Andrew Charles Thorn (born 12 November 1966) is an English football manager and 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 ...

. He was most recently the manager of

Kidderminster Harriers Kidderminster Harriers Football Club is a professional association football club based in Kidderminster, Worcestershire, England. The team compete in the National League North, at the sixth tier of the English football league system. Formed in ...

. As a player, he was a defender from 1984 until 1998. Whilst with Wimbledon, he was part of the side that achieved the famous victory over

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 the

1988 FA Cup Final The 1988 FA Cup Final was the 107th final of the FA Cup. It took place on Saturday, 14 May 1988 at Wembley Stadium and was contested between Wimbledon and Liverpool, the dominant English club side of the 1980s and newly crowned league champio ...

. He also played in the

1990 FA Cup Final The 1990 FA Cup Final was a football match played to determine to winners of the 1989–90 FA Cup. It was contested by Manchester United and Crystal Palace at Wembley Stadium, London, England. The match finished 3–3 after extra time. Bryan Ro ...

for

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 ...

, although this time ended up on the losing side. He also played for Newcastle United, Hearts and

Tranmere Rovers Tranmere Rovers Football Club is a professional association football club based in Birkenhead, Merseyside, England. The team compete in , the fourth tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1884 as Belmont Football Club, they ado ...

Club career

Thorn began a playing career with Wimbledon in 1984, playing as a traditional English

centre half In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield position whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Centre-backs are usually positioned in pairs, with one full-back on either ...

in the Crazy Gang, alongside

Dennis Wise Dennis Frank Wise (born 16 December 1966) is an English former professional football player and manager who played as a central midfielder. He is the president of Serie B side Como 1907. He is best known for having spent the majority of his ca ...

Lawrie Sanchez Lawrence Philip Sanchez (born 22 October 1959) is a Northern Irish football manager and former international footballer. The defining moment of his playing career came in the 1988 FA Cup Final, when he scored the winning goal for Wimbledon a ...

and

Vinnie Jones Vincent Peter Jones (born 5 January 1965) is a British actor, presenter, and former professional footballer. Jones played professionally as a defensive midfielder from 1984 to 1999, notably for Wimbledon, Leeds United, Sheffield United, Chels ...

. During his initial period at the club he played 107 league games, scoring twice, and also winning five

England U21 The England national under-21 football team, also known as England under-21s or England U21(s), is considered to be the feeder team for the England national football team. This team is for England players aged under 21 at the start of the calen ...

caps. One of his league goals for the Dons was their first in the First Division after promotion in 1986, a consolation goal in a 3–1 opening day defeat to Manchester City at

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

. Thorn left Wimbledon in 1988 to play for Newcastle United. Although he stayed at

St James' Park St James' Park is a football stadium in Newcastle upon Tyne, England. It is the home of Premier League club Newcastle United F.C. With a seating capacity of 52,305 seats, it is the eighth largest football stadium in England. St James' Pa ...

for only one year, he was nevertheless a mainstay in the starting line-up during the 1988–89 season, before moving on to

in November 1989, where he is now remembered as a legend. He was credited with improving a poor

defence Defense or defence may refer to: Tactical, martial, and political acts or groups * Defense (military), forces primarily intended for warfare * Civil defense, the organizing of civilians to deal with emergencies or enemy attacks * Defense indus ...

, helping secure Palace's top-flight status for four successive seasons. He appeared in Palace's first Cup Final; the

. He returned to Wimbledon in 1994, playing 37 league games in two seasons before moving to Scottish Premier League side Heart of Midlothian, where he played a handful of games, and then finally to

, before retiring prematurely in 1998 due to a knee injury, aged 31.

Managerial career

Thorn joined

Coventry City Coventry City Football Club is a professional association football club based in Coventry, West Midlands, England. The team currently compete in the Championship, the second tier of the English football league system. The club is nicknamed t ...

as chief scout before becoming caretaker-manager alongside Steve Harrison after

Aidy Boothroyd Adrian Neil Boothroyd (born 8 February 1971) is an English former footballer who is currently the manager of Indian Super League club Jamshedpur. At club level, he was manager of Watford from 2005 to 2008. During his time with Watford, he was r ...

's departure. Coventry enjoyed a successful close to the season under his leadership, losing only one game against

Middlesbrough Middlesbrough ( ) is a town on the southern bank of the River Tees in North Yorkshire, England. It is near the North York Moors national park. It is the namesake and main town of its local borough council area. Until the early 1800s, the a ...

. His first game as the official manager of the club was the final home game of the 2010–2011 season against

Reading Reading is the process of taking in the sense or meaning of letters, symbols, etc., especially by sight or touch. For educators and researchers, reading is a multifaceted process involving such areas as word recognition, orthography (spelling ...

. However, the 2011–2012 season saw Coventry relegated to the Football League First Division following a home defeat by

Doncaster Rovers Doncaster Rovers Football Club is a professional association football club based in Doncaster, South Yorkshire, England. The team compete in League Two, the fourth tier of the English football league system. The club play their home games at ...

on 21 April 2012. Thorn claimed an inability to buy new players and conflict at boardroom level had been major contributors towards Coventry's relegation. The club agreed to keep Thorn to oversee their promotion campaign back to the Championship for the forthcoming 2012–13 season. However, Thorn was sacked as manager on 26 August 2012 after a 2–2 home draw against

Bury Bury may refer to: *The burial of human remains *-bury, a suffix in English placenames Places England * Bury, Cambridgeshire, a village * Bury, Greater Manchester, a town, historically in Lancashire ** Bury (UK Parliament constituency) (1832–19 ...

in which Coventry lost a two-goal advantage in the second half and were booed off at the end of the game. On 8 January 2014, Thorn was appointed manager of

. On 5 March, after less than two months in the role, Thorn was sacked.

Personal life

Thorn has a daughter, Olivia, and son, Jack, who plays for

Aberystwyth Town Aberystwyth Town Football Club ( cy, Clwb Pêl-Droed Tref Aberystwyth) is a Welsh semi-professional football team, currently playing in the Cymru Premier, the top tier of football in Wales. They are the only top flight men's football team in Ce ...

as a midfielder.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Thorn, Andy 1966 births Living people Footballers from Carshalton English men's footballers Men's association football defenders Wimbledon F.C. players Newcastle United F.C. players Crystal Palace F.C. players Heart of Midlothian F.C. players Tranmere Rovers F.C. players English Football League players Premier League players Scottish Football League players England men's under-21 international footballers English football managers Coventry City F.C. managers Kidderminster Harriers F.C. managers English Football League managers National League (English football) managers