Aaron Joseph Callaghan (born 8 October 1966) is a football manager and retired player. He played in the Football League for Stoke City, Crewe Alexandra, Oldham Athletic and Preston North End. Playing career Callaghan was born in Dublin and began his career with English club Stoke City progressing through the youth ranks at the Victoria Ground and signed a professional contract in 1984. Stoke were having a woeful 1984–85 season and with the team already relegated Callaghan was given the chance to play First Division football playing in five matches towards the end of the season. He began the 1985–86 season on loan at Crewe Alexandra where he made 10 appearances. On his return to Stoke he played in eight matches under the management of Mick Mills. He made just three appearances for Stoke in 1986–87 and was sold to Oldham Athletic in October 1986. Callaghan remained at Boundary Park for two seasons making 21 appearances before joining Crewe Alexandra in May 1988. He spent four seasons at Crewe helping the side gain promotion in 1988–89 which was followed by relegation in 1990–91. In total he played in 197 games for Crewe scoring ten goals before leaving for Preston North End. He spent two seasons at Deepdale making 44 appearances scoring three goals before returning to Ireland to play for Shelbourne. He then went on to play for Crusaders, St Patrick's Athletic, Dundalk and ended his playing career with Longford Town. International career Callaghan scored in Ireland's U-17 win over Northern Ireland in November 1983. He was in the panel for the 1984 UEFA European Under-18 Football Championship as Liam Tuohy's side made it to the semi-finals in the USSR. On 26 February 1985, he produced a great performance as Ireland beat England 1–0 in the opening qualifying match of the 1986 UEFA European Under-18 Football Championship. He was selected for the 1985 FIFA World Youth Championship finals in the Soviet Union but on 19 August, five days before it was scheduled to start, he was recalled by Stoke City as he was needed for first team duty by manager Mick Mills the following Saturday. However, Callaghan did not play and would not make a senior appearance for the club until six months later. The defender made two Republic of Ireland national under-21 football team appearances, playing alongside Denis Irwin and Pat Dolan in a 0–0 draw in Belgium in