer. On 28 August 2012, Wilbraham scored his first goal for Palace in a 4–1 defeat to Preston North End in the League Cup. Wilbraham was involved in the promotion of two teams in a three-year period – automatically with Norwich in the 2010–11 season and via the playoffs with Crystal Palace. He was involved for the full 120 minutes of Palace's playoff final appearance. Wilbraham scored his second goal for Crystal Palace in a 2–1 away loss against

Wigan Wigan ( ) is a large town in Greater Manchester, England, on the River Douglas. The town is midway between the two cities of Manchester, to the south-east, and Liverpool, to the south-west. Bolton lies to the north-east and Warrington t ...

in the

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual knockout football competition in men's domestic English football. First played during the 1871–72 season, it is the oldest national football competi ...

. He was released by Palace at the end of the 2013–14 season.

Bristol City

It was announced on 2 July 2014 that Wilbraham had signed for

Bristol City Bristol City Football Club is a professional football club based in Bristol, England, which compete in the , the second tier of English football. They have played their home games at Ashton Gate since moving from St John's Lane in 1904. The ...

on a one-year contract. Wilbraham scored one goal and set up another on his competitive debut for the club against

Sheffield United Sheffield United Football Club is a professional football club in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England, which compete in the . They are nicknamed "the Blades" due to Sheffield's history of cutlery production. The team have played home games at ...

in a 2–1 win on the opening day of the season at Bramall Lane. On his home debut, he scored twice against

Colchester United Colchester United Football Club is a professional association football club based in the city of Colchester, Essex, England. The team competes in , the fourth tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1937, the club spent its earl ...

in another 2–1 victory, making it three goals from his first two games. Wilbraham continued his impressive form with 2 goals in wins over Notts County and Doncaster, as well as a brace in a 3–0 win over Port Vale, taking his goal tally to 7 from 8 league games. Wilbraham eventually registered the highest goalscoring season of his career, notching 21 goals in all competitions as his side clinched promotion to the Football League Championship.

Bolton Wanderers

On 3 August 2017 Bolton Wanderers confirmed that Wilbraham had joined them for an undisclosed fee, signing a one-year contract. He scored his first goal for Bolton when coming on as a substitute for Jon Flanagan in a 1–1 draw with

Sheffield Wednesday Sheffield Wednesday Football Club is a professional association football club based in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England. The team competes in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. Formed in 1867 as an offshoot ...

at Hillsborough on 10 March 2018. His second goal for Bolton was the winner in a 3–2 victory over

Nottingham Forest Nottingham Forest Football Club is an association football club based in West Bridgford, Nottinghamshire, England. Nottingham Forest was founded in 1865 and have been playing their home games at the City Ground, on the banks of the River Tren ...

on 6 May 2018 – a result which helped to keep the Trotters in the EFL Championship. He was released by Bolton at the end of the 2017–18 season.

Rochdale

On 25 June 2018, Rochdale announced the signing of Wilbraham for the 2018–19 season. He was offered a new contract by the club at the end of the 2018–19 season and on 28 June 2019, Wilbraham signed a new one-year contract.

Coaching career

On 2 December 2020, Wilbraham joined

Steve Cotterill Stephen John Cotterill (born 20 July 1964) is an English former footballer who played as a striker. He is currently the manager of side Shrewsbury Town. Cotterill had a nine-year career as a footballer playing for Burton Albion, Wimbledon, ...

's coaching staff at

League One The English Football League One (often referred to as League One for short or Sky Bet League One for sponsorship purposes, and known as the Football League One from 2004 until 2016) is the second-highest division of the English Football Leag ...

side

, joining as assistant manager. On 19 January 2021, Wilbraham took charge as stand-in manager for an

third round tie away at

side

Southampton Southampton () is a port city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. It is located approximately south-west of London and west of Portsmouth. The city forms part of the South Hampshire built-up area, which also covers Po ...

as Cotterill was suffering from

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was identified in Wuhan, China, in December 2019. The disease quickly ...

. Shrewsbury lost the tie 2–0. Wilbraham also took charge on 23 January, a 1–0 league defeat away at Sunderland.

Career statistics

Honours

Bristol City * Football League One: 2014–15 *

: 2014–15 Crystal Palace * Football League Championship play-offs:

2013 File:2013 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: Edward Snowden becomes internationally famous for leaking classified NSA wiretapping information; Typhoon Haiyan kills over 6,000 in the Philippines and Southeast Asia; The Dhaka garment fa ...

Hull City *Football League One second-place promotion: 2004–05 Milton Keynes Dons *

Football League Two The English Football League Two (often referred to as League Two for short or Sky Bet League Two for sponsorship purposes, and known as the Football League Two from 2004 until 2016) is the third and lowest division of the English Football Lea ...

: 2007–08 *Football League Trophy: 2007–08 Norwich City * Football League Championship second-place promotion:

2010–11 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1. ...

Individual *

Milton Keynes Dons Milton Keynes Dons Football Club (), usually abbreviated to MK Dons, is a professional association football club based in Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire, England. The team competes in , the third tier of the English football league system. The ...

Player of the Year: 2008–09

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Wilbraham, Aaron 1979 births Living people People from Knutsford Sportspeople from Cheshire English footballers Association football forwards Bradford City A.F.C. players Hull City A.F.C. players Milton Keynes Dons F.C. players Norwich City F.C. players Oldham Athletic A.F.C. players Stockport County F.C. players Moss FK players Crystal Palace F.C. players Bristol City F.C. players Bolton Wanderers F.C. players English Football League players Premier League players English expatriate footballers Expatriate footballers in Norway English expatriate sportspeople in Norway Rochdale A.F.C. players Eliteserien players Shrewsbury Town F.C. non-playing staff