Former Sheffield Wednesday, Middlesbrough and Hull City man lands League Two coaching role

Stockdale is a familiar face in Yorkshire, having also represented Hull City and Rotherham United in a playing career that ended in 2012. He took the coaching route post-retirement, acting as an assistant at various clubs and having a spell in charge of Rochdale.

He has secured a new home ahead of the 2024/25 season, joining League Two outfit Barrow to assist the newly-appointed Stephen Clemence. After putting pen to paper, Stockdale said: “It was quite a quick process really. Stephen gave me a ring late last week and having worked with him at Gillingham, I felt we did a good job there and I’m looking forward to doing a good job here.

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“I’ve coached against Stephen while he was working with Steve Bruce and while I was working with David Moyes and Sam Allardyce. We also did our pro-licence together and worked together last season, so it’s been a long-time relationship and I think we complement each other really well.

“There’s been some good work here over the past few years and we’ll hope to build on that but at the same time put our own stamp on the club and do things our way."

Barrow just missed out on the League Two play-offs last season and clouds of uncertainty descended following the end of the campaign, when manager Pete Wild departed.

However, the club have moved swiftly to get a new coaching team in place before the start of pre-season.