Warren Aspinall (born 13 September 1967) is an English former
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 as 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 ...
or
forward
Forward is a relative direction, the opposite of backward.
Forward may also refer to:
People
* Forward (surname)
Sports
* Forward (association football)
* Forward (basketball), including:
** Point forward
** Power forward (basketball)
** Sm ...
in
the 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 ...
, most notably for
Portsmouth
Portsmouth ( ) is a port and city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. The city of Portsmouth has been a unitary authority since 1 April 1997 and is administered by Portsmouth City Council.
Portsmouth is the most dens ...
and
Carlisle United
Carlisle United Football Club ( , ) is a professional association football club based in Carlisle, Cumbria, England. The team compete in , the fourth tier of the English football league system. They have played their home games at Brunton Par ...
. He began his career with hometown club
Wigan Athletic
Wigan Athletic Football Club () is an English professional association football club based in Wigan, Greater Manchester, England. The team competes in the Championship, the second tier of the English football league system.
Founded in 1932, ...
, earning a good reputation as a goalscorer from a young age and securing a move to
First Division club
Everton, being loaned back to Wigan until the end of the season. He later joined
Aston Villa
Aston Villa Football Club is a professional football club based in Aston, Birmingham, England. The club competes in the , the top tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1874, they have played at their home ground, Villa Park ...
for a club record fee of £315,000, helping the club back to the top tier of English football, before signing for Portsmouth for another club record fee. He made over 150 appearances in all competitions for Pompey, before moving to
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 ...
after a loan spell at the club and
Swansea City. He later played for Carlisle, aiding the club's promotion cause and helping them win the
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 Leag ...
. He also played for
Brentford
Brentford is a suburban town in West London, England and part of the London Borough of Hounslow. It lies at the confluence of the River Brent and the Thames, west of Charing Cross.
Its economy has diverse company headquarters buildings whi ...
,
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 ...
and
Brighton & Hove Albion
Brighton & Hove Albion Football Club (), commonly referred to simply as Brighton, is an English professional football club based in the city of Brighton and Hove. They compete in the Premier League, the top tier of the English football league ...
. He retired from playing through an ankle injury in 2000.
After his retirement from the game, his alcoholism and
gambling addiction
Problem gambling or ludomania is repetitive gambling behavior despite harm and negative consequences. Problem gambling may be diagnosed as a mental disorder according to ''DSM-5'' if certain diagnostic criteria are met. Pathological gambling is ...
brought him to the brink of suicide after losing £1 million that he had earned during his career. Following his recovery after checking into the
Sporting Chance clinic, Aspinall became an advocate for the
Samaritans
Samaritans (; ; he, שומרונים, translit=Šōmrōnīm, lit=; ar, السامريون, translit=as-Sāmiriyyūn) are an ethnoreligious group who originate from the ancient Israelites. They are native to the Levant and adhere to Samarit ...
, fronting their "Men on the Ropes" campaign and has talked openly about his alcohol and gambling problems to aid other males in similar situations.
Career
Born in
Wigan
Wigan ( ) is a large town in Greater Manchester, England, on the River Douglas, Lancashire, River Douglas. The town is midway between the two cities of Manchester, to the south-east, and Liverpool, to the south-west. Bolton lies to the nor ...
, Aspinall began his career as a 13-year-old apprentice with hometown club
Wigan Athletic
Wigan Athletic Football Club () is an English professional association football club based in Wigan, Greater Manchester, England. The team competes in the Championship, the second tier of the English football league system.
Founded in 1932, ...
. He signed a professional contract at the age of 17
and made his debut in March 1985 in an away game against
Leyton Orient
Leyton Orient Football Club is a professional football club based in Leyton, East London, England, who compete in , the fourth tier of the English football league system. They are the second oldest football club in London to play at a professio ...
.
He made 33 league appearances and scored ten goals for Wigan, before being sold to
Everton in 1986 for £150,000. He was immediately loaned back to Wigan, scoring a further 12 goals in 18 league appearances.
