# List of Walsall F.C. managers

The following is a list of Walsall managers from the founding of Walsall Football Club in 1888 until the present day. The list includes only managers who were in charge permanently and does not include any temporary caretaker managers. The club has been served by 48 different permanently appointed managers,: 74–87 all of them born in the United Kingdom, aside from former Denmark international Jan Sørensen (1997–98).: 86
From 1888 to 1920, the team was selected by a committee whose secretary had the same powers and role as a manager has today. There are ten known secretaries from this period, although there is a gap in the history books from 1901 to 1908. The dates for appointment of these should be taken only as approximate, although the years should be correct. In 1920, as was becoming the norm across all football clubs, Walsall broke from this tradition and appointed player Albert Groves as the club's first official manager.$^{:74}$
The club's longest serving and, arguably, most-successful manager is Bill Moore who took charge of 470 matches over two spells from 1957–63 and 1969–72. During his first spell he took the team from languishing towards the bottom of the Third Division South to their highest ever post-war league position of 14th in the Second Division in 1962.$^{:78–79}$
Only five managers have achieved promotion for the club since Bill Moore: Alan Buckley in 1979–80, Tommy Coakley in 1987–88, Chris Nicholl in 1994–95, Ray Graydon in 1998–99 and 2000–01, and Richard Money in 2006–07.

