Full name Peter Ward Name Peter Ward 1986-1989 Huddersfield Town | Years Team Playing position | |
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Date of birth (1964-10-15) 15 October 1964 (age 51) Place of birth Chester le Street, County Durham, England | ||
Peter Ward (born 15 October 1964, Chester le Street, County Durham) is an English professional football manager who played over 350 Football League games as a midfielder. He was a player, manager, assistant manager and coach at Stockport County and is rumoured to be returning following the departure of Willie McStay. He also managed Morecambe as a caretaker between 1999-2000.
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Playing career
Ward played for Chester le Street, Huddersfield Town, Rochdale, Stockport County, Wrexham and Morecambe. He started his career with the local Chester le Street town side and was spotted whilst playing in the Northern League by Huddersfield Town to whom he was subsequently transferred. Following a successful spell at the Yorkshire side where he featured alongside players such as Duncan Shearer he left for Spotland.
At Rochdale he helped the side into the 5th round of the FA Cup where they were defeated by Crystal Palace at Selhurst Park, in what was the clubs most successful ever run in the competition. On the way Rochdale defeated Whitley Bay from Ward's home region of the North East. His most successful spell in his professional career came when he moved onto Edgeley Park, playing under the legendary Uruguayan Manager, Danny Bergara, for Stockport County and this is where he met Jim Gannon. During his time at Stockport he played at Wembley four times, however he lost on each occasion. Ward was also renowned for his set pieces and his tough tackling. Ward then saw out his professional career with Welsh side Wrexham and later played briefly with Morecambe.
Coaching career
On 26 December 2005, Stockport lost 6-0 to Macclesfield Town, Manager Chris Turner was sacked and following Jim Gannon's appointment as manager, Ward became his assistant at Edgeley Park. During this spell, Gannon & Ward led County from 24th in League Two up to 5th in League One by Christmas 2008. Overseeing one of the most successful periods in the clubs history, including a Football League record of nine consecutive wins without conceding a goal between January–March 2007 and winning the Football League Two Playoffs in 2008. Gannon, Ward & much of the backroom staff were made redundant in May 2009, due to County entering administration. On 30 June 2009 he was appointed as Gannon's assistant at Motherwell. The tenure was short-lived, however, and they were both out of work by Christmas. Following the takeover of Stockport County by the 2015 consortium in June 2010, Ward took up the offer to take charge of first team training of his former club during the close season whilst the new board searched for a permanent manager. After the dismissal of their appointee, Paul Simpson, Ward was temporarily placed in charge of first team affairs as caretaker manager
Following Gannon's appointment at League Two rivals Port Vale, Ward was thought to be favourite to get the Stockport job permanently. His first game in charge was a 5-1 home defeat by Gillingham. In his second match, however, a much improved performance resulted in a 3-3 draw against second-placed Rotherham United, with County at one point 3-1 ahead. He was replaced by Ray Mathias (also employed as caretaker manager) on 9 March 2011 but joined the coaching staff. He left Stockport in July 2011.