Jason Wilcox

Jason Malcolm Wilcox (born 15 July 1971) is an English former professional footballer who played as a left winger from 1989 until 2006, notably in the Premier League for Blackburn Rovers, where he won the title in 1995.

He also played for Leeds United and Leicester City before finishing his career with Blackpool. He made three appearances for England.

He is currently employed as the Manager of the under-18s academy team at Manchester City.

Club career

Blackburn Rovers

Wilcox joined Blackburn Rovers at the age of sixteen after his father wrote to the club asking for a trial. After impressing at training on Sunday, Wilcox signed a contract on the Monday, before playing in the FA Youth Cup final only weeks after. Rovers youth-team manager Jim Furnell described him as "one of the best young midfielders in English football".

Wilcox would go on to score 33 goals in over 300 games with Blackburn, whom he also captained. Wilcox was one of the only first-team players of that era who came from the club's own youth system and was not signed from other teams with the multi-million pound investments of Jack Walker. He played an important part in the title-winning Blackburn team of 1995. Playing on the left flank with attacking fullback Graeme Le Saux behind him and Stuart Ripley on the opposite flank, they forged a strong attacking line-up with Alan Shearer and Chris Sutton. International recognition was harder to come by for Wilcox and he managed only 3 international caps despite his effective partnership with Shearer, Le Saux and Tim Sherwood.