David Hockaday (born 9 November 1957) is an English 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 is currently Head of Male Football at
South Gloucestershire and Stroud College
South Gloucestershire and Stroud College, also known as SGS College, is a college of further education and higher education based in South Gloucestershire and Stroud, England. It was established in February 2012 following the merger of Filton Co ...
. He has previously worked as a manager at
Leeds United,
Forest Green Rovers,
Kidderminster Harriers
Kidderminster Harriers Football Club is a professional association football club based in Kidderminster, Worcestershire, England. The team compete in the National League North, at the sixth tier of the English football league system. Formed in ...
and in a caretaker capacity at
Coventry City
Coventry City Football Club is a professional association football club based in Coventry, West Midlands (county), West Midlands, England. The team currently compete in the EFL Championship, Championship, the second tier of the English footbal ...
.
A 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 ...
, Hockaday played for
Blackpool
Blackpool is a seaside resort in Lancashire, England. Located on the North West England, northwest coast of England, it is the main settlement within the Borough of Blackpool, borough also called Blackpool. The town is by the Irish Sea, betw ...
,
Hull City,
Shrewsbury Town,
Stoke City
Stoke City Football Club is a professional football club based in Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, England, which competes in the . Founded as Stoke Ramblers in 1863, it changed its name to Stoke in 1878 and then to Stoke City in 1925 after Stoke ...
and
Swindon Town. as a
right-back
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 ...
. After his playing career ended he helped establish a football academy at Cirencester, as well as spending time as first team coach at
Watford
Watford () is a town and borough in Hertfordshire, England, 15 miles northwest of Central London, on the River Colne.
Initially a small market town, the Grand Junction Canal encouraged the construction of paper-making mills, print works, a ...
and as youth team coach at
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 ...
. He also spent four years as manager of
Conference Premier
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-profess ...
side
Forest Green Rovers.
In June 2014, Hockaday became the new head coach of
Leeds United. On 28 August 2014, his contract was terminated by the owner of Leeds. During February 2015, Hockaday also had a short spell as caretaker manager of
Coventry City
Coventry City Football Club is a professional association football club based in Coventry, West Midlands (county), West Midlands, England. The team currently compete in the EFL Championship, Championship, the second tier of the English footbal ...
. In October 2015, it was announced Hockaday would take over as head coach at
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 ...
side
Kidderminster Harriers
Kidderminster Harriers Football Club is a professional association football club based in Kidderminster, Worcestershire, England. The team compete in the National League North, at the sixth tier of the English football league system. Formed in ...
.
Playing career
Blackpool
Hockaday was born in
Sedgefield
Sedgefield is a market town and civil parish in County Durham, England. It had a population of 5,211 as at the 2011 census. It has the only operating racecourse in County Durham.
History Roman
A Roman 'ladder settlement' was discovered by C ...
, County Durham.
He started his career as a youth player with
Billingham Synthonia. In June 1975, aged 17, he joined
Blackpool
Blackpool is a seaside resort in Lancashire, England. Located on the North West England, northwest coast of England, it is the main settlement within the Borough of Blackpool, borough also called Blackpool. The town is by the Irish Sea, betw ...
, then playing in 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 ...
. He made his first start for the Tangerines on 25 September 1976, in a 1–0 home loss to
Chelsea. Aside from a
League Cup second-round tie against
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 of ...
, he sat out the entire
1977–78 campaign, but
the following season he became a more regular first-team player as Blackpool slid down the leagues. He scored his first goal for the club in a 3–1 loss at
Colchester United on 30 September 1978, and, later that season, scored both goals in Blackpool's 2–1 victory at
Lincoln City.
Also on 30 September, this time in 1981, Hockaday was amongst the scorers in Blackpool's 7–1 rout of
Halifax Town at
Bloomfield Road. In his
final season in Lancashire, he made 40 league appearances and scored eight goals, but was unable to prevent Blackpool from finishing fourth from bottom and needing to seek re-election. In his eight seasons at Blackpool he made over 190 first-team appearances, scoring 27 goals.
