Ian Ashley Hathaway (born 22 August 1968) is an English former professional

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 ...

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 ...

. Hathaway began his career as an apprentice with

West Bromwich Albion West Bromwich Albion Football Club () is an English professional football club based in West Bromwich, West Midlands, England. They compete in the EFL Championship, the second tier of English football. The club was formed in 1878 and has pla ...

after youth training with

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 ...

. He began his apprenticeship late due to a broken arm, but in 1986 was released by new manager

Ron Saunders Ronald Saunders (6 November 1932 – 7 December 2019) was an English football player and manager. He played for Everton, Tonbridge Angels, Gillingham, Portsmouth, Watford and Charlton Athletic during a 16-year playing career, before moving in ...

without making the grade at the Hawthorns. He joined Wolves on a weekly contract, playing alongside

Dean Edwards Dean Edwards (born July 30, 1970) is an American stand-up comedian, actor, singer, writer and musician. His work as a voice actor includes Scottie Pippen and Spike Lee in ''Celebrity Deathmatch'', a robot in ''Robotomy'', and Donkey in ''Scar ...

and

Micky Holmes Michael Arthur Holmes (born 9 September 1965) is an English professional association football, footballer who played as a midfielder in the Football League for eight teams during the 1980s and 1990s. Career Born in Bradford, Holmes began his p ...

but was released when

Graham Turner Graham John Turner (born 5 October 1947) is an English former footballer who became a manager. His son Mark was also a professional footballer. He is third behind only Alex Ferguson and Arsène Wenger in terms of most games managed. After a ...

took over as manager from

Brian Little Brian Little (born 25 November 1953) is an English football manager and former player. As a player, Little was a striker who spent his entire career for Aston Villa in a career that spanned from 1971 to 1980. He made 247 league appearances, ...

. He began working in an engineering factory, joining non-league

Stourbridge Stourbridge is a market town in the Metropolitan Borough of Dudley in the West Midlands, England, situated on the River Stour. Historically in Worcestershire, it was the centre of British glass making during the Industrial Revolution. The 20 ...

before moving to

Bedworth United Bedworth United Football Club is a football club based in Bedworth, Warwickshire, England. They are currently members of the and play at the Oval. History The first club from which the modern Bedworth United traces its lineage was Bedworth ...

. Whilst at Bedworth he attracted the attention of a number of league sides before

Ian Greaves Ian Denzil Greaves (26 May 1932 – 2 January 2009) was an English football player and manager. He was born in Crompton, Lancashire. He won a League Championship medal and an FA Cup runners-up medal while playing full-back for Manchester U ...

offered him a contract with

Mansfield Town Mansfield Town Football Club is a professional football club based in the town of Mansfield, Nottinghamshire, England. The team competes in , the fourth tier of the English football league system. Nicknamed 'The Stags', they play in a blue and ...

in March 1989. Despite the fact that Greaves was sacked within days the new manager George Foster also wanted to sign him and he duly moved to Mansfield for a fee of £8,000, making his league debut as a substitute on 11 March in a 3–0 home defeat at the hands of

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 ...

. He chose an apt time to score his first league for Mansfield when at the end of the season he scored against local rivals

Chesterfield Chesterfield may refer to: Places Canada * Rural Municipality of Chesterfield No. 261, Saskatchewan * Chesterfield Inlet, Nunavut United Kingdom * Chesterfield, Derbyshire, a market town in England ** Chesterfield (UK Parliament constitue ...

, the goal preserving Mansfield's Third Division status and relegating Chesterfield. He played 44 games for the Stags (23 as a substitute), scoring twice, before joining

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 ...

in March 1991 with

Steve Spooner Stephen Alan Spooner (born 25 January 1961) is an English footballer who played as a central midfielder. Spooner began his professional career with Derby County but got his breakthrough with Halifax Town, where in the 1982–83 season he was a ...

moving in the opposite direction. Towards the end of the following season he contracted

pneumonia Pneumonia is an inflammatory condition of the lung primarily affecting the small air sacs known as alveoli. Symptoms typically include some combination of productive or dry cough, chest pain, fever, and difficulty breathing. The severity ...

and after failing to regain his place after his eventual recovery was released, joining

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 ...

in July 1993 and quickly establishing himself as a regular member of

Don O'Riordan Donald Joseph O'Riordan (born 14 May 1957) is an Irish football coach and former professional player, who is the manager of Women's National League club Treaty United. O'Riordan notably played for Middlesbrough, Grimsby Town and Notts County ...

's side. In March 1996 he joined

on loan, but returned to Torquay without appearing in the Chesterfield first team. He spent four years at

Plainmoor Plainmoor is an association football stadium located in the Plainmoor suburb of Torquay, Devon, England. Since 1921, the stadium has been the home of Torquay United Football Club, who currently compete in the National League, the fifth tier of E ...

, scoring 14 times in 140 league games, before joining

Colchester United Colchester United Football Club is a professional association football club based in the city of Colchester, Essex, England. The team competes in , the fourth tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1937, the club spent its earl ...

on a free transfer on 5 June 1997 after being released by

Kevin Hodges Kevin Hodges (born 12 June 1960) is an English retired football player and manager who played as a midfielder, and now works as assistant manager at Dorchester Town. He spent the majority of his playing career with Plymouth Argyle of the Footb ...

. He played only 12 times for Colchester before moving to

Aldershot Town Aldershot Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in Aldershot, Hampshire, England. The team competes in the National League, the fifth tier of the English football league system. The club was founded in the spring ...

in September 1998, playing a major role as the 'Shots attempted to climb back towards their former league status. He left

Aldershot Aldershot () is a town in Hampshire, England. It lies on heathland in the extreme northeast corner of the county, southwest of London. The area is administered by Rushmoor Borough Council. The town has a population of 37,131, while the Alders ...

in May 2001 when his contract expired. He worked as a postman and in October 2001 joined

Andover Andover may refer to: Places Australia * Andover, Tasmania Canada * Andover Parish, New Brunswick * Perth-Andover, New Brunswick United Kingdom * Andover, Hampshire, England ** RAF Andover, a former Royal Air Force station United States * Ando ...

. He played just once for Andover and in December 2001 was named as manager of Hampshire Division Two side Broughton. He returned to Aldershot in July 2004 for Jason Chewins' testimonial.Saturday's pre-season friendly round-up
/ref>

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Hathaway, Ian 1968 births Living people People from Wordsley Sportspeople from the Metropolitan Borough of Dudley English men's footballers Men's association football wingers Stourbridge F.C. players Bedworth United F.C. players Mansfield Town F.C. players Rotherham United F.C. players Torquay United F.C. players Chesterfield F.C. players Colchester United F.C. players Aldershot Town F.C. players Andover F.C. players English Football League players