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Michael Gilkes (footballer)

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Barbadian footballer
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Michael Gilkes
Personal information
Full name Michael Earl Glenis McDonald Gilkes
Date of birth (1965-07-20) 20 July 1965 (age 59)
Place of birth Hackney, England
Height 5 ft 8 in (1.73 m)
Position(s) Left midfield
Youth career
1983–1984 Leicester City
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1984–1997 Reading 393 (43)
1986 → Mikkelin Palloilijat (loan) 18 (4)
1992 → Chelsea (loan) 1 (0)
1992 → Southampton (loan) 6 (0)
1997–1999 Wolverhampton Wanderers 38 (1)
1999–2001 Millwall 32 (2)
2001–2003 Slough Town 83 (11)
International career
2000 Barbados 5 (0)
Managerial career
2015–2016 Basingstoke Town
2022 Reading (interim)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Michael Earl Glenis McDonald Gilkes (born 20 July 1965) is an English professional football coach and former player who was recently interim manager of Championship club Reading, where he is currently the manager of the club's academy. Gilkes played as a left winger from 1984 until 2003, most notably for Reading, and was also a Barbados international.

Playing career

Gilkes played more than 550 times as a professional and made his name with the Reading side that nearly won promotion to the Premier League in the early 1990s. Gilkes made over 400 appearances in all competitions for the club as they went from the old Fourth Division to the very edge of the top flight. They finished second in the new Division One in 1995 (only missing out on automatic promotion due to the streamlining of the FA Premier League from 22 clubs to 20) and reached the playoff final, holding a 2–0 lead until the 75th minute before losing 4–3 in extra time to Bolton Wanderers.

On 2 March 1988, Gilkes scored during extra time of the Full Members' Cup semi-final against Coventry City. The game had been delayed due to crowd congestion, and the goal – timed at 10:38 pm – broke the record for the latest goal in British professional football. He went on to score Reading's first goal in the final on 27 March 1988, where they beat Luton Town 4–1.

Gilkes spent nearly thirteen years with the Royals, scoring 52 goals, before he was sold to Wolves in March 1997, managed by Mark McGhee who had departed from Reading to Wolves 16 months earlier.

His time with Wolves was less successful than it was at Reading, scoring just once in 38 league appearances, though he did come close to reaching the Premier League with them just as he had done at Reading. He joined Wolves just weeks before the end of the 1996–97 season, as they were edged out of the automatic promotion places to Barnsley and lost to Crystal Palace in the playoffs. A year later they finished ninth, missing out on the playoffs, but enjoyed a run to the FA Cup semi finals where they narrowly lost to Arsenal. Gilkes spent two seasons at Wolves before manager Keith Stevens signed him for Millwall.

In a vote to compile Reading's best-ever eleven, Gilkes was voted the best left-winger with 80.6% of the vote. Gilkes played at the Madejski Stadium in the Royals Legends game on 1 May 2006.

Later career

Gilkes was head coach of Southern League Division One South & West side Hungerford Town until November 2012, when he was appointed assistant manager at Conference South side Basingstoke Town. In November 2015, Gilkes was appointed first team manager for the remainder of the 2015–16 season, after Jason Bristow agreed to step down from the position, with Basingstoke Town at the bottom of the Conference South. Gilkes was sacked as Basingstoke manager in March 2016 and took a role at the Reading FC Academy. On 1 September 2017, Gilkes was promoted to first team coach at Reading, and on 19 February 2022 he was appointed interim team manager, alongside Paul Ince.

In May 2022, Gilkes reverted to his role as the Academy Manager following the full-time appointment of Ince and his own coaching team.

References

  1. Chalk, Gary; Holley, Duncan; Bull, David (2013). All the Saints: A Complete Players' Who's Who of Southampton FC. Southampton: Hagiology Publishing. p. 328. ISBN 978-0-9926-8640-6.
  2. The Little Book of Reading FC, Alan Sedunary
  3. "Gilkes voted our best-ever left winger – vote now for the central midfielder". Reading F.C. 9 August 2005. Retrieved 29 November 2006.
  4. "New assistant appointed". Basingstoke Town F.C. Archived from the original on 21 February 2013. Retrieved 10 December 2012.
  5. "Gilkes named First Team Manager for the remainder of the 2015/16 season". Basingstoke Town F.C. Archived from the original on 22 December 2015. Retrieved 21 December 2015.
  6. "Michael Gilkes released as manager of National League South strugglers Basingstoke Town". Daily Echo. 21 March 2016. Retrieved 28 July 2016.
  7. "Reading FC Michael Gilkes appointed as First Team Coach".
  8. "Club Statement". Reading F.C. 19 February 2022. Retrieved 20 February 2022.
  9. "Paul Ince: Reading appoint former England midfielder as permanent manager". BBC Sport. 16 May 2022. Retrieved 12 February 2024.

External links

Reading F.C. – managers
(c) caretaker manager
Reading F.C. – Hall of Fame inductees
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