The following is a list of Walsall managers from the founding of Walsall Football Club in 1888 until the present day. The list includes only managers who were in charge permanently and does not include any temporary caretaker managers. The club has been served by 48 different permanently appointed managers, all of them born in the United Kingdom, aside from former Denmark international Jan Sørensen (1997–98).

From 1888 to 1920, the team was selected by a committee whose secretary had the same powers and role as a manager has today. There are ten known secretaries from this period, although there is a gap in the history books from 1901 to 1908. The dates for appointment of these should be taken only as approximate, although the years should be correct. In 1920, as was becoming the norm across all football clubs, Walsall broke from this tradition and appointed player Albert Groves as the club's first official manager.

The club's longest serving and, arguably, most-successful manager is Bill Moore who took charge of 470 matches over two spells from 1957–63 and 1969–72. During his first spell he took the team from languishing towards the bottom of the Third Division South to their highest ever post-war league position of 14th in the Second Division in 1962.

Only five managers have achieved promotion for the club since Bill Moore: Alan Buckley in 1979–80, Tommy Coakley in 1987–88, Chris Nicholl in 1994–95, Ray Graydon in 1998–99 and 2000–01, and Richard Money in 2006–07.

Managers

Only competitive first team matches are counted. Wins, losses and draws are results at the final whistle; the results of penalty shoot-outs are not counted. Correct as of match on 22 October 2024.

NameFromToPWDLWin%HonoursNotes H. Smallwood sec1 Aug 18881 Aug 1891 A. G. Burton sec1 Aug 18911 Aug 1893 J. H. Robinson sec1 Aug 18931 Aug 1895 C. H. Aislo sec1 Aug 18951 Aug 1896 A. E. Parsloe sec1 Aug 18961 Aug 1897 Louis Ford sec1 Aug 18971 Aug 1898 G. Hughes sec1 Aug 18981 Aug 1899 Louis Ford sec1 Aug 18991 Aug 1901 J. E. Shutt sec1 Aug 19081 Jul 1912 Haydn Price sec1 Jul 19121 Aug 1915 Joe Burchell sec1 Aug 19151 May 1920 Albert Groves p1 May 19201 Aug 1921 Joe Burchell1 Aug 19211 Feb 1926 David Ashworth1 Feb 19261 Feb 1927 Jimmy Torrance1 Feb 19271 May 1928 James Kerr1 May 19281 Apr 1929 Sid Scholey1 Apr 19291 Oct 1930 Peter O'Rourke1 Oct 19301 Feb 1932 Bill Slade1 Feb 19321 Oct 1934 Andrew Wilson1 Oct 19341 Apr 1937Third Division North Cup runners-up 1935 Tommy Lowes1 Apr 19371 Sep 1939 Sam Longmore1 Sep 19395 Aug 1944 Harry Hibbs5 Aug 194430 Jun 1951Third Division South Cup runners-up 1946 Tony McPhee1 Jul 19511 Dec 1951 Brough Fletcher1 Mar 19521 Apr 1953 Frank Buckley1 Apr 19531 Sep 1955 John Love1 Sep 19551 Dec 1957 Bill Moore1 Dec 19571 Nov 1963Fourth Division champions 1959–60Third Division runners-up 1960–61 Alf Wood1 Nov 19631 Oct 1964 Ray Shaw1 Oct 19641 Mar 1968 Dick Graham1 Mar 19681 May 1968 Ron Lewin1 Jul 19681 Feb 1969 Bill Moore1 Feb 196916 Oct 1972 John Smith16 Oct 197223 Mar 1973 Jimmy MacEwan23 Mar 19731 Jun 1973 Ronnie Allen6 Jun 197320 Dec 1974 Doug Fraser1 Jan 19747 Mar 1977 Dave Mackay9 Mar 19775 Aug 1978 Alan Ashman23 Aug 197817 Feb 1979 Frank Sibley1 Mar 19795 May 1979 Alan Buckley p27 Jun 19791 Jul 1981Fourth Division runners-up 1979–80 Alan Buckley p & Neil Martin1 Jul 19811 Jan 1982 Neil Martin1 Jan 19821 May 1982 Alan Buckley p1 May 19821 Jun 1986 Tommy Coakley1 Aug 198627 Dec 1988Third Division play-off winners 1987–88 John Barnwell17 Jan 19891 Mar 1990 Paul Taylor1 Mar 199015 May 1990 Kenny Hibbitt16 May 19901 Aug 1994 Chris Nicholl1 Aug 199421 May 1997Third Division runners-up 1994–95 Jan Sørensen25 Jun 19975 May 1998 Ray Graydon5 May 199822 Jan 2002Second Division runners-up 1998–99Second Division play-off winners 2000–01 Colin Lee24 Jan 200216 Apr 2004 Paul Merson † p16 Apr 20046 Feb 2006 Kevan Broadhurst22 Feb 200624 Apr 2006 Richard Money3 May 200622 Apr 2008League Two champions 2006–07 Jimmy Mullen22 Apr 200810 Jan 2009 Chris Hutchings20 Jan 20094 Jan 2011 Dean Smith †4 Jan 201130 Nov 2015Football League Trophy runners-up 2015 Sean O'Driscoll18 Dec 20156 Mar 2016 Jon Whitney †7 Mar 201612 Mar 2018 Dean Keates16 Mar 20186 Apr 2019 Darrell Clarke10 May 201915 Feb 2021 Brian Dutton15 Feb 202110 May 2021 Matthew Taylor19 May 20219 Feb 2022 Michael Flynn15 Feb 202219 Apr 2023 Mat Sadler †19 Apr 202311 Mar 2026 Darren Byfield †18 Mar 2026present Key sec Secretary-manager. p Player-manager. † Served as caretaker manager before being appointed permanently.

Footnotes

References