The brilliant Kevin Horlock is a former professional footballer, who most famously played in midfield for Manchester City. He was well known for his accurate set pieces and is particularly skilled at taking free kicks. On the international stage, he earned 32 caps for Northern Ireland. He is currently the manager of non-league side Needham Market, as well as the assistant manager of the Northern Ireland U-21s.
Born and raised in London, Horlock started his footballing career as a trainee with West Ham United in 1989. He didn’t graduate to the first team and so moved to Swindon Town in 1992, where he made his name as a versatile midfielder. He made 200 appearances, scoring 26 goals, in five seasons, helping the club win promotion to the Premier League via the play-offs in 1992-93, and to win the Second Division title in 1995-96. He joined Manchester City in 1997, and went on to make 232 appearances, scoring 44 goals, over seven years. He helped them to secure promotion to the First Division via the play-offs in 1998-99, and to win the First Division title in 2001-02. After leaving City in 2003, he went on to play for West Ham United, Ipswich Town, Doncaster Rovers, Scunthorpe United, and Mansfield Town. He finally joined non-league side Needham Market as a player-assistant manager in 2008, turning out for the club until he retired from the game in 2015.
After progressing through Needham Market’s coaching ranks and helping to set up their academy in 2010, he was appointed manager of non-league Chatham Town in 2015. By now he was combining both his Needham Market and Chatham Town roles with the assistant manager’s job with the Northern Ireland U-21s, which he had been appointed to in 2013. He also took on a coaching role at Colchester United. He left Chatham in 2016, and took charge of non-league side Maldon & Tiptree. In 2018 he took charge of Colchester’s U-23 team. He returned to Needham Market in 2019 as the club’s new academy manager, and in 2020 was appointed as their manager.
Horlock regularly connects with his legions of followers and fans through Twitter, posting pictures and videos about his life around football.
