Brett Angell

Brett Angell
Personal information
Full name Brett Ashley Mark Angell[1]
Date of birth (1968-08-20) 20 August 1968 (age 56)[2]
Place of birth Marlborough, Wiltshire, England[3]
Height 1.94 m (6 ft 4 in)[3]
Position(s) Striker
Youth career
1984–1986 Portsmouth
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1986–1987 Portsmouth 0 (0)
1987–1988 Cheltenham Town 37 (24)
1988 Derby County 0 (0)
1988–1990 Stockport County 70 (28)
1990–1994 Southend United 115 (47)
1993 → Everton (loan) 1 (0)
1994 → Everton (loan) 1 (0)
1994–1995 Everton 18 (1)
1995–1996 Sunderland 10 (0)
1996 → Sheffield United (loan) 6 (2)
1996 → West Bromwich Albion (loan) 3 (0)
1996 → Stockport County (loan) 18 (8)
1996–2000 Stockport County 108 (42)
1999–2000 → Notts County (loan) 6 (5)
2000 → Preston North End (loan) 15 (8)
2000–2002 Walsall 61 (16)
2002 Rushden & Diamonds 5 (2)
2002 Port Vale 15 (5)
2002–2003 Queens Park Rangers 13 (0)
Total 502 (188)
Managerial career
2014–2019 Hawke's Bay United
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Brett Ashley Mark Angell (born 20 August 1968) is an English football manager and former professional footballer.

As a player, he was striker and although notably spending time in the Premier League with Everton and Sunderland, he spent the rest of his career in the Football League with lengthy spells at Stockport County, Southend United and Walsall. He also played professionally for Portsmouth, Cheltenham Town, Derby County, Sheffield United, West Bromwich Albion, Notts County, Preston North End, Rushden & Diamonds, Port Vale and Queens Park Rangers. He retired in 2003 after scoring 200 goals in 540 games in all competitions. With Southend, he was promoted out of the Third Division 1990–91, and was also named on the PFA Team of the Year. He won promotion out of the Second Division with Stockport County and was later inducted into the club's Hall of Fame. He topped the Second Division with Preston North End in 1999–2000. He won his fourth promotion with Walsall after winning the Second Division play-off final in 2001. He was also listed in the 2006 book Cheltenham Town Football Club 50 Greats.

Following retirement, Angell moved into coaching, where he worked in the youth academies of both Bolton Wanderers and Portsmouth. He was appointed head coach of the New Zealand side Hawke's Bay United in September 2014.

Playing career

[edit]

Angell started his career as a defender at Second Division side Portsmouth, but never made the first-team and was released in 1987. It wasn't until he joined Cheltenham Town in July 1987 that Angell was converted from defender to a striker by the club's then manager John Murphy, who had discovered the player at a 6-a-side game.[4] He scored 22 goals in 1987–88, becoming the Conference club's top-scorer. In February 1988, he was signed by Arthur Cox at First Division club Derby County for a fee of £45,000.[4]

He never played in the Derby first-team and was instead sold to Asa Hartford's Stockport County for a club-record £33,000 fee in October 1988.[4] He struggled to break into the first-team at the Fourth Division club, but found his shooting boots when new manager Danny Bergara took over in March 1989.[4] During the 1989–90 season, he scored four goals in one game against Hartlepool United. He finished the campaign with 23 goals in 43 league starts to become the division's top-scorer.[4] However, following defeat to Chesterfield in the play-offs he handed in a transfer request.[4]

Angell switched to Southend United, who had won promotion into the Third Division after finishing one point and one place ahead of County.[4] Stockport wanted £250,000 for the player, but Southend only offered £15,000 – a Football League tribunal later set the fee at £100,000, though Stockport had to pay Derby £19,500 as part of an agreed sell-on clause.[4] He formed an effective partnership with target-man Ian Benjamin and became joint-top scorer in the Third Division in 1990–91, as he and Bolton's Tony Philliskirk scored 26 goals.[5] The "Shrimpers" won promotion as the Third Division's runners-up, finishing one point behind champions Cambridge United and two points ahead of fourth-placed Bolton.

Southend settled into the Second Division, finishing in the top half of the table in 1991–92. Again, Angell finished as the club's top scorer with 23 goals and was named the club's Player of the Year. The Roots Hall faithful continued to witness second-tier football in 1993–94; however, Angell attracted interest from bigger clubs and joined top-flight Everton on loan in September 1993 and again in January 1994. Despite Angell playing just one game in each spell, manager Mike Walker signed him for a fee of £500,000 on 21 January (£160,000 of this went to Stockport as part of a tribunal agreement made four years earlier).[4][6] However, Angell had just undergone major surgery on his left leg and was unable to play to his full potential so it proved to be a disastrous spell, his only goal in nineteen games for the "Toffees" being a tap-in against Chelsea.[7] Neville Southall later said that "the step up to the Premier League was probably too much for him" and he "had a first touch like a tackle".[8] Manager Joe Royle sold Angell to Sunderland for £600,000 in March 1995, where he was similarly unsuccessful.[3] He played eleven games for the "Black Cats", scoring once in the League Cup at Preston. Manager Mick Buxton was sacked shortly after Angell arrived at the club. He failed to impress new boss Peter Reid.[9] He is widely regarded by fans of both Everton and Sunderland as one of the worst players to turn out for both of these clubs, where he failed to reproduce the form he showed in the lower divisions.[10][11]

