56 Facts About Graham Westley

Graham Neil Westley was born on 4 March 1968 and is an English professional football manager and former professional footballer.

Graham Westley was most recently manager of League Two club Stevenage.

In 1999, Graham Westley became manager of Farnborough Town, helping the club earn promotion to the Football Conference in 2002.

Graham Westley left Farnborough the following season, to become manager of Stevenage Borough in January 2003.

Graham Westley took the club to within one game of promotion to the Football League, but left the club in 2006 when his contract expired.

Graham Westley left Stevenage to join fellow League One club Preston North End in January 2012.

Graham Westley was sacked by the club in February 2013.

Graham Westley managed the club for another two years, before leaving in May 2015.

Graham Westley was appointed manager at League Two club Newport County in October 2016, with the club lying bottom of the Football League, and was sacked five months later.

Graham Westley was appointed as head coach of Barnet in January 2018, before managing Stevenage for a fourth time for two months from December 2019.

Graham Westley was born in Hounslow, London and he started his footballing career as an apprentice with Queens Park Rangers.

Graham Westley made two Third Division appearances for the club before joining Barnet.

Graham Westley scored in Wycombe's next two games, and was a first team regular until manager Peter Suddaby left the club in January 1988.

Graham Westley played just once under new manager Jim Kelman and left soon afterwards to sign for Kingstonian.

Graham Westley was voted Player of the Season at Enfield, before being swapped to Aylesbury in exchange for Darren Collins in December 1992.

Graham Westley managed Kingstonian for 25 games, recording nine wins, eight losses, and eight draws.

In September 1997, Graham Westley was appointed as manager of another club he had previously played for in the form of Isthmian League Premier Division club Enfield.

Graham Westley appointed Graham Pearce as his assistant, who had previously played for, and managed, Enfield.

Graham Westley outlined his ambition of ensuring the club returned to the top tier in non-League, despite the club struggling with financial difficulties, he stated "my ambition is to see silverware in the table, and if you can't take the pressure, you shouldn't take big jobs like this one".

In 1999, Graham Westley bought a controlling interest in Farnborough Town and appointed himself as manager.

Graham Westley managed the club to a 12th-place finish in his first season and enjoyed success in the Isthmian Cup; winning the competition in 2000.

Graham Westley overhauled the squad shortly after the club's promotion to the Football Conference, which he later stated as a "huge regret".

Graham Westley confirmed he would be leaving his shareholding in Farnborough to other existing shareholders, and would be withdrawing his financial backing at the club.

On moving to Stevenage, Graham Westley said "I've enjoyed my time at Farnborough, but I feel that I need to move on now and that I need to concentrate on football management, which is where my ambitions lie".

Graham Westley stated that Stevenage's "long-term potential" was another key factor behind the move.

When Graham Westley took over the Hertfordshire club, Stevenage were positioned in 21st place in the Football Conference, and were six points adrift of safety.

Graham Westley was appointed as first-team manager, with no board involvement.

Graham Westley gave first team opportunities to players who had progressed through the club's youth system, which included George Boyd.

Graham Westley signed several players who he had previously managed at Stevenage; signing Jamie Cook, David Perpetuini, and Dino Maamria.

Graham Westley brought in Michael Bostwick and Chris Beardsley, younger players who he had previously written about in his weekly column in The Non-League Paper.

Graham Westley had taken the club from 22nd in the league to 12th in the space of two-and-a-half months, and the club were on a seven-match unbeaten run at the time.

Graham Westley managed Rushden for 13 games; winning seven, drawing three and losing three.

Graham Westley left Kettering when his short-term contract expired in May 2007, managing the club for four games.

On his return, Graham Westley stated he had come to "finish the job he started", referring to trying to guide the club into the Football League for the first time in its history.

Graham Westley said that "the moment was right" for him to return to football management and that he "had some very good times at Stevenage before".

Graham Westley's appointment was met with scepticism by some Stevenage supporters, but Westley promised to deliver a winning team.

Graham Westley started by overhauling the squad in the summer transfer window and brought in 12 players.

Graham Westley brought in former player, Dino Maamria as first-team coach at the club.

The club started the season inconsistently, with Graham Westley stating the season would be a "massive learning curve" for both himself and the players.

The victory meant that Graham Westley had guided the club to back-to-back promotions, playing in League One for the first time in the club's history.

Graham Westley acquired five players on free transfers, while releasing five of the existing squad.

Graham Westley stated a desire for the new group of players to be committed to his ideas.

Graham Westley responded by releasing nine players, whilst a further four were sold on.

On 21 May 2015, Graham Westley was replaced as manager by ex-England striker Teddy Sheringham.

Graham Westley was named as League One Manager of the Month for November 2015 after Peterborough earned 12 points and scored 14 goals from four league matches, which earned him praise for his team's open and attacking style of play.

Graham Westley was appointed manager of League Two club Newport County on 7 October 2016, following the sacking of Warren Feeney.

Shortly afterwards Graham Westley again courted controversy after refusing to leave opposition manager Derek Adams's press conference.

The club's board said that they had consulted both fans and the players over their decision to sack Graham Westley; he had been confronted by irate supporters at Rodney Parade and after his sacking transfer-listed midfielder Mark Randall came out to say he had been "treated quite unfairly" by Graham Westley.

Graham Westley was appointed as head coach of League Two club Barnet on 15 January 2018.

Barnet chairman Anthony Kleanthous stated the move had come to fruition after Graham Westley had been recommended to him by Peterborough United director of football, Barry Fry.

Graham Westley was sacked by Barnet on 19 March 2018, two months into his time there, and was immediately replaced with Martin Allen.

Graham Westley returned to Stevenage for a fourth time on 15 December 2019, four-and-a-half years after his last spell as manager of the club.

Graham Westley officially started his role on 23 December 2019 and the club signed nine players during the January transfer window.

Graham Westley wrote a weekly column in The Non-League Paper, sharing his views and experiences on the non-League game.

Graham Westley is the chief executive of the Aimita Corporation, an organisation that provides performance management consulting.

Graham Westley has a Master of Arts degree in company direction.