Frank Yallop (born April 4, 1964 in Watford) is an English-born Canadian former professional soccer player. He is currently the head coach of San Jose Earthquakes in Major League Soccer.
Yallop spent the majority of his playing career in England, spending 13 years and making over 300 appearances for Ipswich Town, including playing in the first three seasons of the Premier League. He also played in Major League Soccer for the Tampa Bay Mutiny, and earned 52 caps for the Canada national football team.
Playing career
Club
Although he grew up in Vancouver, Yallop played professional football for nearly 20 years in England and the United States. In 1983, at age 19, Yallop signed a professional contract with Ipswich Town, for whom he would play 385 games (in all competitions), scoring 8 goals. For most of his Ipswich career, he played alongside fellow Canadian Craig Forrest.
After a lengthy career in England, Yallop returned to North America in 1996, when he signed with Major League Soccer and was drafted 57th overall by the Tampa Bay Mutiny in the MLS Inaugural Player Draft. After three seasons with the Mutiny, in which he started practically every game, Yallop retired from professional football at the end of the 1998 season.
International
Missing out on Canada's only World Cup participation in 1986, Yallop only made his debut for Canada at 26 years of age in a May 1990 North American Championship match against the United States. Since this game strangely was not official his real debut came a few days later in the same tournament against Mexico. He earned 52 caps, scoring no goals. He has represented Canada in 27 FIFA World Cup qualification matches[1]. His final international was a November 1997 World Cup qualification match against Costa Rica.
Coaching career
Yallop began his coaching career in 1998 with the US Project-40 team, taking the team on a 5 game tour of England. Following the tour, he became assistant coach for the Tampa Bay Mutiny. In 2000 he became chief assistant coach for D.C. United under Thomas Rongen.
In 2001, Yallop was named head coach for the San Jose Earthquakes, just two days before the MLS SuperDraft. During the pre-season, Yallop acquired Jeff Agoos, Landon Donovan, Dwayne DeRosario, Manny Lagos, Ramiro Corrales and Ronnie Ekelund, as well as assistant coach Dominic Kinnear. In his first year, Yallop proceeded to lead the San Jose Earthquakes to their first MLS Championship.
In 2003, the Earthquakes, under Yallop, were able to win their second MLS title. In 2004, despite still having a year left on his contract, Yallop left the Earthquakes to become head coach of the Canadian National Team. In 2005 he was inducted to the Canadian Soccer Hall of Fame.
Yallop was named the 2001 MLS Coach of the Year and was named the Mutiny's Defender of the Year in both 1997 and 1998.
On June 7, 2006, Yallop resigned as coach of the Canadian men's national soccer team, as he was announced as the new head coach of Los Angeles Galaxy. On November 4, 2007 it was revealed that Yallop was being bought out of his contract with the Galaxy to become the head coach of the San Jose Earthquakes once again for the 2008 season[2][3], with Dutch legend Ruud Gullit taking his place.
Honours
As a player
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- 1992
As a manager
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- 2001, 2003
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- 2001
See also
References
External links
