Ian Sampson (born 14 November 1968 in

Wakefield Wakefield is a cathedral city in West Yorkshire, England located on the River Calder. The city had a population of 99,251 in the 2011 census.https://www.nomisweb.co.uk/census/2011/ks101ew Census 2011 table KS101EW Usual resident population, ...

) is an English former

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 ...

. He played as a defender for

Goole Town Goole Association Football Club is a semi-professional football club in Goole, East Riding of Yorkshire, England. They are currently members of the and play at the Victoria Pleasure Grounds. History The club was established by Mike Norman i ...

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 ...

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 ...

and

Tottenham Hotspur Tottenham Hotspur Football Club, commonly referred to as Tottenham () or Spurs, is a professional association football, football club based in Tottenham, London, England. It competes in the Premier League, the top flight of English footba ...

. Following his retirement Sampson rejoined Northampton initially working in the youth setup before going to manage the club from 2009 until 2011.

Playing career

In his playing days he was a central defender, beginning his professional career in

1990 File:1990 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1990 FIFA World Cup is played in Italy; The Human Genome Project is launched; Voyager I takes the famous Pale Blue Dot image- speaking on the fragility of Humankind, humanity on Earth, Astroph ...

when

signed him from non-league

. He only made 21 appearances in four years however, before joining Northampton in

1994 File:1994 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1994 Winter Olympics are held in Lillehammer, Norway; The Kaiser Permanente building after the 1994 Northridge earthquake; A model of the MS Estonia, which Sinking of the MS Estonia, sank in ...

after a successful loan spell. He played for the Cobblers for 10 years, making 449 appearances, placing him second in the list of appearance makers behind

Tommy Fowler Thomas Fowler (16 December 1924 – 3 May 2009) was an English footballer who played 17 seasons for Northampton Town as a left-winger, and is the club's all-time appearance record holder, having played 521 league games for the club, and 585 first ...

. Sampson retired from the game at the end of the 2003–04 season. He had a brief loan spell at

Tottenham Tottenham () is a town in North London, England, within the London Borough of Haringey. It is located in the ceremonial county of Greater London. Tottenham is centred north-northeast of Charing Cross, bordering Edmonton to the north, Waltham ...

1995 File:1995 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: O.J. Simpson is O. J. Simpson murder case, acquitted of the murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman from the 1994, year prior in "The Trial of the Century" in the United States; The ...

, featuring in their makeshift squad for the

Intertoto Cup The UEFA Intertoto Cup (from la, Inter, 'between' + german: toto, 'betting pool'),Most precisely, from (football pool); cf. often abbreviated and more known in the German-speaking world as UI Cup and originally called the International Foot ...

. He even managed to score during Spurs' only victory in the campaign against

NK Rudar Velenje Nogometni klub Rudar Velenje ( en, Rudar Velenje Football Club), commonly referred to as NK Rudar Velenje or simply Rudar Velenje, is a Slovenian football club from Velenje which competes in the Slovenian Second League. History The club was fo ...

Managerial career

After retiring from playing, Sampson joined the

Northampton Northampton () is a market town and civil parish in the East Midlands of England, on the River Nene, north-west of London and south-east of Birmingham. The county town of Northamptonshire, Northampton is one of the largest towns in England; ...

youth team set-up as coach before being promoted to first-team coach in 2006. He was appointed as joint caretaker manager on 20 December 2006, following the resignation of

John Gorman John Gorman may refer to: * John Gorman (director) (1884–1936), American movie director *John Gorman (entertainer) (born 1936), English vocalist and musician *John Gorman (politician) (1923–2014), Northern Ireland politician *John Gorman (footb ...

. On 2 January 2007, Northampton announced that former

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 ...

boss Stuart Gray had been appointed as the new manager, with Sampson and fellow caretaker

Jim Barron Jim Barron (born 19 October 1943) is an English former footballer who played as a goalkeeper. He played over 400 games in the Football League for a number of clubs over a twenty-year career. Playing career Barron began his playing career at W ...

staying on as first team coaches. Following the sacking of Stuart Gray on 8 September 2009, Sampson was appointed as caretaker manager for the second time and on 5 October 2009 he was named Northampton manager until the end of the season. Sampson won the League Two Manager of the Month award in January 2010, after Northampton won three and drew two of their five games. This was the first time a Northampton Manager had won the award since 2006. Sampson was sacked by Northampton Town on 2 March 2011 following a run of 7 games without a win, ending in a 3–2 defeat by

Burton Albion Burton Albion Football Club is a professional association football club in the town of Burton upon Trent, Staffordshire, England. The team compete in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. The club moved its home groun ...

, leaving the Cobblers in 16th place in League Two. Sampson had received mixed reaction from the stands, with some supporters wanting a change, however he was one of the club's most popular managers and, notably, his team beat the Premier League side

Liverpool Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a popul ...

at Anfield, on penalties, in the League Cup in September 2010. Northampton also beat Crewe 6–2 at Sixfields with debutant Shaun Harrad scoring. On 9 March 2011 he confirmed he had applied for the vacant managerial post at

Grimsby Town Grimsby Town Football Club is a professional football club based in Cleethorpes, North East Lincolnshire, England, that in the 2022–23 season will compete in , the fourth tier of the English football league system, following the victory in ...

. Sampson become the manager at

Corby Town Corby Town Football Club is a football club based in Corby, Northamptonshire, England. They are currently members of the and play at Steel Park. History The club was established in 1948, taking over from Stewarts & Lloyds as the main team i ...

. one day after the club was taken over by businessman Kevin Ingram. However, after five straight defeat at the start of the 2012–13 season Sampson resigned as manager at

. On 16 October 2019, Sampson returned to

as the new Academy Manager, officially returning to the club he previously managed. On 10 February 2021, Sampson became caretaker assistant manager along with Marc Richards after the sacking of Keith Curle.

Honours

Northampton Town *

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-offs:

1997 File:1997 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The movie set of ''Titanic'', the highest-grossing movie in history at the time; ''Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone'', is published; Comet Hale-Bopp passes by Earth and becomes one of t ...

Individual * League Two Manager of the Month: January 2010

References

External links

Ian Sampson profile
at ntfc.co.uk *
Ian Sampson Managerial stats
at

Soccerbase ''Racing Post'' is a British daily horse racing, greyhound racing and sports betting publisher which is published in print and digital formats. It is printed in tabloid format from Monday to Sunday. , it has an average daily circulation of 60 ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sampson, Ian 1968 births Living people Footballers from Wakefield English men's footballers Men's association football defenders Sunderland A.F.C. players Northampton Town F.C. players Tottenham Hotspur F.C. players English football managers Northampton Town F.C. managers Corby Town F.C. managers English Football League managers