Name: Adrian Heath
Born; 11 January 1961
Place: Newcastle-Under-Lyme (Staffordshire)

Clubs (player); Stoker City (1979-82), Everton (1982-88), Espanol (Spain, 1988-89), Aston Villa (1989-90), Manchester City (1990-92), Stoke City (1992), Burnley (1992-95), Sheffield United (1995-96), Burnley (1996-97).

Clubs (manager): Burnley (1996-97), Sunderland (assistant 1997-99), Sheffield United (1999), Austin Aztex (2008-??)

adrian heath Image Copyright to austinaztex.com

As a player Heath was an established player; playing his football in the top flight for the majority of this career - winning the Division one title on two occasions (1985 & 1987) with Merseyside outfit Everton whilst also being European Cup Winners in 1985 - again with the Toffees.

Following his reputation in England at Goodison Park he played in Spain with Espanyol before making a swift return to English football and eventually after years of playing top flight football whittled his way onto Burnley and then Sheffield United.

By the time he arrived at Bramall Lane he was nearing hid mid-30's and signs of tiring legs were obvious; he played just six times for United in total - all substitute appearances. He made his debut in December 1995 in a 2-2 draw at Stoke City and playing his last in early February 1996 in a 0-0 draw at Crystal Palace.

He was\allowed to leave the Lane and team up with Lancashire outfit Burnley where he became player/coach and eventually manager until 1997 where he left the club and began working with Peter Reid at Sunderland as his assistant - working with what became a successful Reserve team.

But in the summer of 1999 he was approached to become manager of Sheffield United after Steve Bruce's resignation, but it wasn't to be a happy marriage with the Blades; losing on the opening day at Portsmouth (0-2) with debutant Axel Smeets receiving a red card.

Heavy defeats to Manchester City (6-0) and Huddersfield Town (4-1) were hard to bare but the humiliation of the 3-1 defeat to Port Vale sunk the Blades to bottom of the league and after 22 games in charge handing his resignation.

He eventually teamed up again with Peter Reid acting again as his assistant at Leeds United and Coventry City (also Everton) whilst acting as caretaker manager on two occasions for the Ricoh Arena club - but was dismissed of his duties in 2007.

In 2008 a new team which had links to Stoke City was created; American club Austin Aztex were formed in the United Soccer League: First Divisions - a semi-professional version of the highly abundant Major League Soccer (MLS) and Heath was installed as there first manger.

In the summer of this year it was rumoured that Heath had applied as manager of Port vale but he still remains as manager of the American club were notable players such as Eddie Johnson (ex-Manchester United and Bradford City) and Alex Tapp (ex-Milton Keynes Dons) apply their trade.

He guided the Austin club to 10th position in the league - out of a total of eleven clubs! - though they did scrape out a 0-0 draw with Sheffield Wednesday in a behind closed doors friendly last October.