Trevor Wood

Trevor Wood
Personal information
Full name Trevor John Wood[1]
Date of birth (1968-11-03) 3 November 1968[1]
Place of birth Saint Helier, Jersey[1]
Height 6 ft 0 in (1.83 m)
Playing position Goalkeeper
Youth career
1985–1986 Brighton & Hove Albion
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1986–1988 Brighton & Hove Albion 0 (0)
1988–1994 Port Vale 42 (0)
1994–1997 Walsall 69 (0)
1997 Hereford United 19 (0)
1997–2001 St Patrick's Athletic 100 (0)
Total 230 (0)
National team
1995 Northern Ireland 1 (0)
1996 Northern Ireland B 1 (0)

* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only.


Trevor John Wood (born 3 November 1968) is a former Northern Ireland international football goalkeeper. He played 130 league games in the Football League, 100 league games in the League of Ireland, and won one cap for Northern Ireland in 1995.

He began his career at Brighton & Hove Albion, but did not feature in the first team before he signed with Port Vale in May 1988. Mostly a back-up keeper for the "Valiants", he moved on to Walsall in May 1994. He helped the "Saddlers" to promotion out of the Third Division in 1994–95, before he signed with Hereford United in 1997. He then moved to Ireland to play for St Patrick's Athletic, and helped his new club to the League of Ireland title in 1997–98 and 1998–99, before he retired in 2001.

Playing career

Wood was a squad member for Brighton & Hove Albion before having a successful trial with John Rudge's Port Vale in May 1988.[1] He kept a clean sheet on his debut; a 2–0 home win over Huddersfield Town on 3 October 1988.[1] Despite this he was used mainly as a reserve keeper, and made only two appearances in the Third Division as back-up to Mark Grew and loanee Mike Stowell during the promotion campaign of 1988–89.[1] He played just three Second Division games in 1989–90, with Grew retaining his place between the sticks at Vale Park.[1] Wood earned the first team jersey in August 1990.[1] He injured his thigh however, in a 2–0 defeat at Oldham Athletic on 16 February 1991, and took two months to win his first team place back.[1] He made 37 appearances in all competitions in 1990–91, being preferred ahead of Grew.[1] In August 1991 he once more fell out of favour, as Grew played every minute of the 1991–92 campaign. Wood was in goal for the 4–3 defeat on penalties to Go Ahead Eagles in the TNT Tournament on 9 August 1992, a tournament the Vale still managed to win.[1] He started the 1992–93 season as first choice keeper, but lost his place to new signing Paul Musselwhite after five league games, having conceded a penalty at Vetch Field in an 'off the ball' incident with a Swansea player.[1] At the end of the 1993–94 season, Wood was given a free transfer, and signed with Walsall in May 1994.[1]

The "Saddlers" won promotion out of the Third Division as runners-up in 1994–95 under the stewardship of Chris Nicholl. They then went on to finish eleventh in the Second Division in 1995–96, before Wood moved on to Graham Turner's Hereford United in the 1996–97 campaign. The "Bulls" finished bottom of the Football League, and were relegated into the Conference.

He then signed for St. Patrick's Athletic and played in the Champions League preliminary round against Celtic in 1998, keeping a clean sheet in a 0–0 draw at Celtic Park.[2] Celtic won the second leg 2–0 at Tolka Park.[2] The "Saints" won the League of Ireland title in 1997–98 and 1998–99, also boasting the best defensive record on both occasions. However they dropped to sixth and fifth in 1999–2000 and 2000–01, and Wood left the club, having made 100 league appearances.

International career

FIFA regulations at the time allowed a player born outside of the United Kingdom with a British passport to choose which national team he wanted to represent. Wood was the first player to take advantage of the lax regulations when he was called up for a qualifying game against Republic of Ireland for UEFA Euro 1996 in March 1995.[3]

Wood earned a Northern Ireland cap on 11 October 1995 during the same qualifying campaign, coming on for Alan Fettis at half-time in a 4–0 win over Liechtenstein at the Sportpark Eschen-Mauren.[2] He had been suggested to coach Bryan Hamilton by Chris Nicholl, his manager at Walsall.[2] He then slipped down the international pecking order behind Fettis, Tommy Wright, Roy Carroll, and Aidan Davison.[2] On 26 March 1996, he played in a rare Northern Ireland B team game, a 3–0 win over Norway Olympic XI at The Showgrounds in Coleraine.[2]

Statistics

Club Season Division League FA Cup Other Total
AppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoals
Brighton & Hove Albion 1986–87 Second Division 00000000
Port Vale 1988–89 Third Division 20000020
1989–90 Second Division 30000030
1990–91 Second Division 3202030370
1991–92 Second Division 00000000
1992–93 Second Division 50002070
Total 4202050490
Walsall 1994–95 Third Division 3905060500
1995–96 Second Division 2002010230
1996–97 Second Division 1000000100
Total 6907070830
Hereford United 1996–97 Third Division 1900000190
St Patrick's Athletic[4] 1997–98 League of Ireland Premier Division 330
1998–99 League of Ireland Premier Division 330
1999–2000 League of Ireland Premier Division 330
2000–01 League of Ireland Premier Division 10
Total 1000
Career Total 2300901202510

Honours

with Port Vale
with Walsall
with St Patrick's Athletic

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 Kent, Jeff (1996). Port Vale Personalities. Witan Books. p. 315. ISBN 0-9529152-0-0.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 "Trevor Wood". nifootball.blogspot.com. Retrieved 2 March 2012.
  3. ↑ Shouldice, Frank (28 March 1995). "Republic vs. Northern Ireland Preview: Jack's Hungry for a Win". Irish Voice  – via Highbeam (subscription required) . Retrieved 22 February 2014.
  4. ↑ "Trevor Wood". National Football Teams. Retrieved 10 July 2016.
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