Swindon Town
In June 1983, he moved on a free transfer to fellow
Fourth Division
Fourth or the fourth may refer to:
* the ordinal form of the number 4
* ''Fourth'' (album), by Soft Machine, 1971
* Fourth (angle), an ancient astronomical subdivision
* Fourth (music), a musical interval
* ''The Fourth'' (1972 film), a Sovie ...
side
Swindon Town. He was a solid, dependable right-back and was part of the team managed by
Lou Macari
Luigi Macari (born 7 June 1949) is a Scottish former footballer and manager. He began his playing career at Celtic where he was one of the Quality Street Gang, the outstanding reserve team that emerged in the late 1960s that also included Kenny ...
that gained the Fourth Division championship in the
1985–86 season, following this with promotion to Division Two in
1986–87. In
1988–89 Swindon reached 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 ...
play-offs
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 ...
but failed in their attempt to gain promotion to the top flight. In
1989–90 Swindon won the Second Division play-off final but
Sunderland
Sunderland () is a port city in Tyne and Wear, England. It is the City of Sunderland's administrative centre and in the Historic counties of England, historic county of County of Durham, Durham. The city is from Newcastle-upon-Tyne and is on t ...
were promoted instead after the Swindon board admitted a series of financial irregularities. Swindon were initially demoted to the Third Division and replaced by
Tranmere Rovers, the division's losing play-off finalists, but this decision was later reversed on appeal. In September 1990, Hockaday moved to
Hull City for a fee of £50,000 having made 308 appearances for Swindon, with 11 goals.
Later career
At Hull City he was part of the side which suffered relegation from the Second Division at the end of the
1990–91 season. He played 15 times for Hull the following season and spent the end of the
1992–93 campaign on loan at
Stoke City
Stoke City Football Club is a professional football club based in Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, England, which competes in the . Founded as Stoke Ramblers in 1863, it changed its name to Stoke in 1878 and then to Stoke City in 1925 after Stoke ...
where he played seven times helping the Potters win 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 ...
title.
After a third season at Hull he moved on to
Shrewsbury Town. He was a member of the Shrewsbury team who won the
Third Division
In sport, the Third Division, also called Division 3, Division Three, or Division III, is often the third-highest division of a league, and will often have promotion and relegation with divisions above and below.
Association football
*Belgian Thir ...
title at the end of his first season, before he dropped out of league football, moving to
Cirencester Town
Cirencester Town Football Club is a football club based in Cirencester, Gloucestershire, England. Affiliated to the Gloucestershire County FA, the club are currently members of the and play at the Corinium Stadium.
History
The club was establ ...
in 1995.
Coaching career
In 1996, Hockaday established one of the first football academies in the country at
Cirencester, following the
Thorp Arch
Thorp Arch is a village and civil parish near Wetherby, West Yorkshire, England in the City of Leeds metropolitan borough.
It sits in the Wetherby ward of Leeds City Council and Elmet and Rothwell parliamentary constituency.
The village is on ...
model that Howard Wilkinson started at Leeds United in 1994. The Cirencester Football Academy was created in conjunction with the local Sixth Form College. The Academy team soon built up a nationwide reputation by winning the National College Championship. In 2000, he joined
Graham Taylor at
Watford
Watford () is a town and borough in Hertfordshire, England, 15 miles northwest of Central London, on the River Colne.
Initially a small market town, the Grand Junction Canal encouraged the construction of paper-making mills, print works, a ...
as the club's Under 18 coach. As Under 18 coach at Watford, Hockaday helped develop the careers of players such as
Paul Robinson,
Hameur Bouazza
Hameur Bouazza ( ar, عامر بوعزة; born 22 February 1985) is an Algerian former professional footballer who usually played as a left winger but could also play on the right.
Bouazza spent most of his football career in England, having al ...
,
Tommy Smith,
Darren Ward,
Ashley Young and
Alhassan Bangura. In 2005, he was promoted to first-team coach and assisted the Hornets as the club won promotion to 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 ...
in
2006
File:2006 Events Collage V1.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2006 Winter Olympics open in Turin; Twitter is founded and launched by Jack Dorsey; The Nintendo Wii is released; Montenegro 2006 Montenegrin independence referendum, votes to declare ...
.
In January 2007, as Watford struggled to avoid relegation, he was sacked by manager
Adrian Boothroyd
Adrian Neil Boothroyd (born 8 February 1971) is an English former footballer who is currently the manager of Indian Super League club Jamshedpur.
