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Craig Shakespeare

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Craig Shakespeare
Shakespeare with Leicester City in 2010
Personal information
Full name Craig Robert Shakespeare
Date of birth (1963-10-26)26 October 1963
Place of birth Birmingham, England
Date of death 1 August 2024(2024-08-01) (aged 60)
Height 5 ft 10 in (1.78 m)
Position(s) Midfielder
Youth career
1979–1981 Walsall
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1981–1989 Walsall 284 (45)
1989–1990 Sheffield Wednesday 17 (1)
1990–1993 West Bromwich Albion 112 (12)
1993–1997 Grimsby Town 106 (10)
1997–1998 Scunthorpe United 4 (0)
1998 Telford United 1 (1)
2000 Hednesford Town 1 (0)
Total 525 (68)
Managerial career
2006 West Bromwich Albion (caretaker)
2017 Leicester City
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Craig Robert Shakespeare (26 October 1963 – 1 August 2024) was an English professional footballer and coach.

A midfielder, Shakespeare began his playing career with Walsall, where he made over 350 appearances. After a brief spell with Sheffield Wednesday, he also made over 100 appearances for both West Bromwich Albion and Grimsby Town. He also played for Scunthorpe United before finishing his career in non-league football with Telford United and Hednesford Town.

As a coach, Shakespeare worked at West Bromwich Albion, Leicester City and Hull City. He was briefly caretaker manager at West Brom in 2006 and took a similar role at Leicester in February 2017 before he was appointed manager in March. He was appointed permanent manager of Leicester City on 8 June 2017 after signing a three-year deal. He later served as assistant manager for Everton, Watford, Aston Villa and the England national team.

Playing career

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In his playing days he was an attacking midfielder; he favoured his left foot and his preferred position was on the left side of midfield.[citation needed] He signed as an apprentice at Walsall in September 1979, turning professional in November 1981.[citation needed] Shakespeare rated his goal in a 2–2 League Cup draw against Chelsea in October 1984 as the best of his career.[1] In 1987–88 he helped Walsall to win promotion to Division Two via the playoffs, an achievement which he has since described as his greatest in football.[1] He played well over 350 games for the Saddlers, scoring 59 goals, and in 1989 he moved to Sheffield Wednesday, then in the First Division, for a fee of £300,000.[citation needed]

Shakespeare spent less than a year at Hillsborough, before moving to West Bromwich Albion for £275,000.[citation needed] He stayed at Albion for over three years, making 128 appearances in total[citation needed] and becoming the team's first choice penalty taker.[citation needed] He scored twice from the penalty spot in Albion's first ever game in the Third Division, a 6–3 victory over Exeter City in August 1991.[citation needed]

Albion were promoted in 1993, but Shakespeare moved to Grimsby Town,[citation needed] rejoining Alan Buckley under whom he had played at Walsall.[citation needed] He later moved on to Scunthorpe United,[citation needed] and also played for three non-league clubs[specify] before retiring.[citation needed]

Coaching career

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In 1999, he re-joined West Brom as Football in the Community Officer. In this role, he was responsible for promoting football at grass roots level in the local community. He later took up the post of academy coach, then in 2006 became Reserve Team Coach. In October 2006, following the departure of Bryan Robson and then his assistant Nigel Pearson (who had been caretaker manager for a period of four weeks), Shakespeare was given charge of the first team for one game pending the arrival of Tony Mowbray.[2] The game was away to Crystal Palace; Albion won 2–0.[3]

Shakespeare left Albion in June 2008 to become Pearson's assistant manager at Leicester City,[4] a move that was confirmed on 1 July.[5] As well as having worked together on the West Bromwich Albion coaching staff, the two had also played together at Sheffield Wednesday. Shakespeare once said that Pearson was the best captain he had ever played under.[6]

Shakespeare then followed Pearson to Hull City, which lasted until 2011.[7][8]

