James "Jamie" Day (born 13 September 1979) is an English

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

manager and former player. He is currently Assistant Manager of

Milton Keynes Dons Milton Keynes Dons Football Club, usually abbreviated to MK Dons, is a professional association football club based in Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire, England. The team competes in EFL League Two, the fourth level of the English football leag ...

and was formerly the head coach of

Bangladesh national football team The Bangladesh national football team () is the national recognised football team of Bangladesh and is controlled by the Bangladesh Football Federation (BFF). It is a member of the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) since 1973 and of FIFA sin ...

Playing career

Day began his playing career as a trainee at

Arsenal An arsenal is a place where arms and ammunition are made, maintained and repaired, stored, or issued, in any combination, whether privately or publicly owned. Arsenal and armoury (British English) or armory (American English) are mostly ...

where he earned a professional deal in 1998, although he failed to make a first team appearance, despite being named as a substitute in one first team fixture by

Arsène Wenger Arsène Charles Ernest Wenger (born 22 October 1949) is a French former association football, football Manager (association football), manager and football player, player who is currently serving as FIFA's Chief of Global Football Development. ...

. He joined

AFC Bournemouth AFC Bournemouth ( ) is a professional association football club based in Kings Park, Boscombe, a suburb of Bournemouth, Dorset, England. The club compete in the Premier League, the top tier of English football league system, English football. ...

for a fee of £20,000 in March 1999. He made his Bournemouth debut in April 1999 against

Northampton Town Northampton Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in the town of Northampton, England. The team competes in EFL League One, League One, the third level of the English football league system. Founded in 1897, the c ...

. His first goal for the club came the following 1999-2000 season in a 2–0 away win against

Cambridge United Cambridge United Football Club is a professional association football club based in the city of Cambridge, England. They currently compete in EFL League Two, the fourth tier of the English football league system. Nicknamed the U’s, the club h ...

. In the summer of 2001, he moved to

Conference National The National League, officially known as Vanarama National League for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in England. The National League is the first division of the National League (English football), National Le ...

side Dover Athletic. His first goal for the club came in a 2–1 loss against Hayes on 5 January 2002. At the end of the 2001-2002 season, Day couldn't prevent Dover's relegation from the division. In November 2002, he was a part of the Dover side that reached the first round proper of the

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual Single-elimination tournament, knockout association football, football competition in domestic Football in England, English football. First played during ...

, losing a first round tie against

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, it is the oldest football league in Association football around the world, the w ...

club

Oxford United Oxford United Football Club () is a professional association football, football club based in Oxford, England. The club compete in the EFL Championship, the second tier of English football league system, English football. Founded as Headingto ...

. He left the club in the summer of 2004 and joined

Welling United Welling United Football Club is a semi-professional association football club, based in Welling in the London Borough of Bexley, England. The most prominent aspect of the club is its men's first team, who play in the , the seventh level of the E ...

. He remained at Welling until May 2007, when he returned to the

, signing for

Grays Athletic Grays Athletic Football Club is a football club based in Grays, Essex, England. They are currently members of the and play at Chadfields in nearby Tilbury. History The club was established as Grays Juniors in 1890, before merging with former ...

. He made his Grays Athletic debut on 18 August 2007 as a substitute in a 5–1 home win over

Kidderminster Harriers Kidderminster Harriers Football Club are a professional association football club based in Kidderminster, Worcestershire, England. The team competes in the National League North, the sixth level of the English football league system. Formed in ...

. His first goal proved to be the winner on 3 November 2007 in a 1–0 away win over Salisbury City. He was sent out on loan to

Conference South The National League South, officially Vanarama National League South, is a professional Association football league in England. National League South is the second division of the National Leagues and step 2 of the NLS and sixth-highest ti ...

sides Eastbourne Borough and Havant & Waterlooville to gain further game time. He left Grays in the summer of 2008, and secured a move to

Dartford Dartford is the principal town in the Borough of Dartford, Kent, England. It is located south-east of Central London and is situated adjacent to the London Borough of Bexley to its west. To its north, across the Thames Estuary, is Thurrock in ...

in August 2008.

