Martin Thomas Devaney (born 1 June 1980) is a

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 ...

coach and former professional

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 ...

who was most recently caretaker manager of

EFL Championship The English Football League Championship (often referred to as the Championship for short or the Sky Bet Championship for sponsorship purposes) is the highest division of the English Football League (EFL) and second-highest overall in the E ...

club

Barnsley Barnsley () is a market town in South Yorkshire, England. As the main settlement of the Metropolitan Borough of Barnsley and the fourth largest settlement in South Yorkshire. In Barnsley, the population was 96,888 while the wider Borough has ...

. Born of Irish parents, Devaney has played for the Ireland under-16s.

Career

Early career

Devaney started playing football for Charlton Rovers AFC and attended Balcarras School in Charlton Kings, Cheltenham. He was on

Coventry City Coventry City Football Club is a professional association football club based in Coventry, West Midlands (county), West Midlands, England. The team currently compete in the EFL Championship, Championship, the second tier of the English footbal ...

's books as a youngster, but was released from the then

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 ...

club, and after playing pre-season for hometown club

Cheltenham Town Cheltenham Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in the town of Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, England. From the 2021–22 season, the club compete in League One, the third tier of the English football league syst ...

the then manager

Steve Cotterill Stephen John Cotterill (born 20 July 1964) is an English former footballer who played as a striker. He is currently the manager of side Shrewsbury Town. Cotterill had a nine-year career as a footballer playing for Burton Albion, Wimbledon, ...

offered him a contract. His initial efforts as a striker for the Robins were fairly underwhelming. However, he did become the first Cheltenham player to score a

Football League The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, the league is the oldest such competition in the world. It was the top-level football league in Engla ...

hat-trick A hat-trick or hat trick is the achievement of a generally positive feat three times in a match, or another achievement based on the number three. Origin The term first appeared in 1858 in cricket, to describe H. H. Stephenson taking three wic ...

in September 2000 against

Plymouth Argyle Plymouth Argyle Football Club is a professional football club based in the city of Plymouth, Devon, England. As of the 2021–22 season, the team are competing in League One, the third tier of English football. They have played at Home Park, ...

. Towards the end of his spell at Cheltenham, he was played as a wide midfielder, typically on the right wing, although occasionally on the left.

Barnsley

Devaney left Cheltenham in July 2005, initially joining

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 ...

, however,

Adrian Boothroyd Adrian Neil Boothroyd (born 8 February 1971) is an English former footballer who is currently the manager of Indian Super League club Jamshedpur. At club level, he was manager of Watford from 2005 to 2008. During his time with Watford, he was r ...

could not find a place in his squad for the winger, and he was allowed to join

at the end of August. In his first season at the club he helped them to promotion, beating Swansea City on penalties in the play-off final. This meant all three sides Devaney represented during 2005 were promoted via the play-offs at the end of the 2005–06 season, a phenomenon dubbed ''The Devaney Code'' by fans in homage to Dan Brown's novel,

The Da Vinci Code ''The Da Vinci Code'' is a 2003 mystery thriller novel by Dan Brown. It is Brown's second novel to include the character Robert Langdon: the first was his 2000 novel ''Angels & Demons''. ''The Da Vinci Code'' follows symbologist Robert Langdon ...

. Devaney remained in the side with Barnsley competing in the

Championship In sport, a championship is a competition in which the aim is to decide which individual or team is the champion. Championship systems Various forms of competition can be referred to by the term championship. Title match system In this system ...

. He played in the victories against Premiership

Liverpool Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a popul ...

and

Chelsea Chelsea or Chelsey may refer to: Places Australia * Chelsea, Victoria Canada * Chelsea, Nova Scotia * Chelsea, Quebec United Kingdom * Chelsea, London, an area of London, bounded to the south by the River Thames ** Chelsea (UK Parliament consti ...

in consecutive rounds to reach the

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual knockout football competition in men's domestic English football. First played during the 1871–72 season, it is the oldest national football competi ...

semi-finals in the 2007–08 season. In both games he provided the assist for a Barnsley goal, each a cross to allow

Stephen Foster Stephen Collins Foster (July 4, 1826January 13, 1864), known also as "the father of American music", was an American composer known primarily for his parlour music, parlour and Minstrel show, minstrel music during the Romantic music, Romantic ...

