JOHN SHERIDAN (FOOTBALLER)

'John Sheridan' (born 1 October 1964 in Stretford, England) is a former Republic of Ireland international professional footballer and now a manager. After being rejected by Manchester City he started his career at Leeds United. Later, he scored Sheffield Wednesday's winning goal in the 1991 League Cup final. He is the older brother of fellow footballer Darren Sheridan.
After a short spell at Nottingham Forest, where he only started one game, Sheridan became the unsung hero of Sheffield Wednesday's revival, before joining Bolton Wanderers, where he spent two seasons, helping them win promotion to the Premiership in 1997.
In June 2006, he was appointed manager of Oldham Athletic.

Contents

Playing career

Management

External links

Playing career

Sheridan began his career with Leeds in 1982, playing 267 times and scoring 52 goals. He was a cult hero at Leeds with his free-kick and passing ability and was the bright shining light in a dark time for the Yorkshire club. After falling out with new manager Howard Wilkinson (who believed in fitness and the long ball game, as opposed to Sheridan who preferred a pint and splaying the ball around), he was sold to Nottingham Forest in 1989. He made only one appearance for Forest before joining Sheffield Wednesday in the same year. Allegedly, Brian Clough transferred him because Barnsley manager Allan Clarke reported seeing him in a nightclub the night before a game. It was with The Owls that Sheridan played arguably the best football of his career, scoring 33 goals in 243 appearances. Sheridan will always be remembered by Wednesday faithful for his "rocket" against Manchester Utd that won them League Cup in 1991.
Towards the end of his Wednesday career, he joined Birmingham City on loan for four games. After playing 36 times and scoring two goals for Bolton between 1996 and 1998, Sheridan looked to be on the verge of calling time on his career when he joined then-non-league Doncaster Rovers in 1998, for whom he made eight appearances.
Sheridan was given another shot at league football, and in 1998 the Irishman joined Oldham, where he played a further 150+ games, scoring 17 goals, most from set-pieces or the penalty spot. An emotional return to Hillsborough in August 2003 where he scored to secure a draw saw Sheridan applauded off the field by both sets of fans.
Sheridan also won 34 caps for the Republic of Ireland, scoring five times. He also scored the 100th Irish international goal at Lansdowne Road in 1994 against Bolivia

Management

Following the departure of Iain Dowie to Crystal Palace in late 2003, Sheridan took over the coaching of the Oldham first team, along with fellow-veteran David Eyres, before they were both replaced by Brian Talbot. On June 1, 2006, Talbot's successor, Ronnie Moore, was himself shown the door, and Sheridan stepped in to fill in the manager's position on a permanent basis.
On December 7, 2006, Sheridan was named Coca-Cola League One Manager of the Month.Sheridan guided Oldham to sixth place in League One, and their promotion challenge was ended in the play-off semi finals by eventual winners Blackpool.

External links

★ Sheridan's profile at Soccerbase