Colin West (born 13 November 1962) 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, rugb ...

who is now the assistant manager at club

Hartlepool United Hartlepool United Football Club is a professional association football club based in Hartlepool, County Durham, England. The team competes in League Two, the fourth tier of the English football league system. They were founded in 1908 as Hartle ...

. He played as a forward and scored 158 goals in 555 league and cup games in the

English 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 ...

Conference A conference is a meeting of two or more experts to discuss and exchange opinions or new information about a particular topic. Conferences can be used as a form of group decision-making, although discussion, not always decisions, are the main p ...

and the

Scottish Football League The Scottish Football League (SFL) was a league featuring professional and semi-professional football clubs mostly from Scotland.One club, Berwick Rangers, is based in the town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, which is located approximately 4 km sout ...

. He began his career at

Sunderland Sunderland () is a port city in Tyne and Wear, England. It is the City of Sunderland's administrative centre and in the Historic counties of England, historic county of County of Durham, Durham. The city is from Newcastle-upon-Tyne and is on t ...

in 1981, playing more than 100 games for the ''Black Cats'' before moving on to

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, and ...

in March 1985. He was sold on to Rangers the following year for £180,000, though made only occasional appearances as Rangers won the

Scottish Football League Premier Division The Scottish Football League Premier Division was, from 1975 until 1998, the top division of the Scottish Football League and the entire Scottish football league system. It lay above the Scottish Football League First, Second and (from 1994) ...

title during the 1986–87 season. He returned to England with

Sheffield Wednesday Sheffield Wednesday Football Club is a professional association football club based in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England. The team competes in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. Formed in 1867 as an offshoot ...

in September 1987 for a fee of £150,000. Two years later he signed with

West Bromwich Albion West Bromwich Albion Football Club () is an English professional football club based in West Bromwich, West Midlands, England. They compete in the EFL Championship, the second tier of English football. The club was formed in 1878 and has pl ...

, before he joined

Swansea City Swansea City Association Football Club (; cy, Clwb Pêl-droed Cymdeithas Dinas Abertawe) is a professional football club based in Swansea, Wales that plays in the Championship, the second tier of English football. Swansea have played their ho ...

in August 1992, following a loan spell at

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 of ...

. He moved on to

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 profession ...

in July 1993 and spent five years at the club. In 1997, he was loaned out to

Northampton Town Northampton Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in the town of Northampton, England. The team plays in , the fourth tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1897, the club competed in the Midland ...

, before he switched clubs to Conference club Rushden & Diamonds. The next year he signed with

Northwich Victoria {{Infobox UK place , static_image_name = Northwich - Town Bridge.jpg , static_image_caption = Town Bridge, the River Weaver and the spire of Holy Trinity Church , official_name = Northwich , country ...

, before signing with

in 2000. After retiring in 2001, he spent the next ten years coaching at various clubs, including: Hartlepool United,

, Stockport County,

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 ...

, Southend United, Notts County,

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 Park s ...

and

. He served both Hartlepool United and Millwall as caretaker-manager.

Playing career

Sunderland

West turned professional in July 1980, and made his debut for

on 17 October 1981 against

Tottenham Hotspur Tottenham Hotspur Football Club, commonly referred to as Tottenham () or Spurs, is a professional association football, football club based in Tottenham, London, England. It competes in the Premier League, the top flight of English footba ...

in a 2–0 defeat at Roker Park under manager

Alan Durban William Alan Durban (born 7 July 1941) is a Welsh former international footballer and manager, whose career was at its peak between the 1970s and 1990s. He played in the Football League for Cardiff City, Derby County and was player-manager of ...

. The club narrowly avoided relegation out of the First Division in 1981–82 under new boss

, finishing just one place and two points above relegated

Leeds United Leeds United Football Club is a professional football club based in Leeds, West Yorkshire in England. The club competes in the Premier League, the highest level of England's football league system, and plays its home matches at Elland Road ...

