Andrew John Woodman (born 11 August 1971) is an English football manager and former player, who played as a

goalkeeper In many team sports which involve scoring goals, the goalkeeper (sometimes termed goaltender, netminder, GK, goalie or keeper) is a designated player charged with directly preventing the opposing team from scoring by blocking or intercepting o ...

. He is currently manager of Vanarama National League club

Bromley Bromley is a large town in Greater London, England, within the London Borough of Bromley. It is south-east of Charing Cross, and had an estimated population of 87,889 as of 2011. Originally part of Kent, Bromley became a market town, char ...

. Woodman made league appearances for 10 clubs in England during his playing career. Following his retirement, aside from his managerial career, he has been a goalkeeping coach at several

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 Foo ...

clubs, including

Newcastle United Newcastle United Football Club is an English professional football club, based in Newcastle upon Tyne, that plays in the Premier League – the top flight of English football. The club was founded in 1892 by the merger of Newcastle East End ...

West Ham United West Ham United Football Club is an English professional football club that plays its home matches in Stratford, East London. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football. The club plays at the London Stadium, hav ...

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 ...

, and

Arsenal An arsenal is a place where arms and ammunition are made, maintained and repaired, stored, or issued, in any combination, whether privately or publicly owned. Arsenal and armoury (British English) or armory (American English) are mostly ...

Playing career

Woodman spent the first five years of his career playing at

without making a first team appearance. In 1994, he moved to

Exeter City Exeter City Football Club is a professional association football club based in Exeter, Devon, England. The team play in , the third tier of the English football league system. Known as "the Grecians", the origin of their nickname is subject to ...

making his debut at Lincoln City on the opening day of the season, but his time at St. James' Park was cut short following red cards in two successive matches. He was first sent off against

Leyton Orient Leyton Orient Football Club is a professional football club based in Leyton, East London, England, who compete in , the fourth tier of the English football league system. They are the second oldest football club in London to play at a professio ...

for violent conduct and then a week later for deliberate handball 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 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 ...

. In both games, Woodman was replaced by 15-year old substitute Ross Bellotti, who remains the youngest goalkeeper ever to appear in the football league or

proper. Woodman moved to

Northampton Town Northampton Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in the town of Northampton, England. The team plays in , the fourth tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1897, the club competed in the Midland ...

in March 1995 where he is regarded as something of a cult figure, being granted a testimonial by the club in summer 2007. He was loaned to

Brentford Brentford is a suburban town in West London, England and part of the London Borough of Hounslow. It lies at the confluence of the River Brent and the Thames, west of Charing Cross. Its economy has diverse company headquarters buildings whi ...

in January 1999 and then moved there on a free transfer. After loans spells at

Southend United Southend United Football Club is a professional association football club based in Southend-on-Sea, Essex, England. As of the 2022–23 season, the team competes in the National League, the fifth tier of English football. Southend are known as ...

and

in 2000, he signed permanently for

for the start of the 2001–02 season. Woodman found himself loaned out again, this time to

Oxford United Oxford United Football Club is a professional football club in the city of Oxford, England. The team plays in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. The chairman is Grant Ferguson, the manager is Karl Robinson and t ...

in January 2002, before signing permanently for them when the loan ended in March. Woodman was released by

in 2004 and then played for

Stevenage Borough Stevenage Football Club (known as Stevenage Borough Football Club until 2010) is a professional association football club based in the town of Stevenage, Hertfordshire, England. The team competes in EFL League Two, League Two, the fourth tier o ...

, Redbridge and

Thurrock Thurrock () is a unitary authority area with borough status and unparished area in the ceremonial county of Essex, England. It is part of the London commuter belt and an area of regeneration within the Thames Gateway redevelopment zone. The l ...

. His final match for

was a 4-2

Conference South The National League South, formerly Conference South, is one of the second divisions of the National League in England, immediately below the top division National League. Along with National League North, it is in the second level of the N ...

play-off defeat against Eastbourne Borough on 3 May 2005. Woodman then briefly returned to 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, the league is the oldest such competition in the world. It was the top-level football league in Engla ...

with

Rushden & Diamonds Rushden & Diamonds Football Club was an association football club based in Irthlingborough, Northamptonshire, England. Nicknamed "The Diamonds", the club played at Nene Park. The club's main rivals were county neighbours Kettering Town. The cl ...

, making the final appearance of his career in a 2–1 defeat at

Barnet Barnet may refer to: People *Barnet (surname) * Barnet (given name) Places United Kingdom *Chipping Barnet or High Barnet, commonly known as Barnet, one of three focal towns of the borough below. *East Barnet, a district of the borough below; an ...

on 29 October 2005.