He was loaned out to First Division Sheffield United in January 1996, where he was reunited with Howard Kendall, who was manager at Everton during his first loan spell at the club. He scored twice in six games for the "Blades" before he was sent out on loan to West Bromwich Albion in March. Manager Alan Buckley used him as a substitute on three occasions before he returned to Roker Park. After being forced to train with the youth team at Sunderland, he returned to Stockport County in August 1996, now managed by Dave Jones, for a £120,000 fee.[4]

Angell enjoyed a highly successful 1996–97 campaign when he was Stockport's leading goalscorer and inspired them to promotion to the First Division, as well as the semi-finals of the League Cup with victories over Chesterfield, Sheffield United, Blackburn Rovers, West Ham United and Southampton.[4][12] He scored eighteen goals in 1997–98, helping County to record an eighth-place finish in the second tier. The club continued to survive in the second tier in 1998–99 and 1999–2000. However, Angell was loaned out to Second Division sides Notts County and Preston North End in the latter half of the 1999–2000 campaign. He hit five goals in six games for County and scored eight in seventeen games for Preston, who finished the season as Second Division champions.

He joined Second Division Walsall for 2000–01, in which he scored 13 goals in 48 games, including a hat-trick past Northampton Town. He picked up a play-off winners medal as he was an unused substitute in the 3–2 victory over Reading in the final. He scored 6 goals in 29 games in 2001–02, before he joined Third Division Rushden & Diamonds in March 2002.[13] He played for Rushden at Cardiff in the play-off final, in which they lost 3–1 to former club Cheltenham Town.[14] He was released by Rushden and then looked for a club near is home in Southport.[12]

After two goals in seven games for Rushden, he joined Brian Horton's Port Vale on a short-term deal for the 2002–03 campaign.[15] He scored seven goals in seventeen games, before leaving in November after the club were unable to offer him a long-term deal due to financial constraints.[16][12] He then joined Ian Holloway's Queens Park Rangers. He played thirteen games for QPR and was an unused substitute in the play-off final defeat to Cardiff City at the Millennium Stadium – his third play-off encounter in as many years. Angell was heading to Ireland to play for Linfield in July 2003,[17] however, the deal fell through as he refused to play trial games before signing a contract.[18]

Coaching career

[edit]

Angell worked as a youth team coach at Bolton Wanderers and Portsmouth. However, his tenure as youth and reserve team coach at Portsmouth lasted only five months, and he was relieved of his position in April 2006.[19] After a similar position at Bolton Wanderers, Angell then worked as a Coach Educator, teaching coaching courses for the Football Association, before taking up a Central Football regional coaching job in New Zealand.[20] He was appointed head coach at New Zealand Football Championship club Hawke's Bay United in September 2014.[21] Some players made it known that they would have preferred incumbent head coach Chris Greatholder to have stayed, and were released by Angell.[22] He took the club to third in 2014–15 and second in 2015–16, though he faced continued speculation over his future at the club.[23] In May 2019 he confirmed that he would not take up the club's offer to reapply for the position.[24]

Personal life

[edit]

He is the brother of fellow professional footballer, Darren Angell.[25]

Career statistics

[edit]

Source:[26][27]

Club Season Division League FA Cup Other Total
Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals
Portsmouth 1986–87 Second Division 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Derby County 1987–88 First Division 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Stockport County 1988–89 Fourth Division 26 5 1 0 2 0 29 5
1989–90 Fourth Division 44 23 2 1 9 4 55 28
Total 70 28 3 1 11 4 84 33
Southend United 1990–91 Third Division 42 15 1 2 9 9 52 26
1991–92 Second Division 43 21 1 0 3 2 47 23
1992–93 First Division 13 5 1 0 0 0 14 5
1993–94 First Division 17 6 0 0 6 3 23 9
Total 115 47 3 2 18 14 136 63
Everton 1993–94 Premier League 16 1 0 0 0 0 16 1
1994–95 Premier League 4 0 0 0 1 0 5 0
Total 20 1 0 0 1 0 21 1
Sunderland 1994–95 First Division 8 0 0 0 0 0 8 0
1995–96 First Division 2 0 0 0 1 1 3 1
Total 10 0 0 0 1 1 11 1
Sheffield United (loan) 1995–96 First Division 6 2 0 0 0 0 6 2
West Bromwich Albion (loan) 1995–96 First Division 3 0 0 0 0 0 3 0
Stockport County 1996–97 Second Division 34 15 3 1 15 4 52 20
1997–98 First Division 45 18 2 2 4 3 51 23
1998–99 First Division 42 17 2 1 2 0 51 18
1999–2000 First Division 5 0 0 0 3 1 8 1
Total 126 48 7 4 24 8 157 60
Notts County (loan) 1999–2000 Second Division 6 5 0 0 0 0 6 5
Preston North End (loan) 1999–2000 Second Division 15 8 0 0 0 0 15 8
Walsall 2000–01 Second Division 41 13 3 1 4 0 48 14
2001–02 First Division 20 3 2 1 0 0 22 4
Total 61 16 5 2 4 0 70 18
Rushden & Diamonds 2001–02 Third Division 5 2 0 0 2 0 7 2
Port Vale 2002–03 Second Division 15 5 1 0 2 2 18 7
Queens Park Rangers 2002–03 Second Division 13 0 0 0 0 0 13 0
Career total 465 164 18 9 63 29 546 202

