John Askey
| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | John Colin Askey[1] | ||
| Date of birth | 4 November 1964 | ||
| Place of birth | Stoke-on-Trent, England | ||
| Height | 6 ft 0 in (1.83 m)[1] | ||
| Playing position | Striker | ||
| Club information | |||
Current team | Macclesfield Town | ||
| Youth career | |||
| Port Vale | |||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
| 1984–2003 | Macclesfield Town | 509 | (109) |
| Teams managed | |||
| 2003–2004 | Macclesfield Town | ||
| 2013– | Macclesfield Town | ||
|
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only. | |||
John Colin Askey (born 4 November 1964) is a former English footballer and current manager of Macclesfield Town. He is the son of former Port Vale player Colin Askey.[2]
Playing career
Askey was a youth player at Port Vale, but despite winning the club's Young Player of the Year award in 1982, he was never handed a first team debut.[3] He first joined Macclesfield Town in 1984 alongside his brother Bob to fill a gap when the club were short of players and went on to become a club legend. He remained as a player throughout the club's Northern Premier League title win in 1986–87 and subsequent promotion to the Vauxhall Conference. The successful times continued and John played a part in consolidation in the Conference, including a testimonial season in 1994 which featured a game against Manchester United, and then, in 1994–95 won the Conference title. The club were denied promotion that season, but John managed to add to his medal collection with a second Conference title two years later. Injury kept John out of the FA Trophy final win in 1996.
John Askey turned to full-time football following the club's promotion to the Football League and continued as a regular part of the side who were promoted immediately to what was then known as the Second Division.
As a League player, John played more than 170 matches, scoring 31 times whilst his non-League time with the club is often not reported by statistical sources.
John's final match for the club came on the last day of the 2002–03 season against Rochdale. Although the match was meaningless in terms of either club's League position, it went down in Silkmen history when John followed up a Matthew Tipton shot to score in the 88th minute to level the scores at 2–2 before diving into the crowd to celebrate. Tipton himself then grabbed a late winner.
By this time John was Assistant Manager to David Moss.
Management career
When Macclesfield Town manager David Moss was sacked in 2003 following a 2–1 home defeat to Southend, the club appointed John Askey as his replacement. This move was widely applauded by the supporters who saw John as a club legend. The Management spell started well with a good 2–2 draw at Hull City and a 3–0 F.A. Cup win over Boston. Other notable results included a 4–0 victory over Huddersfield (which was also famous for Jim Goodwin, a steward and Moss Rose Legend trying to stop an intruder to the pitch) and a 4–1 win at Kidderminster. But results began to slide and one win (At Kidderminster) in his final 13 matches prompted the club to look for a replacement. Brian Horton was appointed in early April to steer the club to League safety.
John stayed on as assistant manager and, with the arrival of Paul Ince moved to Youth Team manager where he was influential in the arrivals of Shaun Brisley, Matthew Flynn, Kristian Dennis and John Rooney into the first-team squad. He was again given charge of the club when manager Stephen King was sacked after the 3-1 defeat by Grimsby Town on 3 April 2013 [4] and was named manager in June 2013.
References
- 1 2 Hugman, Barry J., ed. (2003). The PFA Footballers' Who's Who 2003/2004. Queen Anne Press. p. 29. ISBN 1-85291-651-6.
- ↑ Sherwin, Phil (2013). Men of Steele. Hanley, Staffordshire: Pass. p. 21. ISBN 978-0-9926579-1-8.
- ↑ "Club Connections - Port Vale". .mtfc.co.uk. Retrieved 7 November 2011.
- ↑ Town, Macclesfield. "Club statement". www.mtfc.co.uk. Retrieved 8 April 2013.
