Andy Welsh

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Personal information
Andy Welsh

Full name	Andrew Peter David Welsh
Date of birth	November 24, 1983 (1983-11-24) (age 24)
Place of birth	Manchester, England
Playing position	Midfielder
Senior clubs¹
Years	Club	App (Gls)*
2001-2004 2002 2004-2007 2006 2006-2007 2007 2007-2008	Stockport County → Macclesfield Town (loan) Sunderland → Leicester City (loan) → Leicester City (loan) Toronto Blackpool	75 (3) 06 (2) 21 (1) 10 (1) 07 (0) 20 (1) 21 (0)
¹ Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 22:48, 4 March 2008 (UTC). * Appearances (Goals)

Andrew Peter David "Andy" Welsh (born November 24, 1983 in Manchester, England) is an English footballer currently without a club after being released by Blackpool.

[edit] Career

Left-footed Welsh made his professional début for Stockport County in October 2001, going on to make 75 appearances in his three years at the club. He also made six appearances on loan at Macclesfield Town in 2002.

After impressing in a three day trial with Sunderland in November 2004, Welsh signed for the club, who paid an initial fee of £15,000 for his services, although this fee may have risen to as much as £35,000, depending on the amount of appearances he made. Upon signing for Sunderland he was allocated the vacant number 11 shirt, and made his club debut in a 3-2 defeat to Preston North End on New Years Day 2005, replacing Marcus Stewart in the 68th minute.

Welsh made his first start for Sunderland a week later on 8 January 2005, scoring a free kick in a 2-1 victory against Crystal Palace. Welsh went on to make eight appearances that season, scoring again, against QPR at Loftus Road on 2 April.

After Sunderland's promotion to the Premier League, Welsh retained the number 11 shirt, starting the season in place of injured defender George McCartney. However, Welsh was controversially sent off in only the second game of the season against Liverpool at Anfield on 20 August 2005, although the decision was later overturned on appeal.

Welsh found himself out of the Sunderland team after Christmas, and many thought he had played his last game for the club after he was loaned to Championship club Leicester on 1 March 2006. Welsh went on to make ten appearances for Leicester, scoring one goal.

Four days after playing his last game for Leicester, Welsh was back at Sunderland, playing in the club's last two games, against Fulham and Aston Villa, under new caretaker manager Kevin Ball. Following the transfer of popular midfielder Julio Arca to Middlesbrough in the summer, Welsh was expected to start the season as first choice winger, however, new chairman Niall Quinn who at the time was also manager of the club, decided to strip Welsh of his regular number 11 shirt, instead allocating him the number 17 shirt.

Welsh picked up an injury during a pre-season win against FAI League of Ireland club, Shelbourne, prompting Quinn and new manager Roy Keane to sign Swedish winger Tobias Hysen and Celtic midfielder Ross Wallace to fill the left-midfield role. Welsh subsequently re-joined Leicester on loan when he regained fitness, although he managed only four league starts for them, and returned to Sunderland in the New Year. Coincidentally, Sunderland's next game was against Leicester at the Walkers Stadium, where Welsh was named as an unused substitute.

After failing to break back into Sunderland's first team, it was announced in March 2007, that Welsh would be heading to Canada for a medical before signing a contract with Major League Soccer (MLS) club, Toronto FC, after the clubs agreed a deal to end his contract at Sunderland.^[1]

On 16 May, 2007, Welsh scored his first goal for Toronto in a 1-0 home win over defending MLS champions, Houston Dynamo.^[2] Fans subsequently voted him "Man of the Match" on the club's official website.

On 30 August, 2007, it was reported that Welsh would be leaving Toronto for Blackpool, ^[3] who he signed for the following day.^[4] On 7 May 2008 he was released by Blackpool.^[5]