. They then finished four places and three points above the drop in 1982–83. West was the club's top scorer in 1983–84 with nine goals. The next season, he scored three goals over the two legs in the

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-final win over Chelsea, but was left out of the

Wembley Wembley () is a large suburbIn British English, "suburb" often refers to the secondary urban centres of a city. Wembley is not a suburb in the American sense, i.e. a single-family residential area outside of the city itself. in north-west Londo ...

final Final, Finals or The Final may refer to: *Final (competition), the last or championship round of a sporting competition, match, game, or other contest which decides a winner for an event ** Another term for playoffs, describing a sequence of con ...

by manager Len Ashurst. Following this snub he joined league rivals

for £115,000 in March 1985. The "Black Cats" went on to lose their top-flight status in 1984–85, finishing two places and ten points short of safety. He scored 28 goals in 122 competitive appearances for Sunderland.

Watford, Rangers and Sheffield Wednesday

Following his arrival at

, West helped the club to a mid-table finish in the league. He was then the club's top scorer in 1985–86 with 16 goals. In total he hit 23 goals in 56 league and cup appearances for Graham Taylor's Watford. In May 1986, he became new Rangers' player-manager Graeme Souness's first signing when he moved to Scotland for a £180,000 fee. However, a serious knee injury sustained in only his fourth game restricted his impact at Ibrox, but he did manage to play 12 games in the title winning 1986–87 campaign, scoring three goals. He returned to England to sign with First Division side

for £150,000 in September 1987. The club finished eleventh in 1987–88 under Howard Wilkinson's stewardship, before heading into a relegation dogfight under

Peter Eustace Peter Eustace (born 31 July 1944) is an English former football player and manager. As a player, he made 340 appearances in the Football League representing Sheffield Wednesday, West Ham United, Rotherham United and Peterborough United. As a man ...

in 1988–89. West made 57 league and cup appearances at Wednesday, scoring 13 goals.

West Bromwich Albion

He signed with

Second Division In sport, the Second Division, also called Division 2 or Division II is usually the second highest division of a league, and will often have promotion and relegation with divisions above and below. Following the rise of Premier League style compet ...

side

in exchange for Carlton Palmer in February 1989, but was unable to fire

Brian Talbot Brian Ernest Talbot (born 21 July 1953) is an English former football player and manager. He was capped six times for the England national team. Talbot played in midfield for Ipswich Town, Arsenal, Watford, Stoke City, West Bromwich Albion, ...

's side into the play-offs in 1988–89, as they ended up two places and four points short of their target. The "Baggies" dropped to 20th in 1989–90, and were just two places and three points above relegated

AFC Bournemouth AFC Bournemouth () is a professional association football Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a r ...

. The

1990–91 Year 199 ( CXCIX) was a common year starting on Monday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was sometimes known as year 952 '' Ab urbe condita''. The denomination 199 for this year has been used since t ...

season was a disaster, and West Brom were relegated into the Third Division for the first time in their history. Not highly rated at the Hawthorns, he made 73 league appearances, scoring 22 goals, during his stay in the West Midlands. He joined Second Division club

on loan in November 1991, making five appearances and scoring one goal for John Rudge's side.

Swansea City

He was signed by

manager

Frank Burrows Frank Burrows (30 January 1944 – 24 November 2021) was a Scottish football player and manager who played as a central defender. Life and career Frank Burrows began his football career at Scottish club Raith Rovers. In 1965 he moved south to ...

in August 1992, and scored two goals in his first start for the club in a 2–0 win over former side Port Vale. He went on to score 12 goals in 33 Second Division appearances, as the "Swans" reached the play-offs in

1992–93 Year 199 ( CXCIX) was a common year starting on Monday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was sometimes known as year 952 '' Ab urbe condita''. The denomination 199 for this year has been used since t ...

, only to be sent off for fouling Ian Hamilton during a 2–0 defeat by his former club West Bromwich Albion in the second leg of the semi-finals, which left Swansea with a 3–2 aggregate loss. West later said that "I instantly thought 'why on earth did I do that?' but the referee rightly sent me off. It was a very sad way for me to end my time with the club."

