Gerry Sweeney

Gerald Sweeney (born 10 July 1945) is a Scottish former football player and manager. Sweeney was born in Renfrew, but spent the majority of his time in football with Bristol City.

Gerry Sweeney
Personal information
Full name Gerald Sweeney[1]
Date of birth (1945-07-10) 10 July 1945
Place of birth Renfrew, Scotland
Position(s) Midfielder or Right Back
Youth career
Renfrew
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1966–1971 Morton 137 (16)
1971–1982 Bristol City 406 (22)
1982 York City 12 (0)
1982 Forest Green Rovers[2] ? (?)
1982–1984 Gloucester City[3] 68 (4)
National team
1969 Scottish League XI[4] 1 (0)
Teams managed
1997 Bristol City
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only

Playing career

Initially with non-league Renfrew, Sweeney signed for Morton in 1966. He played 137 games for the club before moving to England with Bristol City in 1971. Sweeney was a regular in Alan Dicks's City side that won promotion to the First Division during the 1975–76 season.[5] Sweeney finally left City in 1982 when he was one of the infamous "Ashton Gate Eight", a group of top-earning players who tore up their contracts in order to save the free-falling club from bankruptcy.[6] In all he managed 406 league games for the club, placing him near the top in City's appearance records.

After leaving Bristol City Sweeney rounded out his career in the Football League with a brief spell at York City before finishing his playing career in non-league football with Forest Green Rovers.

Management

Following his retirement from playing Sweeney initially remained in football. He served as a coach at Walsall under Tommy Coakley, a former teammate at Morton, and was instrumental in the Saddlers strong showing during the 1986–87 season.[7]

Sweeney would later return to Ashton Gate and following the departure of Joe Jordan in 1997 he served a spell as caretaker manager.[8] Sweeney had been assistant to Jordan before the latter's departure.[9]

Subsequently, Sweeney left football and worked as a postman in Portishead, Somerset.[10]

References
  1. "Gerry Sweeney". Barry Hugman's Footballers. Retrieved 16 April 2017.
  2. Gerry Sweeney at Post War English & Scottish Football League A–Z Player's Database
  3. Clark, Timothy R.D.; Kujawa, Rob (2009). The Complete Record of Gloucester City AFC 1883–2009. Gloucester: Tiger Timbo Publications. ISBN 978-0-9557425-1-4.
  4. http://www.londonhearts.com/SFL/players/gerrysweeney.html
  5. It was a Night of Nerves – Gerry
  6. Ashton Gate 8
  7. "History of Walsall FC". Archived from the original on 14 January 2010. Retrieved 18 August 2010.
  8. Nixon, Alan (27 March 1997). "Football: Dalglish snaps up Hamilton for pounds 2.5m". The Independent. London.
  9. Burton, Mark (25 March 1997). "Football: Hoddle happy with Ferguson". The Independent. London.
  10. Struthers, Greg (4 November 2007). "Caught in Time". The Times. London.
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