Alun Armstrong (footballer)

Alun Armstrong (born 22 February 1975) is an English former professional footballer and the current manager of National League North club Darlington. During his playing career, Armstrong operated primarily as a forward.

Alun Armstrong

Personal information
Full name	Alun Armstrong[1]
Date of birth	22 February 1975
Place of birth	Gateshead, England
Height	6 ft 1 in (1.85 m)[1]
Position(s)	Forward
Youth career
0000–1993	Newcastle United
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
1993–1994	Newcastle United	0	(0)
1994–1998	Stockport County	160	(49)
1998–2000	Middlesbrough	29	(9)
2000	→ Huddersfield Town (loan)	6	(0)
2000–2004	Ipswich Town	79	(14)
2003–2004	→ Bradford City (loan)	6	(1)
2004–2005	Darlington	32	(9)
2005–2006	Rushden & Diamonds	9	(0)
2006	→ Doncaster Rovers (loan)	6	(0)
2006–2007	Darlington	29	(1)
2007	Newcastle Blue Star	1	(0)
Total		357	(83)
Teams managed
2016–2019	Blyth Spartans
2019–	Darlington
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 14:04, 30 July 2008 (UTC)

His career as a player, which ran between 1993 and 2007, included spells at Newcastle United, Stockport County, Middlesbrough, Ipswich Town, two spells at Darlington, Rushden & Diamonds and concluding it with a brief spell at Newcastle Blue Star. He has also enjoyed loan spells at Huddersfield Town, Bradford City and Doncaster Rovers.

Armstrong entered into club management in 2016, joining Blyth Spartans, achieving promotion to the National League North in his first season in charge. He left the club in 2019, agreeing to join Darlington as their new manager.

Playing career

Armstrong's first club was Newcastle United, where in October 1993 he came up from their youth team. He left in June 1994 having not played a competitive game for them, and signed with Stockport County for £50,000. In 200 games for them, he scored 62 goals. In February 1998 he joined Middlesbrough for £1.6m. He stayed until 2000, when in March he joined Huddersfield Town for three months on loan. In December 2000 he joined Ipswich Town for £500,000. In the three years he was at Ipswich he scored 19 goals in 94 appearances, including a header in Ipswich's 1–0 win over Inter Milan in the 2001–02 UEFA Cup.[2] Armstrong described the goal as "probably the most important of my career, as long as we get a result out there (In the return leg)". Despite Armstrong scoring another goal in the return leg from the penalty spot, Ipswich were knocked out with an aggregate score of 4–2.[3]

From December 2003 until March 2004 he was on loan to Bradford City, scoring once against Norwich City,[4] and in September 2004 he joined Darlington on a free transfer. He left Darlington in June 2005, to join Rushden & Diamonds. He scored once for Rushden, his goal coming against Halifax Town in the FA Cup.[5] After a spell on loan at Doncaster Rovers, he re-signed for Darlington in August 2006 to join the club on a second spell, before leaving them again at the end of the 2006–07 season. He scored once in his second spell at Darlington, against Hereford.[6] He signed for Newcastle Blue Star in the UniBond Division One North before quitting days after receiving a red card against Gateshead.

Managerial career

Blyth Spartans

On 22 September 2016, Armstrong was appointed as the new manager of Northern Premier League Premier Division side Blyth Spartans.[7] In his first season in charge of the Green Army, he guided them to win the league title at the first attempt, achieving National League North status for the first time since their relegation from the sixth tier at the end of the 2011–12 season.[8]

In their first season back in the National League divisions, Armstrong led Spartans to a tenth-placed finish, four points adrift from play-off qualification.[9] In their following league campaign, Armstrong's side saw a huge boost of form, eventually concluding the season in sixth place, qualifying for the divisional play-off quarter-finals,[9] his side failed to continue to the semi-finals after defeat to Altrincham on penalties,[10] having recorded a 2–2 draw prior though extra time could not see Spartans push for victory.[10]

Darlington

On 21 May 2019, Armstrong was appointed as the new manager of fellow National League North club Darlington,[11] replacing Tommy Wright.[12][13]

Personal life

He was nine children, eight sons and one daughter. His son Luke is also a footballer.[14]

He has another son Rhys who is at Darlington with him [18]

