Garry Flitcroft


Garry William Flitcroft is an English former professional footballer and most recently football manager of Conference North side Chorley.
As a player, he was a Midfielder from 1991 to 2006, and played in the Premier League for Manchester City, Blackburn Rovers and Sheffield United, as well as playing in the Football League for Bury. He was capped 10 times by England U21, scoring three goals. In 2009, he became manager of Leigh Genesis and the following year took over as manager of Chorley.

Playing career

Flitcroft played for the England U21s 10 times in 1993. He was also called up to Terry Venables' get-together England squad in April 1995, but ultimately was never capped for the senior side.
In March 1996, he was signed by reigning Premier League Champions Blackburn Rovers for £3.5 million, but was sent off on his debut in a 3–0 defeat to Everton. Rovers were relegated to Division One in 1999 and new manager Graeme Souness appointed Flitcroft captain ahead of the 2000–01 season, in which Rovers gained promotion back to the Premier League. Flitcroft continued in his role as club captain for the next three years, but was suspended for Blackburn's 2001-02 League Cup victory although he did lift the trophy with match captain Henning Berg.

Managerial career

On 23 March 2009, it was announced that Flitcroft would replace Lee Merricks as manager of Northern Premier League side Leigh Genesis. This also came with the news that the club had moved into their new ground at Leigh Sports Village. Flitcroft left Leigh Genesis after revealing to the media that he and many of his players had not been paid at Leigh for some time, and moved to Leigh's rivals, Chorley F.C. in May 2010.
Flitcroft was hugely successful at Chorley, earning them two promotions - as Northern Premier League Division One play-off winners in 2010–11 and then Premier Division Champions in 2013–14. He immediately guided Chorley to 4th place in the Conference North but lost 3–2 at home to Guiseley in the Play Off Final. On 2 July 2015, Flitcroft stepped down as manager and his assistant Matt Jansen was put in charge. He is still at the club in a director's role.

Personal life

Flitcroft's brother David was also a midfielder who played in the lower divisions but who is now assistant manager of Bolton Wanderers. Flitcroft married Karen, whom he had met at Turton High School, and the couple had three children. The couple subsequently divorced.

Legal cases

During his marriage, Flitcroft had two affairs, one with a nursery nurse and the second with a lap dancer. After a disagreement with one of the women, the media began to pursue the story, so Flitcroft took out a High-Court injunction, banning media coverage of the affairs. After a long legal battle, during the 2001–02 season Flitcroft was unmasked in the newspapers. The lawsuit resulting from this allegation, presided over by Lord Chief Justice Lord Woolf, was notable for the way it weighed personal privacy rights against the right to freedom of expression under the European Convention on Human Rights.
In September 2011, Flitcroft was named as a "core participant" in the Leveson Inquiry into the News International phone hacking scandal.

Managerial statistics