Wade Patrick Elliott (born 14 December 1978) is an English 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 ...

who is currently head coach of EFL League One 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 sy ...

. He played mainly as a

right 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 ...

but could also play as a

central 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 ...

. Elliott began playing football as a youth player for

Southampton Southampton () is a port city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. It is located approximately south-west of London and west of Portsmouth. The city forms part of the South Hampshire built-up area, which also covers Po ...

before joining non-league Bashley. He began his professional career at AFC Bournemouth after joining from Bashley for £5,000. After five years he joined

Burnley Burnley () is a town and the administrative centre of the wider Borough of Burnley in Lancashire, England, with a 2001 population of 73,021. It is north of Manchester and east of Preston, Lancashire, Preston, at the confluence of the River C ...

where he won two player of the year awards and scored the only goal in the 2009 play-off final elevating his team 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 Fo ...

. He moved on to

Birmingham City Birmingham City Football Club is a professional association football, football club based in Birmingham, England. Formed in 1875 as Small Heath Alliance, it was renamed Small Heath in 1888, Birmingham in 1905, and Birmingham City in 1943. Sin ...

in 2011, playing regularly for two seasons. He spent time on loan at

Bristol City Bristol City Football Club is a professional football club based in Bristol, England, which compete in the , the second tier of English football. They have played their home games at Ashton Gate since moving from St John's Lane in 1904. The ...

in 2014, and joined them on a permanent contract after his release from Birmingham at the end of the 2013–14 season. Having achieved promotion from

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 ...

to 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 ...

with Bristol City in the 2014–15 season, Elliott retired from playing in June 2015 in order to take up a coaching role at the club. After leaving Bristol City in June 2016 Elliot played in several pre-season Friendlies for National League side Forest Green Rovers, reportedly in advance of taking a joint role of player and youth team coach.

Playing career

Youth and non-League

Elliott was born in

, and began playing football as a youth player at

Southampton F.C. Southampton Football Club () is an English professional football club based in Southampton, Hampshire, which competes in the . Their home ground since 2001 has been St Mary's Stadium, before which they were based at The Dell. The club play i ...

, during which time he also represented England schoolboys. He was released from the Southampton youth setup when he was 16 and instead went on to do his A-levels. He carried on playing football at non-League Bashley while studying at university – he did two years of a degree course in communications and sociology at

Goldsmiths' College Goldsmiths, University of London, officially the Goldsmiths' College, is a constituent research university of the University of London in England. It was originally founded in 1891 as The Goldsmiths' Technical and Recreative Institute by the Wor ...

and completed the degree via the

Open University The Open University (OU) is a British public research university and the largest university in the United Kingdom by number of students. The majority of the OU's undergraduate students are based in the United Kingdom and principally study off- ...

– and was spotted by former AFC Bournemouth player

Jimmy Case James Robert Case (born 18 May 1954) is an English retired professional footballer who played as a midfielder. He gained national prominence with Liverpool in the 1970s and early 1980s. Early life Case was brought up in Allerton and was a dis ...

who organised a trial match for him at the

club. He trained with Bournemouth from Christmas 1998, and signed for a fee of £5,000 in February 2000.

AFC Bournemouth

Elliott scored three goals in the twelve games he played in his first season with Bournemouth. In the following seasons he began to have more and more of an impact, winning the club's Player of the Year award in his first full season. He was out of contract at the end of the 2003–04 season and eventually signed a one-year contract extension. In his last season at the club he played 51 games and scored 5 goals. With his and teammate

Garreth O'Connor Garreth O'Connor (born 10 November 1978, in Dublin) is an Irish former footballer. He started out playing for Bannow Celtic in Dublin where he soon caught the attention of Belvedere. He started his senior career in the Bohemians B team but wi ...

's contracts due to expire, the pair signed three-year contracts with

, a team which he had impressed in an FA Cup-tie that season.

Burnley

Elliott's first season at Burnley got off to a slow start; he made just 23 starts for the club and scored 3 goals. However, in his next two seasons, he became one of the club's most influential players, winning Player of the Year awards for two consecutive seasons. In the 2007–08 season, he committed his future to the club by signing a three-year contract extension, keeping him at the club until the end of the 2011 season. In the following season he was instrumental in Burnley's promotion to the

and capped off the season by scoring the only goal in the play-off final. The curling shot captured much media attention with multiple references to him scoring the goal that had the potential to earn Burnley up to £60 million in the Premier League. Elliott began his first Premier League season in the headlines by scoring the only goal in the home win against Everton. On his 200th League appearance for Burnley, he scored the final goal in a 4–1 defeat of

Hull City Hull City Association Football Club is a professional football club based in Hull, East Riding of Yorkshire, England, that compete in the . They have played home games at the MKM Stadium since moving from Boothferry Park in 2002. The club's t ...

from an inswinging free kick on the far left at the

KC Stadium The MKM Stadium (also known as the Hull City Stadium due to UEFA sponsorship regulations) is a multi-purpose facility in the city of Kingston upon Hull, England. The stadium was previously called the KC Stadium, but was renamed the KCOM Stadi ...

Birmingham City

Elliott joined

club

on 31 August 2011, the last day of the summer transfer window; he signed a two-year contract for an undisclosed fee. He made his Birmingham debut as a second-half substitute in a 3–0 home victory against

Millwall Millwall is a district on the western and southern side of the Isle of Dogs, in east London, England, in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. It lies to the immediate south of Canary Wharf and Limehouse, north of Greenwich and Deptford, eas ...