Career statistics

Appearances and goals by club, season and competition

Club	Season	League			FA Cup		League Cup		Other		Total
		Division	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
Stockport County	1994–95	Second Division	45	14	1	0	3	1	0	0	49	15
	1995–96	Second Division	46	13	4	3	5	2	0	0	55	18
	1996–97[15]	Second Division	39	9	2	1	11	3	0	0	52	13
	1997–98[16]	First Division	29	12	2	1	3	2	—		34	15
	Total		159	48	9	5	22	8	0	0	190	61
Middlesbrough	1997–98[16]	First Division	11	7	0	0	0	0	—		11	7
	1998–99[17]	Premier League	6	1	0	0	0	0	—		6	1
	1999–00[18]	Premier League	12	1	0	0	3	0	—		6	1
	2000–01[19]	Premier League	0	0	0	0	1	0	—		1	0
	Total		29	9	0	0	4	0	0	0	33	9
Huddersfield Town (loan)	1999–00[18]	First Division	6	0	0	0	0	0	—		6	0
Ipswich Town	2000–01[19]	Premier League	21	7	2	1	0	0	—		23	8
	2001–02[20]	Premier League	32	4	1	0	2	1	3[lower-alpha 1]	2	38	7
	2002–03[21]	First Division	19	1	0	0	1	0	4[lower-alpha 1]	1	24	2
	2003–04[22]	First Division	7	2	0	0	1	0	1[lower-alpha 2]	0	9	2
	Total		79	14	3	1	4	1	8	3	94	19
Bradford City (loan)	2003–04[22]	First Division	6	1	1	0	0	0	—		7	1
Darlington	2004–05[23]	League Two	32	9	2	2	0	0	0	0	34	11
Rushden & Diamonds	2005–06[24]	League Two	9	0	3	1	0	0	1[lower-alpha 3]	0	13	1
Doncaster Rovers (loan)	2005–06[24]	League One	6	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	6	0
Darlington	2006–07[25]	League Two	29	1	2	0	0	0	2[lower-alpha 3]	0	33	1
Career total			355	82	20	9	30	9	11	3	416	103

1. Appearances in UEFA Cup
2. Appearance in First Division play-offs
3. Appearance(s) in Football League Trophy play-offs

Managerial statistics

As of 7 June 2019:[26][27]

Team	Duration		Record					Source
	From	To	G	W	D	L	%
Blyth Spartans	22 September 2016	21 May 2019	134	71	21	42	052.99	[28]
Darlington	21 May 2019	Present	0	0	0	0	—	[28]
Total			134	71	21	42	052.99	—

Honours

Stockport County

• Football League Second Division runner-up: 1996–97

Middlesbrough

• Football League First Division runner-up: 1997–98

References

1. Hugman, Barry J., ed. (2003). The PFA Footballers' Who's Who 2003/2004. Queen Anne Press. p. 24. ISBN 1-85291-651-6.
2. "Ipswich stun Inter". BBC. 22 November 2001. Retrieved 13 April 2010.
3. "Vieri stuns Ipswich". BBC. 6 December 2001. Retrieved 13 April 2010.
4. "Norwich 0-1 Bradford". BBC. 10 January 2004. Retrieved 13 April 2010.
5. "Halifax 1-1 Rushden & Diamonds". BBC. 6 November 2005. Retrieved 13 April 2010.
6. "Hereford 1-1 Darlington". BBC. 14 October 2006. Retrieved 13 April 2010.
7. http://www.blythspartans.com/alun-armstrong-takes-tom-wade-blyth-spartans-manager/}%5B%5D
8. http://www.evostikleague.co.uk/archive5368-match-info/tables
9. "National League North table". Pitchero. Archived from the original on 30 April 2018. Retrieved 7 June 2019.
10. "Altrincham 2–2 Blyth Spartans". Pitchero. Retrieved 7 June 2019.
11. "Armstrong named Darlington manager". The Northern Echo. 21 May 2019. Retrieved 7 June 2019.
12. Stoddart, Craig (26 April 2019). "Wright Leaves Darlington". The Northern Echo. Retrieved 26 April 2019.
13. Simpson, Ray (26 April 2019). "Tommy Wright leaves as Darlington Manager". Retrieved 26 April 2019.
14. https://www.mfc.co.uk/teams/middlesbrough-under-23s/luke-armstrong
15. "Games played by Alun Armstrong in 1996/1997". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 11 May 2020.
16. "Games played by Alun Armstrong in 1997/1998". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 11 May 2020.
17. "Games played by Alun Armstrong in 1998/1999". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 11 May 2020.
18. "Games played by Alun Armstrong in 1999/2000". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 11 May 2020.
19. "Games played by Alun Armstrong in 2000/2001". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 11 May 2020.
20. "Games played by Alun Armstrong in 2001/2002". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 11 May 2020.
21. "Games played by Alun Armstrong in 2002/2003". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 11 May 2020.
22. "Games played by Alun Armstrong in 2003/2004". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 11 May 2020.
23. "Games played by Alun Armstrong in 2004/2005". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 11 May 2020.
24. "Games played by Alun Armstrong in 2005/2006". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 11 May 2020.
25. "Games played by Alun Armstrong in 2006/2007". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 11 May 2020.
26. http://www.evostikleague.co.uk/archive5368-match-info/grids
27. http://www.blythspartans.com/1st-team-fixtures-results/
28. "Alun Armstrong – Managers". Soccer Base. Retrieved 7 June 2019.

External links

• Alun Armstrong at Soccerbase
• Profile on Pride of Anglia website
• Armstrong Coup For Blue Star