Andy Thorn (footballer)

For other people named Andy Thorn, see Andy Thorn (disambiguation).

Andy Thorn

Personal information
Date of birth	(1966-11-12) 12 November 1966
Place of birth	Carshalton, London, England
Height
Position(s)	Defender
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
1984–1988	Wimbledon	107	(2)
1988–1989	Newcastle United	36	(2)
1989–1994	Crystal Palace	128	(3)
1994–1996	Wimbledon	37	(1)
1996	Hearts	2	(0)
1996–1998	Tranmere Rovers	35	(1)
	Total	345	(9)
International career
1987–1988	England U21	5	(0)
Managerial career
2011	Coventry City (caretaker)
2011–2012	Coventry City
2014	Kidderminster Harriers
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Andy Thorn (born 12 November 1966 in Carshalton) is an English football manager and former professional footballer. He was most recently the manager of Kidderminster Harriers.

As a player he was a defender from 1984 until 1998. Whilst with Wimbledon, he was part of the side that achieved the famous victory over Liverpool in the 1988 FA Cup Final. He also played in the 1990 FA Cup Final for Crystal Palace, although this time ended up on the losing side. He also played for Newcastle United, Hearts and Tranmere Rovers.

Club career

Thorn began a playing career with Wimbledon in 1984, playing as a traditional English centre half in the Crazy Gang, alongside Dennis Wise, Lawrie Sanchez and Vinnie Jones. During his initial period at the club he played 107 league games, scoring twice, and also winning five England U21 caps. One of his league goals for the Dons was their first in the First Division after promotion in 1986, a consolation goal in a 3–1 opening day defeat to Manchester City at Maine Road.

Thorn left Wimbledon in 1988 to play for Newcastle United. Although he stayed at St James' Park for only one year, he was nevertheless a mainstay in the starting line-up during the 1988–89 season, before moving on to Crystal Palace in November 1989, where he is now remembered as a legend.

He was credited with improving a poor defence, helping secure Palace's top-flight status for four successive seasons. He appeared in Palace's first Cup Final; the 1990 FA Cup Final.

He returned to Wimbledon in 1994, playing 37 league games in two seasons before moving to Scottish Premier League side Heart of Midlothian, where he played a handful of games, and then finally to Tranmere Rovers, before retiring prematurely in 1998 due to a knee injury, aged 31.

Managerial career

Thorn joined Coventry City as chief scout before becoming caretaker-manager alongside Steve Harrison after Aidy Boothroyd's departure. Coventry enjoyed a successful close to the season under his leadership, losing only one game against Middlesbrough. His first game as the official manager of the club was the final home game of the 2010–2011 season against Reading.

However,the 2011–2012 season saw Coventry relegated to the Football League First Division following a home defeat by Doncaster Rovers on 21 April 2012. Thorn claimed an inability to buy new players and conflict at boardroom level had been major contributors towards Coventry's relegation. The club agreed to keep Thorn to oversee their promotion campaign back to the Championship for the forthcoming 2012–13 season. However, Thorn was sacked as manager on 26 August 2012 after a 2–2 home draw against Bury in which Coventry lost a two-goal advantage in the second half and were booed off at the end of the game.

On 8 January 2014, Thorn was appointed manager of Kidderminster Harriers. On 5 March, after less than two months in the role, Thorn was sacked.

Managerial statistics

As of 28 January 2014.

Team	Country	From	To	Record
				G	W	D	L	Win %
Coventry City		14 March 2011	26 August 2012	60	13	20	27	21.67
Kidderminster Harriers		8 January 2014	5 March 2014	10	3	2	5	30.00
Total				70	16	22	32	22.86

Honours

FA Cup 1988 (Winner) with Wimbledon

FA Cup 1990 (Finalist) with Crystal Palace

External links

• Andy Thorn career statistics at Soccerbase
• Andy Thorn management career statistics at Soccerbase