| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Mamady Sidibe[1] | ||
| Date of birth | 18 December 1979 | ||
| Place of birth | Kremis, Kayes Region, Mali | ||
| Height | 1.93 m (6 ft 4 in) [2] | ||
| Playing position | Centre forward | ||
| Club information | |||
| Current club | Stoke City | ||
| Number | 11 | ||
| Youth career | |||
| 1995–1997 | Bagneux | ||
| 1997–1998 | Massy Palaiseau | ||
| 1998–2000 | Red Star 93 | ||
| 2000–2001 | CA Paris-Charenton | ||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps† | (Gls)† |
| 2001–2002 | Swansea City | 31 | (7) |
| 2002–2005 | Gillingham | 106 | (10) |
| 2005– | Stoke City | 168 | (24) |
| National team‡ | |||
| 2002–2008 | Mali | 14 | (0) |
| * Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 17:47, 21 August 2010 (UTC). † Appearances (Goals). |
|||
Mamady Sidibe (born 18 December 1979) is a Malian footballer who plays for Stoke City as a striker. He has previously played for Swansea City and Gillingham. He has played internationally for Mali, making his debut in 2002.
Contents |
Sidibe was born in Kremis, Kayes Region in Mali before his family migrated to France when he was two years old. He lived in Pantin before moving to Bagneux, Hauts-de-Seine where he joined the local under thirteen football team. At the age of 15 he joined Massy Palaiseau, a youth team in the 91st district where he played for a whole season as a defender. He impressed watching scouts and was signed by local team Red Star 93 where he played along with Fousseni Diawara, Samba Diawara, Diomansy Kamara and Abdoulaye Méïté. On the last day of the 1999–2000 season, the coach decided to play him as a striker and he scored his first goal of the season while playing what was his last game for Red Star. The following season, he joined CA Paris-Charenton as a result of Red Star’s financial demise which led to the club almost filing for bankruptcy.[3] He left for England when he was 22 years old to join Swansea City.
Sidibe was signed by Swansea City on 25 August 2001 after a successful trail.[4] He scored on his League debut for The Swans in a 3–1 win over Macclesfield Town on the opening day of the 2001–02 season.[5] He continued his impressive form and produced a man of the match display against Queens Park Rangers in the FA Cup.[6][7] This prompted interest from other clubs.[8] He held talks with Barnsley over a £200,000 transfer in December.[9] However he could not agree personal terms.[10]
After picking up an ankle injury in December Sidibe returned to France however he failed to return on the agreed date and was disciplined by the club.[11] He returned to the club in February 2002 and was offered a new contract which Sidibe rejected.[12]
In August 2002 he joined Gillingham,[13] for whom he scored 13 goals in 115 matches. When Gillingham were relegated at the end of the 2004–05 season, Sidibe declined the offer of a new contract.[14]
In June 2005 Sidibe joined Stoke City,[15] on a free transfer. Tony Pulis who brought Sidibe to Stoke was sacked just four days later,[16][17] At one point Sidibe was one of only two strikers in the entire Stoke squad. He performed as a lone striker for the early stages of the 2005–06 season, keeping Bruce Dyer on the bench. Eventually, new Stoke manager Johan Boskamp signed Sambégou Bangoura to play alongside him in attack. He scored his first goal for City in a 3–1 win against Norwich City in August 2005.[18] However he did not score again for another 15 games.[19] He went on to make 47 appearances during the 2005–06 season scoring seven goals. Sidibe was more prolific during the 2006–07 season scoring nine goals as Stoke narrowly missed out on a play-off place.
