Damian Matthew (born 23 September 1970) is an English

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

coach, former professional footballer and television pundit, who is currently first-team coach at

Rangers A Ranger is typically someone in a military/paramilitary or law enforcement role specializing in patrolling a given territory, called “ranging”. The term most often refers to: * Park ranger or forest ranger, a person charged with protecting and ...

. As a player, he was 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 1999, notably 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 Foo ...

with

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

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 * ...

. He also played in 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 ...

for

Luton Town Luton Town Football Club () is a professional association football club based in the town of Luton, Bedfordshire, England, that competes in the Championship, the second tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1885, it is nicknam ...

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 ...

Burnley Burnley () is a town and the administrative centre of the wider Borough of Burnley in Lancashire, England, with a 2001 population of 73,021. It is north of Manchester and east of Preston, at the confluence of the River Calder and River Bru ...

and

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 ...

. After his playing days were over, Matthew was briefly a pundit for

Chelsea TV Chelsea TV was a British subscription based sports television channel, dedicated to the fans of the English Premier League football club, Chelsea. The channel first launched in August 2001 on Sky Digital. The station was registered with Ofcom a ...

. He has also worked on the coaching staff at Chelsea, Crystal Palace,

Charlton Athletic Charlton Athletic Football Club is an English professional football club based in Charlton, south-east London, which compete in . Their home ground is The Valley, where the club have played since 1919. They have also played at The Mount in C ...

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 ...

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 ...

Welling United Welling United Football Club is a professional football club, based in Welling in the London Borough of Bexley, England. The club's first team play in the National League South, at the sixth tier of English football. History Welling United Foot ...

and

Queens Park Rangers Queens Park Rangers Football Club, commonly abbreviated to QPR, is a professional football club based in Shepherd's Bush, West London, England, which compete in the . After a nomadic early existence, they have played home matches at Loftus Ro ...

Playing career

He began his professional playing career as a midfielder for

in the early 1990s, playing 21 league games and being issued with the number 8 when

FA 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 ...

squad numbers were introduced in 1993–94. He next played for

but once again his first team chances were limited. He then played for

and

before retiring from playing professionally in 1999 at the age of 29, due to injury.

Coaching career

Matthew is a

UEFA Union of European Football Associations (UEFA ; french: Union des associations européennes de football; german: Union der europäischen Fußballverbände) is one of six continental bodies of governance in association football. It governs f ...

qualified coach and, after retiring as a player, became a scout for

, before returning to Chelsea as a Youth Development Officer. In 2003, he became assistant manager of

Bedford Town Bedford Town Football Club is a football club based in the Borough of Bedford, England. The club are currently members of the and play at the Eyrie in Cardington, a village on the outskirts of Bedford. They are full members of the Football As ...

. He joined

in 2006, as the U18s coach, and, in 2007, he shared this role with coaching at

Maidstone United Maidstone United Football Club is a professional football club based in Maidstone, Kent, England. The team compete in the National League, at the fifth tier of the English football league system. The current club filled the void left by the ol ...

. He became Charlton's Reserve Development Coach in 2008, before later also becoming Academy Development Coach in 2010. In January 2011, he was promoted to first-team coach by new manager

Chris Powell Christopher George Robin Powell (born 8 September 1969) is an English football coach and former player, who is currently head of coaching at Premier League club Tottenham Hotspur's Academy and a coach for the England national team. As a left b ...

. Matthew maintained his place through the departures of Powell,

José Riga José Riga (born 30 July 1957) is a Belgian former football player and manager. Managerial career Charlton Athletic Riga was appointed as manager of Charlton Athletic on 11 March 2014, one day after the sacking of Chris Powell, who had been dism ...

and

Bob Peeters Bob Peeters (born 10 January 1974) is a Belgian football manager and former player currently manager of Eerste Divisie club Helmond Sport. Club career Lierse Noted for his large stature, measuring 1.96 m, Peeters grew up in Wommelgem, Antwerp ...

, but he was sacked on 24 October 2015 at the same time as his final manager,

Guy Luzon Guy Luzon ( he, גיא לוזון; born 7 August 1975) is an Israeli former footballer and manager, currently managing the Israel national under-21 football team. Club career Guy Luzon was a graduate of the Maccabi Petah Tikva youth program, joi ...

, was relieved of his duties. Matthew joined

as first-team coach in April 2016, under manager Mark Goldberg. He left the club on 14 September 2016, after only 10 matches of the 2016-17 season. In January 2022 he joined Millwall FC's Youth Academy as Head of Coaching, taking over from Kenny Brown On 18 June 2022, Matthew was appointed assistant coach at

, under Michael Beale. However, five months later he left the club alongside Beale to join

Scottish Premiership The Scottish Premiership, known as the cinch Premiership for sponsorship reasons, is the top division of the Scottish Professional Football League (SPFL), the league competition for men's professional football clubs in Scotland. The Scottish ...

side

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Matthew, Damian 1970 births Living people English footballers England men's under-21 international footballers Chelsea F.C. players Luton Town F.C. players Crystal Palace F.C. players Bristol Rovers F.C. players Burnley F.C. players Northampton Town F.C. players Premier League players Wolverhampton Wanderers F.C. non-playing staff Chelsea F.C. non-playing staff Charlton Athletic F.C. non-playing staff Southend United F.C. non-playing staff Rangers F.C. non-playing staff Footballers from Islington (district) Men's association football midfielders