With Wigan's season completed, Aspinall returned to Everton, where he came on as a substitute for
Gary Lineker
Gary Winston Lineker (; born 30 November 1960) is an English former professional footballer and current sports broadcaster. He is regarded as having been one of the greatest English strikers. His media career began with the BBC, where he has p ...
in a 3–1 victory.
After making only ten substitute appearances in all competitions for the Toffees, Aspinall transferred to
Aston Villa
Aston Villa Football Club is a professional football club based in Aston, Birmingham, England. The club competes in the , the top tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1874, they have played at their home ground, Villa Park ...
for a then club record fee of £300,000, but could not help stop the club being relegated from the
First Division.
Manager
Billy McNeill
William McNeill (2 March 1940 – 22 April 2019) was a Scottish football player and manager. He had a long association with Celtic, spanning more than sixty years as a player, manager and club ambassador. McNeill captained Celtic's 'Lisbon Lio ...
, who signed Aspinall, was sacked and replaced by
Graham Taylor
Graham Taylor (15 September 1944 – 12 January 2017) was an English football player, manager, pundit and chairman of Watford Football Club. He was the manager of the England national football team from 1990 to 1993, and also managed Lincoln C ...
, as Villa bounced back immediately to the First Division, with Aspinall finishing as joint-top scorer. However, a poor disciplinary record prompted a warning from Taylor that this must improve or he would be sold. An incident away to
St Mirren in a pre-season friendly involved Aspinall stamping on an opponents foot led to him being sold to
Portsmouth
Portsmouth ( ) is a port and city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. The city of Portsmouth has been a unitary authority since 1 April 1997 and is administered by Portsmouth City Council.
Portsmouth is the most dens ...
for a club-record fee of £315,000 in August 1988.
He played in 44 league games and scored 14 goals for Aston Villa.
In five years at
Fratton Park
Fratton Park is a football ground in Portsmouth, England, which is the home of Portsmouth F.C. Fratton Park remains as the only home football ground in Portsmouth FC's entire history.
The early Fratton Park was designed by local architect A ...
, Aspinall made over 150 appearances in all competitions, scoring 28 goals,
and under
Jim Smith helped the club reach the 1992
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-final, going out on
penalties
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 ...
before Aspinall could take his kick. The team also narrowly missed out on promotion to 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 ...
, but missed out by two goals.
After loan spells at
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 ...
and
Swansea City, playing six games for each club and scoring only once for Bournemouth, he was sold to Bournemouth for £20,000 in December 1993.
With limited chances at Bournemouth, scoring eight goals in 28 league games, Aspinall signed for
Carlisle United
Carlisle United Football Club ( , ) is a professional association football club based in Carlisle, Cumbria, England. The team compete in , the fourth tier of the English football league system. They have played their home games at Brunton Par ...
on a free transfer. Making 132 appearances and scoring 16 goals, he helped the club to promotion and won the
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 Leag ...
. In 1997, he joined
Brentford
Brentford is a suburban town in West London, England and part of the London Borough of Hounslow. It lies at the confluence of the River Brent and the Thames, west of Charing Cross.
Its economy has diverse company headquarters buildings whi ...
for £50,000, citing wanting to move back to the south of England as his reasons for leaving Carlisle.
He was later loaned out 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 ...
after scoring just five league goals in 43 appearances for the Bees.
He signed permanently for Colchester in March 1999, and was made captain of the team in the summer of 1999. However, he was later loaned to
Brighton
Brighton () is a seaside resort and one of the two main areas of the City of Brighton and Hove in the county of East Sussex, England. It is located south of London.
Archaeological evidence of settlement in the area dates back to the Bronze A ...
in September 1999, with the move being made permanent in November of the same year.
It was with Brighton that Aspinall was forced to retire from playing early through injury, after suffering from a long-term ankle problem.
