Chris Lucketti

Christopher James Lucketti (born 28 September 1971) is an English football manager and former footballer, who played as a central defender. In a playing career of over 600 games, Lucketti began his career at home town club Rochdale in 1989 before moving to Halifax Town, Bury- for whom he made over 250 appearances - Preston North End, Huddersfield Town and Sheffield United.

Chris Lucketti
Lucketti with Salford City at Wembley in 2019
Personal information
Full name Christopher James Lucketti
Date of birth (1971-09-28) 28 September 1971
Place of birth Littleborough, England
Height 1.83 m (6 ft 0 in)
Position(s) Central defender
Youth career
Rochdale
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1989–1990 Rochdale 1 (0)
1990–1991 Stockport County 0 (0)
1991–1993 Halifax Town 78 (2)
1993–1999 Bury 235 (8)
1999–2001 Huddersfield Town 69 (1)
2001–2006 Preston North End 189 (11)
2006 → Sheffield United (loan) 3 (0)
2006–2008 Sheffield United 14 (0)
2008 → Southampton (loan) 4 (0)
2008–2010 Huddersfield Town 13 (0)
Total 606 (22)
Teams managed
2015 Fleetwood Town (caretaker)
2016 Fleetwood Town (caretaker)
2017–2018 Bury
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only

After his playing career ended, Lucketti moved into coaching and management with roles including assistant manager at Scunthorpe United and Salford City alongside Graham Alexander, caretaker manager of Fleetwood Town and manager at Bury. He is currently assistant manager at Motherwell working alongside Graham Alexander.

Playing career

Halifax Town, Bury and Huddersfield Town

Born in Littleborough, Lancashire, Lucketti started his professional career with Halifax Town where he made 78 appearances between 1991 and 1993. In 1993, he moved to Bury; there he made a total of 235 first-team appearances, winning back-to-back promotions in the 1995–96 and 1996–97 seasons.

In 1999, he joined Huddersfield Town and made 76 appearances for the Terriers, scoring twice, against Scunthorpe United in the League Cup[1] and Crystal Palace in the league.[2]

Preston North End

Lucketti moved to Preston North End in a £750,000 deal from Huddersfield at the start of the 2001–02 season. He played over 200 times for the Deepdale club. In the 2004–05 season, he formed formidable partnerships with both Claude Davis and Youl Mawene in the Preston defence, helping his team to the Play-off final at Millennium Stadium in Cardiff.

Sheffield United

In March 2006, Lucketti joined Sheffield United for the remainder of the 2005–06 season,[3] making three first-team appearances before signing a one-year deal on 1 June 2006 with the Blades with both clubs agreeing to a fee of £250,000.

Lucketti made his first-team debut for the Blades whilst on loan, appearing in the 1–1 home draw with Leeds United on 18 April 2006.[4]

On 13 January 2007, he made his Premiership debut at the age of 35 against Portsmouth[5] and went on to make a handful of Premiership appearances over the rest of the season. In July 2007, after being linked with a moved to Hull City, he signed a new one-year contract.[6] Despite being re-signed by newly appointed manager Bryan Robson, he featured even less for the Blades under the new boss. He scored what turned out to be his only United goal in the League Cup against MK Dons on 28 August 2007.[7]

On 27 March 2008, he signed on loan until the end of the season for Southampton,[8] making four appearances for the Saints. Under the terms of his loan deal he was eligible to play in the final game of the season between Sheffield United and Southampton, a match which both sides desperately needed to win to try to finish in the play-offs and to avoid relegation respectively,[9] but Lucketti opted to declare himself unavailable for the match to avoid a conflict of interests.

Return to Huddersfield

On 4 July 2008, Lucketti signed a two-year deal at Football League One side Huddersfield Town, seven years after leaving them to join Preston North End. He returned on a free transfer after Sheffield United agreed to cancel the last year of his contract.[10] The following day, he was appointed club captain of the Terriers. He made his second Town debut in the 1–1 draw against Stockport County at the Galpharm Stadium on 9 August 2008. On 25 October, he was sent off in a league match against Peterborough United, where Town lost 4–0. He didn't reappear in the Town first team until 28 February 2009, when he came on as a substitute in the 1–1 draw against Stockport County at Edgeley Park.