(versus Liverpool) and

Kayode Odejayi Olukayode Ishmael "Kayode" Odejayi (born 21 February 1982) is a Nigerian professional footballer who plays as a striker, most recently for Guiseley. He is a former Nigeria international. Club career Born in Ibadan, Oyo State, Odejayi starte ...

(versus Chelsea) to score. On 29 October 2009 Devaney joined

Football League One The English Football League One (often referred to as League One for short or Sky Bet League One for sponsorship purposes, and known as the Football League One from 2004 until 2016) is the second-highest division of the English Football Leag ...

side

Milton Keynes Dons Milton Keynes Dons Football Club (), usually abbreviated to MK Dons, is a professional association football club based in Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire, England. The team competes in , the third tier of the English football league system. The ...

on a month-emergency loan. He then scored his first goal for the Dons in a stunning FA Cup encounter with

Exeter City Exeter City Football Club is a professional association football club based in Exeter, Devon, England. The team play in , the third tier of the English football league system. Known as "the Grecians", the origin of their nickname is subject to ...

. After the Dons were losing 3–2, Devaney came off the bench to score a header from outside of the box, that being his first touch. The Dons then went on to win 4–3 in a memorable 2nd round tie. On 7 October 2010, Devaney joined

Walsall Walsall (, or ; locally ) is a market town and administrative centre in the West Midlands (county), West Midlands County, England. Historic counties of England, Historically part of Staffordshire, it is located north-west of Birmingham, east ...

on loan for a month. He impressed in his debut game against

, setting up the Saddlers second goal and putting in a man of the match performance. In his second game he continued to impress by scoring the equaliser against Dagenham & Redbridge. He returned to Barnsley on 7 November 2010. On 11 May 2011, Devaney's contract expired and he left Barnsley. He had become a firm favourite with the fans during his six years at the club, earning the nickname 'Disco' due to his tendency to trick defenders with spectacular footwork.

Later career

On 2 August 2011, he signed a one-year contract with

Tranmere Rovers Tranmere Rovers Football Club is a professional association football club based in Birkenhead, Merseyside, England. The team compete in , the fourth tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1884 as Belmont Football Club, they ado ...

and made his competitive club debut on the first day of the 2011–12 season, starting the Football League match against

Chesterfield Chesterfield may refer to: Places Canada * Rural Municipality of Chesterfield No. 261, Saskatchewan * Chesterfield Inlet, Nunavut United Kingdom * Chesterfield, Derbyshire, a market town in England ** Chesterfield (UK Parliament constitue ...

. He was released at the end of the 2011–12 season. On 11 February 2013, he signed with

Kidderminster Harriers Kidderminster Harriers Football Club is a professional association football club based in Kidderminster, Worcestershire, England. The team compete in the National League North, at the sixth tier of the English football league system. Formed in ...

on a deal until the end of the season. Towards the end of September 2013, Devaney signed a contract with struggling Conference Premier side Hyde. On 7 March 2014, Devaney signed for

Worcester City Worcester City Football Club is an English football club based in Worcester, Worcestershire. The club play in the Midland Football League, the ninth tier of English football. Established in 1902, the club play at Claines Lane. Worcester City's ...

till the end of the season.

Coaching

After gaining his

UEFA Union of European Football Associations (UEFA ; french: Union des associations européennes de football; german: Union der europäischen Fußballverbände) is one of six continental bodies of governance in association football. It governs f ...

'A' Coaching License, Devaney was appointed as a Professional Development Phase Coach at

in November 2015. He went on to work with the club's Academy and Development squads. On 24 April 2022, following the sacking of Poya Asbaghi, Devaney was appointed as caretaker manager for the rest of the season.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Devaney, Martin 1980 births Living people Sportspeople from Cheltenham Republic of Ireland association footballers Republic of Ireland football managers Republic of Ireland youth international footballers English footballers English football managers English people of Irish descent Association football midfielders Coventry City F.C. players Cheltenham Town F.C. players Watford F.C. players Barnsley F.C. players Milton Keynes Dons F.C. players Walsall F.C. players Tranmere Rovers F.C. players Kidderminster Harriers F.C. players Hyde United F.C. players Worcester City F.C. players English Football League players Barnsley F.C. non-playing staff Barnsley F.C. managers English Football League managers Association football coaches