He then followed Pearson back to Leicester City when the latter was reappointed manager there in November 2011.[8] Following Pearson's sacking in July 2015,[9] Shakespeare remained as assistant manager to incoming manager Claudio Ranieri and the club were subsequently crowned English champions in 2015–16.[10]

When Sam Allardyce was made England manager in 2016 Shakespeare took on a coaching position alongside his Leicester job, but left when Allardyce resigned after just one match.[11]

Ranieri was sacked on 23 February 2017, with Leicester in 17th with 13 games remaining; Shakespeare took over as caretaker manager.[12] His first game in charge was a 3–1 victory over Liverpool in the Premier League four days later.[13] On 12 March, he was named as the new manager of Leicester City.[14] On 18 March, Shakespeare became the first Premier League manager ever to achieve 3 goals per game in his first three matches in charge.[15] Then on 1 April, he became the only English manager to win his first four league matches.[16] Leicester finished the season in 12th place.[17]

On 8 June 2017, Shakespeare signed a three-year deal to be the permanent manager for Leicester City.[18] On 17 October 2017, he was dismissed after poor performances left the club in the bottom three of the Premier League.[19]

On 1 December 2017, Shakespeare was appointed first team coach at Everton following the appointment of Sam Allardyce as manager the previous day.[20] On 16 May 2018, Allardyce and his backroom staff, including Shakespeare, were dismissed by Everton.[21]

On 6 December 2019, Shakespeare was reunited with Nigel Pearson once again, as he was named as assistant manager at Watford.[22] He remained in this role until 19 July 2020, when Pearson and his backroom staff were sacked, despite there only being two games left in the season, and Watford being out of the relegation zone at that point.[23] Watford went on to lose both their remaining games, and suffer relegation from the Premier League.[24]

On 7 August 2020, Shakespeare was appointed assistant head coach to former Walsall teammate Dean Smith at Aston Villa,[25] the team he supported growing up.[26] Shakespeare parted company with Aston Villa on 8 November 2021, the day after Smith had left the club.[27] A week later, Shakespeare was appointed assistant head coach to Smith at Norwich City.[28] On 10 April 2023, Shakespeare was appointed assistant head coach at Leicester City, again under Smith.[29]

Personal life and death

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On 12 October 2023, it was announced that Shakespeare had been diagnosed with cancer.[30] He died on the morning of 1 August 2024, at the age of 60.[31]

Managerial statistics

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Managerial record by team and tenure
Team From To Record Ref
P W D L Win %
West Bromwich Albion (caretaker) 17 October 2006 18 October 2006 1 1 0 0 100.0 [2][32]
Leicester City 23 February 2017 17 October 2017[33] 26 11 6 9 042.3 [32]
Total 27 12 6 9 044.4 —

