John Ward (footballer, born 1951)
John Patrick Ward (born 7 April 1951) is an English football manager and retired player. A forward during his playing days, Ward appeared in the Football League for Lincoln City, Workington, Watford and Grimsby Town, in which he scored 100 goals in 282 appearances. Having served under Graham Taylor at Watford and Aston Villa as assistant manager, he went on to manage York City and Bristol Rovers before being appointed as assistant at Burnley. Time in charge at Bristol City followed and he then served as assistant at Wolverhampton Wanderers. Ward went on to manage at Cheltenham Town, Carlisle United and Colchester United over a nine-year period before returning to Bristol Rovers, initially as manager before, briefly, becoming the club's Director of Football. Playing career As a player, Ward spent the bulk of his career as a forward at Lincoln City where he scored more than 100 goals between 1970 and 1979. He also had spells at Watford, Grimsby Town and Workington. Managerial career Following his retirement from playing, Ward was assistant manager to Graham Taylor at Watford from 1982 and then followed Taylor to Aston Villa in 1987. After Taylor became England manager in 1990, Ward remained at Villa