Hakan Hayrettin (born 4 February 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 ...

manager and former player who was most recently head coach of Maidstone United.

Early life

Hayrettin was born in

Enfield Enfield may refer to: Places Australia * Enfield, New South Wales * Enfield, South Australia ** Electoral district of Enfield, a state electoral district in South Australia, corresponding to the suburb ** Enfield High School (South Australia) ...

, London to

Turkish Cypriot Turkish Cypriots or Cypriot Turks ( tr, Kıbrıs Türkleri or ''Kıbrıslı Türkler''; el, Τουρκοκύπριοι, Tourkokýprioi) are ethnic Turks originating from Cyprus. Following the Ottoman conquest of the island in 1571, about 30,00 ...

parents.

Playing career

Hayrettin began his career as an apprentice with

Leyton Orient Leyton Orient Football Club is a professional football club based in Leyton, East London, England, who compete in , the fourth tier of the English football league system. They are the second oldest football club in London to play at a professio ...

, turning professional in July 1988. He was released without breaking into the first team, joining

Barnet Barnet may refer to: People *Barnet (surname) * Barnet (given name) Places United Kingdom *Chipping Barnet or High Barnet, commonly known as Barnet, one of three focal towns of the borough below. *East Barnet, a district of the borough below; an ...

in August 1989. In 1990, he signed for Turkish side Karsiyaka, but his Turkish parentage would have made him eligible for national service, and the prospect of war with the situation deteriorating in the Gulf, so he resigned at Barnet who later won the

Conference A conference is a meeting of two or more experts to discuss and exchange opinions or new information about a particular topic. Conferences can be used as a form of group decision-making, although discussion, not always decisions, are the main p ...

and with it 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 ...

. He joined

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 ...

on loan in January 1993, also playing on loan for

Wycombe Wanderers Wycombe Wanderers Football Club is an English professional association football club based in the town of High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire. The team compete in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. They play their home ...

that season as they too won the Conference. He also played in their

FA Trophy The Football Association Challenge Trophy, commonly known as the FA Trophy, is a men's football knockout cup competition run by and named after the English Football Association and competed for primarily by semi-professional teams. The compet ...

winning side. He joined Wycombe on a free transfer in July 1993, playing 27 games, and scoring once, a memorable goal against

Preston North End Preston North End Football Club, commonly referred to as Preston, North End or PNE, is a professional football club in Preston, Lancashire, England, who currently play in the EFL Championship, the second tier of the English football league syste ...

, helping Wycombe to a second successive promotion, via the play-offs. In August 1994 he moved to

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 ...

on a free transfer where He suffered a serious knee injury limiting his appearances for the club. He then moved on to

Doncaster Rovers Doncaster Rovers Football Club is a professional association football club based in Doncaster, South Yorkshire, England. The team compete in League Two, the fourth tier of the English football league system. The club play their home games at ...

on a free transfer in July 1995. He never made the first team with Doncaster and was released in October 1996 due to the same serious knee injury he suffered at Cambridge at the start of the season. He joined

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 ...

, but the same serious injury forced him to retire from full-time football in 1997. He joined

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 a youth coach, but continued his player career in non-league football with Heybridge Swifts before moving on to Hayes,

Rushden & Diamonds Rushden & Diamonds Football Club was an association football club based in Irthlingborough, Northamptonshire, England. Nicknamed "The Diamonds", the club played at Nene Park. The club's main rivals were county neighbours Kettering Town. The cl ...

and Harrow Borough. He played for Barnet as a trialist on 31 August 1999, making a substitute appearance against

Boreham Wood Borehamwood (, historically also Boreham Wood) is a town in southern Hertfordshire, England, from Charing Cross. Borehamwood has a population of 31,074, and is within the London commuter belt. The town's film and TV studios are commonly known ...

, who he would spend the 1999–2000 season with. He left Boreham Wood in July 2000 to rejoin Harrow Borough, both as a player and a coaching assistant, whilst working as a stock processing manager. He had left Harrow by September 2001.

