Christopher Richard Cornes (born 20 December 1986) is an English

football manager ''Football Manager'' (also known as ''Worldwide Soccer Manager'' in North America from 2004 to 2008) is a series of football management simulation video games developed by British developer Sports Interactive and published by Sega. The game bega ...

and former

player Player may refer to: Role or adjective * Player (game), a participant in a game or sport ** Gamer, a player in video and tabletop games ** Athlete, a player in sports ** Player character, a character in a video game or role playing game who ...

who is the manager of club

Worcester City Worcester City Football Club is an English football club based in Worcester, Worcestershire. The club play in the Midland Football League, the ninth tier of English football. Established in 1902, the club play at Claines Lane. Worcester City's ...

. Cornes played as a forward. A former

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 ...

trainee, he enjoyed a successful

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spell to

Port Vale Port Vale Football Club are a professional football club based in Burslem, Stoke-on-Trent, England, which compete in . Vale are the only English Football League club not to be named after a place; their name being a reference to the valley o ...

in 2005, having signed a professional

contract A contract is a legally enforceable agreement between two or more parties that creates, defines, and governs mutual rights and obligations between them. A contract typically involves the transfer of goods, services, money, or a promise to tr ...

at Wolves the previous year. He tested positive for

cocaine Cocaine (from , from , ultimately from Quechua: ''kúka'') is a central nervous system (CNS) stimulant mainly used recreationally for its euphoric effects. It is primarily obtained from the leaves of two Coca species native to South Ameri ...

in February 2006, and received a six-month ban from the game, before his contract was cancelled in September that year. He then joined

, before moving on to Telford United the following year. In 2008, he joined Stourport Swifts via Bromsgrove Rovers. The next year he was back at Worcester and Stourport Swifts, also playing on loan for Evesham United, before signing with Malvern Town via

Redditch United Redditch United Football Club is an English football club based in Redditch, Worcestershire. The club participates in the and play their home games at the V Trico Stadium. They are managed by former Captain and Assistant Manager Matt Clarke. ...

in summer 2010. He was imprisoned on drug dealing charges in 2015. He co-managed Worcester Raiders to the

West Midlands (Regional) League The West Midlands (Regional) League is an English association football competition for semi-professional and amateur teams based in the West Midlands county, Shropshire, Worcestershire, southern Staffordshire and northern Herefordshire. It has tw ...

Division One title at the end of the 2018–19 season. He left the club in October 2021 and was appointed Bewdley Town manager in January 2022, before taking charge of Worcester City ten months later.

Playing career

Wolverhampton Wanderers

Cornes attended

Pershore High School Pershore High School is a co-educational academy school, with a Sixth form, in Pershore, Worcestershire, England. It is the only high school in Pershore and also takes pupils from surrounding villages. It has a capacity of 1,273 pupils aged betwe ...

, before beginning his career as a trainee with

Championship In sport, a championship is a competition in which the aim is to decide which individual or team is the champion. Championship systems Various forms of competition can be referred to by the term championship. Title match system In this system ...

club

, turning professional in July 2004. He joined

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

in August 2005, making his debut on 28 August in Vale's goalless draw at

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 ...

– picking up the

man of the match In team sport, a player of the match or man of the match or woman of the match award is often given to the most outstanding player in a particular match. This can be a player from either team, although the player is generally chosen from the winn ...

award in the process. He scored both goals against

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 ...

on 28 September, and followed this by getting goals against

Walsall Walsall (, or ; locally ) is a market town and administrative centre in the West Midlands County, England. Historically part of Staffordshire, it is located north-west of Birmingham, east of Wolverhampton and from Lichfield. Walsall is th ...

and

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 ...

, leaving him with a streak of four goals in three games. He returned to Molineux at the end of November, having scored four times in eleven first team appearances for the "Valiants". In February 2006 Cornes tested positive for

and was given a six-month ban. Initially Wolves stood by him and allowed him to continue training. However, in September 2006 his

was cancelled by mutual consent.

