Andrew Todd Mutch (born 28 December 1963) 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 ...
who played as a
striker. During his playing career, he was widely known for his partnership with
Steve Bull
Stephen George Bull (born 28 March 1965 in Tipton, Dudley) is an English former professional footballer who is best remembered for his 13-year spell at Wolverhampton Wanderers. He played there from 1986 until his retirement from playing in 19 ...
at
Wolverhampton Wanderers
Wolverhampton Wanderers Football Club (), commonly known as Wolves, is a professional football club based in Wolverhampton, England, which compete in the . The club has played at Molineux Stadium since moving from Dudley Road in 1889. The club's ...
.
Playing career
Mutch was a trainee at
Liverpool
Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a populat ...
and
Everton but was not taken on as a professional footballer. He was playing for
non-league
Non-League football describes 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 specifically used to d ...
Southport
Southport is a seaside town in the Metropolitan Borough of Sefton in Merseyside, England. At the 2001 census, it had a population of 90,336, making it the eleventh most populous settlement in North West England.
Southport lies on the Iris ...
when then-
Third Division Wolverhampton Wanderers
Wolverhampton Wanderers Football Club (), commonly known as Wolves, is a professional football club based in Wolverhampton, England, which compete in the . The club has played at Molineux Stadium since moving from Dudley Road in 1889. The club's ...
signed him in February 1986. He made his Wolves debut on 8 March 1986 in a goalless draw with
Rotherham United
Rotherham United Football Club, nicknamed The Millers, is a professional football club based in Rotherham, South Yorkshire, England, which compete in the . The club's colours were initially yellow and black, but changed to red and white around 1 ...
, but despite scoring 7 goals in 15 games could not halt relegation to the bottom tier.
The following season saw the start of his prolific goalscoring partnership with
Steve Bull
Stephen George Bull (born 28 March 1965 in Tipton, Dudley) is an English former professional footballer who is best remembered for his 13-year spell at Wolverhampton Wanderers. He played there from 1986 until his retirement from playing in 19 ...
, who arrived in the November. The partnership propelled the team to the play-offs, where they narrowly missed out. In the
1987-88 season, Mutch and Bull scored 53 league goals between them and helped Wolves win
Fourth Division Championship. The following season the duo scored a further 58 (83 in all competitions), to fire Wolves to the
Third Division Championship and a second successive promotion. He would remain at Wolves for five more seasons, but despite his efforts and those of his colleagues he was unable to take them into the top flight.
Mutch also scored in Wolves' 2–0 victory over
Burnley
Burnley () is a town and the administrative centre of the wider Borough of Burnley in Lancashire, England, with a 2001 population of 73,021. It is north of Manchester and east of Preston, Lancashire, Preston, at the confluence of the River C ...
in the
Associate Members' Cup at
Wembley
Wembley () is a large suburbIn British English, "suburb" often refers to the secondary urban centres of a city. Wembley is not a suburb in the American sense, i.e. a single-family residential area outside of the city itself. in north-west Londo ...
in May 1988.
Mutch's goal-scoring prowess was recognised by a call-up to the
England B squad in 1989 – making three appearances against
Switzerland,
Norway
Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the ...
and
Iceland
Iceland ( is, Ísland; ) is a Nordic island country in the North Atlantic Ocean and in the Arctic Ocean. Iceland is the most sparsely populated country in Europe. Iceland's capital and largest city is Reykjavík, which (along with its s ...
. He also represented his country at under-21 level.
In August 1993, Mutch left
Molineux for
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 ...
new boys
Swindon Town
Swindon Town Football Club is a professional football club based in Swindon, Wiltshire, England. The team currently competes in , the fourth tier of the English football league system. The club has played home matches at the County Ground sin ...
in a £250,000 deal. His total record at Wolves was 106 goals in 288 appearances (13 as substitute). His first game for the
Wiltshire
Wiltshire (; abbreviated Wilts) is a historic and ceremonial county in South West England with an area of . It is landlocked and borders the counties of Dorset to the southwest, Somerset to the west, Hampshire to the southeast, Gloucestershire ...
side came against
Liverpool
Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a populat ...
in a 5–0 league defeat, but in his fifth game he made it onto the scoresheet for the first time with an equaliser in a 2–2 draw against also promoted
Newcastle United. He also scored a consolation goal later in September in a 4–2 defeat to
Manchester United at
Old Trafford, and would score a total of six league goals that season (eight in all competitions), but it wasn't enough to stop Swindon from going down with a mere five wins from 42 games and 100 goals conceded.
