Kevin Horlock (born 1 November 1972) is a football manager 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 le ...
. He is the manager of
Needham Market
Needham Market is a town in Suffolk, England. The town of Needham, Massachusetts, was named after Needham Market.
History
It initially grew around the wool combing industry, until the onset of the plague, which swept the town from 1663 to 1665. ...
and assistant manager of the
Northern Ireland under-21 team.
As a player he was a midfielder who notably played for
Manchester City
Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The tw ...
, for whom he played in three different divisions including 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 Foo ...
. He also played for
Swindon Town
Swindon Town Football Club is a professional Association football, football club based in Swindon, Wiltshire, England. The team currently competes in , the fourth tier of the English football league system. The club has played home matches at ...
,
West Ham United
West Ham United Football Club is an English professional football club that plays its home matches in Stratford, East London. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football. The club plays at the London Stadium, hav ...
,
Ipswich Town
Ipswich Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in Ipswich, Suffolk, England. They play in League One, the third tier of the English football league system.
The club was founded in 1878 but did not turn profession ...
,
Doncaster Rovers
Doncaster Rovers Football Club is a professional association football club based in Doncaster, South Yorkshire, England. The team compete in League Two, the fourth tier of the English football league system. The club play their home games at ...
and
Mansfield Town
Mansfield Town Football Club is a professional association football, football club based in the town of Mansfield, Nottinghamshire, England. The team competes in , the fourth tier of the English football league system. Nicknamed 'The Stags', they ...
. Horlock was well known for his accurate set pieces and is particularly skilled at taking free kicks. Born in England, Horlock is a former
Northern Ireland international earning 32 caps.
As a manager he has previously coached non-league teams
Chatham Town and
Maldon & Tiptree. He has also coached at youth team level for
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 ...
.
Club career
Swindon Town
Horlock started his career as a trainee with
West Ham United
West Ham United Football Club is an English professional football club that plays its home matches in Stratford, East London. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football. The club plays at the London Stadium, hav ...
in 1989 but did not graduate to the first team and moved to
Swindon Town
Swindon Town Football Club is a professional Association football, football club based in Swindon, Wiltshire, England. The team currently competes in , the fourth tier of the English football league system. The club has played home matches at ...
in August 1992 where he spent a single season 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 Foo ...
in 1993–94.
Over the next few seasons he made his name as a versatile midfielder capable of playing on the left or in the centre, or at left-back. He also scored goals regularly, with 16 in the 1995–96 season.
He made 200 appearances in all competitions, scoring 26 goals, in five seasons at Swindon before joining
Manchester City
Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The tw ...
in January 1997.
Manchester City
Horlock was
Frank Clark's first signing for
Manchester City
Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The tw ...
for a transfer fee reported as being between £1.25 million and £1.5 million.
He made his debut in a 4–1
Division One
The Football League First Division was a division of the Football League in England from 1888 until 2004. It was the top division in the English football league system from the season 1888–89 until 1991–92, a century in which the First ...
win against
Oxford United
Oxford United Football Club is a professional football club in the city of Oxford, England. The team plays in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. The chairman is Grant Ferguson, the manager is Karl Robinson and th ...
and scored his first goal for Manchester City three weeks later against his former club Swindon. The following season, he was a regular in the first team until suffering an injury which sidelined him for four months. During Horlock's absence, Clark was sacked and chairman
Francis Lee later observed that Horlock was one of only two good purchases Clark made.
City were struggling at the foot of the table, and were relegated on the final day of the season despite a 5–2 win at
Stoke City
Stoke City Football Club is a professional football club based in Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, England, which competes in the . Founded as Stoke Ramblers in 1863, it changed its name to Stoke in 1878 and then to Stoke City in 1925 after Stoke ...
, in which Horlock scored the fifth goal. Horlock became Manchester City's primary
penalty
Penalty or The Penalty may refer to:
Sports
* Penalty (golf)
* Penalty (gridiron football)
* Penalty (ice hockey)
* Penalty (rugby)
* Penalty (rugby union)
* Penalty kick (association football)
* Penalty shoot-out (association football)
* Penalty ...
taker in the 1998–99 season, a role in which he continued for the next three seasons. Later that season Horlock was sent off in a match against
AFC Bournemouth
AFC Bournemouth () is a professional association football club based in Kings Park, Boscombe, a suburb of Bournemouth, Dorset, England. The club competes in the Premier League, the highest division of English club football. Formed in 1899 as B ...
in unusual circumstances, receiving a second yellow card for "walking towards the referee in an aggressive manner while asking a question". Horlock's best season was probably the 2001–02 season where he was deployed in the holding midfield role and helped
Manchester City
Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The tw ...
earn promotion in stylish manner, the team scoring 108 goals. One of the most notable moments of his career was the
1999 season play-off final against
Gillingham when he scored the first goal of the comeback when Manchester City won on penalties after being 2–0 down until the last five minutes of the game. Horlock wore the number 6 shirt Horlock made 232 league and cup appearances, scoring 44 goals, in seven years at Manchester City.
Later career
Horlock was signed by
Glenn Roeder
Glenn Victor Roeder (13 December 1955 – 28 February 2021) was an English professional football player and manager.
As a player, Roeder played as a defender for Arsenal, Leyton Orient, Queens Park Rangers, Notts County, Newcastle United, Watfo ...
for
West Ham United
West Ham United Football Club is an English professional football club that plays its home matches in Stratford, East London. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football. The club plays at the London Stadium, hav ...
for a fee of £300,000 in August 2003. He made 27 league appearances for West Ham in the 2003–04 season
and scored once against Wigan but fell out of favour with manager
Alan Pardew
Alan Scott Pardew (born 18 July 1961) is an English football manager and former professional footballer, who is the current manager of Greek Super League club Aris.
