John Cockerill (born 12 July 1961) 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 ...

player and

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. He played as a midfielder from 1980 until 1992 notably for Grimsby Town. He also played for Lincoln City, Boston Town,

Grantham Town Grantham Town Football Club is a football club, based in Grantham, Lincolnshire, England. They are currently members of the and play at the South Kesteven Sports Stadium. History The club was established in 1874 as Grantham Football Club.

King's Lynn King's Lynn, known until 1537 as Bishop's Lynn and colloquially as Lynn, is a port and market town in the borough of King's Lynn and West Norfolk in the county of Norfolk, England. It is located north of London, north-east of Peterborough, no ...

, Alfreton Town and

Stafford Rangers Stafford Rangers Football Club is a semi-professional English football team from Stafford which plays in the Northern Premier League Premier Division. The team wear black and white stripes with black shorts. Stafford Rangers' rivals include T ...

. Cockerill went on to join the coaching staff at Grimsby Town and held various positions from 1992 until 2001. He was the club's caretaker manager on three occasions.

Playing career

After two abortive attempts at Lincoln City, Cockerill had a spell in the Royal Air Force and as a lorry driver, whilst continuing to play non-league football. In 1988, he was signed by Grimsby from Stafford Rangers for £21,500. The highlight of his playing career with Grimsby, was the two goals he scored in 1991 against Exeter City in the last game of the season to secure promotion to

Division Two NCL Division Two The NCL or National Conference League Division Two (known as the Kingstone Press NCL Division Two) League winners {, class="wikitable" style="text-align: center;" , - , colspan=4 style="text-align:center;" , NCL DIVISION TWO , ...

. The end of his career came with a broken leg in 1991 against Bristol City; despite trying to regain full fitness, Cockerill never played another game.

Coaching career

Cockerill remained with Grimsby Town following his retirement and spent time at the club in various positions such as the Community Coach, Youth Coach and Reserve Team Manager. In 1994 he became caretaker manager following the resignation of Alan Buckley who had joined West Bromwich Albion. Cockerill again took over temporary first team responsibilities in 1996 when Brian Laws was dismissed but was overlooked in the job with the board instead re-hiring Buckley who in turn made Cockerill his assistant. He was part of the coaching staff of the 1997-98 team who reached two Wembley Stadium finals in a matter of weeks by triumphing in the Football League Trophy and the Second Division play-off final. He became caretaker manager for a third time again in September 2000 following Buckley's dismissal and would stay on as Lennie Lawrence's assistant before leaving the club a year later with Lawrence when he to was sacked.

Personal life

He is the son of

Ron Ron is a shortening of the name Ronald. Ron or RON may also refer to: Arts and media * Big Ron (''EastEnders''), a TV character * Ron (''King of Fighters''), a video game character *Ron Douglas, the protagonist in ''Lucky Stiff'' played by Joe A ...

and brother of

Glenn Cockerill Glenn Cockerill (born 25 August 1959) is an English retired footballer who played more than 700 games in The Football League in a 22-year career. He was a skilled central midfielder renowned for his passing and shooting skills. Playing career Co ...

, both also professional footballers.

Honours

Grimsby Town

* Division Four runners up, Promoted: 1990 * Division Three 3rd place, Promoted: 1991

References

External links

Grantham Town Player profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cockerill, John 1961 births Living people People from Cleethorpes Association football midfielders English footballers Lincoln City F.C. players Boston Town F.C. players Grantham Town F.C. players King's Lynn F.C. players Alfreton Town F.C. players Stafford Rangers F.C. players Grimsby Town F.C. players English Football League players English football managers Grimsby Town F.C. managers Grimsby Town F.C. non-playing staff