Deiniol William Thomas Graham (born 4 October 1969) is a

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly ...

manager and former player. He played as a forward for various clubs 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 ...

after playing in the

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 ...

youth and reserve teams.

Playing career

Born in

Cannock Cannock () is a town in the Cannock Chase district in the county of Staffordshire, England. It had a population of 29,018. Cannock is not far from the nearby towns of Walsall, Burntwood, Stafford and Telford. The cities of Lichfield and Wolverh ...

Staffordshire Staffordshire (; postal abbreviation Staffs.) is a landlocked county in the West Midlands region of England. It borders Cheshire to the northwest, Derbyshire and Leicestershire to the east, Warwickshire to the southeast, the West Midlands C ...

, Graham grew up in

Caergeiliog Caergeiliog is a village in Anglesey, in north-west Wales. It is in the community of Llanfair-yn-Neubwll Llanfair-yn-Neubwll is a village and community on the Isle of Anglesey in the north west of Wales. The community includes the villages ...

, Anglesey. He signed for

as an apprentice in October 1985 and left school in the summer of 1986. He turned professional a year later, and made his debut for the first team in the 1987–88 season, coming on as a 53rd-minute substitute for

Mike Duxbury Michael Duxbury (born 1 September 1959) is a former footballer who won ten caps for England. At club level, he played in the Football League for Manchester United, Blackburn Rovers and Bradford City, and in the Hong Kong First Division League ...

in the club's League Cup Second Round second leg match against

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 ...

on 7 October 1987. He made one further appearance that season. Graham scored his first and only goal for the Manchester United first team on 11 January 1989 in a 2–2 draw with

Queens Park Rangers Queens Park Rangers Football Club, commonly abbreviated to QPR, is a professional football club based in Shepherd's Bush, West London, England, which compete in the . After a nomadic early existence, they have played home matches at Loftus Ro ...

in 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 compet ...

Third Round replay. However, just over a month later, he suffered a broken arm in a youth team match against Bury Reserves and was ruled out for eight months, severely denting his first team opportunities. He only made one more appearance for the first team before

Mel Machin Melvyn Machin (born 16 April 1945) is an English former football player and manager. A midfielder, he started his career at Port Vale in 1962, before he moved on to Gillingham four years later. He made his name at the club from 1966 to 1970, ...

signed him for

Barnsley Barnsley () is a market town in South Yorkshire, England. As the main settlement of the Metropolitan Borough of Barnsley and the fourth largest settlement in South Yorkshire. In Barnsley, the population was 96,888 while the wider Borough ha ...

for £50,000 on 5 August 1991. At Barnsley, Graham's first-team opportunities were more frequent but he was still unable to hold down a regular place, making around 40 appearances and scoring just two goals in his three years there. In 1992, he was loaned out to

Preston North End Preston North End Football Club, commonly referred to as Preston, North End or PNE, is a professional football club in Preston, Lancashire, England, who currently play in the EFL Championship, the second tier of the English football league syste ...

, where he made 11 appearances and scored one goal, in the FA Cup. A loan spell at

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 ...

followed in 1993, and Graham was given a free transfer by Barnsley at the end of the 1993–94 season. He was then picked up by

Stockport County Stockport County Football Club are a professional football club in Stockport, England, who compete in EFL League Two, the fourth tier of the English football league system. Formed in 1883 as Heaton Norris Rovers, they were renamed Stockport Co ...

, scoring two goals in 11 matches before joining

Scunthorpe United Scunthorpe United Football Club is a professional association football club based in the town of Scunthorpe, Lincolnshire, England. The side currently competes in the National League, the fifth tier of the English football league system. The te ...

a year later, but after two months there, including three appearances and one goal, he moved into non-league football. He joined Emley, where for the 1996–97 season, he was the club's top scorer with 29 goals, the second highest that season in the

Northern Premier League The Northern Premier League is an English football league that was founded in 1968. It has four divisions: the Premier Division (which stands at level 7 of the English football league system), Division One East, Division One West and Divisio ...

Premier Division. The following season he was a member of the club's memorable

run scoring in the third and fourth qualifying rounds against Belper and Nuneaton Borough respectively. He scored again the penalty shoot out in the first round replay which resulted in victory against Morecambe, as well as in the second round in a second round draw against Lincoln City. After going through in the replay, the club were drawn against West Ham United in round three. Although Emley lost the game 2–1, they gave the Premier League side, which included the likes of Rio Ferdinand and Frank Lampard, a real fear of one of the greatest FA Cup upsets of all time. He later played for

Colwyn Bay Colwyn Bay ( cy, Bae Colwyn) is a town, community and seaside resort in Conwy County Borough on the north coast of Wales overlooking the Irish Sea. It lies within the historic county of Denbighshire. Eight neighbouring communities are incorpo ...

, then moved to

Cwmbran Town Cwmbran ( ; cy, Cwmbrân , also in use as an alternative spelling in English) is a town in the county borough of Torfaen in South Wales. Lying within the historic boundaries of Monmouthshire, Cwmbran was designated as a New Town in 1949 to prov ...

for a season before returning to Colwyn Bay. He also played for

Bangor City Bangor City Football Club ( cy, Clwb Pêl-droed Dinas Bangor) are an inactive Welsh football club from the City of Bangor, Gwynedd. They started the 2021–22 season in the Cymru North the second level of the Welsh football league system, bu ...

and

Rhyl Rhyl (; cy, Y Rhyl, ) is a seaside town and community in Denbighshire, Wales. The town lies within the historic boundaries of Flintshire, on the north-east coast of Wales at the mouth of the River Clwyd ( Welsh: ''Afon Clwyd''). To the we ...

in the

Welsh Premier League The Cymru Premier, known as the JD Cymru Premier for sponsorship reasons, is the national football league of Wales. It has both professional and semi-professional status clubs and is at the top of the Welsh football league system. Prior to 20 ...

, as well as

Caersws Caersws ( cy, Caersŵs; ) is a village and community on the River Severn, in the Welsh county of Powys (Montgomeryshire) west of Newtown, and halfway between Aberystwyth and Shrewsbury. It has a station on the Cambrian Line from Aberystwyth t ...

and

Llandudno Llandudno (, ) is a seaside resort, town and community in Conwy County Borough, Wales, located on the Creuddyn peninsula, which protrudes into the Irish Sea. In the 2011 UK census, the community – which includes Gogarth, Penrhyn Bay, Craig ...

Managerial career

At the end of his playing career, Graham moved into management in March 2007 where he was made joint manager of

. He rejoined them in October 2011 for a second management spell. He left the club in November 2012.

Personal life

In March 2022, he was disqualified from driving and given six points on his licence and fined £800 for an alleged offence in June 2021 in Prestatyn where he failed to provide the identity of the driver of a car registered in his name.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Graham, Deiniol 1969 births Living people Sportspeople from Cannock English men's footballers Welsh men's footballers Wales men's youth international footballers Wales men's under-21 international footballers Men's association football forwards Manchester United F.C. players Barnsley F.C. players Preston North End F.C. players Carlisle United F.C. players Stockport County F.C. players Scunthorpe United F.C. players Halifax Town A.F.C. players Colwyn Bay F.C. players Dagenham & Redbridge F.C. players English Football League players Llandudno F.C. managers English football managers Cwmbrân Town A.F.C. players Bangor City F.C. players Rhyl F.C. players Caersws F.C. players Cymru Premier players Wakefield F.C. players Llandudno F.C. players Footballers from Staffordshire

Playing career

Managerial career

Personal life

See also

References

External links