Maurice Setters

Maurice Setters

Personal information
Full name	Maurice Edgar Setters
Date of birth	(1936-12-16) 16 December 1936
Place of birth	Honiton, England
Position(s)	Wing half
Youth career
1952–1954	Exeter City
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
1954–1955	Exeter City	10	(0)
1955–1960	West Bromwich Albion	120	(10)
1960–1965	Manchester United	159	(12)
1965–1967	Stoke City	86	(5)
1967	→ Cleveland Stokers (guest)	9	(3)
1967–1970	Coventry City	51	(3)
1970	Charlton Athletic	8	(1)
Total		434	(31)
Managerial career
1971–1974	Doncaster Rovers
1982	Rotherham United (assistant)
1983	Sheffield Wednesday (caretaker)
1986–1995	Republic of Ireland (assistant)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Maurice Edgar Setters (born 16 December 1936) is an English former football player and manager. As player, he made more than 400 appearances in the Football League representing Exeter City, West Bromwich Albion, Manchester United, Stoke City, Coventry City and Charlton Athletic, and in the United Soccer Association with the Cleveland Stokers (Stoke City under another name). His favoured position was wing half. As manager, he took charge of Doncaster Rovers and (briefly) Sheffield Wednesday, and spent several years as assistant manager of the Republic of Ireland.

Playing career

Setters started his career with Exeter City making his debut towards the end of the 1953–54 season. He made ten appearances for the "Grecians" in 1954–55 and impressed enough to tempt First Division West Bromwich Albion to acquire his signature in the summer of 1955. Under the guidance of Vic Buckingham Setters became a regular as the "Baggies" finished in 4th in 1957–58 5th in 1958–59 and 4th again in 1959–60. Setters was included in England's 1958 FIFA World Cup squad as a reserve player, but did not travel to the tournament or play in any matches. In January 1960, he was transferred to Manchester United for a fee of £30,000. Matt Busby signed Setters as a replacement for the injured Wilf McGuinness who had suffered a career ending leg break. Setters developed his reputation for being one of footballs 'hard men' and his combative style earned him the captaincy. A poor 1962–63 league campaign saw Manchester United nearly relegated in the Second Division but they did beat Leicester City 3–1 in the 1963 FA Cup Final. A much improved 1963–64 season brought a 2nd-place finish behind Liverpool. A 7–0 win over Aston Villa early in the 1964–65 season was Setters final game for Manchester United as he was sold to Stoke City for £30,000.

He played 19 times for Stoke in 1964–65 as Stoke claimed a mid-table finish of 11th position. At the end of the campaign, with the squad training for their pre-season in the United States Setters was involved in a 'bust-up' with team-mate Calvin Palmer. Setters apologised to manager Tony Waddington and was allowed to travel to the United States but Palmer did not apologise and was forced to stay in England. Out in America, Setters played nine times for the Cleveland Stokers scoring three goals. He missed just three matches in 1965–66 playing in 45 fixtures. His run in the first team continued in 1966–67 until he sustained injury against Liverpool on 4 March 1967 which allowed Alan Bloor to take his place. After failing to dislodge Bloor, Setters joined Coventry City in November 1967. He made 59 appearances for Coventry in just under three years at Highfield Road and ended his career with a four-month spell with Second Division Charlton Athletic.

Managerial career

Setters spent three and half years as Doncaster Rovers manager in the early 1970s before becoming Jack Charlton's assistant at Sheffield Wednesday in 1977. When Charlton resigned on 27 May 1983, Setters stayed on as caretaker manager for four weeks, although the club played no matches during this period. He later linked up with Jack Charlton again from 1986 to 1995 as assistant manager with the Republic of Ireland senior squad.

Career statistics

Playing career

• Sourced from The English National Football Archive

Club	Season	League			FA Cup		League Cup		Europe		Other		Total
		Division	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
Exeter City	1953–54	Third Division South	1	0	0	0	–		0	0	0	0	1	0
	1954–55	Third Division South	9	0	1	0	–		0	0	0	0	10	0
	Total		10	0	1	0	–		0	0	0	0	10	0
West Bromwich Albion	1955–56	First Division	11	2	3	0	–		0	0	0	0	14	2
	1956–57	First Division	21	1	3	0	–		0	0	0	0	24	1
	1957–58	First Division	27	3	3	0	–		0	0	0	0	30	3
	1958–59	First Division	41	2	3	0	–		0	0	0	0	43	2
	1959–60	First Division	20	2	0	0	–		0	0	0	0	20	2
	Total		120	10	12	0	–		0	0	0	0	132	10
Manchester United	1959–60	First Division	17	0	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	19	0
	1960–61	First Division	40	4	3	0	2	0	0	0	0	0	45	4
	1961–62	First Division	38	3	7	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	45	4
	1962–63	First Division	27	1	6	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	33	1
	1963–64	First Division	32	4	7	0	0	0	4	1	1	0	44	5
	1964–65	First Division	5	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	6	0
	Total		159	12	25	1	2	0	5	1	1	0	192	14
Stoke City	1964–65	First Division	16	1	3	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	19	1
	1965–66	First Division	39	3	1	0	5	0	0	0	0	0	45	3
	1966–67	First Division	28	1	1	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	30	2
	1967–68	First Division	3	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	3	0
	Total		86	5	5	0	6	0	0	0	0	0	97	5
Coventry City	1967–68	First Division	25	1	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	27	1
	1968–69	First Division	17	2	0	0	4	0	0	0	0	0	21	2
	1969–70	First Division	9	0	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	11	0
	Total		51	3	4	0	4	0	0	0	0	0	59	3
Charlton Athletic	1969–70	Second Division	8	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	8	1
	Total		8	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	8	1
Career Total			434	31	47	1	12	0	5	1	1	0	499	33

A. ^ The "Other" column constitutes appearances and goals in the FA Charity Shield.

Managerial career

Team	From	To	Record
			G	W	D	L	Win %
Doncaster Rovers	1 May 1971	15 November 1974	158	47	42	69	29.75

Honours

Manchester United

• FA Cup winner: 1963

External links

Sporting positions
Preceded by Dennis Viollet	Manchester United captain 1960-1962	Succeeded by Noel Cantwell