Quick Facts
Biography
Andrew John "Andy" Woodman (born 11 August 1971) is an English football coach and former player who was goalkeeping coach at Crystal Palace F.C. until January 2017. As a player, his highest achievement was playing for Northampton Town when they won the Division Three play-offs in 1997.
Playing career
Woodman played for a number of clubs in his career, starting out at Crystal Palace in the 1989–90 season. He stayed with them for several years, and whilst he was their youth team goalkeeper he also played regularly on loan for Bognor Regis Town. In 1994 he moved to Exeter City. His spell at Exeter was cut short following two red cards in quick succession, firstly against Leyton Orient for violent conduct, and secondly against Colchester United in the FA Cup, for deliberate handball outside the area, when, after making a mistake with a back pass, he decided to dive on the ball with both hands. Exeter fans never forgave him for this, and when he later played in goal for Northampton in a home game with Exeter he was forced to endure repeated chants of "We remember Colchester" from the away fans behind his goal.
Following his red cards he moved to Northampton Town which lasted until 1998–99. Woodman is regarded as something of a cult figure at Sixfields after his time there, and was granted a testimonial by the club in summer 2007. He was also on loan to Brentford during this time, and moved there on a free transfer during 1998–99. While at Brentford he was loaned to several clubs; Peterborough United (1999–2000), Southend United (2000–01) and Colchester United (2000–01).
He joined Colchester on a free transfer in the 2001–02 season, and was loaned to Oxford United in that season. Woodman then moved into non-league football with Stevenage Borough in 2004–05, as well as Redbridge, Thurrock and a trial at Torquay United. He joined Rushden & Diamonds in the 2005–06 season, but injured his Achilles tendon early on in the season, which ruled him out for a number of months.
Non-playing career
Coaching career
In the spring of 2006 he was appointed assistant manager at Rushden and Diamonds. When the club was relegated at the end of that season, he chose to join his old team-mate Alan Pardew's staff at West Ham United. When Pardew moved to Charlton Athletic, Woodman joined him in the summer of 2007 as goalkeeping coach. He joined Newcastle United on 13 December 2010 as Goalkeeping Coach, again joining Alan Pardew. On 31 July 2015, Andy Woodman joined Crystal Palace as Goalkeeping Coach, yet again joining Pardew at Crystal Palace. On 9 January 2017, subsequent to the appointment of Sam Allardyce as manager of Crystal Palace, it was announced that Woodman had left the club.
Woody and Nord
He is a close friend of ex-England international, ex-Middlesbrough manager and current England manager Gareth Southgate, with whom he has written a book about life in the youth ranks of Crystal Palace, their first club. The book is called Woody & Nord: A Football Friendship, and describes an enduring friendship forged in the Palace youth team that has survived Southgate and Woodman's wildly differing fortunes in the professional game. The book won the Best Autobiography category of the 2004 British Sports Book Awards, and the Sporting Book of the Year Award for 2004 from the National Sporting Club.
Honours
Club
- Northampton Town
- Football League Division Three Playoff Winner (1): 1996–97
- Football League Division Two Playoff Runner-up (1): 1997–98
- Brentford
- Football League Division Three Winner (1): 1998–99
- "Division Three (League Two) Play-off Finalists". Coludaybyday.co.uk.
- "Division Two (League One) Play-off Finalists". Coludaybyday.co.uk.
- "Tier Four (League Two) Honours". Coludaybyday.co.uk.