After two seasons at Swindon – including his one and only season in the top flight – Mutch was loaned to
Wigan Athletic
Wigan Athletic Football Club () is an English professional association football club based in Wigan, Greater Manchester, England. The team competes in the Championship, the second tier of the English football league system.
Founded in 1932, ...
but the move was not made permanent, and he instead moved to
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 ...
in early 1996. He spent two seasons at
Edgeley Park
Edgeley Park is a football stadium in Edgeley, Stockport, England. Built for rugby league club Stockport RFC in 1891, by 1903, the rugby club was defunct and Stockport County Football Club moved in.
Edgeley Park is an all-seater stadium hold ...
, which saw the club win promotion to the second tier and reach the semi-finals of the
League Cup
In several sports, most prominently association football, a league cup or secondary cup generally signifies a cup competition for which entry is restricted only to teams in a particular league. The first national association football tournament t ...
under
Dave Jones.
He left Stockport at the end of the
1997-98 season, signing for non-league
Barrow, and later returning to play a game for his former club
Southport
Southport is a seaside town in the Metropolitan Borough of Sefton in Merseyside, England. At the 2001 census, it had a population of 90,336, making it the eleventh most populous settlement in North West England.
Southport lies on the Iris ...
. He ended his playing career while working as a coach at
Telford United in 2000.
In the 1994/95 Premier League season his Merlin sticker was the most common amongst collectors. In 2013 Mutch was inducted into the
Wolverhampton Wanderers
Wolverhampton Wanderers Football Club (), commonly known as Wolves, is a professional football club based in Wolverhampton, England, which compete in the . The club has played at Molineux Stadium since moving from Dudley Road in 1889. The club's ...
Hall of Fame.
Managerial career
As his playing career had ended, Mutch transitioned into coaching, with spells as assistant manager of both
Telford United (while still playing) and
Morecambe (2001–2004). He joined
Vauxhall Motors
Vauxhall Motors LimitedCompany No. 00135767. Incorporated 12 May 1914, name changed from Vauxhall Motors Limited to General Motors UK Limited on 16 April 2008, reverted to Vauxhall Motors Limited on 18 September 2017. () is a British car compa ...
in July 2007 as assistant manager, but soon stepped up to become manager in October 2007 after the resignation of Carl Macauley. He left the club after their 6–0 defeat at home to
Kettering Town in March 2008, as Macauley returned to the club. In October 2008, he was appointed manager of
Burscough
Burscough () is a town and civil parish in West Lancashire in the ceremonial county of Lancashire, England. It is located to the north of Ormskirk and northwest of Skelmersdale.
The parish also includes the hamlet of Tarlscough and the Martin ...
of the
Conference North
The National League North, formerly Conference North, is a division of the National League in England, immediately below the National League division. Along with the National League South, it is at the second level of the National League Syst ...
. By early 2009 he had left the club.
On 8 May 2012, Mutch was announced as manager of
Northwich Victoria.
He left the club having resigned, along with player-coach
Adriano Rigoglioso on 3 November, with the club eighth in the table, and 21 points behind leaders Coalville Town
On 1 October 2013 Mutch was appointed as manager of Evo Stik Premier Club
Stafford Rangers after a successful interim period, but left by mutual consent on 2 January after a run of very poor results.
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mutch, Andy
1963 births
Living people
English footballers
England B international footballers
England under-21 international footballers
Premier League players
English Football League players
National League (English football) players
Southport F.C. players
Stockport County F.C. players
Swindon Town F.C. players
Wigan Athletic F.C. players
Wolverhampton Wanderers F.C. players
Footballers from Liverpool
English football managers
Vauxhall Motors F.C. managers
Burscough F.C. managers
Telford United F.C. players
Barrow A.F.C. players
Northwich Victoria F.C. managers
Association football forwards
Stafford Rangers F.C. managers