After being left out of Lee Clark's squad for the whole of the 2009—10 season, he left the club on 17 May 2010.

Coaching and managerial career

Fleetwood Town

Lucketti moved into coaching and management with youth roles at Preston North End F.C then as Assistant Manager working alongside Graham Alexander at Fleetwood Town. After Alexander's dismissal. Lucketti was asked to stay on as Caretaker Manager, becoming Assistant Manager again on the appointment of Steven Pressley in October 2015.[11]

Scunthorpe United

In June 2016, Lucketti moved to work with Alexander again at Scunthorpe United [12] with the team finishing third in League One in 2016-17.

Bury

On 22 November 2017, Lucketti was approached to become manager at Bury replacing Lee Clark.[13] When Lucketti took over, Bury were in the relegation zone and suffering from a number of injuries [14] His contract, along with that of assistant Joe Parkinson, was terminated by the club on 15 January 2018 [15]

Salford City

After working with Graham Alexander as Assistant Manager at both Fleetwood Town and Scunthorpe United, Lucketti was appointed his Assistant Manager for a third time at Salford City in May 2018 [16] During their time at Salford City, Alexander and Lucketti reached the EFL Trophy Final and achieved back to back promotions before their departure in the early part of the 2020-21 season.[17]

Motherwell

On 8 January 2021, Lucketti was announced as assistant manager of Motherwell alongside Graham Alexander with whom he was worked at a number of clubs.[18]

Managerial statistics
As of match played 13 January 2018[19]
Managerial record by team and tenure
Team From To Record
PWDLWin %
Fleetwood Town (caretaker) 30 September 2015 29 October 2015 5 3 1 1 060.0
Bury 21 November 2017 15 January 2018 10 1 1 8 010.0
Total 15 4 2 9 026.7

References
  1. "NATIONWIDE LEAGUE DIVISION 1 – SEASON 1999–2000". Huddersfield1.co.uk. 10 August 1999. Archived from the original on 25 December 2009. Retrieved 16 February 2010.
  2. "Huddersfield 1–2 Crystal Palace". BBC. 26 August 2000. Retrieved 16 February 2010.
  3. "Lucketti off to Sheff Utd on loan". BBC Sport. 8 March 2006. Retrieved 29 November 2007.
  4. "Sheff Utd 1–1 Leeds". BBC Sport. 18 April 2006. Retrieved 29 November 2007.
  5. "Sheff Utd 1–1 Portsmouth". BBC Sport. 13 January 2007. Retrieved 29 November 2007.
  6. "Sheff Utd pair sign new contracts". BBC Sport. 7 July 2007. Retrieved 29 November 2007.
  7. "MK Dons 2–3 Sheffield Utd (aet)". BBC. 28 August 2007. Retrieved 16 February 2010.
  8. "Defender becomes a Saint". Sheffield United F.C. 28 March 2008. Archived from the original on 3 April 2008. Retrieved 28 March 2008.
  9. "Lucketti can play in crunch match". BBC Sport. 30 April 2008. Retrieved 6 July 2008.
  10. "Lucketti moves to Terriers". Sheffield United F.C. 4 July 2008. Archived from the original on 19 September 2008. Retrieved 4 July 2008.
  11. "Steven Pressley appointed Fleetwood Town manager - News - Fleetwood Town". www.fleetwoodtownfc.com.
  12. "LUCKETTI JOINS AS ASSISTANT MANAGER". www.scunthorpe-united.co.uk.
  13. "Chris Lucketti: Bury appoint Scunthorpe United assistant as new manager". 22 November 2017. Retrieved 23 November 2017.
  14. "EXCLUSIVE: Chris Lucketti statement". Bury Times.
  15. "Club Statement: Chris Lucketti and Joe Parkinson". 15 January 2018. Retrieved 15 January 2018.
  16. "Graham Alexander announced as new Salford City manager". 14 May 2018.
  17. ""I hope we gave you some great times to remember" - Alexander issues statement following Salford City dismissal". 15 October 2020.
  18. "Motherwell name new manager". spfl.co.uk. 8 January 2021. Retrieved 16 January 2021.
  19. "Managers: Chris Lucketti". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 30 December 2017.
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