Managerial career

England

In November 2009, he returned to

having been appointed as player-manager of the

club at the age of 30. His start as manager at

Park View Road Park View Road is home to National League South professional Association football, football club Welling United F.C., Welling United, and was the ground of their predecessors Bexley United F.C., Bexley United. Welling have played there since ...

was delayed however with Dartford claiming he was still registered to them as a player. Despite being docked five points at the start of the 2010-11 season for financial misconduct, Day led Welling to sixth place in the

, missing out on the play-off places by one point. In April 2011, he ruled out any rumours that he was set to return to his former club,

, as their manager. A third-place finish at the end of the 2011-12 season saw Day lead Welling to the

play-off places. His side defeated

Sutton United Sutton United Football Club is a professional association football club from Sutton, South London, England. The team competes in the National League, the fifth level of the English football league system. Sutton started out playing in junior, ...

in the play-off semi-finals, subsequently earning a play-off final tie with

, however Welling missed out on promotion, suffering a 1–0 defeat. The following 2012-13 campaign however saw Day guide Welling to promotion to the

champions. After reaching the 60 point mark, he led Welling to a 16th-place finish in their first season back in the

. Following a five-year spell in charge at Welling, he left to return to the

, being appointed manager of

Ebbsfleet United Ebbsfleet United Football Club is a professional association football club based in Northfleet, Kent, England. The club compete in the National League South, the sixth level of the English football league system. Founded in 1946 from the merger ...

in December 2014. In April 2015, however, he was relieved of his duties alongside his assistants Barry Ashby and Dean Frost. On 11 May 2015, he was announced as the new assistant manager at

Forest Green Rovers Forest Green Rovers Football Club is a professional association football club based in Nailsworth, Gloucestershire, England. The team competes in the National League, the fifth level of the English football league system. Formed in October 188 ...

in a role that saw him link up with his former manager at

, Adrian Pennock. On 21 May 2016, Day was named manager of Braintree Town. He was sacked in September of the same year after only four months in charge. The following month he returned to

, as first-team coach. In November 2016 he stepped up to replace Mark Goldberg as the manager. As first-team coach in second spell at Welling United he lost the first three matches against Ebbsfleet United, Hungerford Town and Hampton & Richmond. When Goldberg stepped aside he won all six of his matches in charge, in what marked his second spell as Welling manager. Day was undefeated in December 2016 and named as National League South Manager of the Month on 6 January 2017 - two days after leaving the club. On 4 January 2017, Day left Welling to once again link-up with Adrian Pennock, this time at Gillingham. Day left Gillingham in September 2017. In October 2017 he featured for Cray Valley Paper Mills as a player, scoring in a 2–1 win against Rochester United. On 12 February 2018 he reunited with Pennock once more, joining Barrow as assistant manager.

Bangladesh

On 17 May 2018,

Bangladesh Football Federation Bangladesh Football Federation (, ''Bānglādesh fūṭbôl fēḍārēshôn'') is the governing body that administers the sport of association football in Bangladesh. It is in charge of running the country's men's and women's national teams, ...

announced that they have appointed Day as the head coach of

as well as the U-23. Under his guidance, Bangladesh put up its best performance ever in the

2018 Asian Games The 2018 Asian Games ( or ''Asian Games 2018''), officially known as the 18th Asian Games (), and also known as Jakarta-Palembang 2018 or Indonesia 2018, were a Asia, continental multi-sport event that was held from 18 August to 2 September 201 ...

, where the team shocked by a 1–0 win over powerhouse

Qatar Qatar, officially the State of Qatar, is a country in West Asia. It occupies the Geography of Qatar, Qatar Peninsula on the northeastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula in the Middle East; it shares Qatar–Saudi Arabia border, its sole land b ...

and a draw to

Thailand Thailand, officially the Kingdom of Thailand and historically known as Siam (the official name until 1939), is a country in Southeast Asia on the Mainland Southeast Asia, Indochinese Peninsula. With a population of almost 66 million, it spa ...

to reach the round of sixteen for the first time ever, which began to revive the past poupularity of football in Bangladesh. The team performed well in the

2018 SAFF Championship The 2018 SAFF Championship, also known as the 2018 SAFF Suzuki Cup for sponsorship reasons, was the 12th edition of the SAFF Championship, the biennial international men's association football, football championship of South Asia organized by So ...

, Jamie Day was to keep his duty, where he coached Bangladesh U-23 team to have an acceptable third-place finish in the

2020 AFC U-23 Championship qualification The 2020 AFC U-23 Championship qualification was an international men's under-23 football competition which decide the participating teams of the 2020 AFC U-23 Championship. A total of 16 teams qualified to play in the final tournament, includin ...

, even though the team could not qualify, Bangladesh played good and only fell by minimal goal to

Palestine Palestine, officially the State of Palestine, is a country in West Asia. Recognized by International recognition of Palestine, 147 of the UN's 193 member states, it encompasses the Israeli-occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and th ...

and

Bahrain Bahrain, officially the Kingdom of Bahrain, is an island country in West Asia. Situated on the Persian Gulf, it comprises a small archipelago of 50 natural islands and an additional 33 artificial islands, centered on Bahrain Island, which mak ...