At club level, he was manager of Watford from 2005 to 2008. During his time with Watford, he was r ...
. In March 2007 he joined
Martin Allen at
Milton Keynes Dons until the end of the season, where the team reached the League Two play-offs. In May 2007, Martin Allen moved to
Leicester City and on 6 June it was announced that Hockaday would be joining the Leicester City coaching staff.
On 19 June 2007, it was announced that he would be joining
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 ...
as youth team coach replacing Georges Prost, he was put on gardening leave by the club in January 2009 and was released from his contract in May of the same year. Hockaday again linked up with Martin Allen at his new club
Cheltenham Town
Cheltenham Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in the town of Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, England. From the 2021–22 season, the club compete in League One, the third tier of the English football league syst ...
for a very short period on a non-contract basis however left the club when
John Schofield was appointed as the club's assistant manager in March 2009.
Managerial career
Forest Green Rovers
In September 2009 Hockaday became the first team manager at
Forest Green Rovers. The job was the first time he had been appointed to a managerial position. He led
Forest Green Rovers to the third round of the
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 ...
in his debut season as a manager after overcoming
Bath City in the second round. Rovers were knocked out in the third round however by
League Two
The English Football League Two (often referred to as League Two for short or Sky Bet League Two for sponsorship purposes, and known as the Football League Two from 2004 until 2016) is the third and lowest division of the English Football Lea ...
outfit
Notts County meaning Forest Green missed out on the chance to face
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 ...
opposition in the shape of
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, ...
.
His first season as manager ended with relegation from the
Conference Premier
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-profess ...
. However, Forest Green were reinstated following
Salisbury City
Salisbury City Football Club was an English football club based in Salisbury, Wiltshire. They were formed in 1947 and played at The Raymond McEnhill Stadium. Salisbury had gained back-to-back promotions in recent years, first to the Conference S ...
's failure in their appeal against demotion from the Conference for financial irregularities. Despite the team finishing in a relegation position and coming under fire from a number of the club's fans, Hockaday was offered a new one-year contract for the 2010–11 season. In his second season as Forest Green boss the team narrowly avoided relegation to the
Conference South
The National League South, formerly Conference South, is one of the second divisions of the National League in England, immediately below the top division National League. Along with National League North, it is in the second level of the N ...
the team lost their final day fixture, a 2–1 loss away at
Tamworth, but stayed in the league on goal difference.
In his third season as Forest Green manager the club finished the season in 10th place. Hockaday's fourth season as manager of the club again ended with another 10th-place finish in the
Conference Premier
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-profess ...
despite reportedly having the largest transfer and wage budget in the division. In February 2013, Hockaday dismissed rumours linking him with the vacant managerial post at former club
Swindon Town after the departure of
Paolo Di Canio.
After a disappointing start to the 2013–14 season, and after a run which saw Forest Green suffer seven defeats in eight games, Hockaday left the club by mutual consent on 21 October 2013.
Leeds United
On 19 June 2014, Hockaday was appointed as head coach of
Leeds United on a two-year contract.
Junior Lewis
Carl Junior Lewis (born 9 October 1973) is a former footballer who was most recently assistant head coach at Barnet. During his playing career he played as a midfielder. He is currently assistant manager at National League South side Welling Un ...
was hired as Hockaday's assistant. The appointment was both a surprise and a great disappointment to a large majority of Leeds United fans. Hockaday was widely ridiculed on social media and became known as "The Hock", partly due to the pronouncements of a fake Twitter account set up in his name. His annual salary was reported as being about £90,000, compared to the £750,000 paid to his predecessor
Brian McDermott.
Hockaday took his team to Italy for a two-week training camp, and his first pre-season game as head coach resulted in a 16–0 victory against Italian amateur minnows FC Gherdeina. After the sixteenth goal had been scored, United's new goalkeeper Marco Silvestri was allowed to switch sides and play for the amateur team until the end of the game.
A second match in Italy was planned but failed to take place because the opposition did not show up. After returning to England, Leeds played several friendlies against lower league opposition, starting with a 2–0 win over local side Guiseley (who play in the sixth tier of English football) on 19 July, with goals coming from Matt Smith and Jason Pearce. The final game of pre-season resulted in a creditable win over Scottish Premiership side
Dundee United at Elland Road. Hockaday referred to his team as a "work in progress", praised his players for "putting a shift in" and said that they were improving with every game.
