Neil Wainwright (born 4 November 1977 in Warrington) is an English former footballer.

Neil Wainwright
Personal information
Full name Neil Wainwright[1]
Date of birth (1977-11-04) 4 November 1977 (age 47)[2]
Place of birth Warrington,[2] England
Height 6 ft 1 in (1.85 m)[3]
Position(s) Midfielder
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1996–1998 Wrexham 11 (3)
1998–2001 Sunderland 2 (0)
1999–2000Darlington (loan) 17 (4)
2000–2001Halifax Town (loan) 13 (0)
2001–2008 Darlington 235 (24)
2007Shrewsbury Town (loan) 3 (0)
2008Mansfield Town (loan) 5 (0)
2008–2011 Morecambe 60 (1)
2009Barrow (loan) 5 (0)
2010Barrow (loan) 6 (0)
2011 Kendal Town 3 (1)
2012 Darlington 12 (0)
2012–2013 Lancaster City 11 (0)
Total 383 (33)
Managerial career
2012–2013 Lancaster City
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Wainwright played most of his football on the wing or in more recent times at full back. His former clubs include Wrexham, Sunderland and Darlington. He returned to Darlington on short-term contract in February 2012 signing a short-term contract, before the club folded in the summer.

Career

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Wainwright began his career as a trainee at Wrexham in July 1996, making 11 league appearances in two season before joining Sunderland for a fee of £100,000 in July 1998.[4] He made only two substitute appearances in the league and 6 in the League Cup for Sunderland before being loaned to Darlington in February 2000 for the rest of the 2000–01 season.[4] He joined Halifax Town on loan in October 2000 for three months and then returned to Darlington on a permanent transfer for a fee of £50,000 in August 2001,[4] where he made over 270 appearances in all competitions and was the club's player of the year in the 2006–07 season, but after making only six first-team appearances for Darlington at the start of the 2007–08 season he joined Shrewsbury Town on a one-month loan in October 2007.[5] He later joined Mansfield Town in March 2008 until the end of the 2007–08 season[6] but was recalled by Darlington a month later having made five appearances for Mansfield.[7]

Following Darlington's failure to gain promotion from Football League Two in the 2007–08 season, Wainwright was one of several players surprisingly released by the club in May 2008.[8] He joined Morecambe in June 2008 and excelled in a left wing-back role before his season was cut short by an achilles injury. In 2011, Wainwright was released by Morecambe.[9] Wainwright scored once during his spell at the club; in a 3–1 defeat to Rotherham United.[10]

On 28 February 2012, Wainwright re-signed for former club Darlington,[11] who were in severe financial straits and battling relegation from the Conference National following a 10-point deduction for entering administration in December 2011. He had been playing for Kendal Town prior to his signing for Darlington; making his league debut on 27 September 2011 and scoring in a 3–3 draw with Marine,[12] Wainwright would go on to play in 2 more league matches, alongside 7 cup appearances, before leaving Kendal in November 2011. Wainwright made his second Darlington debut on 3 March 2012, in a 0–1 home loss to Stockport County; he wore the number 26 shirt and was replaced by Clark Keltie in the 67th minute. He left the club in the summer of 2012 as the club were relegated and folded to reform as Darlington 1883 in the Northern Football League. For the start of the 2012–13 season Wainwright signed as a player for Northern Premier League club Lancaster City taking over as joint manager of the club in October 2012 before leaving in February 2013.

