Player-manager at Salisbury City for the 2009–10 season, he returned to the Football League at Southend United as assistant manager but left the position in December 2010.
He left Eastbourne Borough in April 2017 and went on to work as head of recruitment at Coventry City and Bristol Rovers before becoming caretaker manager of the latter in November 2020.
Born in Newcastle upon Tyne, Widdrington started his career as a Southampton schoolboy trainee at the age of fifteen, having been scouted by the man who brought Alan Shearer to the club, Jack Hixon.
[2][4] Manager Lawrie McMenemy had a Centre of Excellence at Gateshead Stadium, despite the long distance between Southampton and North East England.
Ian Branfoot handed him his "Saints" debut at Everton on 1 March 1992, though it was under his successor, Alan Ball, that Widdrington enjoyed regular football.
[2][5] A tough, no-nonsense midfield player, he survived some frantic managerial changes to carve out a respectable Premier League career over four years for Southampton.
He made a further 21 appearances in the 1995–96 season, scoring twice, as the "Saints" narrowly avoided relegation, but still reached the quarter finals of the FA Cup.
[6] He was not far short of making 100 appearances in total when, in July 1996, Grimsby Town came in with a club record offer of £300,000 – as "Saints" had yet another new manager in Graeme Souness.
[7] Widdrington decided to accept their terms and headed to Blundell Park, turning down rival approaches from Charlton Athletic and Swindon Town as he was convinced by manager Brian Laws's sales pitch.
[5] Grimsby were a struggling First Division side and Widdrington found a lot of disharmony in the dressing room, with Laws quickly departing.
[5] Grimsby suffered relegation at the end of the 1996–97 campaign, although Widdrington did score a memorable goal past Southend United on the last day of the season.
He was sent off against Bury on the final day of the 1998–99 season, and he returned to action as the new club captain in 1999–2000 by getting sent off in the opening minute of a 4–2 defeat at Birmingham City after a dangerous tackle on Paul Furlong.
[14] In January 2005, Horton put him on the transfer list,[15] and Widdrington then decided to call it a day at Macclesfield and in a twist, joined former club Port Vale on a non-contract basis.
[28] He signed both Ronnie Bull and Stuart Anderson from Salisbury, and both Marvin Hamilton and Ellis Remy from Hemel Hampstead, also bringing in goalkeeper Mitch Walker on loan from Brighton & Hove Albion.
After guiding Borough to top of the table with four wins and two draws at the start of the 2014–15 season he was named as Conference South Manager of the Month for the second-successive August.
[32] He left the club by mutual consent on 7 April 2017, leaving Borough 11th in the National League South table, 20 points clear of relegation and 18 adrift of the play-off places.
[37] With the aim of recruiting players on a low wage to try and sell on for a profit, he also brought in: Jonson Clarke-Harris, Abu Ogogo, Anssi Jaakkola, Josh Hare, Tom Davies, Mark Little and Luke Leahy.
[39] He oversaw a 4–3 victory over Chelsea U21 in the EFL Trophy on 18 November, before Paul Tisdale was appointed as permanent manager the following day.
[51] King's Lynn knocked League Two side Doncaster Rovers out of the first round of the FA Cup with a 1–0 win at the Eco-Power Stadium.
[52] On 1 April 2023, following a 1–0 victory to keep his side second in the league, Widdrington's resignation was announced to allow him to take a new role at another club.
[67] Widdrington celebrated his goal for Port Vale against Brentford on 24 October 2000 with five bottles of Budweiser and subsequently crashed his BMW into a set of traffic lights in Hanley early the following morning.