Michael Thomas Stockwell (born 14 February 1965) is an English 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 ...

. As a player he was a

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 1985 until 2007. He spent eighteen years of his career at

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 ...

, notching up 506 league appearances for the club and taking part in several

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 ...

seasons. He moved on to

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 ...

in 2000, where he ended his professional career three years later. He then spent time as player-coach of Non-league side

Heybridge Swifts Heybridge Swifts Football Club is a football club based in Heybridge, near Maldon, Essex, England. They are currently members of the and play at Scraley Road. History The club was established in 1880 as Heybridge Football Club. After joining t ...

before becoming player-manager of Woodbridge Town.

Playing career

Ipswich Town

Mick Stockwell was part of the very successful youth system set up by

Bobby Robson Sir Robert William Robson (18 February 1933 – 31 July 2009) was an English footballer and football manager. His career included periods playing for and later managing the England national team and being a UEFA Cup-winning manager at Ipswich ...

, joining as a 16 year old in 1981. He also represented England at Youth level. He was a highly rated player during his career, playing 610 games for Ipswich from 1982 to 2000, scoring 44 goals. Renowned for his reliability and stamina, Stockwell played every position during his career apart from goalkeeper. He mostly played as

right back In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield position whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Centre-backs are usually positioned in pairs, with one full-back on either s ...

or on the right of midfield but sometimes as an emergency striker, including scoring 2 goals against

Leicester City Leicester ( ) is a city, unitary authority and the county town of Leicestershire in the East Midlands of England. It is the largest settlement in the East Midlands. The city lies on the River Soar and close to the eastern end of the National ...

Filbert Street Filbert Street was a football stadium in Leicester, England, which served as the home of Leicester City F.C. from 1891 until 2002. Although officially titled the City Business Stadium in the early 1990s, it remained known almost exclusively b ...

in a 2-1 win in October 1990. His nickname "Stumper" was given to him by Robson after he stumped Robson out during a

cricket Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by striki ...

match. By the late 1980s he had established himself as a first-team player. He played a vital role in the 1991/1992 Second Division championship winning team and featured in the very first season of the new English Premiership, being named

Player of the Year Several sports leagues honour their best player with an award called Player of the Year (POY) . In the United States, this type of award is usually called a Most Valuable Player award. Association football In association football, this award is he ...

. Stockwell was granted a testimonial game by Ipswich in 1994 with Ipswich playing Robson's

FC Porto Futebol Clube do Porto, MHIH, OM (), commonly known as FC Porto or simply Porto, is a Portuguese professional sports club based in Porto. It is best known for the professional football team playing in the Primeira Liga, the top flight of Portu ...

. Whilst playing in the Premiership he was one of Ipswich's highest rated players until Ipswich were relegated in 1995. Stockwell remained as a mainstay with the Tractor Boys for the remainder of the 1990s reaching the First Division play-offs in 1996/97, 1997/98 and 1998/99. He was named players' Player of the Year in 1997/98. In his last season with Ipswich he was part of the team that finally won the First Division play-offs in 1999/00 before being released. As an Ipswich player he was also an

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 ...

quarter-finalist and

League Cup In several sports, most prominently association football, a league cup or secondary cup generally signifies a cup competition for which entry is restricted only to teams in a particular league. The first national association football tournament t ...

semi-finalist. He was released in 2000 and both

Norwich City Norwich City Football Club (also known as The Canaries or The Yellows) is an English professional football club based in Norwich, Norfolk. The club competes in the EFL Championship following their relegation from the Premier League in the 20 ...

and

attempted to sign Stockwell. He looked set to sign for Ipswich's local rivals Norwich however the deal collapsed after he was made to wait an extra week by Norwich before signing. Due to this Stockwell instead opted to join Colchester United.

Colchester United

Micky Stockwell signed for Colchester in 2000 and instantly made an impact. He went on to play 145 games for Colchester scoring 24 goals. He was a vital part in

Phil Parkinson Philip John Parkinson (born 1 December 1967) is an English professional football manager and former player who played as a midfielder. He is currently manager of National League side Wrexham. Parkinson is the only manager to take an English fou ...

's Colchester team until he retired in 2003 due to a major back injury. After a long career Micky Stockwell finished his career in football after playing over 700 professional games scoring 68 goals.

Coaching career

After retirement from the professional game, in 2003 he first became a player-coach at

but left after a couple of months. He then joined Woodbridge Town as a player, before later becoming in 2004 the manager. He was manager until October 2007 where Mick and Woodbridge town came to a mutual agreement to part company.

Personal life

As well as often working as a co-commentator on Ipswich games, Stockwell has his own business "Mick Stockwell Fitting Services" fitting kitchens and bathrooms.

Honours

Club

;Ipswich Town *

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 ...

: 1991–92 * Football League First Division play-offs:

2000 File:2000 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Protests against Bush v. Gore after the 2000 United States presidential election; Heads of state meet for the Millennium Summit; The International Space Station in its infant form as seen from ...

Individual

* Ipswich Town Player of the Year: 1992–93 * Ipswich Town Hall of Fame: Inducted 2013 * Colchester United Player of the Year: 2000–01

References

External links

* Pride of Anglia page for

{{DEFAULTSORT:Stockwell, Mick 1965 births Living people Ipswich Town F.C. players Colchester United F.C. players Premier League players English men's footballers Heybridge Swifts F.C. players Woodbridge Town F.C. players Woodbridge Town F.C. managers English Football League players Men's association football midfielders Footballers from Chelmsford English football managers