Managerial career

Hayrettin joined

Waltham Forest The London Borough of Waltham Forest () is a London borough in north-east London, England. Its population is estimated to be 276,983 in 2019. It borders five other London boroughs: Enfield to the north-west, Haringey to the west, Hackney to t ...

as manager in the 2003 close season, helping the club to win the

Essex Senior Cup The Essex Senior Cup is a Single-elimination tournament, knock-out system football competition that has been running since 1884, and is the most prestigious cup competition in the county of Essex. The competition is run mainly for Non-League foot ...

. In May 2006 he took over as manager of

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 ...

side

Thurrock Thurrock () is a unitary authority area with borough status and unparished area in the ceremonial county of Essex, England. It is part of the London commuter belt and an area of regeneration within the Thames Gateway redevelopment zone. The l ...

. On taking over at Thurrock, Hayrettin was quoted as saying that "the challenge of raising a "sleeping giant" was too much to resist". At the start of the 2010–11 season Hayrettin left the club in October 2010. On 26 May 2011, he was appointed manager of

Isthmian League Division One North The Isthmian League () is a regional men's football league covering Greater London, East and South East England, featuring mostly semi-professional clubs. Founded in 1905 by amateur clubs in the London area, the league now consists of 82 teams ...

side

Grays Athletic Grays Athletic Football Club is a football club based in Grays, Essex, England. They are currently members of the and play at Parkside in nearby Aveley. History The club was established as Grays Juniors in 1890, before merging with former S ...

, signing a two-year contract. He led the club to the play-offs in his first season in charge, but lost in the semi-final. In the

2012–13 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1. I ...

season Hayrettin led Grays to promotion into the

Isthmian League Premier Division The Isthmian League () is a regional men's football league covering Greater London, East and South East England, featuring mostly semi-professional clubs. Founded in 1905 by amateur clubs in the London area, the league now consists of 82 teams ...

with a club-record 102 points, only losing four league games throughout the campaign. It was announced on 5 July 2013 that Hayrettin had left Grays to join

John Still John Still (c. 1543 – 26 February 1607/1608) was Master of two Cambridge colleges and then, from 1593, Bishop of Bath and Wells. He enjoyed considerable fame as an English preacher and disputant. He was formerly reputed to be the author of an ...

's coaching team at

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 Luton Town as first team coach . He left the club on 7 January 2016 following the appointment of Nathan Jones as manager. During his time there he helped the club win the Conference title in the first season and finishing 8th in the first season back 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 ...

the following season. Hayrettin also coached the U23's side winning the Football League final third U23's title in their first season back in the Football League. On 27 September 2016, Hayrettin was appointed as first-team 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

Braintree Town Braintree Town Football Club is a semi-professional football club based in Braintree, Essex, England. They are currently members of and play at Cressing Road. History The club was formed on 24 September 1898 as Manor Works, the works team o ...

. After Braintree's relegation at the end of 2016–17, he left the club by mutual consent on 8 May 2017. On 9 October 2018, following the departure of Brad Quinton, Hayrettin was reinstated manager of Braintree Town on an interim basis. He left Braintree to become Head Coach of Maidstone United in January 2019. On 30 April 2022, and with two games remaining, Hayrettin's side were confirmed as National League South 2021–22 champions and achieved promotion back to the National League after a three-year absence for the Kent side. On 9 January 2023, Hayrettin was sacked with Maidstone sitting in 23rd position.

Managerial statistics

Honours

Player

Wycombe Wanderers *

: 1992–93

Manager

Maidstone United *

National League 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 ...

: 2021–22 Individual * National League South Manager of the Month: December 2021, April 2022 * National League South Manager of the Year: 2021-22

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Hayrettin, Hakan 1970 births Living people Footballers from Enfield, London English footballers Sportspeople of Turkish Cypriot descent Association football midfielders Leyton Orient F.C. players Barnet F.C. players Torquay United F.C. players Wycombe Wanderers F.C. players Cambridge United F.C. players Doncaster Rovers F.C. players Peterborough United F.C. players Heybridge Swifts F.C. players Hayes F.C. players Rushden & Diamonds F.C. players Harrow Borough F.C. players Boreham Wood F.C. players English Football League players English football managers Waltham Forest F.C. managers Thurrock F.C. managers Grays Athletic F.C. managers Luton Town F.C. non-playing staff Braintree Town F.C. managers Maidstone United F.C. non-playing staff Maidstone United F.C. managers National League (English football) managers Isthmian League managers English people of Turkish Cypriot descent Association football coaches