Craig Shakespeare

In his playing days he was an attacking midfielder; he favoured his left foot and his preferred position was on the left side of midfield. He signed as an apprentice at Walsall in September 1979, turning professional in November 1981. Shakespeare rated his goal in a 2–2 League Cup draw against Chelsea in October 1984 as the best of his career. In 1987–88 he helped Walsall to win promotion to Division Two via the playoffs, an achievement which he has since described as his greatest in football. He played well over 350 games for the Saddlers, scoring 59 goals, and in 1989 he moved to Sheffield Wednesday, then in the First Division, for a fee of £300,000. Shakespeare spent less than a year at Hillsborough, before moving to West Bromwich Albion for £275,000. He stayed at Albion for over three years, making 128 appearances in total and becoming the team's first choice penalty taker. He scored twice from the penalty spot in Albion's first ever game in the Third Division, a 6–3 victory over Exeter City in August 1991. Albion were promoted in 1993, but Shakespeare moved to Grimsby Town, rejoining Alan Buckley under whom he had played at Walsall. He later moved on to Scunthorpe United, and also played for three non-league clubs before retiring.

In 1999, he re-joined West Brom as Football in the Community Officer. In this role, he was responsible for promoting football at grass roots level in the local community. He later took up the post of academy coach, then in 2006 became Reserve Team Coach. In October 2006, following the departure of Bryan Robson and then his assistant Nigel Pearson (who had been caretaker manager for a period of four weeks), Shakespeare was given charge of the first team for one game pending the arrival of Tony Mowbray. The game was away to Crystal Palace; Albion won 2–0. Shakespeare left Albion in June 2008 to become Pearson's assistant manager at Leicester City, a move that was confirmed on 1 July. As well as having worked together on the West Bromwich Albion coaching staff, the two had also played together at Sheffield Wednesday. Shakespeare once said that Pearson was the best captain he had ever played under. Shakespeare then followed Pearson to Hull City, which lasted until 2011. He then followed Pearson back to Leicester City when the latter was reappointed manager there in November 2011. Following Pearson's sacking in July 2015, Shakespeare remained as assistant manager to incoming manager Claudio Ranieri and the club were subsequently crowned English champions in 2015–16. When Sam Allardyce was made England manager in 2016 Shakespeare took on a coaching position alongside his Leicester job, but left when Allardyce resigned after just one match. Ranieri was sacked on 23 February 2017,…

On 12 October 2023, it was announced that Shakespeare had been diagnosed with cancer. He died on the morning of 1 August 2024, at the age of 60.

Walsall

Football League Third Division play-offs: 1988