. Under Day's guidance, Bangladesh reached the third Round of 2023 AFC qualifiers, as one of the three best fifth-position teams. Day's long ball and counter-attacking tactics, were effective against lower ranked sides, although the team barely kept possession against better opposition. Nonetheless, Day's tactics did help Bangladesh earn hard fought draws against

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

and

Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. It is bordered by Pakistan to the Durand Line, east and south, Iran to the Afghanistan–Iran borde ...

during the

2023 AFC Asian Cup The 2023 AFC Asian Cup was the 18th edition of the AFC Asian Cup, the quadrennial international Association football, football tournament organised by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC). It involved 24 national teams after its expansion in 20 ...

and

2022 World Cup The 2022 FIFA World Cup was the 22nd FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial world championship for national football teams organized by FIFA. It took place in Qatar from 20 November to 18 December 2022, after the country was awarded the hosting ri ...

joint qualifiers Day also led the Bangladesh to qualification to the

2023 AFC Asian Cup qualification – third round The third round of 2023 AFC Asian Cup qualification was played from 8 to 14 June 2022 in six centralised venues. It was originally scheduled for 30 March 2021 to 29 March 2022, but the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) changed the dates on multi ...

as one of the three best fifth-positioned teams. In September 2021, Bangladesh took part in the 2021 Three Nations Cup (Kyrgyzstan), the team lost all 3 games, conceding a total of 9 goals and only managing to score 3. These results led to Day being "put on leave" just before the

2021 SAFF Championship The 2021 SAFF Championship, known as Ooredoo SAFF Championship 2021 for sponsorship reasons, was the thirteenth edition of the SAFF Championship, the biennial international men's football championship of South Asia organised by South Asian Footba ...

, held in

Maldives The Maldives, officially the Republic of Maldives, and historically known as the Maldive Islands, is an Archipelagic state, archipelagic country in South Asia located in the Indian Ocean. The Maldives is southwest of Sri Lanka and India, abou ...

. To date, Day is the longest serving Bangladesh national team head coach.

Return to England

On 23 June 2022, Day was appointed assistant coach of League Two club

Swindon Town Swindon Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in Swindon, Wiltshire, England. The team, known as the "Robins", currently compete in , the fourth level of the English football league system. Founded as Swindon A ...

. In January 2023, Day followed manager Scott Lindsey to join

Crawley Town Crawley Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in the town of Crawley, West Sussex, England. The team currently competes in , the fourth level of the English football league system. Founded in 1896 as Crawley Foo ...

. In September 2024, he once again followed Lindsey, returning to League Two with

Managerial statistics

Honours

Crawley Town Fc

* League 2 Play off Winners: 2023-2024

Welling United

* Conference South league winners: 2012-13

Bangladesh

South Asian Games The South Asian Games is a quadrennial multi-sport event held among athletes from South Asia. The South Asia Olympic Council, which was formed in 1983, governs it. The Games consist of seven countries, namely Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, N ...

** Bronze medalist:

2019 This was the year in which the first known human case of COVID-19 was documented, preceding COVID-19 pandemic, the pandemic which was declared by the World Health Organization the following year. Up to that point, 2019 had been described as ...

* Mujib Borsho FIFA International Football Series ** Winner: 2020 * 2021 Three Nations Cup ** Runner-up:

2021 Like the year 2020, 2021 was also heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, due to the emergence of multiple Variants of SARS-CoV-2, COVID-19 variants. The major global rollout of COVID-19 vaccines, which began at the end of 2020, continued ...

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Day, Jamie 1979 births Living people Footballers from the London Borough of Bexley People from Bexley English men's footballers Men's association football midfielders Arsenal F.C. players AFC Bournemouth players Crawley Town F.C. players Welling United F.C. players Grays Athletic F.C. players Dover Athletic F.C. players Eastbourne Borough F.C. players Havant & Waterlooville F.C. players Dartford F.C. players Ebbsfleet United F.C. players Cray Valley Paper Mills F.C. players English Football League players National League (English football) players English football managers Welling United F.C. managers Ebbsfleet United F.C. managers Braintree Town F.C. managers National League (English football) managers Gillingham F.C. non-playing staff English expatriate sportspeople in Bangladesh Bangladesh national football team managers Association football coaches Barrow A.F.C. non-playing staff Swindon Town F.C. non-playing staff Crawley Town F.C. non-playing staff Milton Keynes Dons F.C. non-playing staff