Trevor John Wood (born 3 November 1968) is a former

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ga, Tuaisceart Éireann ; sco, label= Ulster-Scots, Norlin Airlann) is a part of the United Kingdom, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, that is variously described as a country, province or region. Nort ...

international

football goalkeeper 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 c ...

. He played 130 league 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 Engl ...

, 100 league games in the

League of Ireland The League of Ireland ( ga, Sraith na hÉireann), together with the Football Association of Ireland, is one of the two main governing bodies responsible for organising association football in the Republic of Ireland. The term was originally use ...

, and won one cap for Northern Ireland in 1995. He began his career at

Brighton & Hove Albion Brighton & Hove Albion Football Club (), commonly referred to simply as Brighton, is an English professional football club based in the city of Brighton and Hove. They compete in the Premier League, the top tier of the English football league ...

, but did not feature in the first team before he signed with

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 o ...

in May 1988. Mostly a back-up keeper for the "Valiants", he moved on to

Walsall Walsall (, or ; locally ) is a market town and administrative centre in the West Midlands County, England. Historically part of Staffordshire, it is located north-west of Birmingham, east of Wolverhampton and from Lichfield. Walsall is th ...

in May 1994. He helped the "Saddlers" to promotion out of the Third Division in 1994–95, before he signed with

Hereford United Hereford United Football Club was an association football club based in Hereford, England. They played at Edgar Street for their entire history. They were nicknamed 'The Whites' or 'The Lilywhites', after their predominantly white kit, or 'Th ...

in 1997. He then moved to Ireland to play for St Patrick's Athletic, and helped his new club to the League of Ireland title in 1997–98 and 1998–99, before he retired in 2001.

Playing career

Wood was a squad member for

before having a successful trial with

John Rudge John is a common English name and surname: * John (given name) * John (surname) John may also refer to: New Testament Works * Gospel of John, a title often shortened to John * First Epistle of John, often shortened to 1 John * Second ...

in May 1988. He kept a clean sheet on his debut; a 2–0 home win over

Huddersfield Town Huddersfield Town Association Football Club is a professional football club based in Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, England, which compete in the . The team have played home games at the Kirklees Stadium since moving from Leeds Road in 1994. Th ...

on 3 October 1988. Despite this he was used mainly as a reserve keeper, and made only two appearances in the Third Division as back-up to

Mark Grew Mark Stuart Grew (born 15 February 1958) is an English former football player and coach who played as a goalkeeper. His career started in 1976 with West Bromwich Albion, where he spent seven seasons as a back-up keeper before moving on to Lei ...

and loanee Mike Stowell during the promotion campaign of 1988–89. He played just three

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 ...

games in 1989–90, with Grew retaining his place between the sticks at

Vale Park Vale Park is a football stadium in Stoke-on-Trent, England. It has been the home ground of Port Vale F.C. since 1950. The ground has seen its capacity go up and down, its peak being 42,000 in 1954 against Blackpool, although a club record 49, ...

. Wood earned the first team jersey in August 1990. He injured his

thigh In human anatomy, the thigh is the area between the hip ( pelvis) and the knee. Anatomically, it is part of the lower limb. The single bone in the thigh is called the femur. This bone is very thick and strong (due to the high proportion of ...

however, in a 2–0 defeat 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 ...

on 16 February 1991, and took two months to win his first team place back. He made 37 appearances in all competitions in

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 ...

, being preferred ahead of Grew. In August 1991 he once more fell out of favour, as Grew played every minute of the 1991–92 campaign. Wood was in goal for the 4–3 defeat on penalties to Go Ahead Eagles in the TNT Tournament on 9 August 1992, a tournament the Vale still managed to win. He started the

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 ...

season as first choice keeper, but lost his place to new signing

Paul Musselwhite Paul Stephen Musselwhite (born 22 December 1968) is an English former professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper and is the goalkeeping coach at club Scunthorpe United. He made 692 appearances in the league and 815 appearances in all ...

after five league games, having conceded a penalty at

Vetch Field The Vetch Field was a football stadium in Swansea, Wales. It was used for football matches and was the home ground of Swansea City until the club moved to the newly built Liberty Stadium in 2005. Opened in 1912, the ground held around 12,000 ...

in an 'off the ball' incident with a Swansea player. At the end of the 1993–94 season, Wood was given a free transfer, and signed with

in May 1994. The "Saddlers" won promotion out of the Third Division as runners-up in 1994–95 under the stewardship of

Chris Nicholl Christopher John Nicholl (born 12 October 1946) is an English-born former Northern Ireland national football team, Northern Ireland international Association football, footballer who later worked as a coach and manager. Playing career Nicholl ...