Career statistics

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Appearances and goals by club, season and competition[13]
Club Season League FA Cup League Cup Other Total
Division Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals
Wrexham 1997–98[14] Division Two 11 3 1 0 0 0 7[a] 0 19 3
Sunderland 1998–99 Division One 2 0 0 0 3 0 5 0
1999–2000 Premier League 0 0 0 0 2 0 2 0
2000–01 Premier League 0 0 1 0 1 0
Total 2 0 0 0 6 0 8 0
Darlington (loan) 1999–2000 Division Three 17 4 17 4
Halifax Town (loan) 2000–01 Division Three 13 0 1 0 2[b] 0 16 0
Darlington 2001–02 Division Three 35 4 4 2 0 0 2[b] 0 41 6
2002–03 Division Three 33 1 3 0 1 0 0 0 37 1
2003–04 Division Three 35 7 1 0 0 0 0 0 36 7
2004–05 League Two 38 4 2 0 1 0 1[b] 0 42 4
2005–06 League Two 39 3 1 0 1 0 1[b] 0 42 3
2006–07 League Two 41 5 2 0 2 0 3[b] 0 48 5
2007–08 League Two 14 0 0 0 3[c] 0 17 0
Total 235 24 13 2 5 0 10 0 263 26
Shrewsbury Town (loan) 2007–08 League Two 3 0 0 0 3 0
Mansfield Town (loan) 2007–08 League Two 5 0 5 0
Morecambe 2008–09 League Two 38 1 1 0 1 0 3[b] 0 43 1
2009–10 League Two 17 0 1 0 1 0 1[b] 0 20 0
2010–11 League Two 5 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 6 0
Total 60 1 3 0 2 0 4 0 69 1
Barrow (loan) 2009–10[15] Conference National 5 0 0 0 5 0
2010–11[16] Conference National 6 0 0 0 6 0
Total 11 0 0 0 11 0
Kendal Town 2011–12[citation needed] Northern Premier League Premier Division 3 1 2 0 6[d] 0 11 1
Darlington 2011–12[17] Conference National 12 0 12 0
Lancaster City 2012–13[18] Northern Premier League Division One North 11 0 3 0 3[e] 0 17 0
Career total 383 33 23 2 13 0 32 0 451 35
  1. ^ Six appearances in FAW Invitation Cup; one appearance in Football League Trophy
  2. ^ a b c d e f g Appearance(s) in Football League Trophy
  3. ^ Two appearances in League Two play-offs; one appearance in Football League Trophy
  4. ^ Three appearances in FA Trophy; three appearances in Lancashire FA Challenge Trophy
  5. ^ One appearance in FA Trophy; one appearance in Northern Premier League Challenge Cup; one appearance in Lancashire FA Challenge Trophy

Honours

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As a player

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Darlington

References

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  1. ^ Hugman, Barry J., ed. (2009). The PFA Footballers' Who's Who 2009–10. Mainstream Publishing. p. 425. ISBN 978-1-84596-474-0.
  2. ^ a b "Neil Wainwright". Barry Hugman's Footballers. Retrieved 20 November 2019.
  3. ^ Rollin, Glenda; Rollin, Jack, eds. (2003). Playfair Football Annual 2003–2004. London: Headline. p. 48. ISBN 978-0-7553-1313-6.
  4. ^ a b c "Neil Wainwright". Soccerbase. Racing Post. Retrieved 1 April 2008.
  5. ^ "Shrews sign winger from Quakers". BBC Sport. 25 October 2007. Retrieved 30 October 2007.
  6. ^ "Stags bag Horlock and Wainwright". BBC Sport. 21 March 2008. Retrieved 2 April 2008.
  7. ^ "Darlington recall for Wainwright". BBC Sport. 14 April 2008. Retrieved 14 April 2008.
  8. ^ "Nine players released by Quakers". BBC Sport. 22 June 2008. Retrieved 22 May 2008.
  9. ^ "Wainwright and McEvilly set for new clubs". Chester Evening Leader. 20 June 2008. Archived from the original on 14 October 2008. Retrieved 23 July 2008.
  10. ^ "Morecambe 1–3 Rotherham". BBC. 16 August 2008. Retrieved 10 September 2012.
  11. ^ "Darlington sign winger Wainwright". BBC Sport.
  12. ^ "Kendal Town FC – Report: Kendal Town Vs Marine". kendaltown.com. Archived from the original on 18 October 2011.
  13. ^ "The English National Football Archive". enfa.co.uk. Retrieved 3 February 2022.
  14. ^ "Neil Wainwright | Player Statistics | Wrexham (Wrexham AFC Archive)". wrexhamafcarchive.co.uk. Retrieved 19 July 2022.
  15. ^ "Neil Wainwright | Football Stats | Darlington | Season 2009/2010 | Soccer Base". soccerbase.com. Retrieved 3 February 2022.
  16. ^ "Neil Wainwright | Football Stats | Darlington | Season 2010/2011 | Soccer Base". soccerbase.com. Retrieved 3 February 2022.
  17. ^ "Neil Wainwright | Football Stats | Darlington | Season 2011/2012 | Soccer Base". soccerbase.com. Retrieved 3 February 2022.
  18. ^ "City Statistics 2012–2013". Blue Review: Lancaster City Official 2012–13 Matchday Programme. vs Goole AFC. 20 April 2013.
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