Julian Winter (born 6 September 1965) is a former

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 administrator who is the chief executive of

Swansea City Swansea City Association Football Club (; cy, Clwb Pêl-droed Cymdeithas Dinas Abertawe) is a professional football club based in Swansea, Wales that plays in the Championship, the second tier of English football. Swansea have played their ho ...

football club. Born in

Huddersfield Huddersfield is a market town in the Kirklees district in West Yorkshire, England. It is the administrative centre and largest settlement in the Kirklees district. The town is in the foothills of the Pennines. The River Holme's confluence into ...

, he played as a defender for his home-town club Huddersfield Town and

Scunthorpe United Scunthorpe United Football Club is a professional association football club based in the town of Scunthorpe, Lincolnshire, England. The side currently competes in the National League, the fifth tier of the English football league system. The tea ...

, as well as being on the books of Sheffield United. Since retiring from playing, Winter has acted as an executive for Grimsby Town,

Watford Watford () is a town and borough in Hertfordshire, England, 15 miles northwest of Central London, on the River Colne. Initially a small market town, the Grand Junction Canal encouraged the construction of paper-making mills, print works, a ...

, Sheffield United, Huddersfield Town, and Swansea City.

Playing career

Winter is a 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 le ...

, who played for Huddersfield Town,

and Sheffield United. Winter was signed for United by Dave Bassett for the 1989–90 season, but he sustained career-ending ligament damage just a week before the season started. After 10 operations in four years, he finally retired from the game.

Football Administration

After his retirement, Winter graduated from

Sheffield Hallam University Sheffield Hallam University (SHU) is a public research university in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England. The university is based on two sites; the City Campus is located in the city centre near Sheffield railway station, while the Collegiate Cr ...

with a degree and returned to football, working for Grimsby Town before moving to

and serving as community director and then deputy C.E.O. In December 2008, Winter was appointed Chief Executive Officer of Watford following the resignation of Mark Ashton. He subsequently left his post in June 2011 and joined Sheffield United the following September as Chief Executive. After a year in the post Winter left the Blades in September 2012, only to return to the role less than a year later. After new owners purchased 50 percent of United, Winter left his post for the second time in December 2013. Winter became chief executive of Huddersfield Town in 2016 before departing in 2020. He was appointed chairman and chief executive of

in September 2020.

References

* 1965 births Living people English footballers Association football midfielders English Football League players Huddersfield Town A.F.C. players Scunthorpe United F.C. players Sheffield United F.C. players Watford F.C. directors Sheffield United F.C. directors and chairmen Footballers from Huddersfield {{England-footy-midfielder-1960s-stub