By Nathan Jackson
August 3 2008

Gary Waddock has been in charge at Aldershot Town FC for a year and given them their first ever season of League football. A player who spent most of his career in the upper League structure, Waddock has had a successful spell as a coach and manager. Gary Waddock was born in 1962 in Kingsbury and joined QPR at the age of 17. He made his debut for the club in 1979 as a midfielder and stayed at Loftus Road for 8 years. However, he was often considered not to be a regular at QPR, making a relatively low 203 appearances, I saw relatively low because most players make 300odd appearances in that amount of time.

He joined Belgium's Charleroi in 1987 and made 40 appearances in two seasons before turning to England and joining QPR's rivals, Millwall. 58 appearances in two years saw him return to Loftus Road but he failed to make another appearance for the hoops. His second spell at Loftus Road included a six game loan spell at Swindon Town. He soon left for Bristol Rovers, missing out on the foundation of the Premiership.

71 appearances in two seasons at Bristol Rovers were followed by Waddock's longest spell at a club since his first spell at QPR, spending four years at Luton Town, making 153 appearances in the process before retiring.

Waddock returned to QPR yet again, this time taking up a coaching role under Ian Holloway. But "Ollie" was soon put on gardening leave and Waddock took over as caretaker manager, steering the club away from relegation. Holloway soon left for Plymouth Argyle and Waddock took on the job permanently but was soon sacked from that position after a poor start to the season.

At the end of the 2006/7 season, Waddock was confirmed as the new manager of Aldershot Town and he guided them to promotion to the League for the first time in the club's history within his first season. He will now guide the Shots into League Two.