Christopher Hutchings (born 5 July 1957) is an English former

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 ...

and

manager Management (or managing) is the administration of an organization, whether it is a business, a nonprofit organization, or a government body. It is the art and science of managing resources of the business. Management includes the activities ...

. He played for a number of clubs including

Chelsea Chelsea or Chelsey may refer to: Places Australia * Chelsea, Victoria Canada * Chelsea, Nova Scotia * Chelsea, Quebec United Kingdom * Chelsea, London, an area of London, bounded to the south by the River Thames ** Chelsea (UK Parliament consti ...

and played more than 100 games for

Brighton & Hove Albion Brighton & Hove Albion Football Club (), commonly referred to simply as Brighton, is an English professional football club based in the city of Brighton and Hove. They compete in the Premier League, the top tier of the English football league ...

and

Huddersfield Town Huddersfield Town Association Football Club is a professional football club based in Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, England, which compete in the . The team have played home games at the Kirklees Stadium since moving from Leeds Road in 1994. Th ...

. He has managed in the

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 ...

with

Bradford City Bradford City Association Football Club is an English professional football club in Bradford, West Yorkshire. The team competes in League Two, the fourth tier of the English football league system and are currently managed by Mark Hughes. ...

and

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, ...

, while his most recent tenure was at

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 ...

. He left

Ipswich Town Ipswich Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in Ipswich, Suffolk, England. They play in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. The club was founded in 1878 but did not turn profession ...

in November 2012 following

Paul Jewell Paul Jewell (born 28 September 1964) is an English football manager and former player, who was most recently director of football at Swindon Town. Jewell began his playing career with Liverpool, continued at Wigan Athletic and concluded in a ...

's departure.

Playing career

As a player, Hutchings spent time at Harrow Borough,

and

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 ...

. He made a total of 468 senior league appearances. Chris Hutchings was a part-time player (and former bricklayer) with Harrow Borough. Chelsea signed him in July 1980 for £5,000. He made his debut in October 1980 against Cardiff City, playing midfield, and scored the winning goal after just 15 mins. He converted to full-back, where his best assets were his aggressive approach and his speed. Chelsea transferred him to Brighton and Hove Albion for £50,000 in November 1983.

Management career

Bradford City

His first coaching role came at Rotherham, where he was youth team coach. He moved to

as assistant manager under

Chris Kamara Christopher Kamara (born 25 December 1957) is an English former professional football player and manager who worked as a presenter and football analyst at Sky Sports from 1992 to 2022. As a player, he was known as a tough-tackling midfielder. H ...

and continued in the role under

. In his time at Bradford, the club was promoted from the

Second Division In sport, the Second Division, also called Division 2 or Division II is usually the second highest division of a league, and will often have promotion and relegation with divisions above and below. Following the rise of Premier League style compet ...

to the

. Hutchings took charge as Bradford's manager during the 2000–01 season after Jewell moved to

Sheffield Wednesday Sheffield Wednesday Football Club is a professional association football club based in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England. The team competes in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. Formed in 1867 as an offshoot ...

. He took Bradford to the semi-finals of the

Intertoto Cup The UEFA Intertoto Cup (from la, Inter, 'between' + german: toto, 'betting pool'),Most precisely, from ( football pool); cf. often abbreviated and more known in the German-speaking world as UI Cup and originally called the International Foo ...

and won the club's first Premier League home game of the season with a 2–0 win over

. However, he lasted a total of only 21 competitive games, and his win against Chelsea was the only one in 12 Premier League games, before being sacked on 6 November 2000.

Wigan Athletic

Hutchings linked up again with Jewell as assistant manager now at

in 2001. In May 2007, he succeeded Jewell as manager for a second time. Wigan made an impressive start to the season, going top for a short period in August. However, after six consecutive defeats Wigan sacked Hutchings on 5 November 2007 after the club dropped into the Premier League relegation zone after just 12 Premiership games — almost seven years to the day he was sacked at Bradford. His last game in charge was a 2–0 home defeat to Chelsea.

Derby County

He joined

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 ...

on a voluntary basis in January 2008 to assist caretaker manager Chris Brass, but left on 24 April 2008 to link up with Paul Jewell for a third time, this time as his assistant with

Derby County Derby County Football Club () is a professional association football club based in Derby, Derbyshire, England. In 2022, it was announced that DCFC was acquired by Clowes Developments (UK) Ltd, a Derbyshire-based property group. Founded in 188 ...

. When Jewell resigned as Derby manager in December 2008 after a 1–0 defeat left them 18th in the

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 ...

table, Hutchings was once again appointed caretaker manager. Hutchings' only match in charge of Derby was an

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 ...

third round tie away at

Forest Green Rovers Forest Green Rovers Football Club are a professional football club based in Nailsworth, Gloucestershire, England. The team compete in , the third tier of the English football league system, and have played their home games at The New Lawn since ...

, which Derby won 4–3 despite being behind 2–0 and 3–2 during the match, before Derby appointed

Nigel Clough Nigel Howard Clough (born 19 March 1966) is an English professional football manager and former player who is currently the manager of Mansfield Town. Playing predominantly as a forward, but later in his career used as a midfielder, Clough was ...

, son of former Derby manager

Brian Clough Brian Howard Clough ( ; 21 March 1935 – 20 September 2004) was an English football player and manager, primarily known for his successes as a manager with Derby County and Nottingham Forest. He is one of four managers to have won the Engl ...

, as their new manager. Hutchings immediately left the club.

Walsall

On 20 January 2009, he was named manager of

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 ...

club

with Martin O'Connor as his assistant taking over from Jimmy Mullen, who had been sacked earlier in the month. The side were 13th in the table. Hutchings' started his Walsall career with a 1–1 home league draw with

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 'Th ...

. On 4 January 2011, Hutchings was sacked as manager of Walsall along with assistant manager Martin O'Connor.

Ipswich Town

Hutchings was named as Jewell's assistant at

on 17 January 2011. Hutchings was named Ipswich Town caretaker manager after Paul Jewell left the club in October 2012.

Subsequent clubs

In July 2013, Hutchings was named as assistant manager to Lee Ebden at

Northern Premier League Division One South 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 Divisio ...

side Market Drayton Town. He left the club on 8 November 2013. He became a coach at

Shrewsbury Town Shrewsbury Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in Shrewsbury, Shropshire, England. The team competes in League One, the third tier of English football. The club plays its home games at the New Meadow, having mo ...

in February 2014, leaving in March 2014 to join Barnsley, where he worked until February 2015.

Personal life

Outside football, Hutchings has also worked as a bricklayer and a second-hand car salesman.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Hutchings, Chris 1957 births Living people Sportspeople from Winchester English footballers English football managers Association football defenders Harrow Borough F.C. players Chelsea F.C. players Brighton & Hove Albion F.C. players Huddersfield Town A.F.C. players Walsall F.C. players Rotherham United F.C. players Bradford City A.F.C. managers Wigan Athletic F.C. managers Derby County F.C. managers Derby County F.C. non-playing staff Ipswich Town F.C. managers Walsall F.C. managers Premier League managers English Football League managers Ipswich Town F.C. non-playing staff Barnsley F.C. non-playing staff Bury F.C. non-playing staff Footballers from Hampshire Association football coaches