Clayton Ince

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Clayton Ince
Personal information
Full name	Clayton Ince
Date of birth	July 12, 1972 (1972-07-12) (age 35)
Place of birth	Arima, Trinidad and Tobago
Height	6 ft 2 in (1.88 m)
Playing position	Goalkeeper
Club information
Current club	Walsall
Senior clubs1
Years	Club	App (Gls)*
199?-199? 199?-1998 1998–1999 1999–2005 2000 2005–2006 2006–	Fulham FC Memphis Defence Force Crewe Alexandra → Dundee (loan) Coventry City Walsall	00? (?) 00? (?) 00? (?) 123 (0) 000 (0) 001 (0) 091 (0)
National team2
1997-	Trinidad and Tobago	64 (0)
1 Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 20:31, 1 June 2008 (UTC). 2 National team caps and goals correct as of 20 June 2006. * Appearances (Goals)

Clayton Ince (born July 12, 1972) is a Trinidadian football player. He plays as a goalkeeper for English League One side Walsall. He has earned 63 caps playing for Trinidad and Tobago, his debut coming on April 4, 1997 against Barbados (the game ended in a 1-0 defeat for Trinidad and Tobago).

Ince was born in Arima. Somewhat unusually, he began his footballing career as a defender before converting to become a goalkeeper. He played in goal when Trinidad and Tobago qualified for the 1991 FIFA World Youth Championship held in Portugal, although the tournament did not go too well for him (he conceded a total of 12 goals in his nation's three group matches).

Ince began his playing career with the Chaguaramas-based club Defence Force, where he quickly established himself as one of the top goalkeepers in the Caribbean. In 1997 he was named as the Trinidad and Tobago Football Federation's Player of the Year, he has also twice been named as the Best Goalkeeper at the bi-annual Caribbean Cup.

In 1999 he went on trial to the Welsh club Wrexham (who play in the English Football League). Although he played well whilst on trial, the club could not afford to offer him a contract. However, in September of the same year he was offered a contract by Crewe Alexandra, which was accepted by Ince.

Ince spent most of his first two seasons at Crewe as understudy to Jason Kearton, the exception being a one-month loan spell at Dundee,^[1] during which time he did not actually play. After returning to Crewe in November 2000 he was placed on the transfer list, the only club who actively tried to sign him was Wrexham, whose bid failed due to a lack of funds. He was removed from the transfer list in the summer of 2001 when Kearton left the club, Ince went on to establish himself as Crewe's first-choice goalkeeper during the 2000-01 season.

After playing in over 200 games for the club, Ince left Crewe in the summer of 2005 following the expiry of his contract. He signed for fellow Championship side Coventry City on a Bosman transfer.^[2] He failed to establish himself as a first-choice with the club, serving as understudy to successive loan signings Stephen Bywater and Márton Fülöp.

Following Trinidad and Tobago's qualification for the 2006 World Cup, Ince made it publicly known that he wanted to leave Coventry on loan in order to play first-team football. He has stated that without this his place in the Trinidad and Tobago squad for the tournament would be jeopardised; although he is no longer his country's first choice goalkeeper, the tournament perhaps represented his last realistic chance of appearing at the World Cup.

In July 2006, Ince signed for Walsall following a successful trial spell.^[3] He is currently Walsall's first choice goalkeeper and received the League One player of the Month award in November.^[4] In an interview with Walsall's official website, Ince states that he sees the move to Walsall as the springboard to win further international caps.

Ince was named in the PFA League Two Team of the Year for the 2006-07 season.^[5]

[edit] Trivia

• In Ince's last match for Crewe Alexandra, against Coventry City, he was made man-of-the-match.

• In October 2006, Ince was suspended by FIFA for ten days after he refused an international call-up from Trinidad and Tobago.

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Clayton Ince career stats at Soccerbase
• BBC Feature on Clayton Ince

v • d • e Trinidad and Tobago squad - 2006 FIFA World Cup 1 Hislop • 2 Cox • 3 A. John • 4 Andrews • 5 Sancho • 6 Lawrence • 7 Birchall • 8 Gray • 9 Whitley • 10 Latapy • 11 Edwards • 12 Samuel • 13 Glen • 14 S. John • 15 Jones • 16 Wise • 17 Charles • 18 Theobald • 19 Yorke • 20 Scotland • 21 Jack • 22 Ince • 23 Wolfe • Coach: Beenhakker