Honours

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Walsall

References

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  1. ^ a b "Pick a Number..." West Bromwich Albion F.C. 6 November 2007. Archived from the original on 6 January 2008. Retrieved 6 November 2007.
  2. ^ a b "Pearson stands down at West Brom". BBC Sport. 17 October 2006. Retrieved 22 March 2017.
  3. ^ "Shakey enjoys night in spotlight". West Bromwich Albion F.C. 18 October 2006. Retrieved 12 November 2007.[permanent dead link]
  4. ^ "Shakespeare leaves Albion". West Bromwich Albion F.C. 27 June 2008. Archived from the original on 28 September 2008. Retrieved 28 June 2008.
  5. ^ "Pearson Adds Duo To Backroom Staff". Leicester City F.C. 1 July 2008. Archived from the original on 19 September 2008. Retrieved 1 July 2008.
  6. ^ "Craig Shakespeare – Simply the Best". West Bromwich Albion F.C. 15 May 2007. Archived from the original on 5 August 2012. Retrieved 16 July 2008.
  7. ^ "Hull City name Nigel Pearson as new manager". BBC Sport. 29 June 2010. Retrieved 29 June 2010.
  8. ^ a b "Leicester City appoint Hull City's Nigel Pearson as boss". BBC Sport. 15 November 2011. Retrieved 28 May 2016.
  9. ^ "Nigel Pearson: Leicester boss's sacking linked to son's actions". BBC Sport. 1 July 2015. Retrieved 12 September 2018.
  10. ^ "Leicester City win Premier League title after Tottenham draw at Chelsea". BBC Sport. 2 May 2016. Retrieved 2 August 2024.
  11. ^ Tanner, Rob. "Leicester City's Shakespeare out of England set-up". Leicester Mercury. Retrieved 7 March 2017.[permanent dead link]
  12. ^ "Claudio Ranieri: Leicester City sack Premier League-winning manager". BBC Sport. 23 February 2017. Retrieved 1 August 2024.
  13. ^ "Leicester City 3–1 Liverpool". BBC Sport. 27 February 2017. Retrieved 27 February 2017.
  14. ^ "Craig Shakespeare: Leicester City caretaker named permanent manager". BBC Sport. 8 June 2017. Retrieved 1 August 2024.
  15. ^ Jack Skelton (18 March 2017). "West Ham United v Leicester City". BBC Sport. Retrieved 20 March 2017.
  16. ^ "Leicester City: Craig Shakespeare proud of historic start as manager". BBC Sport. 1 April 2017. Retrieved 2 April 2017.
  17. ^ "Leicester 2016/17 Premier League season review". Sky Sports. 21 May 2017. Retrieved 1 August 2024.
  18. ^ "Craig Shakespeare: Leicester City caretaker named permanent manager". BBC Sport. 8 June 2017.
  19. ^ "Craig Shakespeare sacked by Leicester City after four months in charge". The Guardian. 17 October 2017. Retrieved 17 October 2017.
  20. ^ "Lee And Shakespeare Join Coaching Staff". Everton F.C. 1 December 2017. Archived from the original on 1 December 2017. Retrieved 1 December 2017.
  21. ^ Jones, Adam (16 May 2018). "Confirmed – Everton sack Sam Allardyce". Liverpool Echo. Retrieved 7 August 2020.
  22. ^ Leach, Tom (6 December 2019). "Former Leicester City duo take charge of Premier League rivals Watford". Leicester Mercury. Retrieved 7 August 2020.
  23. ^ Fisher, Ben (19 July 2020). "Nigel Pearson sacked by Watford with two games of season remaining". The Guardian. Retrieved 7 August 2020.
  24. ^ "Arsenal 3-2 Watford: Hornets relegated from Premier League on final day". BBC Sport. 26 July 2020. Retrieved 7 August 2020.
  25. ^ "Craig Shakespeare joins Aston Villa as assistant head coach". Express & Star. 7 August 2020. Retrieved 7 August 2020.
  26. ^ Affleck, Kevin (24 April 2020). "My Best: Craig Shakespeare". Watford FC Official Site. Retrieved 7 August 2020.
  27. ^ "Villa confirm Shakespeare departure". Aston Villa Official Site. 8 November 2021. Archived from the original on 8 November 2021. Retrieved 8 November 2021.
  28. ^ "Norwich City: Dean Smith named new Canaries head coach". BBC Sport. 15 November 2021. Retrieved 17 November 2021.
  29. ^ "'There looked to be a lack of confidence and energy'". BBC Sport. 11 April 2023. Retrieved 21 April 2023.
  30. ^ "Craig Shakespeare: Former Leicester manager diagnosed with cancer". BBC Sport. 12 October 2023. Retrieved 12 October 2023.
  31. ^ "Ex-Leicester boss Shakespeare dies". BBC Sport. 1 August 2024. Retrieved 1 August 2024.
  32. ^ a b "Managers: Craig Shakespeare". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 5 October 2017.
  33. ^ "Leicester City sack manager Craig Shakespeare after one Premier League win in eight". Sky Sports. Retrieved 17 October 2017.
  34. ^ Bateman, Cynthia (31 May 1988). "Kelly's rule of three". The Guardian. p. 12. Archived from the original on 12 April 2021. Retrieved 17 November 2021 – via Newspapers.com.
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