Brian Patrick Carey (born 31 May 1968) is a former Irish international

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, rugb ...

who played in the

Football League The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional association football, football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, the league is the oldest such competition in Association football around the wor ...

for

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 ...

as well as

Wrexham Wrexham ( ; cy, Wrecsam; ) is a city and the administrative centre of Wrexham County Borough in Wales. It is located between the Welsh mountains and the lower Dee Valley, near the border with Cheshire in England. Historically in the count ...

, whom he also served as manager. Since his playing retirement he has worked as the Assistant Manager at

Doncaster Doncaster (, ) is a city in South Yorkshire, England. Named after the River Don, it is the administrative centre of the larger City of Doncaster. It is the second largest settlement in South Yorkshire after Sheffield. Doncaster is situated in ...

and

Wolves The wolf (''Canis lupus''; : wolves), also known as the gray wolf or grey wolf, is a large canine native to Eurasia and North America. More than thirty subspecies of ''Canis lupus'' have been recognized, and gray wolves, as popularly un ...

and Chesterfield FC. He was the Lead Professional Development a Coach at Blackburn Rovers until May 2015. He is a UEFA A Licence Coach, holds a BSc in Sport Coaching and Exercise Science and he has represented Republic of Ireland at Senior International Level.

Playing career

Carey started his football career with Greenwood FC in

Togher, Cork Togher () is a suburb on the southside of Cork city, Ireland. Togher is within the Dáil constituency of Cork South-Central. Geography Togher is bounded to the north by The Lough, to the south by Ballincrannig and Farmers Cross, to the east ...

. He also played for Albert Rovers. He later signed for

Cork City Cork ( , from , meaning 'marsh') is the second largest city in Ireland and third largest city by population on the island of Ireland. It is located in the south-west of Ireland, in the province of Munster. Following an extension to the city's ...

where he made a number of appearances in the centre of defence in a season that ended in defeat in the 1989

FAI Cup The Football Association of Ireland Senior Challenge Cup (FAI Cup), known as the Extra.ie FAI Cup for sponsorship reasons, is a knock-out association football competition contested annually by teams from the Republic of Ireland (as well as Derry ...

Final. After several impressive displays, Carey signed by Sir Alex Ferguson for

Manchester United 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 ...

on 24 August 1989 and he stayed there for four years. During his time at Manchester United, Carey joined Wrexham on loan and played in the memorable FA Cup third round tie where they knocked out reigning league champions Arsenal 2–1 at the Racecourse Ground in January 1992. In November 1993, he was transferred to

and within three years had rejoined Wrexham on a permanent deal, having played 58 times in the league for the Foxes. The highlight of his time at

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 by ...

came in the 1994 Division One playoff final, when he helped them beat local rivals

Derby County Derby County Football Club () is a professional association football club based in Derby, Derbyshire, England. In 2022, it was announced that DCFC was acquired by Clowes Developments (UK) Ltd, a Derbyshire-based property group. Founded in 188 ...

2–1 and win promotion at Wembley 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 ...

after seven years away from the top flight. His time at the

Racecourse Ground The Racecourse Ground ( cy, Y Cae Ras) is a football stadium in Wrexham, Wales. It is the home of Wrexham A.F.C. It is the world's oldest international football stadium that still hosts international matches, having hosted Wales' first home i ...

spanned nine years, where he was captain and virtually an ever-present under manager Brian Flynn. Following his retirement as a player through injury in July 2005, he remained at Wrexham as a coach.

Management career

After the sacking of Wrexham manager Denis Smith in January 2007, Carey was promoted to take charge of the club on a temporary basis until the end of the season. At time the team were in severe danger of relegation to the

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, but survived after 3–1 win against relegation rivals

Boston United Boston United Football Club is a semi-professional association football club based in Boston, Lincolnshire, England. The club participates in the National League North, at the sixth tier of the English football league system. The club is known ...

on the final day of the season. After preserving the club's Football League status, Carey was offered the manager's role on a permanent basis, signing a two-year contract. After a poor start to the new season, however, he was replaced as manager by

Brian Little Brian Little (born 25 November 1953) is an English football manager and former player. As a player, Little was a striker who spent his entire career for Aston Villa in a career that spanned from 1971 to 1980. He made 247 league appearances, ...

