Wade Patrick Elliott (born 14 December 1978) is an English former professional footballer who was most recently head coach of EFL League One club Cheltenham Town. He played mainly as a right midfielder but could also play as a central midfielder.
Elliott began playing football as a youth player for Southampton before joining non-league Bashley. He began his professional career at AFC Bournemouth after joining from Bashley for £5,000. After five years he joined Burnley where he won two player of the year awards and scored the only goal in the 2009 play-off final elevating his team to the Premier League. He moved on to Birmingham City in 2011, playing regularly for two seasons. He spent time on loan at Bristol City in 2014, and joined them on a permanent contract after his release from Birmingham at the end of the 2013–14 season.
Having achieved promotion from League One to the Championship with Bristol City in the 2014–15 season, Elliott retired from playing in June 2015 in order to take up a coaching role at the club. After leaving Bristol City in June 2016 Elliott played in several pre-season Friendlies for National League side Forest Green Rovers, reportedly in advance of taking a joint role of player and youth team coach.
Playing career
Youth and non-League
Elliott was born in Southampton, and began playing football as a youth player at Southampton F.C., during which time he also represented England schoolboys. He was released from the Southampton youth setup when he was 16 and instead went on to do his A-levels. He carried on playing football at non-League Bashley while studying at university – he did two years of a degree course in communications and sociology at Goldsmiths' College and completed the degree via the Open University – and was spotted by former AFC Bournemouth player Jimmy Case who organised a trial match for him at the League One club. He trained with Bournemouth from Christmas 1998, and signed for a fee of £5,000 in February 2000.
AFC Bournemouth
Elliott scored three goals in the twelve games he played in his first season with Bournemouth. In the following seasons he began to have more and more of an impact, winning the club's Player of the Year award in his first full season. He was out of contract at the end of the 2003–04 season and eventually signed a one-year contract extension. In his last season at the club he played 51 games and scored 5 goals. With his and teammate Garreth O'Connor's contracts due to expire, the pair signed three-year contracts with Burnley, a team which he had impressed in an FA Cup-tie that season.
Burnley
Elliott's first season at Burnley got off to a slow start; he made just 23 starts for the club and scored 3 goals. However, in his next two seasons, he became one of the club's most influential players, winning Player of the Year awards for two consecutive seasons. In the 2007–08 season, he committed his future to the club by signing a three-year contract extension, keeping him at the club until the end of the 2011 season. In the following season he was instrumental in Burnley's promotion to the Premier League and capped off the season by scoring the only goal in the play-off final. The curling shot captured much media attention with multiple references to him scoring the goal that had the potential to earn Burnley up to £60 million in the Premier League. Elliott began his first Premier League season in the headlines by scoring the only goal in the home win against Everton. On his 200th League appearance for Burnley, he scored the final goal in a 4–1 defeat of Hull City from an inswinging free kick on the far left at the KC Stadium.
Birmingham City
Elliott joined Championship club Birmingham City on 31 August 2011, the last day of the summer transfer window; he signed a two-year contract for an undisclosed fee. He made his Birmingham debut as a second-half substitute in a 3–0 home victory against Millwall, and scored his first goal for the club against Maribor in the Europa League on 29 September. Elliott's first league goal came in March 2012 in a 3–1 defeat away to Leicester City, scored from the penalty spot after Sol Bamba brought down Nikola Žigić. His third league goal came in a win against Peterborough United in September; the goal was originally credited as an own goal when goalkeeper Bobby Olejnik punched Elliott's free kick into his own net, but was later awarded to Elliott. In June 2013, Elliott signed a one-year contract extension with Birmingham.