Aidy Boothroyd is a former professional footballer, now famous as the manager of the England U21 team. He was regarded as one of the best young managers in England during his successful period managing Watford from 2005-2008. Starting off his football career as a player, Boothroyd played for Huddersfield Town in his native Yorkshire before moving to Bristol Rovers and Heart of Midlothian.
He signed for Mansfield Town in 1993, making his mark at the club playing 102 matches. His playing career ended after an injury whilst playing at Peterborough United, but Boothroyd wasted no time in securing a coaching position at the club.
With a natural talent for coaching right from the start, Nigel Worthington spotted his skills and asked him to join Norwich City as their youth team coach. After short spells coaching at West Brom and Leeds, he got his big break when he was appointed manager of Watford in March 2005.
He made an instant impact at the club, saving them from relegation, and then successfully steered the club to promotion to the Premier League in the 2005–06 season, with Boothroyd winning the Championship Manager of the Month in February 2006. Watford reached the FA Cup semi-finals the following year and Boothroyd remained at the club until 2008.
After spells managing Coventry and Northampton, Boothroyd received a call to manage the England national under-21 football team after Gareth Southgate’s promotion to interim manager of the senior team, and he steered the team through their remaining 2017 UEFA Euro Championship qualifiers against Kazakhstan and Bosnia and Herzegovina, winning both matches. Further success followed for the England Under-21s under Boothroyd when they were victorious in the 2018 Toulon Tournament.
