Gary Andrew Charles (born 13 April 1970) is an English football coach and former professional player. He played as a

right-back In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield position whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Centre-backs are usually positioned in pairs, with one full-back on either s ...

, notably beginning his career with

Nottingham Forest Nottingham Forest Football Club is an association football club based in West Bridgford, Nottinghamshire, England. Nottingham Forest was founded in 1865 and have been playing their home games at the City Ground, on the banks of the River Tren ...

and featured in the inaugural

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 ...

season under

Brian Clough Brian Howard Clough ( ; 21 March 1935 – 20 September 2004) was an English football player and manager, primarily known for his successes as a manager with Derby County and Nottingham Forest. He is one of four managers to have won the Engl ...

, he also played in England's top flight for Aston Villa and

West Ham United West Ham United Football Club is an English professional football club that plays its home matches in Stratford, East London. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football. The club plays at the London Stadium, hav ...

as well as in Portugal for Benfica. He also played in the Football League 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 ...

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 ...

and

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 ...

. He was

capped In sport, a cap is a player's appearance in a game at international level. The term dates from the practice in the United Kingdom of awarding a cap to every player in an international match of rugby football and association football. In the ea ...

twice for

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

. In 2018, Charles had a brief spell as manager of non-league side

Nuneaton Town Nuneaton Borough Football Club is an English football club that is based in Nuneaton, Warwickshire. The men's 1st team competes in the , the seventh tier of English football. In 1889, Nuneaton St. Nicholas FC was the first team in Nuneaton to ...

, having previously worked as assistant manager of Lincoln City.

Playing career

Born in

Newham The London Borough of Newham is a London borough created in 1965 by the London Government Act 1963. It covers an area previously administered by the Essex county boroughs of West Ham and East Ham, authorities that were both abolished by the ...

, London, Charles started his career at Clapton F.C., but first came into notability at

, when he became a regular alongside Roy Keane, making his debut on 7 November 1987. Due to his colour and skills, he was dubbed ''the Brazilian''. His manager at Forest,

, commented on his dribbling abilities by saying: "When he plays a one-two he goes like a gazelle. It's so effortless that at first it looks as if he's not moving, yet he's 40 yards up the field. In June 1991, he made his debut for

, playing two friendlies, against

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

on 8 June and

Malaysia Malaysia ( ; ) is a country in Southeast Asia. The federation, federal constitutional monarchy consists of States and federal territories of Malaysia, thirteen states and three federal territories, separated by the South China Sea into two r ...

on 12 June. Only a few weeks earlier, Charles was famously fouled by Paul Gascoigne in the

1991 FA Cup Final The 1991 FA Cup Final saw Tottenham Hotspur win the FA Cup for a then-record eighth time, by beating Nottingham Forest 2–1 at Wembley in the 110th FA Cup Final. Tottenham's triumph made them the first club to win the trophy eight times, tho ...

. This was the challenge that caused Gascoigne's

cruciate ligament Cruciate ligaments (also cruciform ligaments) are pairs of ligaments arranged like a letter X. They occur in several joints of the body, such as the knee joint and the atlanto-axial joint. In a fashion similar to the cords in a toy Jacob's la ...

s to tear, forcing him out of the game for a year. On 29 March 1992, he made the squad that won the

Full Members Cup The Full Members' Cup was an association football cup competition held in English football from 1985 to 1992. It was also known under its sponsored names of the Simod Cup from 1987 to 1989 and the Zenith Data Systems Cup from 1989 to 1992. Th ...

against

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 ...

. On 29 July 1993, he made a £750,000 move to

, appearing 76 times for them during a two-year spell, which included honours for PFA Team of the Year in 1993–94. On 6 January 1995, he signed with Aston Villa for a fee close to £1.4m, and assumed a regular starting role, although he was frequently injured, being out for two

seasons A season is a division of the year based on changes in weather, ecology, and the number of daylight hours in a given region. On Earth, seasons are the result of the axial parallelism of Earth's tilted orbit around the Sun. In temperate and po ...

recovering from a serious ankle injury. He appeared in 80 league matches in three and a half years with the Villans, winning one

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 ...

. On 14 January 1999, Charles moved abroad, joining Benfica in Portugal, for a fee of £1m. He was the back-up choice after the failed bid for

Oleh Luzhnyi Oleh Romanovych Luzhnyi ( uk, Олег Романович Лужний; born 5 August 1968) is a Ukrainian former professional footballer who played as a right-back. Club career Luzhnyi is a product of the Karpaty sports school (coached by Yur ...

. However, in Portugal, his problem with injuries remained; on 22 January, just six days after arriving, he sustained a sprain in his right hock with rupture of the joint capsule of his knee, being sidelined for two months. He finally made his debut on a 3–0 home loss against Boavista on 14 March 1999, and played in three more games, scoring one goal, before being sidelined again on late April, due to a pubalgia. Spending the entire summer recovering from injury, he was put on the transfer list by Jupp Heynckes, so he made a move to his boyhood team

on 5 October 1999 for £1.2m. During his three seasons with the Hammers, he was constantly troubled by injuries, so he opted to end his professional career on 29 July 2002.

Coaching career

In October 2011, Charles joined Lincoln City as Assistant Manager alongside manager

David Holdsworth David Gary Holdsworth (born 8 November 1968) is an English former professional footballer turned manager. As a player, he was a defender who played between 1986 and 2005 for Watford, Sheffield United, Birmingham City, Walsall, Bolton Wanderers ...

, but has since become the Director of Football at the

University of Nottingham , mottoeng = A city is built on wisdom , established = 1798 – teacher training college1881 – University College Nottingham1948 – university status , type = Public , chancellor ...

. On 29 March 2018 it was announced that he had accepted the manager's position at

National League North The National League North, formerly Conference North, is a division of the National League in England, immediately below the National League division. Along with the National League South, it is at the second level of the National League Syst ...

side

. In June 2018, he was replaced as manager at Nuneaton by

Nicky Eaden Nicholas Jeremy Eaden (born 12 December 1972) is an English football coach and former professional footballer, he is a senior professional development coach at EFL League One side Barnsley. As a player he was as a full-back who accumulated ...

Personal life

After the end of his playing career, Charles struggled with

alcoholism Alcoholism is, broadly, any drinking of alcohol that results in significant mental or physical health problems. Because there is disagreement on the definition of the word ''alcoholism'', it is not a recognized diagnostic entity. Predomi ...

. He however overcame these difficulties and has attained his UEFA A Coaching licence. In 2018, Charles was reported as being a recovering alcoholic with a business providing care to people who are experiencing depression and alcohol and drug dependency. His son, Jaden, made his professional debut in May 2021.

Honours

Nottingham Forest *

: 1992 Aston Villa * Football League Cup: 1996

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Charles, Gary English footballers English expatriate footballers England international footballers England under-21 international footballers Aston Villa F.C. players Derby County F.C. players Association football fullbacks Nottingham Forest F.C. players Leicester City F.C. players S.L. Benfica footballers West Ham United F.C. players Birmingham City F.C. players Premier League players 1970 births Living people English people convicted of assault Footballers from the London Borough of Newham People associated with the University of Nottingham Sportspeople convicted of crimes FA Cup Final players Lincoln City F.C. non-playing staff Nuneaton Borough F.C. managers