Ian Simon Woan (born 14 December 1967) is an English football coach and former professional footballer who is assistant manager of Premier League side Everton.
As a player, he was a left winger who notably played in the Premier League for Nottingham Forest, where he overall played a decade at the City Ground, winning two promotions and playing in the UEFA Cup. He also had brief spells in the Football League with Barnsley, Swindon Town and Shrewsbury Town, as well as time in Major League Soccer with Columbus Crew and Miami Fusion before finishing his career with lower-league stateside team Syracuse Salty Dogs although in 2007 he briefly came out of retirement with Hucknall Town. Prior to his professional career he had played in Wales with Caernarfon Town and Newtown and with non-league sides Heswall and Runcorn.
Following retirement, Woan returned to Swindon Town as a youth team coach before joining Rushden & Diamonds as a first team coach. He returned to Forest as a youth team coach in 2007 before joining Portsmouth, where in 2009 he took over as caretaker manager. He has since held the role of assistant manager at Watford before joining Burnley. He parted company with Burnley on 15 April 2022. On 30th January 2023, Woan was appointed assistant manager of Everton.
Playing career
Early career
Born in Heswall, Cheshire, Woan started his career in 1985 at Everton but never made a start for the then First Division club. He spent five years playing in the lower leagues, including spells at Heswall, Welsh sides Caernarfon Town and Newtown, and Runcorn. His big break came, aged 22, when on 14 March 1990 he joined first division side Nottingham Forest for a fee of £80,000.
Nottingham Forest
Woan did not make an appearance for the Midlanders in the latter half of the 1989–90 season, his debut coming almost ten months after joining the club. He made his first appearance on 2 January 1991 as a substitute in a 6–2 victory over Norwich City and went on to make 12 appearances that season, scoring three league goals. He started the 1991 FA Cup Final against Tottenham Hotspur, and was taken off after 63 minutes for Steve Hodge. Forest went on to lose the match in extra time.
On 20 April 1992, Woan scored the first goal in a 2–1 victory over Manchester United at Old Trafford, as United's title challenge imploded in the run-in of the last season of the old First Division.
Praised for his languid left foot, attacking flair, crossing and shooting ability, but questioned over his lack of pace, Woan established himself as one of the most prominent figures in the Forest team. Forest finished in third place in the 1994–95 season, booking a UEFA Cup place for the following year.
In the fifth round of the 1995–96 FA Cup, Woan scored two long-range free-kicks, the second from an acute angle, to secure a 2–2 draw with Tottenham. Woan later said "I knew I wouldn't stand a chance [of taking the free kicks] had Stuart [Pearce] not been injured. I've tried that [the second free-kick] a hundred times and it always ends up in the Trent!" Forest went on to win the replay at White Hart Lane 3–1 on penalties after a 1–1 draw, with Woan converting his spot kick. Forest made it to the quarter-finals of both the FA Cup and UEFA Cup in 1995–96 but finished 9th in the league and failed to qualify for Europe. In the penultimate game of the season, Forest faced Newcastle United, who were still hoping to secure their first Premier League title. In an echo of his late intervention in 1992, Woan scored a long distance effort and the game finished 1–1. The title subsequently went to Manchester United.
Following manager Frank Clark's departure in December 1996, Woan's Forest career began to suffer although the winger was the only player to play for the Reds in each year of the 1990s. During his ten-year spell at the club, Woan made 189 league appearances – as well as 32 substitute appearance – delivering 31 goals during his time.
Later career
Upon leaving Forest in 2000, and after a short trial with Bolton Wanderers, Woan signed for Swindon Town and in the 2000/01 season, producing three goals from 25 appearances.
A year later Woan found himself joining American team Columbus Crew. Married to an American wife, the then 33-year-old winger endured a difficult season in Major League Soccer with the team winning just two of their eight opening matches. This led to the replacing of manager Tom Fitzgerald, the man who had secured Woan's contract in America.
At the end of the season, Woan was traded to the Miami Fusion and finished his MLS career with them.