Spencer Justin Prior (born 22 April 1971) is an English football coach and 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 ...

. He is the manager of Papua New Guinea women's national football team. As a player, he was a

central defender 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 ...

who notably played in 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 ...

for

Norwich City Norwich City Football Club (also known as The Canaries or The Yellows) is an English professional football club based in Norwich, Norfolk. The club competes in the EFL Championship following their relegation from the Premier League in the 20 ...

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 Manchester City. He also played in the Football League for

Southend United Southend United Football Club is a professional association football club based in Southend-on-Sea, Essex, England. As of the 2022–23 season, the team competes in the National League, the fifth tier of English football. Southend are known as ...

and Cardiff City, before finishing his career in Australia with

Newcastle Jets Newcastle United Jets Football Club, commonly known as Newcastle Jets, is an Australian professional soccer club based in Newcastle, New South Wales. It competes in the country's premier competition, the A-League, under licence from The Australian ...

and

Manly United Manly United Football Club is an Australian football club based in the northern beaches area of Sydney. The club competes in the National Premier Leagues NSW and their home ground is Cromer Park, in the suburb of Dee Why, approximately 15 minu ...

. Since retiring, he has moved into coaching largely in women's football. He has worked as assistant coach for Australia women, before later managing the Australia U20 women and Thailand women. He has also had spells as technical director of both

Tasmania ) , nickname = , image_map = Tasmania in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of Tasmania in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdi ...

and Port FC.

Playing career

Prior made 135 league appearances in his first spell with Southend. His solid performances in the centre of the Shrimpers defence attracted the attention of other clubs and in the summer of 1993 both Norwich and

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's ...

made moves to sign him. He opted for Norwich because they had qualified to play in Europe for the 1993–94 season and they paid Southend a fee of £300,000 for his services. In his first season at Carrow Road he played in the historic 2–1 win at Bayern Munich and the 1–0 defeat at

Inter Milan Football Club Internazionale Milano, commonly referred to as Internazionale () or simply Inter, and colloquially known as Inter Milan in English-speaking countries, is an Italian professional football club based in Milan, Lombardy. Inter is ...

that saw City eliminated from the

UEFA Cup A cup is an open-top used to hold hot or cold liquids for pouring or drinking; while mainly used for drinking, it also can be used to store solids for pouring (e.g., sugar, flour, grains, salt). Cups may be made of glass, metal, china, clay ...

. During his first two seasons with Norwich, Prior found it difficult to establish himself as a first team regular. After the club had been relegated from the Premiership in 1995, however, Prior became a regular selection under the management firstly of

Martin O'Neill Martin Hugh Michael O'Neill, (born 1 March 1952) is a Northern Irish professional football manager and former player who played as a midfielder. Starting his career in Northern Ireland, O'Neill moved to England where he spent most of his playi ...

and then

Gary Megson Gary John Megson (born 2 May 1959) is an English former football player and manager. He has previously managed Norwich City, Blackpool, Stockport County, Stoke City, West Bromwich Albion, Nottingham Forest, Leicester City, Bolton Wanderers ...

. It was a difficult season for Norwich which was played out against weekly demonstrations at chairman Robert Chase. Prior ended the season by being voted

Norwich City player of the year The Norwich City Player of the Season award is voted for annually by Norwich City's supporters, in recognition of the best overall performance by an individual player throughout the football season. As a mark of respect, the trophy is named The ...

. In August 1996, Leicester paid £600,000 for him. He had played 89 games for Norwich. In his first season at Leicester, Prior got a League Cup winner's medal as the Foxes beat

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 ...

in a replayed final. Prior moved to Derby in 1998 but did not settle there, though did manage to score the winner in a game against Sheffield Wednesday. A number of clubs showed an interest in him before Manchester City signed him shortly before the transfer deadline in the 1999–2000 season. City had signed him to replace the injured

Andy Morrison Andrew Charles Morrison (born 30 July 1970) is a Scottish football manager and former footballer who is currently head coach of the Sri Lanka national team. As a player he was a central defender who played in the Premier League with Blackburn R ...

as they had only been able to field two central defenders ( Gerard Wiekens and Richard Jobson) for most of the season. His impact on the team was immediate, his goals earning City numerous victories and ultimately promotion. As City arrived in the Premiership Prior found his first team opportunities limited as the then City manager,

Joe Royle Joseph Royle (born 8 April 1949) is an English football manager and former footballer. In his playing career as a striker, he debuted for Everton at the age of 16 and went on to play for Manchester City, Bristol City, Norwich City, and the ...

