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Garry William Flitcroft (born 6 November 1972 in Bolton, Lancashire) is an English former professional footballer and football manager of Northern Premier League side Chorley.

As a player he was a midfielder from 1991 to 2006, and played in the Premier League for Manchester City, Blackburn Rovers and Sheffield United, as well as playing in the Football League for Bury. He was capped 10 times by England U21, scoring three goals. In 2009 he became manager of Leigh Genesis and the following year took over as manager of Chorley.

Playing career

Manchester City

At the age of 12 Flitcroft rejected Manchester United's overtures in favour of a move to Manchester City. Garry then spent two years honing his skills at Lilleshall as a teenager before making his name as a professional. Following a brief spell on loan at Bury in 1992, where he made twelve appearances, he then broke into the City first team and went on to play 142 times, scoring 15 goals. After five years at with City, having played 142 games, some as captain, he joined Blackburn Rovers in March 1996 for £3.5m after City were going through financial difficulties and their then chairman Francis Lee told the then manager Alan Ball to sell their most profitable player, which turned out to be Flitcroft.

Blackburn Rovers

The combative midfielder was signed after Blackburn Rovers' talks with rising French star William Prunier broke down. Despite being sent off after just three minutes of his debut, he went on to serve as Blackburn's captain. Flitcroft made his 250th appearance for the club during the 2003–04 season.

Sheffield United

Blackburn allowed him to join Sheffield United on a free transfer on 12 January 2006 where his Premiership experience was expected to make him a permanent figure in United's midfield. However, due to a persistent knee injury and a lack of form, Flitcroft was forced to retire in July 2006 after just a handful of games for the club.

Managerial career

On 23 March 2009, it was announced that Flitcroft would replace Lee Merricks as manager of Northern Premier League side Leigh Genesis. This also came with the news that the club had moved into their new ground at Leigh Sports Village.

Flitcroft left Leigh Genesis after revealing to the media that he and many of his players had not been paid at Leigh for some time, and moved to Leigh's rivals, Chorley F.C. in May 2010. Flitcroft has taken Chorley up into the NPL Premier Division in his first attempt, as they won the Play-Off Final 2–0 vs A.F.C. Fylde on 6 May 2011. In his second season at the club, Chorley FC managed to reach the playoffs again, but were defeated 0–2 at home to FC United of Manchester in the Semi-Final. In his third season (2012–13), Flitcroft guided the club to 8th in the table. Since then, he has signed a 2-year extension to his contract, which is due to end at the finish of the 2014–15 season. The following season (2013-14, Flitcroft won the Northern Premier Division with Chorley earning promotion to the Conference North.

Personal life

Flitcroft was educated at Turton High School, Bolton. His brother, David, was also a midfielder who played in the lower divisions for clubs including Chester City, Bury and Rochdale. He was the manager of Barnsley and is the current manager of Bury.

Flitcroft is married to Karen, whom he had met at Turton High School, and the couple had two children. The couple are separated, and Flitcroft currently lives with his girlfriend.

Legal cases

During his marriage, Flitcroft had two affairs, one with a nursery nurse and the second with a lap dancer. After a disagreement with one of the women, the media began to pursue the story, so Flitcroft took out a High-Court injunction, banning media coverage of the affairs.

After a long legal battle, during the 2001–02 season Flitcroft was unmasked in the newspapers as having had two extramarital affairs. The lawsuit resulting from this allegation, presided over by Lord Chief Justice Lord Woolf, was notable for the way it weighed personal privacy rights against the right to freedom of expression under the European Convention on Human Rights (applicable since the Human Rights Act 1998 came into force in 2000).

In September 2011, Flitcroft was named as a "core participant" in the Leveson Inquiry into the News International phone hacking scandal.

Honours

Football League Cup: 2001–02

References

1. "New manager, new home". Leigh Genesis F.C. 23 March 2009. Retrieved 24 March 2009.
2. "Garry Flitcroft appointed Chorley Manager". Lancashire Telegraph. 11 May 2010. Retrieved 11 May 2010.
3. ^ O'Carroll, Lisa (22 November 2011). "Leveson inquiry: Steve Coogan gives evidence on phone hacking - live | Media | guardian.co.uk". London: Guardian. Retrieved 28 November 2011.
4. "I JUST DIDN'T HAVE A CLUE | Sunday Mirror Newspaper". Find Articles. Retrieved 28 November 2011. {{cite news}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
5. Allen, Peter. "Unmasked: the cheating soccer star". Daily Mail. London.
6. "'Kiss and tell' case footballer may be named". Daily Mail. London.
7. "Hacking inquiry: Core participant status for dozens". BBC News. 14 September 2011. Retrieved 14 September 2011.

External links

• A v B & C 2002 EWCA Civ 337, a discussion of Garry Flitcroft's lawsuit

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• Use dmy dates from July 2013
• 1972 births
• Living people
• English footballers
• England under-21 international footballers
• Premier League players
• Manchester City F.C. players
• Bury F.C. players
• Blackburn Rovers F.C. players
• Sheffield United F.C. players
• People from Bolton
• The Football League players
• Association football midfielders
• Chorley F.C. managers
• English football managers
• Leigh Genesis F.C. managers
• Northern Premier League managers