, and scored his first goal for the club against Maribor in the

Europa League The UEFA Europa League (abbreviated as UEL, or sometimes, UEFA EL), formerly the UEFA Cup, is an annual football club competition organised since 1971 by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) for eligible European football clubs. It ...

on 29 September. Elliott's first league goal came in March 2012 in a 3–1 defeat away to

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 ...

, scored from the penalty spot after

Sol Bamba Souleymane Bamba (born 13 January 1985) is a professional footballer who last played for club Middlesbrough and the Ivorian national team as a centre-back. Bamba started his career in his native France with Paris Saint-Germain, but failed to ...

brought down

Nikola Žigić Nikola Žigić ( sr-cyr, Никола Жигић, ; born 25 September 1980) is a Serbian former footballer who played as a centre forward. Žigić was born in Bačka Topola, in what was then SFR Yugoslavia. He began playing football as a you ...

. His third league goal came in a win against

Peterborough United Peterborough United Football Club is an English professional football club based in Peterborough, Cambridgeshire, England. The team compete in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. Peterborough have a long-standing ...

in September; the goal was originally credited as an

own goal An own goal, also called a self goal, is where a player performs actions that result in them or their team scoring a goal on themselves, often resulting in a point for the opposing team, such as when a football player kicks a ball into their own ...

when goalkeeper Bobby Olejnik punched Elliott's free kick into his own net, but was later awarded to Elliott. In June 2013, Elliott signed a one-year contract extension with Birmingham. In October 2013, Elliott was sent off for elbowing an opponent just before half-time with Birmingham a goal down to Premier League Stoke City in the League Cup; the ten men came back to draw 4–4

after extra time Overtime or extra time is an additional period of play specified under the rules of a sport to bring a game to a decision and avoid declaring the match a tie or draw where the scores are the same. In some sports, this extra period is played onl ...

but lost the

penalty shootout The penalty shootout is a method of determining a winner in sports matches that would have otherwise been drawn or tied. The rules for penalty shootouts vary between sports and even different competitions; however, the usual form is similar to pe ...

. He returned from the resulting three-match suspension to make his 100th appearance for Birmingham, as a second-half substitute in a 3–0 win at Barnsley on 30 November. After a spell on loan at

, Elliott was released. He finished his Birmingham career at the age of 35, having scored 14 goals in 105 appearances in all competitions.

Bristol City

After not featuring regularly in Birmingham's starting eleven, Elliott joined League One club

on 28 January 2014 on a one-month loan. He made his debut the same day, as a half-time substitute at Brentford with his new team already 3–1 behind, and was booked early in the half for a poor tackle. He went on to impress 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, ...

, who admitted that he had " hrownhim in too soon after not playing regular first team football since October", and Elliott's loan was extended to the end of the season. After his release from Birmingham, Elliott joined Bristol City on a one-year permanent contract. Cotterill appointed him captain, describing him as "a stand-out candidate" who "offers a great deal of honesty, integrity and leadership." He led his side to the " lower-league double" of 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 Le ...

and League One title, then announced his retirement as a player to take up coaching.

Coaching career

Elliott took up the post of under-21s manager at Bristol City at the end of the 2014–15 season. In January 2016, after Steve Cotterill was sacked, assistant manager

John Pemberton John Stith Pemberton (July 8, 1831 – August 16, 1888) was an American pharmacist and Confederate States Army veteran who is best known as the inventor of Coca-Cola. In May 1886, he developed an early version of a beverage that would later bec ...

and Elliott were named as an interim management team; their first game in charge was a 1–0 victory over league leaders

Middlesbrough Middlesbrough ( ) is a town on the southern bank of the River Tees in North Yorkshire, England. It is near the North York Moors national park. It is the namesake and main town of its local borough council area. Until the early 1800s, the a ...

. He left the club at the end of the season following a reorganisation of the coaching structure under new manager Lee Johnson. In October 2016, Elliott was announced as the new assistant Academy manager at

Forest Green Rovers Forest Green Rovers Football Club are a professional football club based in Nailsworth, Gloucestershire, England. The team compete in , the third tier of the English football league system, and have played their home games at The New Lawn since ...

. Elliott was appointed assistant manager of Stoke City U23s in April 2017. He became manager of the team in January 2018 following the departure of

Glyn Hodges Glyn Peter Hodges (born 30 April 1963) is a Welsh football coach and former professional player who is assistant manager at Bradford City. During his playing career he played for Wimbledon, Newcastle United, Watford, Crystal Palace, Sheffiel ...

, but reverted to assistant to Kevin Russell for the 2018–19 season. Elliot joined

as a coach in September 2020. Elliott was promoted to the role of head coach in June 2022 following the departure of Michael Duff.

Career statistics

Managerial statistics

Honours

Player

Burnley *

(level 2) play-off winners: 2008–09 Bristol City *

(level 3): 2014–15 *

: 2014–15

Coach

Cheltenham Town * EFL League Two champions:

2020–21 The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen b ...

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Elliott, Wade 1978 births Living people People from Eastleigh English footballers England schools international footballers Association football midfielders Bashley F.C. players AFC Bournemouth players Burnley F.C. players Birmingham City F.C. players Bristol City F.C. players Southern Football League players English Football League players Premier League players Bristol City F.C. non-playing staff Forest Green Rovers F.C. non-playing staff Stoke City F.C. non-playing staff Alumni of Goldsmiths, University of London Cheltenham Town F.C. non-playing staff Association football coaches Cheltenham Town F.C. managers English Football League managers