Alan Kimble

Alan Frank Kimble (born 6 August 1966) is an English football manager and former professional footballer.

Alan Kimble
Personal information
Full name Alan Frank Kimble[1]
Date of birth (1966-08-06) 6 August 1966[1]
Place of birth Poole, England[2]
Height 5 ft 9 in (1.75 m)[1]
Position(s) Defender
Youth career
000?–1984 Charlton Athletic
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1984–1986 Charlton Athletic 6 (0)
1985 → Exeter City (loan) 1 (0)
1986–1993 Cambridge United 299 (24)
1993–2002 Wimbledon 215 (0)
2002 → Peterborough United (loan) 3 (0)
2002–2003 Luton Town 12 (0)
2003–2004 Dagenham & Redbridge 22 (0)
2004–2005 Heybridge Swifts 22 (0)
Total 580 (24)
Managerial career
2010 Aveley
2011–2012 Hemel Hempstead Town (assistant)
2012–2013 Eastbourne Borough (assistant)
2014–2015 Maldon & Tiptree
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

As a player, he was a defender who notably played in the Premier League for Wimbledon. He also played in the Football League for Charlton Athletic, Exeter City, Cambridge United, Peterborough United and Luton Town before finishing his career with non-league sides Dagenham & Redbridge and Heybridge Swifts.

Following retirement, Kimble has worked as a manager and assistant manager within the non-league game for Ebbsfleet United, Aveley, Hemel Hempstead Town, Eastbourne Borough and Maldon & Tiptree.

Playing career

Charlton Athletic

Left back Kimble started his career at Charlton Athletic alongside his twin brother, Garry Kimble. They both progressed through the youth ranks to make brief appearances in the Charlton first team before the pair of them joined Exeter City on loan and then Cambridge United on free transfers in July 1986.

Cambridge United

Alan Kimble went on to play 299 games for United, scoring 24 goals, most of which came from the penalty spot. He played a pivotal part in the club's amazing success in climbing the lower leagues in the early 1990s but left following relegation from (old) Division Two in 1993 after seven years with the club.

Wimbledon

Kimble moved to Premier League side Wimbledon for a fee of £175,000 and stayed there for nine years, and was a regular first team player, making 215 league appearances. While in the Wimbledon side, Kimble was known to get to the byline and lump the ball upfield to the strikers. He failed to score a league goal for the club but did net once for them against Huddersfield Town in one of his 25 League Cup games for the club. Wimbledon finished in the top ten of the Premier League three times, and were League Cup semi finalists twice and FA Cup semi finalists once while Kimble played for them, but went down from the Premier League in 2000. He finally left at the end of the 2001-02 season, around the same time that the club's controversial move to Milton Keynes - which eventually resulted in its rebranding as Milton Keynes Dons - was announced.[3]

Luton Town and non-League

After playing at the highest level he left Wimbledon at the end of the 2001–02 season following a brief loan spell at Peterborough United and joined ex-Wimbledon manager Joe Kinnear at Luton Town. He managed only 12 games for Luton before dropping into the Conference National to play for Dagenham & Redbridge where he played a further 22 games to leave him with a total of more than 550 games in his top class career. He later had a brief spell with Heybridge Swifts.

Managerial career

He invited by ex-Cambridge teammate Liam Daish to become assistant manager of Gravesend & Northfleet in March 2005.

In the close season of 2009, due to financial difficulties at the club, Kimble was released from the club now known as Ebbsfleet United.

After leaving Ebbsfleet, Kimble became manager of Isthmian League Premier Division club Aveley in May 2010, with his twin brother Garry as his assistant.[4] After five months in the job, he left Aveley in November due to personal reasons before being replaced by Carl Griffiths.[5] Kimble was assistant manager at Hemel Hempstead Town, before moving on to Eastbourne Borough to take on the same role in February 2012.[6]

In 2014, he became manager of Maldon & Tiptree.[7] He left the club at the end of the 2014–15 season.[8]

References
  1. Hugman, Barry J., ed. (2003). The PFA Footballers' Who's Who 2003/2004. Queen Anne Press. p. 244. ISBN 1-85291-651-6.
  2. "Alan Kimble". Soccerbase. Retrieved 21 August 2020.
  3. Hodgson, Guy (30 November 1999). "Dons' fire rewarded by Euell". The Independent. London. Archived from the original on 4 November 2012. Retrieved 5 November 2009.
  4. "Kimble appointed at Aveley". Non-League News 24. 26 May 2010. Retrieved 19 May 2011.
  5. "Carl Griffiths replaces Alan Kimble as Aveley manager". BBC Sport. 19 November 2010. Retrieved 19 May 2011.
  6. "Widdrington: I want to be part of another successful era with Eastbourne Borough". Eastbourne Herald. 1 February 2012. Archived from the original on 20 April 2013. Retrieved 1 February 2012.
  7. "Kimble twins Alan and Garry face each other in Essex derby". BBC Sport. 7 October 2014. Retrieved 7 October 2014.
  8. Former Colchester United and Spurs man Kevin Watson is new Maldon & Tiptree boss Archived 29 May 2015 at the Wayback Machine Essex Chronicle, 19 May 2015
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