Joseph John Dunne was born on 25 May 1973 and is an Irish football manager and former footballer.
47 Facts About Joe Dunne
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Joe Dunne played as a defender in the Football League for Gillingham and Colchester United, and briefly played in the Conference for Dover Athletic.
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Joe Dunne once represented Republic of Ireland at under-21 level.
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Joe Dunne's playing career was ended prematurely after suffering a series of injuries.
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Joe Dunne began coaching at Colchester United, earning his coaching badges and working his way up from youth level.
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Joe Dunne became the club's assistant manager when John Ward was appointed manager in 2010, before replacing Ward at the helm in September 2012 having previously acted as caretaker manager for four games in 2009.
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Joe Dunne then joined Cambridge United as an assistant manager on 11 May 2015.
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Joe Dunne was born in Dublin and grew up in the city's Inchicore suburb, where he lived with his mother and father.
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Joe Dunne's father died when Dunne was 13, leaving him to be the "man of the house".
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Joe Dunne went on a week-long trial at Gillingham, but stayed for two weeks and signed for the club without telling his mother.
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Joe Dunne signed for the Gills on a professional contract in August 1990 and went on to make 115 league appearances for the club, scoring once.
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Joe Dunne made his debut for the U's on 30 March 1996 at Hartlepool United's Victoria Park, coming on as a substitute for Paul Gibbs.
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Joe Dunne missed the play-off matches as the U's lost out to Plymouth Argyle, but Joe Dunne would get his chance to play at Wembley the following season.
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However, in the summer of 1999, Joe Dunne was released by new Colchester manager Mick Wadsworth alongside nine other players.
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Eleven weeks following his release, Joe Dunne struggled to find a Football League club willing to accommodate him, and Joe Dunne considered quitting football and taking a job outside of the game to support his family after initial interest from Isthmian League club Aldershot Town came to nothing.
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However, Joe Dunne signed for Football Conference side Dover Athletic in August 1999.
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Joe Dunne was captain at Dover and playing well, but Whitton stated that he would go straight into the U's starting line-up for their next fixture, knowing Dunne had previously stated that he would "leap at the chance to come back".
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Joe Dunne re-signed for a nominal fee on 14 December 1999 on a deal that would see him tied to the club until at least 2001.
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Joe Dunne suffered a five-inch vertical gash on his face while making tackle and was taken to hospital for treatment.
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Joe Dunne managed to make 62 further league appearances in his second spell with Colchester but played his final game on 24 November 2001 when he was stretchered off after 79 minutes with a serious knee injury.
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Joe Dunne represented Republic of Ireland at under-21 level once in 1992, but never received a call-up to the full national squad.
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Joe Dunne replaced Cook as senior youth team coach in August 2003.
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Joe Dunne led his youth team to the Youth Alliance Cup final in May 2006, where they took on Preston North End in front of a crowd of 545 at Layer Road.
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When Colchester United assistant manager Mick Harford departed the club for a similar role with Queens Park Rangers, Joe Dunne was keen to stand in as assistant manager to Geraint Williams having done so previously prior to Harford's arrival.
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Joe Dunne stepped in to take temporary charge of the first team as caretaker manager.
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Joe Dunne ruled himself out of the running for the managers position at the club, stating that he was not one of the 12 possible candidates being interviewed for the job.
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Joe Dunne said of the experience as caretaker that he "enjoyed the pressure and he enjoyed the challenge" and that "it made him better and made him want to get better", whetting his appetite for more.
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Boothroyd left the U's in May 2010 for Coventry City, as Colchester chairman Robbie Cowling announced that both Boothroyd's former assistant John Ward and Joe Dunne were both in the running for the managerial position.
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However, three days later on 27 September 2012, without managing a game as caretaker, Joe Dunne was appointed full-time manager of Colchester United on a one-year rolling contract.
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Joe Dunne named former Colchester United midfielder and friend Mark Kinsella as his assistant.
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Joe Dunne immediately signed three players on loan; forward Jabo Ibehre from MK Dons and Arsenal duo Craig Eastmond and Sanchez Watt, All three players went straight into the first team squad for Joe Dunne's first match as Colchester manager against Hartlepool United.
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Joe Dunne was nominated for the Football League One Manager of the Month award for the month of January 2014 after steering his side into the top-half of the League One table with two high-scoring wins and a solid draw at MK Dons.
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Once again however, Joe Dunne was beaten to the accolade, this time by Leyton Orient boss Russell Slade.
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Colchester United chairman Robbie Cowling stated Joe Dunne decided to go as he felt he took things as far as he could.
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In 2015, Joe Dunne joined Cambridge United as assistant to Shaun Derry.
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On 22 February 2019, Joe Dunne joined Graham Coughlan's coaching staff at Bristol Rovers on a voluntary basis until the end of the season.
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Joe Dunne was appointed as assistant manager in June 2019.
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Joe Dunne joined League Two club Stevenage on 1 December 2020, taking on the role of assistant manager to Alex Revell.
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In March 2021, Joe Dunne returned to Colchester United to assist interim manager Wayne Brown.
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In January 2022, following the return of Wayne Brown as interim manager, Joe Dunne again returned to the club as interim assistant coach.
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On 17 May 2022, Brown and Joe Dunne were given the job on a permanent basis.
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On 18 September 2022, Brown and Joe Dunne were sacked by Colchester.
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On 21 October 2022 Joe Dunne was again appointed assistant manager to Graham Coughlan at League Two Newport County.
44.
On 20 June 2024, Coughlan and Joe Dunne departed the club by mutual consent.
45.
On 15 November 2024, Joe Dunne returned to League Two club Gillingham, the club where he had started his career, in the role of Youth Team Manager.
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Joe Dunne's son Louis was a member of the Colchester United Academy programme.
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Joe Dunne rapidly progressed through the age groups at the club, playing at higher levels.