Jeffrey Reginald Wood (born 4 February 1954) is an English 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, rugb ...
who played as a
goalkeeper
In many team sports which involve scoring goals, the goalkeeper (sometimes termed goaltender, netminder, GK, goalie or keeper) is a designated player charged with directly preventing the opposing team from scoring by blocking or intercepting ...
. He is currently the head of coaching for
Europa
Europa may refer to:
Places
* Europe
* Europa (Roman province), a province within the Diocese of Thrace
* Europa (Seville Metro), Seville, Spain; a station on the Seville Metro
* Europa City, Paris, France; a planned development
* Europa Clif ...
, and was also goalkeeping coach for the
Wales U19 and
Wales U21 teams.
Career
Playing
After being released as a youth player by
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 ...
, Wood started his professional career at
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 ...
, spending seven seasons at the club and winning promotion to 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 ...
in the
1980–81 season, before moving back to Colchester for one season. He left without making an appearance, having been kept out of the team by
Mike Walker, and moved to Finnish club
HJK Helsinki
Helsingin Jalkapalloklubi (), commonly known as HJK Helsinki, or simply as HJK, is a professional football club based in Helsinki, Finland. The club competes in the Finnish Veikkausliiga. Founded in 1907, the club has spent most of its history i ...
in 1982. He spent two seasons there and then returned to England, signing for
Fourth Division side
Exeter City for the
1984–85 season. Wood then moved to Hong Kong side
Happy Valley, whom he played for in two spells, firstly on loan during Finnish close season then full campaign, before returning to Exeter City before moving to Malta for two-and-a-half seasons winning two League championships and two FA Cups with
Rabat Ajax. He spent the final years of his full-time playing career back in Finland with three seasons each at
Grankulla IFK and
Gnistan.
In December 1996, Wood was appointed by his former Charlton teammate
Steve Gritt as assistant manager at
Brighton & Hove Albion
Brighton & Hove Albion Football Club (), commonly referred to simply as Brighton, is an English professional football club based in the city of Brighton and Hove. They compete in the Premier League, the top tier of the English football league ...
in the
Third Division.
This came in one of the lowest points in Brighton's history, with the club only narrowly avoiding relegation to non-League football in the
1996–97 and then finishing the
next season in second-bottom position, albeit 15 points clear of relegated
Doncaster Rovers. In January 1999, with the club embroiled in a financial crisis, he was appointed as Brighton's manager until the end of the
1998–99 season after
Brian Horton left to take over at
Port Vale
Port Vale Football Club are a professional football club based in Burslem, Stoke-on-Trent, England, which compete in . Vale are the only English Football League club not to be named after a place; their name being a reference to the valley of ...
.
[ Wood remained unbeaten in his first three games, but then picked up only one point in the club's next ten games and was sacked on 9 April 1999, with the club battling relegation.][
]
Managerial
Wood spent time coaching in the United States, before joining Chesham United as assistant manager in 2000. Following the abrupt departure of Chesham's manager Jon Kendall to St Albans City in October 2000, Wood joined Maltese Premier League
The Maltese Premier League, known as BOV Premier League for sponsorship reasons with Bank of Valletta ( colloquially known as ''Il-Kampjonat Premjer''), is the highest level of professional football in Malta. Managed by the Malta Football Associa ...
side Sliema Wanderers
Sliema Wanderers Football Club, nicknamed "tax-Xelin" ( of the shilling), is a professional Maltese football club. It is the most successful team in Malta and hails from the seaside town of Sliema. It currently plays in the Maltese Premier Leag ...
as a coach. He remained with the club for two seasons as they finished as runners-up in both the league and Maltese Cup
The FA Trophy, currently known as the IZIBET FA Trophy for sponsorship reasons, is an annual football cup competition that takes place in Malta. The cup was founded in 1933; following a match between England and Italy, played in Rome in May 1933 ...
.
Wood joined Isthmian League
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 t ...
side Harlow Town as a coach soon after and, in June 2003, rejected the offer to manage their divisional rivals Chesham United.
Wood earned a UEFA 'A' Pro Licence and was appointed to manage Charlton Athletic's European Soccer School in southern Spain in 2004, later financing and maintaining it himself after Charlton withdrew their funding in 2006.
Wood was employed as Norwich City's goalkeeping coach in February 2011, with the club winning 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 Fo ...
two months later.[ He left at the end of the 2011–12 season.
He was appointed as the goalkeeping coach for the Wales U19 and Wales U21 teams and, on 30 July 2013, Wood was appointed goalkeeping coach 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
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 ...
. He left Luton in May 2014 to join Gibraltar Premier Division
The Gibraltar Premier Division was a football league established by the Gibraltar Football Association (GFA) in 1905, and the top tier of football in Gibraltar. It originally contained eight member clubs, but it has grown over the years. In 19 ...
side Lions Gibraltar as head coach. His first season in charge saw the club finish bottom of the league.
In July 2015, he was appointed manager of Gibraltar
)
, anthem = " God Save the King"
, song = " Gibraltar Anthem"
, image_map = Gibraltar location in Europe.svg
, map_alt = Location of Gibraltar in Europe
, map_caption = United Kingdom shown in pale green
, mapsize =
, image_map2 = Gib ...
.
In February 2018 Jeff Wood resigned as manager. After spells managing the Gibraltar under-17 side, he took over at Manchester 62 on 19 June 2019, assisted by Juan Francisco Fernández Molina.Wood to be assisted by Molina
Football Gibraltar. 20 June 2019. Retrieved 20 June 2019.
Managerial statistics
* No available statistics for Sliema Wanderers.
References
;Sources
Profile
at PlayerHistory
External links
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wood, Jeff
1954 births
Living people
English men's footballers
Men's association football goalkeepers
Footballers from Islington (district)
Charlton Athletic F.C. players
Colchester United F.C. players
Helsingin Jalkapalloklubi players
Exeter City F.C. players
Happy Valley AA players
Rabat Ajax F.C. players
English Football League players
English football managers
Brighton & Hove Albion F.C. managers
Sliema Wanderers F.C. managers
Gibraltar national football team managers
Gibraltar National League managers
English Football League managers
Expatriate men's footballers in Finland
Expatriate men's footballers in Hong Kong
Expatriate men's footballers in Malta
Expatriate football managers in Malta
Expatriate football managers in Gibraltar
Grankulla IFK players
IF Gnistan players
English expatriate sportspeople in Finland
English expatriate sportspeople in Hong Kong
English expatriate sportspeople in Malta
English expatriate sportspeople in Gibraltar
Association football goalkeeping coaches
Norwich City F.C. non-playing staff
Luton Town F.C. non-playing staff
Association football coaches