Graham Fenton

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Graham Fenton
Personal information
Full name Graham Anthony Fenton
Date of birth May 22, 1974 (1974-05-22) (age 34)
Place of birth    Wallsend, England
Height 5 ft 10 in (1.78 m)
Playing position Midfielder
Club information
Current club Blyth Spartans
Youth clubs
1990–1992 Aston Villa
Senior clubs1
Years Club App (Gls)*
1992–1995
1994
1995–1997
1997–2000
2000
2000
2000–2001
2001–2003
2002
2003–		 Aston Villa
→ West Bromwich Albion (loan)
Blackburn Rovers
Leicester City
→ Walsall (loan)
Stoke City
St Mirren
Blackpool
→ Darlington (loan)
Blyth Spartans		 030 (3)
007 (3)
027 (7)
034 (3)
009 (1)
005 (1)
026 (2)
015 (5)
006 (1)
116 (9)   
National team2
1994 England U21 001 (0)

1 Senior club appearances and goals
counted for the domestic league only and
correct as of July 21, 2007.
2 National team caps and goals correct
as of 19:56, 19 August 2007 (UTC).
* Appearances (Goals)

Graham Anthony Fenton[1] (born May 22, 1974 in Wallsend, Tyne and Wear) is an English professional footballer. He is currently player-assistant manager at Conference North side Blyth Spartans. He was capped once by England at under-21 level.

[edit] Career

Fenton joined Aston Villa as a trainee in June 1990, turning professional in February 1992.[1] He was loaned out to West Bromwich Albion in January 1994, making his league debut against Leicester City in the same month.[1] His loan spell at Albion was very successful, leaving many Albion fans "bitterly disappointed" when he did not sign permanently.[1] He instead returned to Villa, making his club debut in a 0-0 Premiership draw at home to Manchester City on on February 22, 1994. In March 1994 he played in Villa's League Cup winning side, playing all of the 3-1 victory against Manchester United at Wembley. Fenton made his only appearance for the England Under-21s on 15 November 1994 in a 1-0 win against Ireland U-21s at St James' Park; the team included several future full internationals, including Sol Campbell and Nicky Butt.[2]

In November 1995 Fenton made a £1,500,000 move to reigning Premiership champions Blackburn, but with Alan Shearer and Chris Sutton in rich goalscoring form his first team opportunities were limited. He scored seven times for Blackburn, including two as a late substitute against Newcastle United, the team Fenton has supported since childhood, in April 1996 which effectively ended Newcastle's title challenge.

In August 1997 he moved to Martin O'Neill's Leicester City for a fee of £1,100,000. He scored on his Leicester debut, having replaced Ian Marshall as a late substitute in the 2-1 win away to Liverpool, but again struggled to establish himself, making only 34 league appearances (21 as substitute) over three seasons.

He joined Walsall on loan in March 2000 and had an unsuccessful trial with Barnsley in July 2000.[3] In August 2000 he joined Stoke City on a monthly contract[4] and at the end of the following month signed for St Mirren on a two-year contract.[5]

In August 2001 Fenton joined Blackpool on a free transfer, but once more struggled to establish himself in the first team. He had a spell on loan with Darlington between September and December 2002[6][7] and was one of nine players released by Blackpool manager Steve McMahon in May 2003.[8]

In July 2003 Fenton returned to the North East of England, joining Blyth Spartans.[9] Blyth manager Paul Baker appointed Fenton as player-assistant manager in July 2004.[10] Fenton took over as caretaker-manager of Blyth when Baker left that September,[11] returning to his player-assistant manager role in October 2004 after the appointment of Harry Dunn as manager.[12] In the 2005-06 season he was part of the Spartans' side that gained promotion to the Conference North by winning the Northern Premier League.

[edit] References

  1. ^ a b c d Matthews, Tony (2005). The Who's Who of West Bromwich Albion. Breedon Books, pp. 79-80. ISBN 1-85983-474-4. 
  2. ^ Courtney, Barrie (2004-01-10). England - U-21 International Results 1986-1995 - Details. RSSSF. Retrieved on 2007-08-19.
  3. ^ "Fenton's trial ends with release", BBC Sport, 2000-07-27. Retrieved on 2007-08-19. 
  4. ^ "Fenton joins Stoke on loan", BBC Sport, 2000-08-10. Retrieved on 2007-08-19. 
  5. ^ "Saints swoop for Fenton", BBC Sport, 2000-09-29. Retrieved on 2007-08-19. 
  6. ^ "Darlington sign Fenton", BBC Sport, 2002-09-19. Retrieved on 2007-08-19. 
  7. ^ "Fenton extends Quakers stay", BBC Sport, 2002-10-16. Retrieved on 2007-08-19. 
  8. ^ "Blackpool release nine", BBC Sport, 2003-05-02. Retrieved on 2007-08-19. 
  9. ^ "Fenton coup for Blyth", nonleaguedaily.com, 2003-07-16. Retrieved on 2007-08-19. 
  10. ^ "Blyth appoint Fenton as number two", nonleaguedaily.com, 2004-07-08. Retrieved on 2007-08-19. 
  11. ^ "Baker quits Blyth.......", nonleaguedaily.com, 2004-09-23. Retrieved on 2007-08-19. 
  12. ^ ".....and Dunn lands Spartans Post", nonleaguedaily.com, 2004-10-04. Retrieved on 2007-08-19. 

[edit] External links

Graham Fenton career stats at Soccerbase

Persondata
NAME Fenton, Graham
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Fenton, Graham Anthony
SHORT DESCRIPTION Footballer
DATE OF BIRTH May 22, 1974
PLACE OF BIRTH Wallsend, Tyne and Wear, England
DATE OF DEATH
PLACE OF DEATH