Joyce was born in Oldham, Lancashire, the son of Walter Joyce, the former Burnley, Blackburn Rovers and Oldham Athletic player, and began his career as a trainee with Bolton Wanderers in 1981. He broke into the first team as a midfielder and in six years made a total of 221 appearances for Bolton, scoring 21 goals.
In October 1987, however, Preston North End manager John McGrath offered £35,000 for his services. With Joyce's father Walter now a coach at Deepdale, Joyce decided to make the move. Over the next five years, he became a popular figure at Preston earning himself the nickname "Psycho", due to his never-say-die commitment to the cause. In all he played 208 matches for the Lilywhites scoring 44 goals, winning the club's player of the year award and being made club captain. However, when Plymouth Argyle made a £160,000 offer for him in May 1992, Preston were forced to accept and he was on his way to Home Park.
Plymouth Argyle and Burnley
His stay in Devon was short, with Joyce playing only 40 games and scoring four goals in his year there. When Burnley offered £140,000 for him in July 1993 Plymouth decided to cash in, he was on his way back to Lancashire. In three years at Turf Moor he played 90 games and scored 12 goals.
Hull City
A loan stay though at Hull City in January 1995 paved the way for a permanent deal 18 months later, and in July 1996 Joyce signed for Hull. He went on to play a total of 170 games for Hull scoring 19 goals, becoming club captain at Boothferry Park. Later in November 1998 he was asked to stand in as caretaker manager following the departure of Mark Hateley. City soon made the appointment permanent with Joyce taking on the dual role of player-manager. At the time of his appointment, City were rooted to the foot of the 4th Division table and looked to be heading out of the Football League – and into bankruptcy. However, under Joyce's stewardship, City staged a remarkable turnaround and achieved survival with games to spare; City fans christened this season "the Great Escape".
Coaching and managerial career
Hull City's chairman decided to replace Joyce as manager with the more experienced and well-known Brian Little. In all, Joyce's playing career spanned 19 years scoring 100 goals in 731 appearances for his various clubs. He has since held coaching roles with Leeds United, Stockport County and Tranmere Rovers. On 11 September 2006, Joyce was appointed coach of Royal Antwerp. He was introduced to this team by his former colleague Andy Welsh who was the assistant coach at Royal Antwerp on a loan basis from Manchester United. On 26 May 2008, it was announced that Joyce would leave Antwerp for Manchester United, where he would be co-managing the reserves along with former United striker Ole Gunnar Solskjær. He took sole charge in December 2010, when Solskjær left to manage Molde FK. In November 2011, Joyce was linked with a possible return to Hull City as a replacement for Nigel Pearson, but ultimately opted to remain at Manchester United. On 2 November 2016, Joyce was appointed manager of Championship club Wigan Athletic on a three-and-a-half-year contract. However, after managing just 6 wins out of 24 matches, he parted company with Wigan on 13 March 2017, four months after first joining the club. On 19 June 2017, Joyce was announced as the new manager of Australian A-League club Melbourne City. In July 2019 he was appointed as coach for Salford City's first development squad.