Aspinall had contracted
MRSA
Methicillin-resistant ''Staphylococcus aureus'' (MRSA) is a group of Gram-positive bacteria that are genetically distinct from other strains of ''Staphylococcus aureus''. MRSA is responsible for several difficult-to-treat infections in humans. ...
following an operation on his ankle that went wrong, spending 27 days in hospital as a result.
Personal life
After leaving the game, Aspinall
turned to drink and picked up a
gambling addiction
Problem gambling or ludomania is repetitive gambling behavior despite harm and negative consequences. Problem gambling may be diagnosed as a mental disorder according to ''DSM-5'' if certain diagnostic criteria are met. Pathological gambling is ...
.
His gambling cost him around £1 million that he had earned during his long career.
On the verge of suicide, after narrowly avoiding
death by train, saved only by last minute thoughts of his family, he checked himself into the
Sporting Chance clinic.
He has fronted a Samaritans campaign, "Men on the Ropes", that aims to reduce male suicides.
In 2009 Aspinall was working in a
Sainsbury's
J Sainsbury plc, trading as Sainsbury's, is the second largest chain of supermarkets in the United Kingdom, with a 14.6% share of UK supermarket sales.
Founded in 1869 by John James Sainsbury with a shop in Drury Lane, London, the company wa ...
distribution centre in
Basingstoke
Basingstoke ( ) is the largest town in the county of Hampshire. It is situated in south-central England and lies across a valley at the source of the River Loddon, at the far western edge of The North Downs. It is located north-east of Southa ...
and scouting for
League Two
The English Football League Two (often referred to as League Two for short or Sky Bet League Two for sponsorship purposes, and known as the Football League Two from 2004 until 2016) is the third and lowest division of the English Football Lea ...
side
Port Vale
Port Vale Football Club are a professional football club based in Burslem, Stoke-on-Trent, England, which compete in . Vale are the only English Football League club not to be named after a place; their name being a reference to the valley o ...
under manager
Micky Adams
Michael Richard Adams (born 8 November 1961) is an English former professional association football, footballer and football manager. As a player, he was a Full-back (football), full back, and made a total of 438 league appearances in a ninete ...
.
Since 2015 he has worked for radio station
BBC Sussex
BBC Radio Sussex is the BBC's local radio station serving the counties of East and West Sussex.
It broadcasts on FM, DAB, digital TV and via BBC Sounds from studios on Queens Road in Brighton.
Programming
Local programming airs from the B ...
as a
summariser for Brighton & Hove Albion matches.
Honours
Club
;Wigan Athletic
*
1985
The year 1985 was designated as the International Youth Year by the United Nations.
Events January
* January 1
** The Internet's Domain Name System is created.
** Greenland withdraws from the European Economic Community as a result of a ...
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 Leag ...
winner
;Aston Villa
*1987–88
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 ...
runner-up (level 2)
;Carlisle United
*1994–95
Football League Third Division
The Football League Third Division was the third tier of the English football league system in 1920–21 and again from 1958 until 1992. When the FA Premier League was formed, the division become the fourth tier level. In 2004, following the f ...
winner (level 4)
*
1997
File:1997 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The movie set of ''Titanic'', the highest-grossing movie in history at the time; ''Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone'', is published; Comet Hale-Bopp passes by Earth and becomes one of t ...
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 Leag ...
winner
Individual
*1996–97
PFA Team of the Year
The Professional Footballers' Association Team of the Year (often called the PFA Team of the Year, or simply the Team of the Year) is an annual award given to a set of 55 footballers across the top four tiers of men's English football; the Premie ...
Third Division (level 4)
:''All honours referenced by:''
References
External links
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Aspinall, Warren
1967 births
Living people
Footballers from Wigan
Men's association football midfielders
Men's association football forwards
English men's footballers
Wigan Athletic F.C. players
Everton F.C. players
Aston Villa F.C. players
Portsmouth F.C. players
AFC Bournemouth players
Swansea City A.F.C. players
Carlisle United F.C. players
Brentford F.C. players
Colchester United F.C. players
Brighton & Hove Albion F.C. players
English Football League players