, but remained on the club's staff mainly operating as a scout. Following Little's eventual departure in September 2008 soon after relegation to the

Conference National The National League, known as the Vanarama National League for sponsorship reasons, is the highest level of the National League System and fifth-highest of the overall English football league system. It is the highest league that is semi-professi ...

, Carey and

Martin Foyle Martin John Foyle (born 2 May 1963) is an English former professional footballer and manager who is the Head of Recruitment at club St Mirren. In his 20-year playing career he played 533 League games, scoring 155 goals. As a manager, he took ...

briefly took over as caretaker managers. When

Dean Saunders Dean Nicholas Saunders (born 21 June 1964) is a Welsh football manager and former professional footballer. As a player, he was a striker in a career which lasted from 1982 until 2001. He played for Liverpool and Aston Villa in the 1990s, and s ...

was appointed Wrexham manager in October 2008, Carey was given the role of assistant manager. When Wrexham were top of the league Carey then followed Saunders when he moved to

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 ...

of the

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in September 2011 to again serve as his assistant manager. Here, the duo saw the club relegated to League One at the end of the season. The duo assembled their own team for the 2012–13 campaign and by January the team were top of the league. Carey was again recruited by Saunders when he was offered the managerial job at

Wolverhampton Wanderers Wolverhampton Wanderers Football Club (), commonly known as Wolves, is a professional football club based in Wolverhampton, England, which compete in the . The club has played at Molineux Stadium since moving from Dudley Road in 1889. The club' ...

in January 2013, but their stay with the club lasted only four months. Carey was then appointed Professional Development Lead Phase Coach at Blackburn Rovers Academy where he worked for two years. Carey was once again re-united with Dean Saunders after being appointed his assistant at Chesterfield in June 2015. He now works full time in Scouting / Recruitment for a Premier League Football Club and travels throughout Europe and further afield searching for football talent.

Managerial statistics

:''As of 27 September 2008.''

Honours

Leicester City *

Football League First Division play-offs The English Football League Championship play-offs are a series of play-off matches contested by the association football teams finishing from third to sixth in the EFL Championship table and are part of the English Football League play-offs. , ...

(2):

1994 File:1994 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1994 Winter Olympics are held in Lillehammer, Norway; The Kaiser Permanente building after the 1994 Northridge earthquake; A model of the MS Estonia, which sank in the Baltic Sea; Nels ...

1996 File:1996 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: A bomb explodes at Centennial Olympic Park in Atlanta, set off by a radical anti-abortionist; The center fuel tank explodes on TWA Flight 800, causing the plane to crash and killing everyone o ...

Wrexham *

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 ...

(1):

2005 File:2005 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: Hurricane Katrina in the Gulf of Mexico; the Funeral of Pope John Paul II is held in Vatican City; " Me at the zoo", the first video ever to be uploaded to YouTube; Eris was discover ...

Individual * Denzil Haroun Reserve Team Player of the Year: 1991–92

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Carey, Brian Living people 1968 births Association football central defenders Cork City F.C. players League of Ireland players League of Ireland XI players Republic of Ireland association footballers Republic of Ireland international footballers Republic of Ireland under-21 international footballers Republic of Ireland football managers Manchester United F.C. players Leicester City F.C. players Wrexham A.F.C. players Wrexham A.F.C. managers Premier League players English Football League players Doncaster Rovers F.C. non-playing staff Wolverhampton Wanderers F.C. non-playing staff Blackburn Rovers F.C. non-playing staff Association footballers from Cork (city)