Pete Wild

Pete Wild
Wild (right) shaking hands with footballer Ellis Allen during his time at Oldham Athletic.
Personal information
Full name Peter Lee Wild
Date of birth 20 July 1984
Place of birth Royton, England
Team information
Current team
Barrow (manager)
Managerial career
Years Team
2012–2015 England Amputees
2018–2019 Oldham Athletic (caretaker)
2019 Oldham Athletic (caretaker)
2019 Oldham Athletic
2019–2022 FC Halifax Town
2022– Barrow

Peter Lee Wild (born 20 July 1984) is an English football coach who is the manager of Barrow.

Early and personal life

Wild was born in Royton. He is a lifetime fan of Oldham Athletic, attending his first game at the age of six, on New Year's Day 1991. Prior to becoming a football coach, Wild worked various jobs, such as: a tree surgeon, an apprentice car mechanic and working in his parents' pubs.

Career

Oldham Athletic

Wild played amateur football before taking up coaching at the age of 18. Wild's first job in coaching was with Oldham Council working in their sports department. Before he began coaching in Oldham's academy, Wild worked as a development officer at the Manchester FA. Wild also managed the England Amputee football team between 2012 and 2015.

After working for the club for 10 years, including as their interim academy manager, Wild was appointed as Oldham's caretaker manager on 27 December 2018 following the sacking of Frankie Bunn. He won his first two games in charge. On 6 January 2019 he led the club to a "famous" FA Cup victory against Premier League club Fulham, his third straight win as manager. Following the match he said that he was considering stepping down as caretaker manager, stating that "I've been an academy manager two minutes [...] the fairytale will come to an end at some point, reality will strike. And you've got to be prepared for that. I've got a family to support and a mortgage to pay". After eight matches in charge (four wins, three losses, and one draw) he was replaced as Oldham manager by Paul Scholes on 11 February 2019. Wild's final game in charge was a 3–0 away victory at Crawley Town two days previously.

In March 2019, following the resignation of Scholes, Wild returned as caretaker manager. On 22 March 2019, he was appointed the club's permanent manager, on a contract until the end of the season. He left the club in May 2019, for "personal reasons".

FC Halifax Town

On 24 July 2019, Wild was appointed the manager of National League side FC Halifax Town. In November 2019 he was linked with the vacant Grimsby Town manager's job, but he denied receiving an approach from them. In February 2022 he was linked with the vacant job at Bradford City, and in May 2022 with the job at Barrow.

Barrow

On 26 May 2022, Wild resigned from Halifax to pursue a new opportunity. The following day he was announced as the new manager of League Two club Barrow. Wild led Barrow to a 9th-place finish in his first season with the club, an improvement from 22nd in the previous season.

An impressive run of form across the early months of the 2023–24 season saw Barrow equal a club record EFL winning run of four matches, climbing into the automatic promotion places. Wild's efforts in his team's achievement saw him awarded the EFL League Two Manager of the Month award for November 2023.

Managerial statistics

As of match played 27 January 2024
Managerial record by team and tenure
Team Nat From To Record Ref
G W D L Win %
Oldham Athletic (caretaker) 27 December 2018 11 February 2019 8 4 1 3 050.00
Oldham Athletic (caretaker) 15 March 2019 22 March 2019 0 0 0 0
Oldham Athletic 22 March 2019 7 May 2019 9 4 2 3 044.44
FC Halifax Town 24 July 2019 26 May 2022 139 65 28 46 046.76
Barrow 27 May 2022 Present 88 34 22 32 038.64
Career total 244 107 53 84 043.85

Honours

Individual