Neil Wainwright (born 4 November 1977) is an English former footballer. He is assistant coach at Morecambe.
Wainwright played most of his football on the wing or in more recent times at full back. His former clubs include Wrexham, Sunderland and Darlington. He returned to Darlington in February 2012 signing a short-term contract, before the club folded in the summer.
Career Wainwright began his career as a trainee at Wrexham in July 1996, making 11 league appearances in two season before joining Sunderland for a fee of £100,000 in July 1998. He made only two substitute appearances in the league and six in the League Cup for Sunderland before being loaned to Darlington in February 2000 for the rest of the 2000–01 season. He joined Halifax Town on loan in October 2000 for three months and then returned to Darlington on a permanent transfer for a fee of £50,000 in August 2001, where he made over 270 appearances in all competitions and was the club's player of the year in the 2006–07 season, but after making only six first-team appearances for Darlington at the start of the 2007–08 season he joined Shrewsbury Town on a one-month loan in October 2007. He later joined Mansfield Town in March 2008 until the end of the 2007–08 season but was recalled by Darlington a month later having made five appearances for Mansfield.
Following Darlington's failure to gain promotion from Football League Two in the 2007–08 season, Wainwright was one of several players surprisingly released by the club in May 2008. He joined Morecambe in June 2008 and excelled in a left wing-back role before his season was cut short by an achilles injury. In 2011, Wainwright was released by Morecambe. Wainwright scored once during his spell at the club, in a 3–1 defeat to Rotherham United.
On 28 February 2012, Wainwright re-signed for former club Darlington, who were in severe financial straits and battling relegation from the Conference National following a 10-point deduction for entering administration in December 2011. He had been playing for Kendal Town prior to his signing for Darlington; making his league debut on 27 September 2011 and scoring in a 3–3 draw with Marine, Wainwright would go on to play in two more league matches, alongside seven cup appearances, before leaving Kendal in November 2011. Wainwright made his second Darlington debut on 3 March 2012, in a 0–1 home loss to Stockport County; he wore the number 26 shirt and was replaced by Clark Keltie in the 67th minute. He left the club in the summer of 2012 as the club were relegated and folded to reform as Darlington 1883 in the Northern Football League. For the start of the 2012–13 season Wainwright signed as a player for Northern Premier League club Lancaster City taking over as joint manager of the club in October 2012 before leaving in February 2013.
Coaching career In September 2025, Wainwright was appointed first-team assistant coach of National League club Morecambe, having previously held the role of head of academy coaching. He was briefly joint-caretaker manager alongside Lee Tomlin in January 2026 following the sacking of Ashvir Singh Johal.
Career statistics + Appearances and goals by club, season and competitionClubSeasonLeague FA Cup League CupOther Total Division Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps GoalsAppsGoals Apps GoalsWrexham1997–98Division Two113100070193Sunderland1998–99Division One200030—501999–2000Premier League000020—202000–01Premier League00—10—10Total200060—80Darlington (loan)1999–2000Division Three174———174Halifax Town (loan)2000–01Division Three13010—20160Darlington2001–02Division Three35442002 04162002–03Division Three33130100 03712003–04Division Three35710000 03672004–05League Two38420101 04242005–06League Two39310101 04232006–07League Two41520203 04852007–08League Two140—003 0170Total235241325010026326Shrewsbury Town (loan)2007–08League Two3000——30Mansfield Town (loan)2007–08League Two50———50Morecambe2008–09League Two38110103 04312009–10League Two17010101 02002010–11League Two5010000 060Total601302040691Barrow (loan)2009–10Conference National5000——502010–11Conference National6000——60Total11000——110Kendal Town2011–12Northern Premier League Premier Division3120—6 0111Darlington2011–12Conference National120———120Lancaster City2012–13Northern Premier League Division One North11030—30170Career total3833323213032 045135
Honours
As a player Darlington Division Three Play-off Final runner-up: 1999–00
References
External links