John Adshead

John Adshead ONZM (born 27 March 1942) is an English-born former head coach of New Zealand's national football team—the All Whites—whom he led to their first FIFA World Cup appearance in the 1982 tournament.

John Adshead
ONZM
Adshead in 2013
Personal information
Date of birth (1942-03-27) 27 March 1942
Place of birth Fleetwood, Lancashire, England
Managerial career
Years Team
Manurewa
1979–82, 1989–90 New Zealand
2005–06 New Zealand Knights

Life and work

Adshead is one of the most important figures in the history of New Zealand football. Born in Fleetwood, Lancashire, England, in 1942,[1] Adshead first started off as a player with Sidmouth Town A.F.C. before injury ended his career at just 22. Following his retirement as a player, Adshead instantly got into coaching and upon his arrival in Western Australia in 1970 he coached for six years in the Western Australian State League.

It was in New Zealand where Adshead made his mark, after arriving in the country in January 1976.[1] With his club Manurewa he won six trophies including the Chatham Cup in 1978 and promotion into the top division in New Zealand the same year. In 1979 Adshead was appointed as the coach of the New Zealand national side. He successfully led the team to the 1982 FIFA World Cup after they overcame the Rudi Gutendorf led Australia as well as Indonesia, Fiji and Chinese Taipei in the first qualifying round before meeting Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and China in the second round, eventually finishing joint second with China, against whom New Zealand won a playoff 2–1 in Singapore to qualify for the World Cup for the first time in their history. It was to be another 28 years before they repeated this feat, qualifying for the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa. A total of 15 qualifying games were required by the All Whites to reach the finals tournament of 1982. New Zealand lost all three finals games, against Scotland (5–2), Soviet Union (3–0) and Brazil (4–0)[2]

After leaving the New Zealand national coaching job in February 1983, Adshead spent time in football obscurity again before returning to coach New Zealand again in 1989 to try to get the team to the 1990 FIFA World Cup but they failed to get out of the Oceania round by one point. Adshead again coached in Perth and as a youth coach in Oman before returning to New Zealand to coach the New Zealand Knights in the inaugural season of the A-League. A cancer scare just after his appointment and the poor on-field performances of the club led to his retirement after the end of the 2005–06 season.

In the 2013 Queen's Birthday Honours, Adshead was appointed an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit, for services to football.[3]

In October 2013, Adshead's achievements were recognised at a tribute event held by the independent group Friends of Football[4] and in November 2014, he was presented with the Friends of Football inaugural Medal of Excellence[5]

Managerial statistics
Team From To Record
GWDLWin %
New Zealand Knights FC January 2005 April 2006 21 1 3 17 004.76
Total 21 1 3 17 004.76

References
  1. Leggat, David (10 April 2006). "Soccer: Adshead catches Knights off guard". The New Zealand Herald. Retrieved 6 June 2015.
  2. |1982 Soccer World Cup Results
  3. "Queen's Birthday honours list 2013". Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet. 3 June 2013. Retrieved 18 June 2018.
  4. Tribute to John Adshead Archived 14 July 2020 at the Wayback Machine. Friends of Football. Retrieved 31 December 2014.
  5. Medals for Vicelich and Adshead Archived 12 July 2020 at the Wayback Machine. Friends of Football. Retrieved 31 December 2014.
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