Julian Timothy Darby (born 3 October 1967) is an English football coach and 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, rugby ...

who is the under-16's coach of Bolton Wanderers. As a player he was a defender and

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 ...

from 1986 until 2001, notably in 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 ...

for

Coventry City Coventry City Football Club is a professional association football club based in Coventry, West Midlands, England. The team currently compete in the Championship, the second tier of the English football league system. The club is nicknamed t ...

and prior to that a large stint with Bolton Wanderers. He also played in the Football League for

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 pl ...

, Preston North End,

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 ...

and Carlisle United. Following retirement he began a coaching career and has been part of the coaching staff at

Nottingham Forest Nottingham Forest Football Club is an association football club based in West Bridgford, Nottinghamshire, England. Nottingham Forest was founded in 1865 and have been playing their home games at the City Ground, on the banks of the River Tren ...

Derby County Derby County Football Club () is a professional association football club based in Derby, Derbyshire, England. In 2022, it was announced that DCFC was acquired by Clowes Developments (UK) Ltd, a Derbyshire-based property group. Founded in 188 ...

Leeds United Leeds United Football Club is a professional football club based in Leeds, West Yorkshire in England. The club competes in the Premier League, the highest level of England's football league system, and plays its home matches at Elland Road ...

, Bolton Wanderers and Preston North End.

Playing career

He played for Bolton Wanderers from 1986 to 1993, scoring 36 goals in 270 league appearances. He scored in the 1989 Associate Members Cup final, with Bolton beating

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 ...

4–1 at

Wembley Stadium Wembley Stadium (branded as Wembley Stadium connected by EE for sponsorship reasons) is a football stadium in Wembley, London. It opened in 2007 on the site of the original Wembley Stadium, which was demolished from 2002 to 2003. The stadium ...

, in a side captained by future Derby boss Phil Brown. He subsequently joined

in 1993 but after 50+ games for them was transferred to

on 16 November 1995, making his debut for them shortly afterwards against Sunderland. In 1997, he moved to Preston North End, and following a loan spell at

he transferred to Carlisle United in 2000 before retiring as a player in 2001.

Coaching career

He started his coaching career at Preston and became first-team coach. He joined Billy Davies as first-team coach at

in 2006. In January 2009 he again joined up with Billy Davies when he was appointed first team coach at

. He left in June 2011 following the departure of Billy Davies from the club and the appointment of his successor Steve McLaren. In 2012, he returned to Bolton as U16 coach at the club's youth academy he assisted Jimmy Phillips during his brief stint as Caretaker Manager following

Owen Coyle Owen Columba Coyle (born 14 July 1966) is a professional football manager and former player who is currently the manager of Scottish Championship club Queen's Park. He played as a striker for several clubs in England and Scotland, and made one ...

's sacking in October 2012. On 7 February 2013, he returned to

as first team coach to Billy Davies. Darby left the club after Fawaz Al-Hasawi brought an end to Davies' reign as Manager at the club on 24 March 2014. On 20 November 2014, Darby settled with Forest out of court over an unpaid bonus case. On 2 July 2015, it was announced that Darby had joined

Uwe Rosler Uwe or UWE may refer to * Uwe (given name) * University of the West of England, Bristol * UML-based web engineering * University Würzburg's Experimental miniaturized satellites for space research UWE-1 and UWE-2 * Uwe - Wreck in Blankenese Blank ...

's backroom staff at

as first team coach. In August 2017, it was confirmed that Darby had taken on a full-time role at the Bolton Wanderers academy, having spent the previous season coaching the U-16 team. Upon the departure of Keith Hill as Bolton manager in the summer of 2020, Darby reverted to his old role with the club's academy. In May 2022, he was promoted from U16's Manager to U18's Manager.BWFC: "Key Academy Appointments Confirmed"
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Honours

Player * Bolton Wanderers:

Football League Trophy The English Football League Trophy, known for sponsorship purposes as the Papa Johns Trophy after restaurant chain Papa John's Pizza, is an annual English association football knockout competition open to all clubs in EFL League One and EFL Le ...

1988-89

References

External links

Soccerbase profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Darby, Julian 1967 births Living people People from Farnworth People educated at Bolton School English footballers Association football midfielders Premier League players English Football League players Bolton Wanderers F.C. players Coventry City F.C. players West Bromwich Albion F.C. players Preston North End F.C. players Rotherham United F.C. players Carlisle United F.C. players Preston North End F.C. non-playing staff Derby County F.C. non-playing staff Bolton Wanderers F.C. non-playing staff Nottingham Forest F.C. non-playing staff Leeds United F.C. non-playing staff