Alan Buckley Profile

Born in Eastwood, Nottinghamshire.

Former clubs (player): Nottingham Forest, Walsall, Birmingham, Stourbridge, Tamworth and Kettering.

Former clubs (manager): Walsall, Kettering, Grimsby, West Bromwich Albion, Lincoln City and Rochdale

Alan Buckley, who was born in Nottingham, became a professional footballer with Nottingham Forest in 1968, where he stayed until moving to Walsall in August 1973. He became a legend at Walsall by scoring 205 goals in 483 senior appearances, which would have been more had he not spent ten months with Birmingham City between October 1978 and July 1979 before returning to Walsall.

Buckley, just prior to his departure to Birmingham, had made his first start in management when he took over as Walsall's caretaker-boss for a few weeks following Dave Mackay's departure. This was the main reason for him leaving; however, within a year, he was back as manager, a job he held for two years. In January 1982, he left Walsall again yet within four months, Walsall were once again unveiling their latest manager, this time it was..... Alan Buckley !

In July 1986 he said a final farewell to Walsall - though no doubt everyone expected him to return within months! This is did not happen and instead, he joined Stourbridge and then Tamworth as a player before Kettering Town offered him the player-manager's position. For those Imps' fans who remember Lincoln's successful Conference winning season of 1987/88, it was Buckley who guided Kettering to third position.

In July 1988 he was poached by Grimsby Town where he became one of their most successful and favourite managers in recent years. He eventually parted company with Grimsby in 1994 when he moved to West Bromwich Albion. The move turned sour and by 1997, he was sacked by West Brom, as he and all the ex-Grimsby players whom Buckley had bought, were blamed for the Midland club's poor fortunes.

Within months, Grimsby were welcoming Buckley, plus most of their ex-players whom had followed him to West Brom, back to Blundell Park. The success story began again as Grimsby won promotion back to Division One and were crowned the Associate Members' Cup winners.

With just two weeks of the 2000/01 season gone he was surprisingly sacked as Grimsby manager and remained unemployed until joining Lincoln City in February 2001. He replaced Phil Stant, who had been sacked the previous day.

His first task to was halt a losing streak and restore confidence to a demoralised side, who were in the midst of a relegation battle. Despite Lincoln being bottom at one stage, with just a few games remaining, Buckley successfully completed his task and was rewarded with a new contract.

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