Pete Wild has signed a three-year deal to be the new manager of Barrow.
He takes over from Phil Brown after leading FC Halifax for the last three years.
It’s not the first time that Wild has been in charge of a League Two side. He had two spells in caretaker charge, before he took the job on a full-time basis in the latter part of the 2018/19 season.
Wild, 38, played amateur football before taking up coaching at the age of 18 and his first job in coaching was with Oldham Council working in their sports department.
Before he began coaching in Oldham’s academy, Wild worked as a development officer at the Manchester FA.
After working for the club for 10 years, including as their interim academy manager, Wild was appointed as Oldham’s caretaker manage
During his time in the manager’s seat at Oldham he enjoyed FA Cup giant-killing as Oldham beat Premier League Fulham at Craven Cottage. It was only his third game in charge and he had won the first two.
He left Boundary Park at the end of that season and took charge of FC Halifax Town in the National League later that summer.
His Halifax side were 2-1 winners against Ian Evatt’s eventual title-winning Barrow at Holker Street early on in the 2019/20 National League season. Wild would lead Halifax to a 6th place finish in that campaign.
Wild took charge of just under 150 games during his three seasons at The Shay, boasting a win percentage of almost 50 per cent which helped the West Yorkshire outfit finish fourth in the National League and qualify for the play-offs in the season just ended.
Wild’s Halifax side only conceded 11 goals at home last season, the second lowest total in the top five tiers of English football.
Barrow chairman Paul Hornby said: “He’s a manager who has been on our radar for some time, due to the phenomenal job he’s done over the past three years at FC Halifax Town.
“He’s not only a good young coach, but he can spot and develop young players.
“He’s exactly the type of manager we were after and he immediately bought into what we are trying to build here at Barrow.”