. They then went on to finish eleventh in the Second Division in 1995–96, before Wood moved on to

Graham Turner Graham John Turner (born 5 October 1947) is an English former footballer who became a manager. His son Mark was also a professional footballer. He is third behind only Alex Ferguson and Arsène Wenger in terms of most games managed. After a ...

in the 1996–97 campaign. The "Bulls" finished bottom of the Football League, and were relegated into the Conference. He then signed for St. Patrick's Athletic and played in the Champions League

preliminary round A tournament is a competition involving at least three competitors, all participating in a sport or game. More specifically, the term may be used in either of two overlapping senses: # One or more competitions held at a single venue and concentr ...

against

Celtic Celtic, Celtics or Keltic may refer to: Language and ethnicity *pertaining to Celts, a collection of Indo-European peoples in Europe and Anatolia **Celts (modern) *Celtic languages **Proto-Celtic language * Celtic music *Celtic nations Sports Fo ...

in 1998, keeping a clean sheet in a 0–0 draw at

Celtic Park Celtic Park is the home stadium of Celtic Football Club, in the Parkhead area of Glasgow, Scotland. With a capacity of 60,832, it is the largest football stadium in Scotland, and the eighth-largest stadium in the United Kingdom. It is al ...

. Celtic won the second leg 2–0 at

Tolka Park Tolka Park ( ga, Páirc na Tulchann) is an Irish football ground located in the north Dublin suburb of Drumcondra, on the northern banks of the River Tolka. It is currently the home ground of League of Ireland club Shelbourne. The stadium fo ...

. The "Saints" won the

title in 1997–98 and 1998–99, also boasting the best defensive record on both occasions. However they dropped to sixth and fifth in 1999–2000 and 2000–01, and Wood left the club, having made 100 league appearances.

International career

FIFA regulations at the time allowed a player born outside of the United Kingdom with a British passport to choose which national team he wanted to represent, despite the

Jersey Football Association The Jersey Football Association (JFA) is the body which co-ordinates football in Jersey. The Jersey FA acts as a County football association of The Football Association, although in 2015 it applied to join UEFA as a full member. The Jersey Fo ...

having

county football association The county football associations are the local governing bodies of association football in England and the Crown dependencies. County FAs exist to govern all aspects of football in England. They are responsible for administering club and play ...

status within

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 ...

's Football Association. Wood was the first player to take advantage of the lax regulations when he was called up for a qualifying game against Republic of Ireland for

UEFA Euro 1996 The 1996 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as Euro 96, was the 10th UEFA European Championship, a quadrennial football tournament contested by European nations and organised by UEFA. It took place in England from 8 to 30 ...

in March 1995. Wood earned a Northern Ireland cap on 11 October 1995 during the same qualifying campaign, coming on for

Alan Fettis Alan William Fettis (born 1 February 1971) is a Northern Ireland former professional footballer and goalkeeping coach at Championship side Middlesbrough As a player, he was as a goalkeeper from 1988 to 2007. He notably played for Hull City and ...

at half-time in a 4–0 win over

Liechtenstein Liechtenstein (), officially the Principality of Liechtenstein (german: link=no, Fürstentum Liechtenstein), is a German-speaking microstate located in the Alps between Austria and Switzerland. Liechtenstein is a semi-constitutional monarch ...

at the

Sportpark Eschen-Mauren Sportpark Eschen-Mauren is a multi-sport complex in Eschen, Liechtenstein. It is currently used mostly for football matches and is the home ground of USV Eschen/Mauren as well as Liechtenstein national youth football teams. It was the national ...

. He had been suggested to coach

Bryan Hamilton Bryan Hamilton (born 21 December 1946) is a Northern Irish former professional football player and manager. He gained 50 caps for Northern Ireland between 1969 and 1980, and later managed the national team for four years. He later became Techn ...

, his manager at

. He then slipped down the international pecking order behind Fettis, Tommy Wright,

Roy Carroll Roy Eric Carroll (born 30 September 1977) is a Northern Irish former professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper. He is best known for his spells at Wigan Athletic, Manchester United (where he won a Premier League winners medal and the 20 ...

, and

Aidan Davison Aidan John Davison (born 11 May 1968) is a football coach and former professional footballer who is goalkeeping coach of National League side Wrexham. As a player, he played as a goalkeeper from 1987 until 2008. Having started his career with n ...

. On 26 March 1996, he played in a rare Northern Ireland B team game, a 3–0 win over Norway Olympic XI at The Showgrounds in Coleraine.

Career statistics

Source:

Honours

Walsall *

Football League Third Division The Football League Third Division was the third tier of the English football league system in 1920–21 and again from 1958 until 1992. When the FA Premier League was formed, the division become the fourth tier level. In 2004, following th ...

second-place promotion: 1994–95 St Patrick's Athletic *

: 1997–98 & 1998–99

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wood, Trevor 1968 births Living people People from Saint Helier Jersey people of Irish descent Association footballers from Northern Ireland Northern Ireland international footballers Northern Ireland B international footballers Association football goalkeepers Brighton & Hove Albion F.C. players Port Vale F.C. players Walsall F.C. players Hereford United F.C. players St Patrick's Athletic F.C. players English Football League players League of Ireland players