, bought Steve Howey,

Richard Dunne Richard Patrick Dunne (born 21 September 1979) is an Irish former footballer and current television pundit for BT Sport, who played as a defender. He made 431 Premier League appearances, including 253 for Manchester City. Dunne began his prof ...

and Paul Ritchie, while

also returned from his lengthy injury. Thus, Prior moved to Cardiff City for a £700,000 fee. His three-year stint at

Ninian Park Ninian Park was a football stadium in the Leckwith area of Cardiff, Wales, that was the home of Cardiff City F.C. for 99 years. Opened in 1910 with a single wooden stand, it underwent numerous renovations during its lifespan and hosted fixtu ...

saw him make 81 league appearances, scoring two goals. Prior was released by Cardiff and returned to the club where he began his career, Southend United, in July 2004. In his first two seasons back at

Roots Hall A root is the part of a plant, generally underground, that anchors the plant body, and absorbs and stores water and nutrients. Root or roots may also refer to: Art, entertainment, and media * ''The Root'' (magazine), an online magazine focusing ...

, the team won consecutive promotions.

Coaching career

After retiring from football, Prior moved to Australia and became a football analyst for

Fox Sports Australia Fox Sports Australia Pty Limited (formerly Premier Media Group Pty Limited) is the division of Foxtel that owns and operates the Fox Sports television networks and digital properties in Australia. The group operates nine Fox Sports Channels as w ...

. He also coached a number of teams at Sydney Grammar School and was the head coach at Mosman Football Club in 2007 and 2008, leading a significant improvement in its coaching capabilities. In December 2008, A-League club

announced they had signed the 37-year-old Prior for the remainder of the 2008–09 season. On 1 January 2011, he was confirmed as assistant head coach of the Matildas, assistant to Tom Sermanni. In 2016, he signed a two-year contract with the Thailand women's national team and was hailed for bringing through major changes in the team's tactical awareness and competitiveness. In July 2019, he joined

Thai League 1 The Thai League 1 ( th, ไทยลีก 1), often referred to as T1, is the top level of the Thai football league system. Contested by 16 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with Thai League 2. Seasons run from August ...

club

Port F.C. Port Football Club ( th, สโมสรฟุตบอลการท่าเรือ), formerly known as Port Authority of Thailand F.C. or Thai Port F.C., is a Thai professional football club based in Khlong Toei district of central Bangko ...

as Technical Director. After Prior's arrival, Port won five of their next six matches and won the

2019 Thai FA Cup The 2019 Thai FA Cup is the 26th season of a Thailand's knockout football competition. It was sponsored by Chang, and known as the Chang FA Cup ( th, ช้าง เอฟเอคัพ) for sponsorship purposes. The tournament is organized by ...

, defeating Ratchaburi Mitr Phol 1–0 in the final. Prior returned to Australia due to the COVID-19 pandemic and commenced coaching duties with NSW NPL club

APIA Leichhardt FC APIA Leichhardt Football Club, also known simply as APIA (Associazione Poli-sportiva Italo Australiana), is a semi-professional soccer club based in the suburb of Leichhardt in Sydney, Australia. The club was formed in 1954 as APIA Leichhardt, ...

's women's team in September 2020. By February 2023 he was also manager of the Papua New Guinea's women's team.

Honours

Leicester City *

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 ...

: 1996–97 Cardiff City * Football League Division Two play-off: 2002–03 *

FAW Premier Cup The FAW Premier Cup (until 1998 the FAW Invitation Cup) was a Welsh football cup competition, organised annually by the Football Association of Wales from 1997 to 2008. Since the FAW excluded clubs playing in English leagues (including six Welsh ...

: 2001–02

References

External links

*
Career details on ''Flown from the Nest'' websiteSpencer Prior Interview
{{DEFAULTSORT:Prior, Spencer 1971 births Living people English footballers Premier League players Norwich City F.C. players Leicester City F.C. players Derby County F.C. players Manchester City F.C. players Cardiff City F.C. players Southend United F.C. players Newcastle Jets FC players Manly United FC players Sportspeople from Southend-on-Sea Association football defenders

Spencer Prior Spencer Justin Prior (born 22 April 1971) is an English football coach and former professional association football, footballer. He is the manager of Papua New Guinea women's national football team. As a player, he was a central defender who n ...

English football managers