Gary Coatsworth

Early and personal life Gary Coatsworth was born on 7 October 1968 in Sunderland. In 1986, a trial with Football League Second Division club Barnsley proved successful, and he accepted the offer of a contract.

League football

Barnsley Coatsworth made his Football League debut on 19 December 1987 at home to Millwall. He did not return to the first team until the last few matches of the season, when he made three appearances as a substitute and two starts, but he played only reserve-team football in 1988–89 and was released at the end of the season. At a 2003 event held to mark the club's leaving their long-time home, Feethams, the award for the club's most important goal went to Coatsworth, for "the winner at Welling that took Quakers back into the Football League".

He began the new Fourth Division season as a reserve, starting twice in October when both McJannet and David Corner were unavailable and a further twice in similar circumstances in December; he scored his first Football League goal on 1 December with a powerful header in a 3–1 defeat away to Stockport County. The last of his 12 league appearances was in the final match of the campaign, from which Darlington needed and achieved a win against Rochdale to secure a second successive title. Little left for Leicester City in May 1991 and,

Leicester City He made his first league start on 30 November in a 2–1 win away to Derby County, and performed well enough to keep his place for the next match, during which he was substituted with what was reported as a jarred knee. Minor surgery and specialist rehabilitation failed to fix the problem, and a second operationnearly three months after the original injuryconfirmed a ruptured cruciate ligament. and pushed the team into the play-off positions for a second year. Also for a second year, Coatsworth was unfit for the play-off final, having put a premature end to his season by playing on an already injured ankle. injured a hamstring in pre-season, and his only appearance in the first few months of the new season was as a substitute in the Anglo-Italian Cup in September. He scored again in the last regular-season match, a draw with Wolverhampton Wanderers, and according to the Leicester Mercury was the most influential player on the field. In the final, opponents Derby County took the lead "when, with four minutes left before the break, Gary Coatsworth inelegantly thumped a high ball into the middle it soon became the sweetest pass hit by a City player this season."

Coatsworth was not included among the players named by Little as those he expected to use in the opening weeks of the 1994–95 Premier League season. He continued for a few months in the reserves, until, in February 1995, he confirmed his retirement from professional football. Because of the club's injury problems at the end of the previous season, Coatsworth had played on despite a cyst that caused severe swelling in his ankle after a game. Removal did not fix the problem, and a surgeon told him that he had arthritis which would lead to serious mobility issues in later life if he continued to play professional football. he later played for Washington Nissan in the Wearside League, helping them win the title in 2001, He eventually gave up the game because it was incompatible with his paid work.

Division!!Apps!!Goals!!Apps!!Goals!!Apps!!Goals!!Apps!!Goals!!Apps!!Goals

1987–88

1988–89

1989–90

1990–91

1991–92

1991–92

1992–93

1993–94

1994–95

Honours Darlington Football Conference: 1989–90 Football League Fourth Division: 1990–91 Leicester City Football League First Division play-off winner: 1994 Washington Nissan Wearside League: 2000–01