Honours

[edit]

Individual

Southend United

Stockport County

Preston North End

Walsall

References

[edit]
  1. ^ "Brett Angell". Barry Hugman's Footballers. Retrieved 9 March 2017.
  2. ^ "Sunderland AFC – Statistics, History and Records – from TheStatCat". thestatcat.co.uk. Retrieved 1 November 2022.
  3. ^ a b c "Brett Angell". evertonfc.com. Archived from the original on 7 November 2011. Retrieved 23 October 2011.
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l "Brett Angell". stockportcounty.com. 27 June 2008. Retrieved 23 October 2011.[permanent dead link‍]
  5. ^ McDonough, Roy; Friend, Bernie (2012), Red Card Roy: Sex, Booze, and early Baths. The Life of Britain's Wildest-Ever Footballer, Vision Sports, p. 212, ISBN 978-1-907637-56-8
  6. ^ Winter, Henry (14 January 1994). "Football: Ardiles looking to Angell or Allen". The Independent. London.
  7. ^ "Brett Angell". evertonresults.com. Retrieved 23 October 2011.
  8. ^ Southall, Neville; Corbett, James (2012), The Binman Chronicles, deCoubertin Books, p. 183, ISBN 978-0-9564313-8-7
  9. ^ Dykes, Garth; Lamming, Doug (2000). All the Lads: A Complete Who's Who of Sunderland AFC. Great Britain. p. 19. ISBN 9781899538157.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  10. ^ "Never again ..." BBC Sport. 1 April 2003. Retrieved 20 December 2010.
  11. ^ "Brett Angell". toffeeweb.com. Retrieved 23 October 2011.
  12. ^ a b c d e Baggaley, Mike (8 July 2024). "Darren Moore embracing big decisions". Valiant's Substack. Retrieved 8 July 2024.
  13. ^ "Diamond's Angell delight". BBC Sport. 27 March 2002. Retrieved 3 May 2009.
  14. ^ "Brett Angell". rdfc1992. 13 June 2017. Retrieved 20 July 2023.
  15. ^ "Vale seal double deal". BBC Sport. 1 August 2002. Retrieved 3 May 2009.
  16. ^ "Angell rejects Vale deal". BBC Sport. 4 November 2002. Retrieved 3 May 2009.
  17. ^ "Angell deal is delayed". BBC Sport. 10 July 2003. Retrieved 3 May 2009.
  18. ^ "Dalglish joins Blues". BBC Sport. 16 July 2003. Retrieved 3 May 2009.
  19. ^ "Angell parts company with Pompey". BBC Sport. 17 April 2006. Retrieved 3 May 2009.
  20. ^ "Big coaching plans for Manawatu". Manawatu Standard. 14 May 2009. Retrieved 2 November 2009.
  21. ^ "Hawke's Bay United Football – Home". sportsground.co.nz. Archived from the original on 12 November 2014. Retrieved 20 November 2016.
  22. ^ Singh, Anendra (12 June 2014). "NZ Herald: New Zealand's Latest News, Business, Sport, Weather, Travel, Technology, Entertainment, Politics, Finance, Health, Environment and Science". The New Zealand Herald. Retrieved 20 November 2016.
  23. ^ Singh, Anendra (6 May 2016). "Football: Bay Utd coach 'not quitting'". The New Zealand Herald. Retrieved 20 November 2016.
  24. ^ AnendraSports, Anendra Singh Anendra Singh is the Hawke's Bay Today sports editor anendra singh@nzme co nz (17 May 2019). "Football: Brett Angell turns down Hawke's Bay United offer to reapply for head coach position". The New Zealand Herald. Retrieved 5 April 2020. {{cite news}}: |first1= has generic name (help)
  25. ^ "Soccer: Strikers refuse U's move". Gazette. 18 October 2001. Retrieved 2 December 2021.
  26. ^ Brett Angell at the English National Football Archive (subscription required)
  27. ^ Brett Angell at Soccerbase Edit this at Wikidata
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Brett_Angell&oldid=1257650015"