Coaching career

Coaching

In spring of 2006 he was appointed assistant manager at

but left the club after they were relegated from the

at the end of that season to join his former teammate

Alan Pardew Alan Scott Pardew (born 18 July 1961) is an English football manager and former professional footballer, who is the current manager of Greek Super League club Aris. Pardew's highest achievements in the sport include reaching the FA Cup Final th ...

as a coach. When Pardew moved to Charlton Athletic, Woodman followed him in the summer of 2007 as goalkeeping coach. In December 2010 he linked up with Pardew again at

as goalkeeping coach and on 31 July 2015, he joined

in the same position to work under Pardew again. On 9 January 2017, following Pardew's departure and the appointment of

Sam Allardyce Samuel Allardyce (; born 19 October 1954), colloquially referred to as Big Sam, is an English association football, football manager and former professional player. Allardyce made 578 league and cup appearances in a 21-year career spent most ...

as manager of

, it was announced that Woodman had left the club.

Management

Whitehawk

Woodman was appointed to his first managerial role on 1 February 2017 at

National League South The National League South, formerly Conference South, is one of the second divisions of the National League in England, immediately below the top division National League. Along with National League North, it is in the second level of the N ...

Whitehawk Whitehawk is a suburb in the east of Brighton, England, south of Bevendean and north of Brighton Marina. The area is a large, modern housing estate built in a downland dry valley historically known as Whitehawk Bottom. The estate was originally ...

. He left the club later that year after ensuring National League South safety.

Bromley

On 29 March 2021, he left his position as Head of Goalkeeping at

and was appointed as the new manager of

National League The National League of Professional Baseball Clubs, known simply as the National League (NL), is the older of two leagues constituting Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States and Canada, and the world's oldest extant professional team s ...

club

. After guiding the club to the play-offs on the final day of the season, Woodman was awarded the league's Manager of the Month award for May 2021. On 18 January 2022, Bromley announced that they had received an official approach from

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 Gillingham for permission to speak to Woodman regarding their managerial vacancy. Bromley went on to say that permission had been granted for both parties to speak. On 30 January Bromley announced that Woodman would stay on as manager after turning down the approach from Gillingham. Woodman won his first trophy as a manager, the

FA Trophy The Football Association Challenge Trophy, commonly known as the FA Trophy, is a men's football knockout cup competition run by and named after the English Football Association and competed for primarily by semi-professional teams. The compet ...

, in May 2022.

Personal life

Woodman's son, Freddie, is a goalkeeper with Preston North End. Gareth Southgate is Freddie's godfather. Woodman co-authored a book ''Woody & Nord: A Football Friendship'' with

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

manager

Gareth Southgate Gareth Southgate (born 3 September 1970) is an English professional football manager and former player who played as a defender and midfielder. He has been the manager of the England national team since 2016. Southgate won the League Cup w ...

about their close friendship which grew from their time together as youth players at

, followed by their wildly differing fortunes in the professional game. Southgate's nickname Nord was given to him by

Wally Downes Walter John Downes (born 9 June 1961) is an English professional football manager and former player who played as a midfielder. He was most recently manager of AFC Wimbledon. As a footballer, Downes played the majority of his career for Wimbled ...

, who thought he sounded like

Denis Norden Denis Mostyn Norden (6 February 1922 – 19 September 2018) was an English comedy writer and television presenter. After an early career working in cinemas, he began scriptwriting during the Second World War. From 1948 to 1959, he co-wrote the ...

. The book won the best sports autobiography category at the 2004 British Sports Book Awards.

Managerial statistics

Honours

Player

;

Football League Third Division The Football League Third Division was the third tier of the English football league system in 1920–21 and again from 1958 until 1992. When the FA Premier League was formed, the division become the fourth tier level. In 2004, following the f ...

play-offs (1):

1997 File:1997 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The movie set of ''Titanic'', the highest-grossing movie in history at the time; ''Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone'', is published; Comet Hale-Bopp passes by Earth and becomes one of t ...

;

Winner (1): 1998–99

Manager

Bromley *

: 2021–22 Individual *

Manager of the Month: May 2021

References

External links

Profile
a
UpThePosh! The Peterborough United Database
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Woodman, Andy 1971 births Living people English footballers Crystal Palace F.C. players Exeter City F.C. players Northampton Town F.C. players Brentford F.C. players Peterborough United F.C. players Southend United F.C. players Colchester United F.C. players Oxford United F.C. players Stevenage F.C. players Thurrock F.C. players Redbridge F.C. players Rushden & Diamonds F.C. players Footballers from Camberwell English Football League players Association football goalkeepers West Ham United F.C. non-playing staff Charlton Athletic F.C. non-playing staff Newcastle United F.C. non-playing staff Crystal Palace F.C. non-playing staff Arsenal F.C. non-playing staff Whitehawk F.C. managers Bromley F.C. managers English football managers Association football coaches Association football goalkeeping coaches