Non-League

At the end of his ban in October 2006 he joined

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 ...

side

, and two months later signed until the end of the season. However, he fell out of favour and joined

Northern Premier League Premier Division The Northern Premier League is an English football league that was founded in 1968. It has four divisions: the Premier Division (which stands at level 7 of the English football league system), Division One East, Division One West and Division ...

side Telford United on loan in March 2007, helping Telford to

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to the Conference North via the play-offs. He turned down interest from a number of league clubs to sign a one-year contract with Telford in May 2007. He terminated his contract with Telford in January 2008, with the club and Cornes coming towards the end of a club disciplinary process. He joined Bromsgrove Rovers in the Southern League Premier Division later that month, aiming for a fresh start. The club were

relegated In sports leagues, promotion and relegation is a process where teams are transferred between multiple divisions based on their performance for the completed season. Leagues that use promotion and relegation systems are often called open leagues. ...

at the end of the 2007–08 campaign, and Cornes decided to leave when new manager Rod Brown took charge in October 2008. Later that month he joined Stourport Swifts in the Southern League Division One Central, along with his former Bromsgrove manager

Duane Darby Duane Darby (born 17 October 1973) is an English football manager and former player, who was previously the manager of side Redditch United. As a player, he spent most of his career playing as a forward. Darby has made over 400 senior appear ...

. In July 2009, he was released the Swifts, his fitness an issue. He promptly returned to old club Worcester City for pre-season training. Worcester loaned him out to Evesham United in August 2009, before he re-signed with Stourport six weeks into his loan spell. In June 2010 he joined Conference North side

. Two months later he switched clubs to

Midland Football Alliance The Midland Football Alliance was an English association football league for semi-professional teams. It covered Leicestershire, Shropshire, Staffordshire, Warwickshire, West Midlands, Worcestershire and also southern parts of Derbyshire and Not ...

outfit Malvern Town. At the end of the 2010–11 campaign Malvern were relegated to the

. He later played for Littleton in the Midland Combination.

Style of play

Stourport manager Neil Hunt described him as "a playmaker, he doesn't track back or run around but his quality on the ball is undeniable."

Management career

Cornes, alongside Karl Gormley, co-managed Worcester Raiders to promotion as champions of the

Division One in the 2018–19 season. The 2019–20 and 2020–21 seasons were abandoned due to the COVID-19 pandemic in England. He left the club seven games into the 2021–22 campaign, with club captain Danny Flowers suggesting on

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that he was "pushed out by the chairman". On 12 January 2022, Cornes was announced as the new manager of

Midland League The Midland Football League is an English football league that was founded in 2014 by the merger of the former Midland Alliance and Midland Combination. The league has four divisions that sit at levels 9–12 of the football pyramid. History T ...

Premier Division club Bewdley Town, who were then bottom of the table. Bewdley finished second-from-bottom at the end of the 2021–22 season, but were reprieved from relegation. On 12 November 2022, Cornes was installed as manager at

, also of the Midland League Premier Division.

Legal troubles

Cornes was arrested in May 2015 for possession of class A drugs with intent to supply and money laundering after £40,000 of high purity cocaine and "a substantial amount of cash" was found in the back of a car in

Worcester Worcester may refer to: Places United Kingdom * Worcester, England, a city and the county town of Worcestershire in England ** Worcester (UK Parliament constituency), an area represented by a Member of Parliament * Worcester Park, London, Engla ...

. He pleaded guilty and was sentenced to four years and four months in prison.

Career statistics

Source:

Honours

Playing

Telford United *

play-offs: 2007

Managerial

Worcester Raiders (co-manager) *

Division One: 2018–19

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cornes, Christopher 1986 births Living people Footballers from Worcester, England English men's footballers Men's association football midfielders Men's association football forwards English sportspeople in doping cases Doping cases in association football Wolverhampton Wanderers F.C. players Port Vale F.C. players Worcester City F.C. players AFC Telford United players Bromsgrove Rovers F.C. players Stourport Swifts F.C. players Evesham United F.C. players Redditch United F.C. players Malvern Town F.C. players Littleton F.C. players English Football League players Northern Premier League players Midland Football Alliance players Drug dealers English football managers Worcester Raiders F.C. managers Bewdley Town F.C. managers Worcester City F.C. managers