Leyton Orient

West switched to Second Division rivals

in July 1993, who were then by managed by his former boss Peter Eustace. The "O's" finished 18th in 1993–94, before being relegated in last place in 1994–95. The club struggled in the fourth tier, and posted a 21st-place finish in 1995–96 under Pat Holland, three positions above

Torquay United Torquay United Football Club is a professional football club based in Torquay, Devon, England. The team currently compete in the , the fifth tier of English football. They have played their home matches at Plainmoor since 1921 and are nickna ...

, the

's bottom club. He scored five goals in 26 appearances in 1996–97, as Orient moved up to 16th under Tommy Taylor's stewardship. In total he made 142 league appearances for Leyton Orient, scoring 42 goals. In September 1997, he joined Second Division side

on loan, but made just two goalless appearances for Ian Atkins' "Cobblers". Two months later he was loaned out to Rushden & Diamonds of the

, in a move that reunited him with former manager Brian Talbot, and helped to fire the "Diamonds" to a fourth-place finish in 1997–98.

Later career

West signed with Rushden & Diamonds permanently for the 1998–99 season, and helped the club to another fourth-place finish. He moved on to Mark Gardiner's Conference strugglers

in the 1999–2000 campaign, before ending his career at

, where he made just a single appearance in 1999–2000.

Style of play

West was a forward who was "powerful in the air and determined on the ground".

Coaching career

When West joined

in November 1999 he was appointed as assistant manager to Chris Turner. The pair helped the club avoid falling into the

when they arrived, before they led the club to three successive Third Division play-offs, though they never made it past the semi-finals. When Turner left the club to take over as manager of

in November 2002, West briefly took charge of the first team on a caretaker basis. After a win and a draw, West left to team up with Turner at Hillsborough, and later followed him to Stockport County, before the pair left

Edgeley Park Edgeley Park is a football stadium in Edgeley, Stockport, England. Built for rugby league club Stockport RFC in 1891, by 1903, the rugby club was defunct and Stockport County Football Club moved in. Edgeley Park is an all-seater stadium hold ...

in December 2005. He then spent time as reserve team coach at

, being appointed assistant caretaker-manager to Richard Shaw after

Willie Donachie William Donachie (born 5 October 1951) is a Scottish former professional footballer. Donachie had a long playing career, the majority of which was with Manchester City. He also played for Norwich City, Burnley, Oldham Athletic and Portland Timber ...

was dismissed. He later took up the reserve team coaching position at Southend United in December 2008. Three months later, with Turner back in charge at "Pools" on a caretaker basis, West left the position at Southend to return to Hartlepool as assistant coach. He left Hartlepool again in June 2010 after the club chose not to renew his contract. In February 2012, Notts County manager Keith Curle recruited West to work as a coach. He left the club a year later, when Curle was sacked. He was appointed assistant manager at

when Curle took charge of the club in September 2014. The pair left

Brunton Park Brunton Park is a football stadium and the home of Carlisle United. It is situated in the city of Carlisle and has a certified capacity of 17,949. The ground opened in 1909. Brunton Park's grandstand burned down in 1953 and the stadium floode ...

at the end of the 2017–18 season. On 1 October 2018, Curle was appointed as

, and again hired West as his assistant. The pair were sacked on 10 February 2021. In July 2021, he re-united with Curle after being named assistant head coach at

Oldham Athletic Oldham Athletic Association Football Club is a professional football club in Oldham, Greater Manchester, England, which competes in the National League, the fifth tier of the English football league system. The history of Oldham Athletic be ...

. Curle and West both left Oldham on 24 November 2021 with the club sitting in 22nd-position in League Two. West rejoined Hartlepool United as assistant manager on 18 September 2022, once again alongside Keith Curle, who was appointed interim manager on the same day.

Career statistics

Playing statistics

Source:

Managerial statistics

Honours

Rangers *

: 1986–87

References