Pardew's highest achievements in the sport include reaching the FA Cup Final th ...
and missed the play-offs games at the end of the season.
He was given a free transfer to
Ipswich Town
Ipswich Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in Ipswich, Suffolk, England. They play in League One, the third tier of the English football league system.
The club was founded in 1878 but did not turn profession ...
in July 2004,
where he made 58 league appearances
before joining
Doncaster Rovers
Doncaster Rovers Football Club is a professional association football club based in Doncaster, South Yorkshire, England. The team compete in League Two, the fourth tier of the English football league system. The club play their home games at ...
on loan in February 2006 and being allowed to leave Ipswich at the end of the 2005–06 season. He joined Doncaster on a permanent two-year contract in May 2006 but missed the majority of the 2006–07 season due to a serious knee injury sustained in Doncaster's 3–1 victory over
Crewe Alexandra
Crewe Alexandra Football Club is an English professional association football club based in the town of Crewe, Cheshire, that competes in League Two, the fourth tier of the English football league system. Nicknamed 'The Railwaymen' because of ...
in August 2006, a game in which he also scored his first goal for the club. A dislocated shoulder further restricted his opportunities, and in January 2008 his contract was cancelled by mutual consent. The next day, Horlock was signed by
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 ...
on a contract until the end of the season. However, he did not feature in the first team and joined
Mansfield Town
Mansfield Town Football Club is a professional association football, football club based in the town of Mansfield, Nottinghamshire, England. The team competes in , the fourth tier of the English football league system. Nicknamed 'The Stags', they ...
in March 2008 on loan until the end of the 2007–08 season.
Horlock signed for
Eastern Counties League
The Eastern Counties Football League, currently known as the Thurlow Nunn League for sponsorship purposes, is an English football league at levels 9 and 10 of the English football league system. It currently contains clubs from Norfolk, Suff ...
Premier Division side
Needham Market
Needham Market is a town in Suffolk, England. The town of Needham, Massachusetts, was named after Needham Market.
History
It initially grew around the wool combing industry, until the onset of the plague, which swept the town from 1663 to 1665. ...
as player/assistant manager on a twelve-month contract on 8 August 2008.
International career
Horlock was first capped in April 1995 versus
Latvia
Latvia ( or ; lv, Latvija ; ltg, Latveja; liv, Leţmō), officially the Republic of Latvia ( lv, Latvijas Republika, links=no, ltg, Latvejas Republika, links=no, liv, Leţmō Vabāmō, links=no), is a country in the Baltic region of ...
and went on to make 32 appearances for
Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland ( ga, Tuaisceart Éireann ; sco, label= Ulster-Scots, Norlin Airlann) is a part of the United Kingdom, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, that is variously described as a country, province or region. Nort ...
,
before retiring from international football in 2003 for personal reasons. In August 2013 Horlock was appointed assistant manager of the
Northern Ireland under 21 team.
Managerial career
Horlock progressed through the coaching ranks at his former club Needham Market, where he had been assistant manager and had set up the club's academy in 2010. He left in 2015 when he was appointed as
manager
Management (or managing) is the administration of an organization, whether it is a business, a nonprofit organization, or a government body. It is the art and science of managing resources of the business.
Management includes the activities o ...
of
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 tea ...
Division One South side
Chatham Town on 15 October 2015. Horlock combined both his Needham Market and Chatham Town roles with the assistant manager's job to the
Northern Ireland under-21 team, a position he was appointed to in August 2013.
Horlock left Chatham on 1 May 2016 to concentrate on his coaching roles with Northern Ireland and
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 ...
, having guided Chatham to a 19th-position finish in the league. Horlock had been coaching Colchester's under-18 side alongside
Wayne Brown. He was named as Brown's assistant for the under-21 side following a number of coaching changes at the U's. This coincided with the announcement that Horlock would take charge of
Maldon & Tiptree in the Isthmian League Division One North on 16 May, taking over from
Steve Ball. He guided the Jammers to second position in the table, securing a place in the play-offs.
In May 2018, Horlock and Wayne Brown switched roles, with Horlock taking charge of Colchester's under-23 team and Brown taking the reins at Maldon & Tiptree. On 20 June 2019, Horlock left Colchester to return to
Needham Market
Needham Market is a town in Suffolk, England. The town of Needham, Massachusetts, was named after Needham Market.
History
It initially grew around the wool combing industry, until the onset of the plague, which swept the town from 1663 to 1665. ...
as the club's new academy manager. He was appointed manager of Needham Market in February 2020.
Managerial statistics
Honours
Swindon Town
*
Football League First Division
The Football League First Division was a division of the Football League in England from 1888 until 2004. It was the top division in the English football league system from the season 1888–89 until 1991–92, a century in which the First ...
play-offs:
1992–93
*
Football League Second Division
The Football League Second Division was the second level division in the English football league system between 1892 and 1992. Following the foundation of the FA Premier League, the Football League divisions were renumbered and the third ti ...
:
1995–96
Manchester City
*Football League Second Division play-offs:
1998–99
*Football League First Division:
2001–02, runner-up:
1999–00
Individual
*
Football League Championship Player of the Month: October 2004
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Horlock, Kevin
1972 births
Living people
Swindon Town F.C. players
Manchester City F.C. players
Ipswich Town F.C. players
West Ham United F.C. players
Doncaster Rovers F.C. players
Scunthorpe United F.C. players
Mansfield Town F.C. players
Premier League players
English Football League players
Association footballers from Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland international footballers
Association football midfielders
Footballers from Erith
Needham Market F.C. players
Chatham Town F.C. managers
Maldon & Tiptree F.C. managers
Colchester United F.C. non-playing staff
Football managers from Northern Ireland
Needham Market F.C. managers
Association football coaches