| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Ross Michael Greenwood | ||
| Date of birth | 1 November 1985 | ||
| Place of birth | York, England | ||
| Height | 5 ft 11 in (1.80 m) | ||
| Playing position | Full back/Midfielder | ||
| Club information | |||
| Current club | Gainsborough Trinity | ||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps† | (Gls)† |
| 2002–2003 | Manchester United | 0 | (0) |
| 2004–2005 | Sheffield Wednesday | 2 | (0) |
| 2005–2006 | Stockport County | 22 | (0) |
| 2006–2008 | York City | 19 | (0) |
| 2008 | → Gainsborough Trinity (loan) | ? | (?) |
| 2008– | Gainsborough Trinity | 0 | (0) |
| * Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 19:53, 9 May 2008 (UTC). † Appearances (Goals). |
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Ross Michael Greenwood (born 1 November 1985 in York, England) is an English footballer, currently playing for Gainsborough Trinity.
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Greenwood was born in York and grew up in the village of Copmanthorpe. He attended Copmanthorpe primary school and then went on to Tadcaster Grammar School.
He started to play football from an early age and initially played for his school side and also Copmanthorpe Junior Football Club, where he played in the Under 9s team. It was while playing for Copmanthorpe that he was spotted by York City's Centre of Excellence. He soon joined the Under 11s and was coached by City's Colin Sanderson and then progressed into the Under 12s side, where he was coached by John Stockton and Garry Naylor. He spent two years with York City in total and also played regularly for Copmanthorpe and for York School Boys.
At only 12 years of age, Greenwood was contacted by Nottingham Forest and asked to join them for a two weeks trial period. Greenwood was set to travel to Nottingham, when out of the blue, he received a call from Manchester United urging him to join them instead. Although Greenwood's father is an ardent Leeds United fan and found the prospect of his son joining Manchester United totally devastating, he put all sense of rivalry behind him and recognized his son could not miss out on this opportunity of a lifetime.
He joined the Manchester United Under 13s side as a right back and occasional centre half and played in the same team as Chris Eagles and Chesterfield's Phil Picken, as well as training with older players such as Kieran Richardson. His coach at the time was Paul McGuinness, the son of former York manager and Manchester United player, Wilf McGuinness and Greenwood would regularly train at Manchester United's Carrington training ground where he would see many of the first team players preparing for Premiership games. Greenwood says the players who really stood out on the training ground were David Beckham, Juan Sebastián Verón, Gary Neville and Roy Keane. Their talents were truly inspirational, and in particular, Gary Neville and David Beckham also proved to be very encouraging, taking time out to talk to Greenwood and the other younger players. Manchester United's Manager, Sir Alex Ferguson, also proved an inspirational character for Greenwood. He distinctly remembers entering his office with some of his team mates to be faced with a large photo of the famous Lunchtime atop a Skyscaper scene, where in 1932 New York construction workers were pictured lunching high up on a cross beam. Alex Ferguson used this photo to explain the essence to team work, explaining it is all about trust and if one person makes an error it could jeopardize the work of the whole team. Greenwood has always remembered this lesson and has tried to play football based on this principle. Greenwod was not accepted on Manchester United's youth trainee programme and was released by the club. However, soon after Greenwood received offers from 23 clubs including Aston Villa and Blackburn Rovers.
Yorkshire club Sheffield Wednesday was the most persistent and Greenwood felt this was the right move for him. He was signed by academy director, Jimmy Shoulder and the first team manager at the time was Terry Yorath. Ross had to wait until Wednesday 22 September 2004 for his first professional start. He played at right back in a League Cup 1-0 defeat to Coventry City who were a Division above Wednesday at the time. Assistant manager Mark Smith singled him out for praise for dealing with opponents who were recently in The Premiership for example, Stern John. After this impressive start, Greenwood only made two more substitute appearances before being deemed not good enough by new manager Paul Sturrock.
He then moved to Stockport County for the 2005–06 season,[1] appearing for the club 25 (22 times in the league), while with the club he played in defence although he is normally a midfield player.
A move back to Yorkshire and his hometown came in 2006 as he was signed by Conference National side York City.[2] Greenwood was offered a new contract by York City at the end of the 2006–07 season on 16 May 2007.[3]
He joined Gainsborough Trinity on loan in January 2008.[4] He was released by York in April 2008,[5] after which he set up a plastering and tiling business with former York teammate Chaz Wrigley whilst playing part-time for Gainsborough Trinity.[6]
| Club | Season | League | FA Cup | League Cup | Other | Total | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| App | Goals | App | Goals | App | Goals | App | Goals | App | Goals | ||
| Manchester United | 2002–03 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Subtotal | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| Sheffield Wednesday | 2004–05 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 0 |
| Subtotal | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 0 | |
| Stockport County | 2005–06 | 22 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 26 | 0 |
| Subtotal | 22 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 26 | 0 | |
| York City | 2006–07 | 12 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 12 | 0 |
| 2007–08 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 7 | 0 | |
| Subtotal | 19 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 19 | 0 | |
| Total | 43 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 49 | 0 | |
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