## Managers

Only competitive first team matches are counted. Wins, losses and draws are results at the final whistle; the results of penalty shoot-outs are not counted. Correct as of match on 22 October 2024.$^{:74–87}$
| Name | From | To | P | W | D | L | Win% | Honours |
| H. Smallwood $^{sec}$ | 1 Aug 1888 | 1 Aug 1891 | 69 | 32 | 9 | 28 | 046.38 | |
| A. G. Burton $^{sec}$ | 1 Aug 1891 | 1 Aug 1893 | 49 | 15 | 6 | 28 | 030.61 | |
| J. H. Robinson $^{sec}$ | 1 Aug 1893 | 1 Aug 1895 | 62 | 22 | 3 | 37 | 035.48 | |
| C. H. Aislo $^{sec}$ | 1 Aug 1895 | 1 Aug 1896 | 31 | 19 | 6 | 6 | 061.29 | |
| A. E. Parsloe $^{sec}$ | 1 Aug 1896 | 1 Aug 1897 | 33 | 12 | 5 | 16 | 036.36 | |
| Louis Ford $^{sec}$ | 1 Aug 1897 | 1 Aug 1898 | 31 | 12 | 5 | 14 | 038.71 | |
| G. Hughes $^{sec}$ | 1 Aug 1898 | 1 Aug 1899 | 35 | 15 | 12 | 8 | 042.86 | |
| Louis Ford $^{sec}$ | 1 Aug 1899 | 1 Aug 1901 | 79 | 25 | 24 | 30 | 031.65 | |
| J. E. Shutt $^{sec}$ | 1 Aug 1908 | 1 Jul 1912 | 192 | 117 | 28 | 47 | 060.94 | |
| Haydn Price $^{sec}$ | 1 Jul 1912 | 1 Aug 1915 | 114 | 57 | 19 | 38 | 050.00 | |
| Joe Burchell $^{sec}$ | 1 Aug 1915 | 1 May 1920 | 56 | 20 | 12 | 24 | 035.71 | |
| Albert Groves $^p$ | 1 May 1920 | 1 Aug 1921 | 36 | 19 | 6 | 11 | 052.78 | |
| Joe Burchell | 1 Aug 1921 | 1 Feb 1926 | 201 | 74 | 36 | 91 | 036.82 | |
| David Ashworth | 1 Feb 1926 | 1 Feb 1927 | 42 | 16 | 9 | 17 | 038.10 | |
| Jimmy Torrance | 1 Feb 1927 | 1 May 1928 | 59 | 17 | 12 | 30 | 028.81 | |
| James Kerr | 1 May 1928 | 1 Apr 1929 | 44 | 15 | 13 | 16 | 034.09 | |
| Sid Scholey | 1 Apr 1929 | 1 Oct 1930 | 59 | 19 | 9 | 31 | 032.20 | |
| Peter O'Rourke | 1 Oct 1930 | 1 Feb 1932 | 62 | 21 | 11 | 30 | 033.87 | |
| Bill Slade | 1 Feb 1932 | 1 Oct 1934 | 117 | 55 | 23 | 39 | 047.01 | |
| Andrew Wilson | 1 Oct 1934 | 1 Apr 1937 | 130 | 47 | 30 | 53 | 036.15 | Third Division North Cup runners-up 1935 |
| Tommy Lowes | 1 Apr 1937 | 1 Sep 1939 | 102 | 32 | 21 | 49 | 031.37 | |
| Sam Longmore | 1 Sep 1939 | 5 Aug 1944 | 166 | 54 | 34 | 78 | 032.53 | |
| Harry Hibbs | 5 Aug 1944 | 30 Jun 1951 | 305 | 113 | 73 | 119 | 037.05 | Third Division South Cup runners-up 1946 |
| Tony McPhee | 1 Jul 1951 | 1 Dec 1951 | 26 | 8 | 3 | 15 | 030.77 | |
| Brough Fletcher | 1 Mar 1952 | 1 Apr 1953 | 59 | 10 | 11 | 38 | 016.95 | |
| Frank Buckley | 1 Apr 1953 | 1 Sep 1955 | 105 | 23 | 26 | 56 | 021.90 | |
| John Love | 1 Sep 1955 | 1 Dec 1957 | 116 | 38 | 24 | 54 | 032.76 | |
| Bill Moore | 1 Dec 1957 | 1 Nov 1963 | 283 | 121 | 60 | 102 | 042.76 | Fourth Division champions 1959–60 Third Division runners-up 1960–61 |
| Alf Wood | 1 Nov 1963 | 1 Oct 1964 | 43 | 10 | 9 | 24 | 023.26 | |
| Ray Shaw | 1 Oct 1964 | 1 Mar 1968 | 179 | 79 | 36 | 64 | 044.13 | |
| Dick Graham | 1 Mar 1968 | 1 May 1968 | 15 | 6 | 4 | 5 | 040.00 | |
| Ron Lewin | 1 Jul 1968 | 1 Feb 1969 | 37 | 11 | 12 | 14 | 029.73 | |
| Bill Moore | 1 Feb 1969 | 16 Oct 1972 | 187 | 69 | 53 | 65 | 036.90 | |
| John Smith | 16 Oct 1972 | 23 Mar 1973 | 26 | 7 | 5 | 14 | 026.92 | |
