Gill, Matthew

Birth Date

8th November 1980

Birthplace

Chatham, Kent

Occupation

Midfielder

Biographical Text

Matt Gill joined Exeter City midway through the club’s third season in the Conference and missed very few games during the following three-and-a-half years as the Grecians rose to League One. He left to join Norwich City and was also to appear for Bristol Rovers before returning to St James’ Park on loan. He later coached at clubs such as Ipswich Town, MK Dons and Swansea City.       

Matt began his career as a trainee with Peterborough United and, after signing a full contract in March 1998, went on to feature in 169 matches for the Posh before moving to Notts County in June 2004. After a successful first season at Meadow Lane, Matt fell out of favour and moved to Exeter City on a free transfer in January 2006. 

Making his Grecians' debut at Morecambe on 21 January 2006, and scoring his first goal in the home win over Dagenham & Redbridge, Matt quickly clocked-up sixteen league appearances by the end of the season. With the reward of a new contract in May 2006, as Mansfield Town and Peterborough United looked on, Matt made fifty league and cup appearances during 2006/07 as the season ended in play-off final disappointment at the hands of Morecambe. But Matt’s consistency won him the Players' Player of the Year award ahead of another fifty games the following season when City ultimately prevailed in the play-off final against Cambridge United. The only real blot on Matt’s first two full seasons with the Grecians came when, in the 2007 final, he became the first player to be sent off at the ‘new’ Wembley. 

With City back in the Football League, Matt was an integral part of the team which secured successive promotions when he played forty-six league and cup games as Exeter finished runners-up. Scoring nine times along the way that season, Matt was now attracting the attention of other clubs and - with 150 league games under his belt for City - agreed terms with Norwich City in June 2009.    

Matt’s Carrow Road career never got going and, after just a dozen outings, was first loaned to Peterborough United and then Walsall (for whom he made his debut at Exeter). Then, upon his release from Norwich in May 2011, Matt moved to Bristol Rovers where - after being made club captain and enjoying a busy first season - he gradually faded from the scene and was eventually loaned to Exeter City.

Arriving back at St James’ Park in October 2013, Matt made his re-appearance in Exeter’s colours against Burton Albion on 26 October but, unlike his previous stay at the club, fell short of being an out-and-out regular as he added 24 league appearances to his Grecians’ tally.            

Released by his parent club in May 2014, Matt signed for Tranmere Rovers as player-coach becoming assistant manager to Rob Edwards three months later. However it was to be the briefest of partnerships and both were gone from Prenton Park by November 2014 with Matt returning to Norwich as an academy coach prior to working as first-team coach at Ipswich Town between October 2018 and May 2021. Having overseen one game as caretaker manager whilst at Portman Road, Matt soon found a role as technical development coach at MK Dons prior to following manager Russell Martin to Swansea City where - ahead of the 2022/23 season - he became assistant head coach. 

A year later, when Russell Martin took charge of Southampton, Matt accompanied him to St Mary's as assistant head coach. 

Appearances

Exeter City

League 178 (play-offs 6); Cups 11 (189)

Goals

League 14

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