However, Leeds lost their first game of the new season 2–0, away at
Millwall on 9 August. Hockaday's first and only league victory was against
Middlesbrough
Middlesbrough ( ) is a town on the southern bank of the River Tees in North Yorkshire, England. It is near the North York Moors national park. It is the namesake and main town of its local borough council area.
Until the early 1800s, the a ...
at Elland Road on 16 August, with new striker
Billy Sharp scoring a late winner on his debut.
Two more defeats followed, 2–0 against
Brighton
Brighton () is a seaside resort and one of the two main areas of the City of Brighton and Hove in the county of East Sussex, England. It is located south of London.
Archaeological evidence of settlement in the area dates back to the Bronze A ...
and 4–1 against
Watford
Watford () is a town and borough in Hertfordshire, England, 15 miles northwest of Central London, on the River Colne.
Initially a small market town, the Grand Junction Canal encouraged the construction of paper-making mills, print works, a ...
– a game which Leeds finished with nine men. After the Watford game, Leeds United's owner
Massimo Cellino
Massimo Cellino (; born 28 July 1956) is an Italian entrepreneur and football club owner. Through his family trust Eleonora Sport Ltd he is the owner of Italian club Brescia Calcio, and is the former owner of italian club Cagliari, and English cl ...
was reported to have made up his mind to sack Hockaday, but then had a change of heart, deciding to blame himself for the club's poor start to the season. But Hockaday's reprieve did not last long. On 27 August 2014, Leeds were knocked out of the League Cup by
League One side
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.
Th ...
. Leeds had to play most of the game with ten men after a red card was shown to
Luke Murphy
Luke John Murphy (born 21 October 1989) is an English professional Association football, footballer who plays as a midfielder for Northern Premier League, Northern Premier League Division One West side Macclesfield F.C., Macclesfield.
He is a ...
, who became the fourth Leeds player to be sent off in Hockaday's first six games in charge (the others being
Gaetano Berardi
Gaetano Michel Berardi (born 21 August 1988) is a Swiss professional footballer who plays as a defender for Swiss club AC Bellinzona. He can also operate at left-back and centre-back. He has been capped at international level by Switzerland.
Cl ...
in the previous round of the Cup against
Accrington Stanley, and
Giuseppe Bellusci and
Sam Byram
Samuel Mark Byram (born 16 September 1993) is an English professional footballer who plays as a right back for Championship club Leeds United.
Club career
Byram was born in Thurrock, Essex, before moving north, where he attended Ralph Butter ...
against Watford).
On 28 August 2014, Hockaday and assistant Lewis were sacked by Cellino, having been in the job for only 70 days.
Swindon Supermarine
In November 2014, he was appointed to an advisory role at non-league side
Swindon Supermarine
Swindon Supermarine Football Club is a semi-professional football club based in South Marston, near Swindon, England. The club plays in the and is affiliated to the Wiltshire Football Association. The club plays at Webbswood Stadium on the nor ...
. Later that month, he took on the role of assistant manager at Swindon Supermarine on a temporary basis, with club director Jez Webb describing Hockaday's appointment as "humbling."
Coventry City
Following his temporary role with Swindon Supermarine,
Football 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
Coventry City
Coventry City Football Club is a professional association football club based in Coventry, West Midlands (county), West Midlands, England. The team currently compete in the EFL Championship, Championship, the second tier of the English footbal ...
announced on 2 February 2015 that Hockaday had been appointed professional development coach for the rest of the 2014–15 season. Manager
Steven Pressley
Steven John Pressley (born 11 October 1973) is a Scottish professional Manager (association football), football manager and former Football player, player who played as a centre back. He was most recently the manager (association football), mana ...
said that Hockaday would be working with the first team in addition to his duties coaching the Under-21s.
On 23 February following the departure of
Steven Pressley
Steven John Pressley (born 11 October 1973) is a Scottish professional Manager (association football), football manager and former Football player, player who played as a centre back. He was most recently the manager (association football), mana ...
