Iffy Onuora

Onuora was a journeyman striker who got his professional break playing for Huddersfield Town. He went on to play just under 200 times for The Terriers and scored over 30 goals for the club before he was transferred to Mansfield Town in 1994. Onoura stayed with The Stags until Gillingham paid £25,000 for him in August 1996. It was at Priestfield Stadium where Onuora's goal scoring ability started to show, as he notched himself a tally of just under 30 goals in an 18-month stay with the club, before the Gills cashed in on their big front man by selling him to Swindon Town in March 1998. More goal scoring success was on the cards and he remained at the club until he secured a move back to Gillingham in January 2000, following a short loan spell. Onuora went on to feature heavily for The Gills for the next two seasons before Neil Warnock tempted the player into moving to Bramall Lane to sign a two-year deal with Sheffield United, reuniting Onuora with his former Gillingham strike partner Carl Asaba. However football for Onoura was rare with the club and after starting the season alongside Asaba, he only made 8 appearances in both league and cup competitions, scoring one goal against Burnley. But after a season-ending Achilles injury, he never played for United again. In August 2003, it was announced that he would be carrying on with The Blades, but was loan listed where he signed for Wycombe Wanderers at the start of the season on a one-month loan deal. After appearing six times…

Upon retiring in 2004, Onuora moved into coaching. In July 2007 he successfully completed the final part of the UEFA Pro Licence course and joined a group of only 111 coaches holding the game's top qualification. His coaching career began when he was appointed first-team coach at Walsall in July 2004 but his contract was terminated by Walsall's manager Paul Merson in October 2004, with Merson feeling a more experienced coach was required. Later in the 2004–05 season, Onuora became a coach and youth development officer at Swindon Town. When Andy King was sacked after a poor start to the 2005–06 season, Onuora was appointed as Swindon's caretaker manager. In December 2005, Ron Atkinson, who had previously been fired from TV jobs for making racist remarks, was reportedly appointed to work alongside Onuora – one of the league's few black managers. Onuora later denied that this was the case, claiming that Atkinson was at the club to film a fly-on-the-wall documentary called Big Ron Manager. Dennis Wise later became the new Swindon manager and Onoura was offered the chance to stay in a reduced capacity but he turned down that offer and left the club. He later commentated on Gillingham matches on BBC Radio Kent. He returned to Gillingham in June 2007 as a first team coach. When manager Ronnie Jepson resigned in September 2007 he was named, initially alongside Mick Docherty, as joint caretaker manager. He held the position until the appointment of Mark Stimson on 1 November 2007 and…

Born in Glasgow to Nigerian parents, Onuora grew up on Merseyside and attended Sacred Heart Catholic College in Crosby which his cousin Victor Anichebe later attended. He was first spotted playing football on Merseyside and briefly played for Everton's youth team during the mid-eighties. Onuora is a known supporter of Everton. He is the brother of the Olympic Bronze medallist sprinter Anyika Onuora and the academic Emy Onuora, the author of Pitch Black, a 2015 book on black British footballers. He has a degree in economics from the University of Bradford. As of 2000, Onuora was married to Helen and had two daughters.

Gillingham

Football League Second Division play-offs: 2000