| Jimmy MacEwan | 23 Mar 1973 | 1 Jun 1973 | 9 | 3 | 2 | 4 | 033.33 | |
| Ronnie Allen | 6 Jun 1973 | 20 Dec 1974 | 26 | 6 | 9 | 11 | 023.08 | |
| Doug Fraser | 1 Jan 1974 | 7 Mar 1977 | 163 | 60 | 45 | 58 | 036.81 | |
| Dave Mackay | 9 Mar 1977 | 5 Aug 1978 | 72 | 30 | 27 | 15 | 041.67 | |
| Alan Ashman | 23 Aug 1978 | 17 Feb 1979 | 27 | 8 | 6 | 13 | 029.63 | |
| Frank Sibley | 1 Mar 1979 | 5 May 1979 | 19 | 2 | 6 | 11 | 010.53 | |
| Alan Buckley $^p$ | 27 Jun 1979 | 1 Jul 1981 | 102 | 38 | 36 | 28 | 037.25 | Fourth Division runners-up 1979–80 |
| Alan Buckley $^p$ & Neil Martin | 1 Jul 1981 | 1 Jan 1982 | 22 | 11 | 5 | 6 | 050.00 | |
| Neil Martin | 1 Jan 1982 | 1 May 1982 | 30 | 4 | 11 | 15 | 013.33 | |
| Alan Buckley $^p$ | 1 May 1982 | 1 Jun 1986 | 225 | 99 | 51 | 75 | 044.00 | |
| Tommy Coakley | 1 Aug 1986 | 27 Dec 1988 | 148 | 62 | 37 | 49 | 041.89 | Third Division play-off winners 1987–88 |
| John Barnwell | 17 Jan 1989 | 1 Mar 1990 | 62 | 13 | 19 | 30 | 020.97 | |
| Paul Taylor | 1 Mar 1990 | 15 May 1990 | 15 | 4 | 4 | 7 | 026.67 | |
| Kenny Hibbitt | 16 May 1990 | 1 Aug 1994 | 213 | 72 | 57 | 84 | 033.80 | |
| Chris Nicholl | 1 Aug 1994 | 21 May 1997 | 157 | 72 | 38 | 47 | 045.86 | Third Division runners-up 1994–95 |
| Jan Sørensen | 25 Jun 1997 | 5 May 1998 | 62 | 26 | 13 | 23 | 041.94 | |
| Ray Graydon | 5 May 1998 | 22 Jan 2002 | 199 | 79 | 49 | 71 | 039.70 | Second Division runners-up 1998–99 Second Division play-off winners 2000–01 |
| Colin Lee | 24 Jan 2002 | 16 Apr 2004 | 116 | 38 | 30 | 48 | 032.76 | |
| Paul Merson † $^p$ | 16 Apr 2004 | 6 Feb 2006 | 94 | 32 | 23 | 39 | 034.04 | |
| Kevan Broadhurst | 22 Feb 2006 | 24 Apr 2006 | 11 | 1 | 4 | 6 | 009.09 | |
| Richard Money | 3 May 2006 | 22 Apr 2008 | 102 | 44 | 33 | 25 | 043.14 | League Two champions 2006–07 |
| Jimmy Mullen | 22 Apr 2008 | 10 Jan 2009 | 29 | 10 | 5 | 14 | 034.48 | |
| Chris Hutchings | 20 Jan 2009 | 4 Jan 2011 | 98 | 31 | 24 | 43 | 031.63 | |
| Dean Smith † | 4 Jan 2011 | 30 Nov 2015 | 260 | 84 | 96 | 80 | 032.31 | Football League Trophy runners-up 2015 |
| Sean O'Driscoll | 18 Dec 2015 | 6 Mar 2016 | 16 | 6 | 5 | 5 | 037.50 | |
| Jon Whitney † | 7 Mar 2016 | 12 Mar 2018 | 109 | 38 | 29 | 42 | 034.86 | |
| Dean Keates | 16 Mar 2018 | 6 Apr 2019 | 60 | 18 | 13 | 29 | 030.00 | |
| Darrell Clarke | 10 May 2019 | 15 Feb 2021 | 76 | 25 | 25 | 26 | 032.89 | |
| Brian Dutton | 15 Feb 2021 | 10 May 2021 | 20 | 3 | 8 | 9 | 015.00 | |
| Matthew Taylor | 19 May 2021 | 9 Feb 2022 | 36 | 9 | 10 | 17 | 025.00 | |
| Michael Flynn | 15 Feb 2022 | 19 Apr 2023 | 68 | 21 | 22 | 25 | 030.88 | |
| Mat Sadler † | 19 Apr 2023 | present | 74 | 31 | 18 | 25 | 041.89 | |

### Key

    $^{sec}$ Secretary-manager.
    $^p$ Player-manager.
    † Served as caretaker manager before being appointed permanently.

## Footnotes

* ↑ Louis Ford's second spell in charge after 1897–88.
* ↑ Joe Burchell's second spell in charge after being secretary-manager 1915–20.
* ↑ Bill Moore's second spell in charge after 1957–63.
* ↑ Alan Buckley's second spell in charge after 1979–82.