, Hockaday took on the role of joint caretaker manager with
Neil MacFarlane. They were in charge of two games, a 2–1 victory over
Milton Keynes Dons and a 1–0 defeat at
Barnsley
Barnsley () is a market town in South Yorkshire, England. As the main settlement of the Metropolitan Borough of Barnsley and the fourth largest settlement in South Yorkshire. In Barnsley, the population was 96,888 while the wider Borough has ...
. On 3 March 2015,
Tony Mowbray was appointed manager of
Coventry City
Coventry City Football Club is a professional association football club based in Coventry, West Midlands (county), West Midlands, England. The team currently compete in the EFL Championship, Championship, the second tier of the English footbal ...
on a deal until the end of the 2014–15 season.
Kidderminster Harriers
In October 2015,
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 ...
side
Kidderminster Harriers
Kidderminster Harriers Football Club is a professional association football club based in Kidderminster, Worcestershire, England. The team compete in the National League North, at the sixth tier of the English football league system. Formed in ...
announced Hockaday had been appointed as new head coach. He guided them to their first league win in 22 games, when they beat
Woking
Woking ( ) is a town and borough status in the United Kingdom, borough in northwest Surrey, England, around from central London. It appears in Domesday Book as ''Wochinges'' and its name probably derives from that of a Anglo-Saxon settlement o ...
1–0 on 31 October 2015. Hockaday was sacked on 7 January 2016 with the Harriers bottom of the league having won only two games in charge of the team.
After leaving Kidderminster he opened his own football academy for young footballers based in
Wiltshire
Wiltshire (; abbreviated Wilts) is a historic and ceremonial county in South West England with an area of . It is landlocked and borders the counties of Dorset to the southwest, Somerset to the west, Hampshire to the southeast, Gloucestershire ...
. In October 2016, he was appointed the new head of male football at
South Gloucestershire and Stroud College
South Gloucestershire and Stroud College, also known as SGS College, is a college of further education and higher education based in South Gloucestershire and Stroud, England. It was established in February 2012 following the merger of Filton Co ...
.
Career statistics
Source:
:A. The "Other" column constitutes appearances and goals in the
Anglo-Scottish Cup,
Football League Group Cup
The Football League Group Cup was a short-lived football competition which first took place during the 1981–82 season. For English clubs it was a replacement for the Anglo-Scottish Cup, which had been discontinued due to the withdrawal of Scott ...
,
Football League Trophy
The English Football League Trophy, known for sponsorship purposes as the Papa Johns Trophy after restaurant chain Papa John's Pizza, is an annual English association football knockout competition open to all clubs in EFL League One and EFL Leag ...
,
Football League play-offs and
Full Members Cup.
Managerial statistics
Forest Green League Managerial Record confirmed by Sky Sports Yearbook
Honours
Swindon Town
*
Football League Fourth Division
The Football League Fourth Division was the fourth-highest division in the English football league system from the 1958–59 season until the creation of the Premier League prior to the 1992–93 season. Whilst the division disappeared in name ...
champions:
1985–86
*
Football League Third Division
The Football League Third Division was the third tier of the English football league system in 1920–21 and again from 1958 until 1992. When the FA Premier League was formed, the division become the fourth tier level. In 2004, following the f ...
play-off winner:
1986–87
Stoke City
*
Football League Second Division
The Football League Second Division was the second level division in the English football league system between 1892 and 1992. Following the foundation of the FA Premier League, the Football League divisions were renumbered and the third ti ...
champions:
1992–93
Shrewsbury Town
*Football League Third Division champions:
1993–94
References
External links
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hockaday, Dave
1957 births
Living people
People from Sedgefield
Footballers from County Durham
English footballers
Association football wingers
Billingham Synthonia F.C. players
Blackpool F.C. players
Swindon Town F.C. players
Hull City A.F.C. players
Stoke City F.C. players
Shrewsbury Town F.C. players
Cirencester Town F.C. players
English Football League players
English football managers
Forest Green Rovers F.C. managers
Leeds United F.C. managers
Coventry City F.C. managers
Kidderminster Harriers F.C. managers
National League (English football) managers
English Football League managers
Watford F.C. non-playing staff
Southampton F.C. non-playing staff
Cheltenham Town F.C. non-playing staff
Association football coaches