Christian Hargreaves (born 12 May 1972) 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 le ...

who played as a

forward Forward is a relative direction, the opposite of backward. Forward may also refer to: People * Forward (surname) Sports * Forward (association football) * Forward (basketball), including: ** Point forward ** Power forward (basketball) ** Sm ...

and a

midfielder A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

from 1989 until 2010. He subsequently managed

Torquay United Torquay United Football Club is a professional football club based in Torquay, Devon, England. The team currently compete in the , the fifth tier of English football. They have played their home matches at Plainmoor since 1921 and are nicknamed ...

from January 2014 until June 2015, and

Yeovil Town Yeovil Town may refer to: * Yeovil Town F.C., an English football team based in Yeovil, Somerset * Yeovil Town L.F.C. Bridgwater United Women's Football Club are an English women's association football club based in Bridgwater, Somerset who wer ...

from May until October 2022.

Playing career

Hargreaves began as a youth team player at Everton but came back to his home town club

Grimsby Town Grimsby Town Football Club is a professional football club based in Cleethorpes, North East Lincolnshire, England, that in the 2022–23 season will compete in , the fourth tier of the English football league system, following the victory in ...

as a trainee with June 1988, turning professional in December 1989. He had a loan spell with

Scarborough Scarborough or Scarboro may refer to: People * Scarborough (surname) * Earl of Scarbrough Places Australia * Scarborough, Western Australia, suburb of Perth * Scarborough, New South Wales, suburb of Wollongong * Scarborough, Queensland, su ...

in March 1993, before leaving Grimsby to join

Hull City Hull City Association Football Club is a professional Association football, football club based in Kingston upon Hull, Hull, East Riding of Yorkshire, England, that compete in the . They have played home games at the MKM Stadium since moving ...

in July 1993 for a fee of £50,000. He moved to

West Bromwich Albion West Bromwich Albion Football Club () is an English professional football club based in West Bromwich, West Midlands, England. They compete in the EFL Championship, the second tier of English football. The club was formed in 1878 and has pla ...

on a free transfer in July 1995, but made just two first team appearances for the Baggies (both as a substitute). He joined

Hereford United Hereford United Football Club was an association football club based in Hereford, England. They played at Edgar Street for their entire history. They were nicknamed 'The Whites' or 'The Lilywhites', after their predominantly white kit, or 'The ...

on loan in February 1996 until the end of the season when he moved to Hereford on a free transfer. His next move was in July 1998 when he joined

Plymouth Argyle Plymouth Argyle Football Club is a professional football club based in the city of Plymouth, Devon, England. As of the 2021–22 season, the team are competing in League One, the third tier of English football. They have played at Home Park, ...

on a free transfer. He was a regular in the Argyle side, leaving to join

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 ...

on a free transfer in June 2000. He was Northampton's player of the year in the 2001–02 season, signing a new two-year contract in July 2002. Hargreaves made over 150 league appearances for Northampton, leaving to join

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 June 2004. Hargreaves joined

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 ...

on free transfer in July 2005, remaining with Oxford after their relegation to the Conference in 2006. He was released by Oxford in May 2007, signing for newly relegated

the following month. On 17 May 2009, he scored Torquay's first goal as he captained them in a 2–0 victory over

Cambridge United Cambridge United Football Club is a professional association football club based in the city of Cambridge, England. They compete in EFL League one , the 3rd tier of the English football league system. The club is based at the Abbey Stadium on N ...

in the

Conference National The National League, known as the Vanarama National League for sponsorship reasons, is the highest level of the National League System and fifth-highest of the overall English football league system. It is the highest league that is semi-profes ...

play-off final at Wembley. The victory earned them promotion 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 ...

. In January 2010 Hargreaves completed a return to Oxford United, where he won promotion out of the Conference for the second successive season.

Managerial career

On 6 January 2014, Hargreaves was appointed as

manager. Hargreaves was unable to keep Torquay in the Football League despite an upturn in form and performances. He was placed on gardening leave on 14 June 2015 after rejecting a pay cut. In September 2016, Hargreaves was appointed under-21 coach at

Bristol Rovers Bristol Rovers Football Club are a professional football club in Bristol, England. They compete in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. They play home matches at the Memorial Stadium in Horfield, they have been c ...

. Hargreaves left his role with Rovers by mutual consent in February 2022 having seen a number of his Development Squad players progress into the first team picture including

Alfie Kilgour Alfie George Alexander Kilgour (born 18 May 1998) is an English footballer who plays for Mansfield Town. Career Bristol Rovers Kilgour began his career in the academy at Bristol Rovers aged eight, and first featured in the matchday squad for the ...

Luca Hoole Luca Anthony Hoole (born 2 June 2002) is a Welsh professional footballer who plays as a full-back or centre-back for Bristol Rovers and the Wales national under-21 football team. Club career Bristol Rovers Hoole attended Ysgol Gyfun Gwynllyw, ...

and

Jed Ward Jed Macauley Ward (born 20 May 2003) is an English footballer who plays as a goalkeeper for Wealdstone on loan from Bristol Rovers. Club career Ward joined local Bristol side Bradley Stoke United before being scouted at a local chess club and jo ...

. On 18 May 2022, Hargreaves was appointed as 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

, signing a two-year contract. Following a poor start to the season, Hargreaves was sacked on 27 October 2022 with the club sitting in the relegation zone, one point from safety.

Personal life

Hargreaves was born in

Cleethorpes Cleethorpes () is a seaside town on the estuary of the Humber in North East Lincolnshire, England with a population of 38,372 in 2020. It has been permanently occupied since the 6th century, with fishing as its original industry, then develo ...

Lincolnshire Lincolnshire (abbreviated Lincs.) is a county in the East Midlands of England, with a long coastline on the North Sea to the east. It borders Norfolk to the south-east, Cambridgeshire to the south, Rutland to the south-west, Leicestershire ...

, and went to school at Lindsey School in Cleethorpes. His son Cameron is a professional footballer.

Managerial statistics

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Hargreaves, Chris 1972 births Living people People from Cleethorpes Footballers from Lincolnshire English footballers Association football midfielders Grimsby Town F.C. players Scarborough F.C. players Hull City A.F.C. players West Bromwich Albion F.C. players Hereford United F.C. players Plymouth Argyle F.C. players Northampton Town F.C. players Brentford F.C. players Oxford United F.C. players Torquay United F.C. players English Football League players National League (English football) players English football managers Torquay United F.C. managers Yeovil Town F.C. managers English Football League managers National League (English football) managers Exeter City F.C. non-playing staff Bristol Rovers F.C. non-playing staff Association football coaches