Steve Wigley

Steve Wigley
0Full Name	Steven Wigley
0Date of Birth	15 Oct 1961
0Place of Birth	Ashton-under-Lyne, Manchester, England
0Date of Death
0Place of Death
0Fulham career	2012-2014 & 2015-present
0Win percentage	62%
0Honours	U18 Premier League South (2012-13, 2019-20 & 2020-21) Dallas Cup (2012-13) Premier League 2 Div 2 (2021-22)
0Other clubs	Aldershot Town (1995-1997) Nottingham Forest (Assistant academy director) (1997-2001) Southampton (Academy director) (2001-2004) Manchester City Reserves (2005-2007) England U21 (Assistant manager) (2007-2013) Bolton Wanderers (Coach) (2008-2010) Hull City (Coach) (2010 & 2011-2012) Bristol City (Coach) (2010-2011) Nottingham Forest (Assistant manager) (2014-2015)

Steve Wigley is currently the academy technical director at Fulham. He has held various positions within the academy during his time at the club, including managing the U18 squad to one national title in 2012-13 and two additional league titles in 2019-20 and 2020-21.

Playing career

Steve played as a teenager for his home-town club Curzon Ashton. A tricky right winger, his performances alerted Nottingham Forest manager Brian Clough, who signed him in 1981. After making his debut at 21, Wigley played 82 times for Forest before moving to Sheffield United in 1985.

Unfortunately, he never found success in Sheffield and moved to Birmingham City soon after, when a spectacular display against Portsmouth persuaded that club's manager, Alan Ball, to sign him. After spending four years of mixed fortunes on the South Coast, helping them to the 1992 FA Cup semi final where they lost on a penalty shootout to Liverpool, Wigley moved to Exeter City to finish his Football League playing career and then having a brief spell with non-league Bognor Regis Town.

Managerial career

Fulham (2012-2014 & 2015-present)

Steve Joined Fulham in 2012, as manager of the U18 squad. In his first season with the club, he led the U18's to a national title and won the Dallas Cup with an U19 squad. The following year, he came close to winning Fulham's first FA Youth Cup, losing out to Chelsea U18 in the 2014 Final.

After his impressive work within Fulham's academy, he moved back to Nottingham Forest to act as assistant manager under Stuart Pearce who he had worked under previously in the England U21 set-up. After results did not go Pearce's way, he and the backroom staff including Steve left were relieved of their duties on 1 February 2015. On 30 June 2015, he returned to Fulham, resuming as U18 squad manager.

In 2015-16, he led another U19 team to the United States and won a runners-up medal in the Dallas Cup, losing out to Everton U19 in the Final.

After just one season back in charge of the U18's, Steve changed roles within the academy, being appointed as 'Head of Academy Coaching' in the summer of 2016. He stayed in this post for three seasons, but was re-appointed as U18 manager yet again ahead of the 2019-20 season.

In a season affected by COVID-19, he led them to another League win as the U18's won the U18 Premier League South. As no national final was held, Fulham and Manchester City (winners of the U18 Premier League North) shared the title.

He followed this up with another League win in 2020-21, but lost out to Manchester City U18 in the national final 3-1.

Despite starting the 2021-22 season with the U18's, Steve took over the U23 squad on 30 September 2021 after Mark Pembridge's departure from the club. In his first season with them, he led them to league victory and promotion, topping the Premier League 2 Division 2.

In February 2023, another academy restructure saw Steve being appointed as 'Academy Technical Director', taking a step down from managing.

Fulham Statistics

Manager

U18 squad

Season	Competition
		P	W	D	L	F	A	GD	Win %
2012-13	U18 Premier League	26	18	2	6	74	36	+38	69%
	FA Youth Cup	2	1	0	1	7	6	+1	50%
	Dallas Cup	5	4	1	0	16	4	+12	80%
	National Play-offs	2	2	0	0	7	3	+4	100%
	Total	35	25	3	7	104	49	+55	71%
2013-14	U18 Premier League	31	15	6	10	67	63	+4	48%
	FA Youth Cup	8	6	1	1	23	16	+7	75%
	Dallas Cup	3	2	0	1	6	3	+3	67%
	Total	42	23	7	12	96	82	+14	55%
2015-16	U18 Premier League	29	14	4	11	53	48	+5	48%
	FA Youth Cup	2	1	0	1	5	5	0	50%
	Dallas Cup	5	2	2	1	10	9	+1	40%
	Total	36	17	6	13	68	62	+6	47%
2019-20	U18 Premier League	17	12	4	1	53	24	+29	71%
	FA Youth Cup	3	2	0	1	12	3	+9	67%
	U18 Premier League Cup	3	1	1	1	8	5	+3	33%
	Total	23	15	5	3	73	32	+41	65%
2020-21	U18 Premier League	24	18	2	4	78	25	+53	75%
	FA Youth Cup	1	0	0	1	2	3	-1	0%
	National Play-offs	1	0	0	1	1	3	-2	0%
	Total	26	18	2	6	81	31	+50	69%
2021-22	U18 Premier League	5	4	0	1	13	5	+8	80%
	Total	5	4	0	1	13	5	+8	80%
Total		167	102	23	42	435	261	+174	61%

U21/U23 squad

Season	Competition
		P	W	D	L	F	A	GD	Win %
2021-22	Premier League 2 Division 2	20	16	1	3	49	20	+29	80%
	Premier League Cup	8	6	1	1	15	5	+10	75%
	Total	28	22	2	4	64	25	+39	79%
2022-23	Premier League 2 Division 1	26	11	8	7	50	39	+11	42%
	Premier League Cup	9	8	0	1	34	10	+24	89%
	Premier League International Cup	6	3	2	1	14	8	+6	50%
	Total	41	22	10	9	98	57	+41	54%
Total		69	44	12	13	162	82	+80	64%

Career honours

As player

n/a

As manager

Fulham U18 • U18 Premier League    National title (1): 2012-13    League title (3): 2012-13, 2019-20 & 2020-21 • FA Youth Cup    Runner-up (1): 2013-14 • Dallas Cup    Winner (1): 2012-13    Runner-up (1): 2015-16

Fulham U23 • Premier League 2 Division 2    Winner (1): 2021-22

Fulham squads

Template:U18 managers Template:U21 managers

Template:2022-23 U23 squad