Christopher James Lucketti (born 28 September 1971) is an English
football manager and former professional player, who is assistant manager of
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.
...
.
He played as a
central defender
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 s ...
. In a playing career of over 600 games, Lucketti began his career at home town club
Rochdale
Rochdale ( ) is a large town in Greater Manchester, England, at the foothills of the South Pennines in the dale on the River Roch, northwest of Oldham and northeast of Manchester. It is the administrative centre of the Metropolitan Borough ...
in 1989 before moving to
Halifax Town
FC Halifax Town is a professional association football club based in Halifax, West Yorkshire, England. They currently compete in and play at the Shay. They replaced Halifax Town A.F.C., which went into administration in the 2007–08 season. ...
,
Bury- for whom he made over 250 appearances -
Preston North End,
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 ...
and
Sheffield United
Sheffield United Football Club is a professional football club in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England, which compete in the . They are nicknamed "the Blades" due to Sheffield's history of cutlery production. The team have played home games at ...
.
After his playing career ended, Lucketti moved into coaching and management with roles including assistant manager at
Scunthorpe United and
Salford City alongside
Graham Alexander, caretaker manager of
Fleetwood Town and manager at
Bury. He was most recently the assistant manager at
Motherwell working alongside
Graham Alexander.
Playing career
Halifax Town, Bury and Huddersfield Town
Born in
Littleborough, Lancashire, Lucketti started his professional career with
Halifax Town
FC Halifax Town is a professional association football club based in Halifax, West Yorkshire, England. They currently compete in and play at the Shay. They replaced Halifax Town A.F.C., which went into administration in the 2007–08 season. ...
where he made 78 appearances between 1991 and 1993. In 1993, he moved to
Bury; there he made a total of 235 first-team appearances, winning back-to-back promotions in the
1995–96 and
1996–97 seasons.
In 1999, he joined
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 ...
and made 76 appearances for the Terriers, scoring twice, against Scunthorpe United in the League Cup and Crystal Palace in the league.
Preston North End
Lucketti moved to
Preston North End in a £750,000 deal from Huddersfield at the start of the
2001–02 season. He played over 200 times for the Deepdale club. In the
2004–05 season, he formed formidable partnerships with both
Claude Davis
Claude Davis (born 6 March 1979) is a Jamaican former footballer who played as a defender. He previously played for Portmore United (Jamaica), Preston North End, Sheffield United, Derby County, Crystal Palace, Crawley Town and Rotherham Unite ...
and
Youl Mawene in the Preston defence, helping his team to the
Play-off
The playoffs, play-offs, postseason or finals of a sports league are a competition played after the regular season by the top competitors to determine the league champion or a similar accolade. Depending on the league, the playoffs may be eithe ...
final at
Millennium Stadium in Cardiff.
Sheffield United
In March 2006, Lucketti joined
Sheffield United
Sheffield United Football Club is a professional football club in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England, which compete in the . They are nicknamed "the Blades" due to Sheffield's history of cutlery production. The team have played home games at ...
for the remainder of the
2005–06 season,
making three first-team appearances before signing a one-year deal on 1 June 2006 with the Blades with both clubs agreeing to a fee of £250,000.
Lucketti made his first-team debut for the Blades whilst on loan, appearing in the 1–1 home draw with
Leeds United
Leeds United Football Club is a professional football club based in Leeds, West Yorkshire in England. The club competes in the Premier League, the highest level of England's football league system, and plays its home matches at Elland Road ...
on 18 April 2006.
On 13 January 2007, he made his Premiership debut at the age of 35 against
Portsmouth
Portsmouth ( ) is a port and city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. The city of Portsmouth has been a unitary authority since 1 April 1997 and is administered by Portsmouth City Council.
Portsmouth is the most dens ...
and went on to make a handful of Premiership appearances over the rest of the season. In July 2007, after being linked with a moved to
Hull City
Hull City Association Football Club is a professional football club based in Hull, East Riding of Yorkshire, England, that compete in the . They have played home games at the MKM Stadium since moving from Boothferry Park in 2002. The club's t ...
, he signed a new one-year contract.
Despite being re-signed by newly appointed manager
Bryan Robson
Bryan Robson OBE (born 11 January 1957) is an English football manager and former player. He began his career with West Bromwich Albion in 1972, where he amassed over 200 appearances and was club captain before moving to Manchester United in ...
, he featured even less for the Blades under the new boss. He scored what turned out to be his only United goal in the League Cup against MK Dons on 28 August 2007.
On 27 March 2008, he signed on loan until the end of the season for
Southampton
Southampton () is a port city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. It is located approximately south-west of London and west of Portsmouth. The city forms part of the South Hampshire built-up area, which also covers Po ...
