Barnet Football Club

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Getting to Know | Graham Westley

A striker in his playing days, Westley was an apprentice at Queens Park Rangers where he would represent his country and Under 18 level. He would move to Gillingham where he would make his professional debut before heading to Underhill and joining the Bees.

Westley scored his only goal for Barnet in a 2-2 draw away to Fisher Athletic. He would make only a handful of appearances for the club during the 1987/88 Conference season before joining Wycombe Wanderers.

He would go on to also play for Kingstonian, Wealdstone, Farnborough Town, Harlow Town, Enfield, Aylesbury United, Harrow Borough, Tooting & Mitcham United, Molesey and Walton & Hersham. A horrific injury to his leg cut his playing career short and moved into management in 1996.

He took over as manager of Kingstonian in December of that year before heading to Enfield and then Farnborough where he won the Isthmian League Cup in 2000–01 and the Isthmian League Premier Division in 2001–02, securing promotion to the Conference National. He also guided them to the Third Round of the FA Cup with a tie at Highbury against Arsenal.

The first of three spells at Stevenage would follow where he saved the club from relegation from the Conference in his first season.

He was appointed manager of Rushden & Diamonds in December 2006 and took them from 22nd in the table to 12th in the space of three months.

A spell as caretaker at Kettering Town followed before a return to Stevenage. This would be his most successful spell in management. In 2008, he won the FA Trophy at Wembley and in 2010 won the Conference National, securing Stevenage’s promotion to the Football League for the first time in their history.

Remarkably Stevenage then secured back-to-back promotions to reach League One, with victory over Torquay in the League Two play-off final at Old Trafford.

 

During that season, Stevenage did not lose a single game after they had taken the lead and they also recorded a memorable FA Cup victory over Newcastle United.

Stevenage accepted an approach from Preston North End in January 2012. He was manager at Deepdale for a little over a year before his departure. Westley then returned to Stevenage for a third time in March 2013 and guided them to the League Two play-off semi-finals in 2014/15.

Westley then became  manager of Peterborough United, where signed Shaquile Coulthirst on loan from Tottenham Hotspur as well as picking up Sky Bet League Two Manager of the Month for his good start at the Posh.

Most recently he was the manager of Newport County. Westley also holds a Master of Arts degree in company direction.

Everyone at The Hive London would like to welcome Graham to the club.