Craig Shakespeare

Craig Shakespeare

Personal information
Full name	Craig Robert Shakespeare
Date of birth	(1963-10-26) 26 October 1963
Place of birth	Birmingham, England
Height
Position(s)	Midfielder
Team information
Current team	Leicester City (Assistant Manager)
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
1981–1989	Walsall	284	(45)
1989–1990	Sheffield Wednesday	17	(0)
1990–1993	West Bromwich Albion	112	(12)
1993–1997	Grimsby Town	106	(10)
1997–1998	Scunthorpe United	4	(0)
1998–1999	Telford United	?	(?)
2000	Hednesford Town	1	(0)
Managerial career
2006	West Bromwich Albion (caretaker)
2008–2010	Leicester City (assistant)
2010–2011	Hull City (assistant)
2011–	Leicester City (assistant)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Craig Robert Shakespeare (born 26 October 1963 in Birmingham) is a former professional footballer who went on to become a football coach. He is currently assistant manager at Leicester City.

Playing career

In his playing days he was an attacking midfielder; he favoured his left foot and his preferred position was on the left side of midfield. He signed as an apprentice at Walsall F.C. in September 1979, turning professional in November 1981. Shakespeare rates his goal in a 2–2 League Cup draw against Chelsea in October 1984 as the best of his career. In 1987–88 he helped Walsall to win promotion to Division Two via the playoffs, an achievement which he has since described as his greatest in football. He played well over 350 games for the Saddlers, scoring 59 goals, and in 1989 he moved to Sheffield Wednesday, then in the First Division, for a fee of £300,000.

He spent less than a year at Hillsborough, before moving to West Bromwich Albion F.C. for £275,000. He stayed at Albion for over three years, making 128 appearances in total and becoming the team's first choice penalty taker. He scored twice from the penalty spot in Albion's first ever game in the Third Division, a 6–3 victory over Exeter City in August 1991.

Albion were promoted in 1993, but Shakespeare moved to Grimsby Town, rejoining Alan Buckley under whom he had played at Walsall. He later moved on to Scunthorpe United, and also played for three non-league clubs before retiring.

Coaching career

In 1999 he rejoined West Brom as Football in the Community Officer. In this role he was responsible for promoting football at grass roots level in the local community. He later took up the post of academy coach, then in 2006 became Reserve Team Coach. In October 2006, following the departure of Bryan Robson and then his assistant Nigel Pearson (who had been caretaker manager for a period of four weeks), Shakespeare was given charge of the first team for one game pending the arrival of Tony Mowbray. The game was away to Crystal Palace; Albion won 2–0.

Shakespeare left Albion in June 2008 to become Pearson's assistant manager at Leicester City, a move that was confirmed on 1 July. As well as having worked together on the West Bromwich Albion coaching staff, the two had also played together at Sheffield Wednesday. Shakespeare once said that Pearson was the best captain he had ever played under. Shakespeare then followed Nigel Pearson, first to Hull City and then back to Leicester City when Pearson was reappointed manager there in November 2011. Following Pearsons sacking in July 2015, Shakespeare has remained as assistant manager to incoming manager Claudio Ranieri.

Honours

Walsall

• Third Division play-off winner: 1988

External links

• Profile on West Bromwich Albion F.C. official site
• electronicfishcake.com player profile
• Craig Shakespeare career statistics at Soccerbase