Warren Joyce

Warren Joyce

Personal information
Full name	Warren Garton Joyce
Date of birth	(1965-01-20) 20 January 1965
Place of birth	Oldham, England
Height	5 ft 9 in (1.75 m)
Position(s)	Midfielder
Team information
Current team	Wigan Athletic (manager)
Youth career
1981–1983	Bolton Wanderers
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
1983–1987	Bolton Wanderers	184	(17)
1987–1992	Preston North End	177	(34)
1992–1993	Plymouth Argyle	30	(3)
1993–1996	Burnley	70	(9)
1995	→ Hull City (loan)	9	(3)
1996–2000	Hull City	147	(15)
Total		608	(78)
Managerial career
1998–2000	Hull City (player-manager)
2006–2008	Royal Antwerp
2008–2010	Manchester United Reserves (co-manager)
2010–2016	Manchester United Reserves
2016–	Wigan Athletic
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Warren Garton Joyce (born 20 January 1965) is an English football coach and former player who is the manager of Championship club Wigan Athletic.

As a player, he played in The Football League for Bolton Wanderers, Preston North End, Plymouth Argyle, Burnley and Hull City. After taking over as player-manager of Hull City in 1998, he eventually moved to Belgium, where he was appointed manager of Manchester United's feeder club, Royal Antwerp, in 2006. Two years later, he returned to England as co-manager of the Manchester United reserves, along with former Manchester United forward Ole Gunnar Solskjær. When Solskjær left in 2011, Joyce took sole charge of the reserves.

Playing career

Bolton Wanderers

Joyce was born in Oldham, Lancashire, the son of Walter Joyce, the former Burnley, Blackburn Rovers and Oldham Athletic player, and began his career as a trainee with Bolton Wanderers in 1981. Working his way up into the first team he became known for being a tigerish midfielder who never gave less than 100%. This made him a firm favourite with the Burnden Park fans and in six years with the club made a total of 221 appearances for the Trotters scoring 21 goals.

Preston North End

In October 1987, however, Preston North End manager John McGrath offered £35,000 for his services. With Joyce's father Walter now a coach at Deepdale (he had previously coached at Oldham Athletic), Joyce decided to make the move. Preston at the time were struggling but the additions of Joyce along with Brian Mooney and Tony Ellis not only added flair to the team but also some much-needed bite.

Over the next five years, he became a much-loved figure at Preston earning himself the nickname "Psycho", due to his never-say-die commitment to the cause. In all he played 208 matches for the Lilywhites scoring 44 goals, not only picking up the club's player of the year award along the way but also being made club captain. However, when Plymouth Argyle made a £160,000 offer for him in May 1992, cash-strapped Preston were forced to accept and he was on his way to Home Park.

Plymouth Argyle and Burnley

His stay in Devon however was short-lived, with Joyce playing only 40 games and scoring four goals in his year there. Plymouth decided to cash in and when Burnley offered £140,000 for him in July 1993, he was on his way back to Lancashire. In three years at Turf Moor playing 90 games and scoring 12 goals.

Hull City

A loan stay though at Hull City in January 1995 paved the way for a permanent deal 18 months later, so in July 1996 Joyce signed on the dotted line for Hull. He went on to play a total of 170 games for Hull scoring 19 goals. He soon became club captain at Boothferry Park, putting in some talisman type performances over the next two years. Indeed, his influence at the club was so apparent that in November 1998 he was asked to stand in as caretaker manager following the departure of Mark Hateley.

City soon made the appointment permanent with Joyce taking on the dual role of player-manager. At the time of his appointment, City were rooted to the foot of the Fourth Division table and looked to be heading out of the Football League – and into bankruptcy. However, under Joyce's stewardship, City staged a remarkable turnaround and achieved survival with games to spare; City fans christened this season "the Great Escape". Such is the esteem with which Joyce is regarded by Hull City fans he is assured a hero's welcome every time he returns to the KC Stadium.

Coaching and managerial career

City's chairman however decided to replace Joyce as manager with the more experienced and well-known Brian Little. Many fans though felt that Joyce was a little hard done by because, considering the state the club was in at the time, he had done a fine job just keeping them in the league.

In all, Joyce's playing career spanned 19 years scoring 100 goals in 731 appearances for his various clubs. He has since held coaching roles with Leeds United, Stockport County and Tranmere Rovers.

On 11 September 2006, Joyce was appointed coach of Royal Antwerp. He was introduced to this team by his former colleague Andy Welsh who was the assistant coach at Royal Antwerp on a loan basis from Manchester United. On 26 May 2008, it was announced that Joyce would leave Antwerp for Manchester United, where he would be co-managing the reserves along with former United legend Ole Gunnar Solskjær. He took sole charge in December 2010, when Solskjær left to manage Molde FK. In November 2011, Joyce was linked with a possible return to Hull City as a replacement for Nigel Pearson, but ultimately opted to remain at Manchester United.

On 2 November 2016, Joyce was appointed manager of Championship club Wigan Athletic on a three-and-a-half-year contract.he was also the wanker that allowed Wigan to concede three goals to Rotherham (A town known for nonceing) before half time.

Managerial statistics

As of match played 17 December 2016

Managerial record by team and tenure

Team	From	To	Record					Ref
			P	W	D	L	Win %
Hull City	20 November 1998	19 April 2000	86	33	25	28	038.4
Wigan Athletic	2 November 2016	Present	7	1	1	5	014.3
Total			93	34	26	33	036.6	—

External links

• Warren Joyce at Soccerbase