Brian Horton

Brian Horton (born 4 February 1949) is an English former footballer and manager, who is now working as the football coordinator at Southend United.

Horton played for Hednesford Town, Port Vale, Brighton & Hove Albion, Luton Town and Hull City as a midfielder. His most significant spells were with Port Vale and Brighton from 1970 to 1981, making over 200 appearances over the course of around five seasons with each club. He also made over 100 appearances for Luton between 1981 and 1984. He was promoted out of the Second Division with both Brighton and Luton. During his career he was named on the PFA Team of the Year three times, and played a total of 610 league games in the Football League.

He was even more prolific as a manager, taking the reins at Hull City, Oxford United, Manchester City, Huddersfield Town, Brighton & Hove Albion, Port Vale and Macclesfield Town. His longest spells were at Hull and Vale, where he had previously found success as a player. At all seven clubs he boasted a win ratio of more than 30%. Horton is one of the few managers in English football to have taken charge of teams in more than a thousand games. His successes include taking Hull out of the Third Division in 1984–85, and winning the Football League Trophy with Port Vale in 2001. However his speciality has been in stabilizing struggling clubs, as he has been relegated only twice in more than 20 seasons as a manager.