, making four appearances for the Saints. Under the terms of his loan deal he was eligible to play in the final game of the season between Sheffield United and Southampton, a match which both sides desperately needed to win to try to finish in the play-offs and to avoid relegation respectively,
but Lucketti opted to declare himself unavailable for the match to avoid a conflict of interests.
Return to Huddersfield
On 4 July 2008, Lucketti signed a two-year deal at
Football League One side
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 ...
, seven years after leaving them to join
Preston North End. He returned on a free transfer after Sheffield United agreed to cancel the last year of his contract.
The following day, he was appointed
club captain
The team captain of an association football team, sometimes known as the skipper, is a team member chosen to be the on-pitch leader of the team; they are often one of the older or more experienced members of the squad, or a player that can heavi ...
of the Terriers. He made his second Town debut in the 1–1 draw against
Stockport County
Stockport County Football Club are a professional football club in Stockport, England, who compete in EFL League Two, the fourth tier of the English football league system. Formed in 1883 as Heaton Norris Rovers, they were renamed Stockport Co ...
at the
Galpharm Stadium
Kirklees Stadium (currently known due to sponsorship as the John Smith's Stadium) is a multi-use stadium in Huddersfield in West Yorkshire, England. Since 1994, it has been the home ground of football club Huddersfield Town and rugby league s ...
on 9 August 2008. On 25 October, he was sent off in a league match against
Peterborough United
Peterborough United Football Club is an English professional football club based in Peterborough, Cambridgeshire, England. The team compete in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. Peterborough have a long-standing ...
, where Town lost 4–0. He didn't reappear in the Town first team until 28 February 2009, when he came on as a substitute in the 1–1 draw against
Stockport County
Stockport County Football Club are a professional football club in Stockport, England, who compete in EFL League Two, the fourth tier of the English football league system. Formed in 1883 as Heaton Norris Rovers, they were renamed Stockport Co ...
at
Edgeley Park
Edgeley Park is a football stadium in Edgeley, Stockport, England. Built for rugby league club Stockport RFC in 1891, by 1903, the rugby club was defunct and Stockport County Football Club moved in.
Edgeley Park is an all-seater stadium hold ...
.
After being left out of
Lee Clark's squad for the whole of the
2009—10 season, he left the club on 17 May 2010.
Coaching and managerial career
Fleetwood Town
Lucketti moved into coaching and management with youth roles at
Preston North End F.C then as Assistant Manager working alongside
Graham Alexander at
Fleetwood Town. After Alexander's dismissal. Lucketti was asked to stay on as Caretaker Manager, becoming Assistant Manager again on the appointment of Steven Pressley in October 2015.
Scunthorpe United
In June 2016, Lucketti moved to work with Alexander again at
Scunthorpe United with the team finishing third in
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 ...
in 2016-17.
Bury
On 22 November 2017, Lucketti was approached to become manager at
Bury replacing
Lee Clark. When Lucketti took over, Bury were in the relegation zone and suffering from a number of injuries His contract, along with that of assistant Joe Parkinson, was terminated by the club on 15 January 2018
Salford City
After working with
Graham Alexander as Assistant Manager at both
Fleetwood Town and
Scunthorpe United, Lucketti was appointed his Assistant Manager for a third time at
Salford City in May 2018 During their time at
Salford City, Alexander and Lucketti reached the EFL Trophy Final and achieved back to back promotions before their departure in the early part of the 2020-21 season.
Motherwell
On 8 January 2021, Lucketti was announced as assistant manager of
Motherwell alongside
Graham Alexander with whom he was worked at a number of clubs.
Milton Keynes Dons
On 27 May 2023, Lucketti once again linked up with Graham Alexander as his new assistant head coach 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 ...
.
Bradford City
On 6 November 2023, Alexander and Lucketti were announced as the new manager and assistant manager at
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.
...
.
Managerial statistics
References
External links
Official profile at HTFCOfficial profile at SFC
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lucketti, Chris
1971 births
Living people
People from Littleborough, Greater Manchester
Footballers from Greater Manchester
Sportspeople from the Metropolitan Borough of Rochdale
English men's footballers
Men's association football central defenders
Rochdale A.F.C. players
Stockport County F.C. players
Halifax Town A.F.C. players
Huddersfield Town A.F.C. players
Bury F.C. players
Preston North End F.C. players
Sheffield United F.C. players
Southampton F.C. players
Fleetwood Town F.C. managers
Bury F.C. managers
Premier League players
English Football League players
English Football League managers
Scunthorpe United F.C. non-playing staff
Salford City F.C. non-playing staff
Motherwell F.C. non-playing staff
Milton Keynes Dons F.C. non-playing staff
Bradford City A.F.C. non-playing staff
English football managers
English people of Italian descent