Wade Elliott

Youth and non-League

Elliott was born in Southampton, and began playing football as a youth player at Southampton, during which time he also represented England schoolboys. Elliott was released from the Southampton youth setup when he was 16 and instead went on to do his A-levels. Elliot carried on playing football at non-League Bashley while studying at university – he did two years of a degree course in communications and sociology at Goldsmiths' College and completed the degree via the Open University – and was spotted by former AFC Bournemouth player Jimmy Case who organised a trial match for him at the League One club. He trained with Bournemouth from Christmas 1998, and signed for a fee of £5,000 in February 2000. The club's director of football, Mel Machin, later called Elliott's price as "some of the best money he have ever spent".

AFC Bournemouth

Elliott made his debut for AFC Bournemouth, coming on as a 76th-minute substitute, in a 2–0 loss against Reading on 4 March 2000. He scored three goals in the twelve games he played in his first season with the club. In the following 2000–01 season, Elliot began to have more and more of an impact for AFC Bournemouth. Elliot scored two important goals in the FA Cup matches against Swansea City and Nuneaton Borough to help the club reach all the way to the third round. However, he received a straight red card for elbowing John Dreyer, in a 2–0 win against Cambridge United on 23 January 2001; and served a…

Towards the end of his football career, Elliott began taking football courses in hopes of obtaining UEFA coaching badges. He took up the post of under-21s manager at Bristol City at the end of the 2014–15 season. In January 2016, after Steve Cotterill was sacked, assistant manager John Pemberton and Elliott were named as an interim management team; their first game in charge was a 1–0 victory over league leaders Middlesbrough. He left the club at the end of the season following a reorganisation of the coaching structure under new manager Lee Johnson. In October 2016, Elliott was announced as the new assistant Academy manager at Forest Green Rovers. Elliott was appointed assistant manager of Stoke City U23s in April 2017. He became manager of the team in January 2018 following the departure of Glyn Hodges, but reverted to assistant to Kevin Russell for the 2018–19 season.

Cheltenham Town

Elliot joined Cheltenham Town as a coach in September 2020. Elliott was promoted to the role of head coach in June 2022 following the departure of Michael Duff. His first managerial match as the club's manager came on 30 July 2022, in a 3–2 loss against Peterborough United. Results began to improve in October and November that saw Cheltenham Town go unbeaten league run to five games. He led the club to their first ever EFL Trophy semi-final, beating Salford City before bowing out to Plymouth Argyle 3–2 on penalties. Having helped Cheltenham Town collect eleven points from five games…

Growing up supporting Southampton, Elliott idolised Matt Le Tissier and joked about his playing similarity when compared the two. He is good friend with former teammate Brian Stock, having known each other since childhood and played together at AFC Bournemouth. Elliott said he's a regular reader and credited his family for introducing him to reading. Elliott was a fan favourite with AFC Bournemouth's supporters that they wrote a song about him called "The Ballad of Wade Elliott". During his playing career, he partook in charity work and local communities. Elliott is a regular user of Twitter. Elliott separated from his partner in 2019. They share one son together

As a player

AFC Bournemouth

Football League Third Division play-offs: 2003 Burnley

Football League Championship play-offs: 2009 Bristol City

Football League One: 2014–15 Football League Trophy: 2014–15 Individual

Goal of the Season's North West Football Awards: 2008

As a coach

Cheltenham Town

EFL League Two: 2020–21