Russell "Russ" Wilcox (born 25 March 1964) is an English former professional footballer who is currently manager of Farsley Celtic. Wilcox played as a defender between 1980 and 2003 and spent the final six years of his career with Scunthorpe United which is where he began working under Brian Laws. Wilcox would act as Laws' assistant at Glanford Park from 2003 to 2006 before following him on to further jobs at Sheffield Wednesday and Burnley. The pair returned to Scunthorpe in 2012 and in November 2013 Wilcox succeeded Laws as manager of the club, taking Scunthorpe to promotion. A poor start to the following year's campaign saw Wilcox sacked from Scunthorpe and he was then recruited by York City. Another poor start to a season saw Wilcox sacked by York City in October 2015. Wilcox came back to Scunthorpe again as the caretaker manager until the end of the 2019–20 season following the dismissal of Paul Hurst. Club career Wilcox was born in Hemsworth, West Riding of Yorkshire. He started his career with Doncaster Rovers as an apprentice, and made his first team debut aged 17 when starting the last match of their 1980–81 Fourth Division promotion winning season, a 1–1 away draw with Mansfield Town on 6 May 1981. His progress the following season was disrupted through injury, and he left for a brief spell with Cambridge United of the Second Division. Wilcox dropped into non-League football to play for Alliance Premier League club Frickley Athletic during 1982–83. He returned to the professional game when he joined Fourth Division club Northampton Town for a £15,000 fee on 30 June 1986. He later played for Hull City, Preston North End and Scunthorpe United. He played the majority of his career at Scunthorpe, where he was signed by Brian Laws in 1997. He eventually became player-assistant manager to Laws in 1999 after the win at Wembley Stadium in the play-off final against Leyton Orient. International career Wilcox earned two caps and scored one goal for the England national semi-pro team, in matches against the Republic of Ireland and Wales in 1986. Coaching and managerial career When Brian Laws was sacked in 2004, Wilcox took temporary control of the Glanford Park club for four games, until Laws was reinstated. When Laws returned to the club, Wilcox reverted to his original role of assistant manager. In 2006, Laws left Scunthorpe when he was