Sidibe made 33 appearances for Stoke City in the 2007–08 season, scoring four goals including a vital brace against Bristol City as Stoke were promoted to the Premier League.[20] On 23 August 2008, Sidibe scored the third goal in Stoke City's 3–2 home win against Aston Villa, when Rory Delap's long throw was headed home by Sidibe. This was Stoke's first ever win in the Premier League. Sidibe has since went on to score his second Premier League goal of his career and season against West Bromwich Albion in a 1–0 win against their fellow newly promoted rivals. On 6 December, Sidibe netted his third goal at Newcastle United, to start the fightback from Stoke losing 2–0 to eventually draw 2–2, putting them 13th place in the league. On 12 December, Sidibe suffered a knee injury whilst playing for Stoke City against Fulham at The Britannia Stadium.[21] The injury kept Sidibe out for two months but he injured the same knee again during the warm up for a reserve game against Aston Villa Reserves.[22] It was revealed that he needs surgery and would be out until October.[23]
Sidibe made his return from injury coming on as a second-half substitute in a 2–2 draw with Wolverhampton Wanderers. The decision by the management to rush Sidibe back from injury has come under heavy criticism from supporters. Sidibe thought he scored in a 1–0 defeat at Aston Villa however referee Lee Probert deemed it to be a foul on Stephen Warnock. He made his 150th appearance for city against Fulham on the 6 January 2010 when he scored the third goal in a 3–2 win for Stoke.[24] Sidibe signed a new contract at Stoke in February 2010, extending his stay at the Britannia Stadium until June 2012.[25]
Sidibe snapped his Achilles tendon against Tottenham Hotspur which will rule him out the rest of 2010.[26][27] He returned to first team training in January 2011.[28] He marked his return to the side by scoring in a reserve game against Burton Albion on 8 February.[29] However two days later in a training session Sidibe again snapped his Achilles tendon ending his season.[30] Sidibe admitted he broke down in tears when he snapped his right Achilles tendon for a second time in six months.[31]
After 14 months out Sidibe made his comeback from his injury in a reserve match against Nottingham Forest.[32][33] However in his next reserve match against Port Vale Sidibe suffered more injury woe as he was carried off in the second half with a dislocated knee.[34] After suffering his third serious injury in two years Sidibe admitted that he had considered retiring from football.[35][36]
Sidibe plays at international level for Mali, earning his first cap in 2002.[37] In October 2007 he was stabbed by a spectator during an international match with Togo and suffered what was described as a "horrific injury".[38]
When Mamady was a teenager living in Paris he "fell in with the wrong crowd", his father Souleymane, beat him as punishment for this.
"It was a really bad neighbourhood. A lot of friends went to prison and some died as well because they had nothing to do, just selling drugs." I have lost four good friends, either through gang wars or by accident. My dad was always out looking what I was doing. He was a really hard man and if he saw me walking with some bad guys, when I went back home he would hit or kick me. I was very angry with him at the time but now I understand. I was lucky he was so hard on me. If he hadn't stopped me, I'd have been like them".—Sidibe recounts his tough upbringing in Paris.[39]
Sidibe has a younger brother, Lassana, who in 2009 signed for Dover Athletic, who were managed by the elder Sidibe's former Gillingham team-mate Andy Hessenthaler. In July 2009, Lassana played a pre-season friendly for Stoke's rivals Port Vale, in an attempt to follow Mamady into the Football League.[40] However Lassana was not offered a contract and returned to Dover.
Despite growing up in Paris Sidibe supported their great rivals Marseille.[41]
| Club | Season | League | FA Cup | League Cup | Europe | Other[A] | Total | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | ||
| Swansea City | 2001–02 | 31 | 7 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | – | 1 | 0 | 35 | 8 | |
| Total | 31 | 7 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 35 | 8 | |
| Gillingham | 2002–03 | 30 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 0 | – | 0 | 0 | 34 | 4 | |
| 2003–04 | 41 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 0 | – | – | 45 | 6 | |||
| 2004–05 | 35 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | – | – | 36 | 3 | |||
| Total | 106 | 10 | 4 | 2 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 115 | 13 | |
| Stoke City | 2005–06 | 42 | 6 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 0 | – | – | 47 | 7 | ||
| 2006–07 | 43 | 9 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | – | – | 46 | 9 | |||
| 2007–08 | 35 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | – | – | 37 | 4 | |||
| 2008–09 | 22 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 1 | – | – | 22 | 4 | |||
| 2009–10 | 24 | 2 | 5 | 0 | 1 | 0 | – | – | 30 | 2 | |||
| 2010–11 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | – | – | 2 | 0 | |||
| 2011–12 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | – | 0 | 0 | ||
| Total | 168 | 24 | 12 | 1 | 6 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 186 | 26 | |
| Career total | 305 | 41 | 18 | 4 | 12 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 336 | 47 | |
As of June 2011[42]
| Mali national team | ||
|---|---|---|
| Year | Apps | Goals |
| 2002 | 1 | 0 |
| 2003 | 4 | 0 |
| 2004 | 2 | 0 |
| 2005 | 1 | 0 |
| 2006 | 2 | 0 |
| 2007 | 1 | 0 |
| 2008 | 3 | 0 |
| Total | 14 | 0 |
|
|||||||
|
|||||||
|
|||||