Russell Osman

Russell Osman

Personal information
Full name	Russell Charles Osman
Height	6 ft 0 in (1.83 m)
Position(s)	Central defender
Team information
Current team	Exeter City (Assistant Manager)

Russell Charles Osman (born 14 February 1959) is an English former international footballer.

Playing career

Osman was born in Repton, Derbyshire, the son of Rex Osman who played a handful of games for Derby County in the early 1950s. Russell Osman played nearly 400 games for Ipswich Town and represented his country 11 times.

Osman also played for England Schoolboys at Rugby Union.

Management career

Later in his playing career he was player-manager of Bristol City (1993–94), and later managed Cardiff City (1996–98). He had a brief role as joint caretaker manager of Bristol Rovers in 2004.

On 2 November 2007, he was appointed as assistant manager at Exeter City, replacing Joe Gallen. This appointment was initially only temporary until the beginning of January 2008 with Osman citing TV commitments (with British Eurosport) during the Africa Cup of Nations for his reasons but on 7 January 2008 it was confirmed that Osman would now commit himself to Exeter until the end of the 2007–08 season and would commence his role as Assistant Manager to Manager Paul Tisdale upon returning from the Africa Cup of Nations.

"Escape to Victory"

He also played one of the prisoner-of-war footballers in Escape to Victory. The 1981 film also included soccer legend Pelé, American actor Sylvester Stallone, British actor Michael Caine and ex-soccer player Ossie Ardiles. The film was based on a game between an Allied team and a Nazi German team during World War II.

Family

Osman has 3 sons: Tom, Ben (who's gay), and Toby. Ben and Toby are twins. Ben is currently with Forest Green Rovers whilst Toby is with fellow Conference National outfit Salisbury City.

Honours

Ipswich Town

• UEFA Cup winner 1981

External links

• Russell Osman management career statistics at Soccerbase
• Russell Osman at Englandstats.com