Fraser Franks

Fraser Franks
Personal information
Full nameFraser George Franks[1]
Date of birth22 November 1990
Place of birthHammersmith, England
Height1.88 m (6 ft 2 in)
Playing positionDefender
Club information
Current team
Luton Town
Number2
Youth career
1999–2006Chelsea
2006–2008Brentford
Senior career*
YearsTeamApps(Gls)
2008–2010Brentford0(0)
2009–2010Basingstoke Town (loan)13(2)
2010–2012AFC Wimbledon28(2)
2011Hayes & Yeading United (loan)7(0)
2012Newport County (loan)1(0)
2012–2014Welling United60(4)
2014–Luton Town30(0)
National team
2013–England C5(1)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 18:50 18 October 2014 (UTC).

† Appearances (Goals).

‡ National team caps and goals correct as of 17:11 4 March 2014 (UTC)

Fraser George Franks (born 22 November 1990) is an English professional footballer who plays as a defender for Luton Town.

Career

Brentford

Franks started his career at Chelsea, but was released as a 16-year-old. He then went into the youth team at Brentford and was named as a substitute against Swansea City in a League Cup fixture on 12 August 2008.[2] He was again an unused substitute for a 2–1 FA Cup defeat away to Barrow later that year. He signed his first professional contract in 2008, though remained as an unused substitute for the majority of the 2009–10 campaign and failed to make an appearance.

In September 2009, after struggling to feature for the Bees, Franks joined Conference South side Basingstoke Town on an initial one-month loan, which was later extended until January 2010.[3] He made his debut for the club on 19 September 2009 in a 2–1 victory over Braintree Town, and scored in league wins over Maidenhead United and Weymouth. He made a total of 16 competitive appearances for the club.[4] At the end of the 2009–10 season, Franks was not offered a new contract at Brentford and consequently left the club.[5]

AFC Wimbledon

In July 2010, Franks signed a one-year contract with Conference Premier club AFC Wimbledon. He made his full debut in a televised game against league leaders Crawley Town on 23 September 2010. AFC Wimbledon won the game 2–1, with Franks claiming the Premier Sports man-of-the-match award.[6] He scored his first goals for the club in a 3–0 victory over Cambridge United a week later.[7] Franks became a regular feature in the Dons promotion-winning side during the 2010–11 season, playing in 28 games, though suffered a serious knee ligament injury in a 2–1 defeat to Grimsby Town in March 2011. An operation was required and kept him out of action for six months, causing him to miss the beginning of AFC Wimbledon's first season in the Football League.[8] Despite this, he had played enough games to activate a one-year extension clause in his contract, keeping him at the club until the end of the 2011–12 season.[9]

In September 2011, Franks returned from injury and was sent on loan to Hayes & Yeading United in the league below to gain match fitness. He made seven appearances, but turned down the offer to extend the loan for a further month.[10] On 8 November 2011, Franks made his return to the AFC Wimbledon starting line-up away at Swindon Town in a Football League Trophy fixture; the game finished 1–1 with Swindon winning 3–1 on penalties. Franks was the only member of the AFC Wimbledon team to score his penalty.[11] In March 2012, Franks joined Conference Premier side Newport County on loan for one month to obtain regular first-team football. However, an injury retricted him to making just one appearance for the club.[12]

After making only four appearances in League Two for AFC Wimbledon, Franks was released in May 2012 at the end of his contract.[13]

Welling United

In June 2012, Franks signed for Conference South side Welling United.[14] Wings manager Jamie Day claimed Franks had turned down offers from higher leagues to be guaranteed regular first-team football.[15] Franks went on to make 43 appearances in all competitions for Welling during the 2012–13 season as the club were crowned Conference South champions, winning promotion to the Conference Premier.[16] Franks was named in the league's Team of the Year and signed a new one-year contract shortly afterwards.[17][18] By January 2014, Franks had made a further 29 appearances for the club as they sat in a comfortable mid-table position.

Luton Town

On 17 January 2014, Franks signed for Conference Premier leaders Luton Town for an undisclosed fee after the club activated a release clause in his contract.[19] Due to bad weather postponing the club's games throughout much of the rest of January 2014, Franks did not make his debut until 11 February 2014 against Macclesfield Town. He was named as man of the match by the The Luton News as Luton won the game 2–1.[20] Franks made 17 appearances for Luton in the second half of the 2013–14 season as the club won the Conference Premier title and promotion to the Football League.[21]

International career

In June 2013, Franks was selected for the England C national team and won his first cap in a 6–1 victory over Bermuda.[22] On 19 November 2013, Franks scored his first international goal in a 2–2 draw with Czech Republic U21, a game in which he also captained the side for the first time.[23] Franks went on to earn five caps for the England C team, captaining the side four times, before being ineligible due to Luton Town's promotion to The Football League.

Career statistics

As of match played 19 August 2014.
Club Season League FA Cup League Cup Other Total
DivisionAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoals
Brentford 2008–09 League Two 0000000000
2009–10 League One 0000000000
Total 0000000000
Basingstoke Town (loan) 2009–10[24] Conference South 132201[lower-alpha 1]0162
AFC Wimbledon 2010–11[25] Conference Premier 242202[lower-alpha 1]0282
2011–12[26] League Two 4000001[lower-alpha 2]050
Total 282200030332
Hayes & Yeading United (loan) 2011–12[26] Conference Premier 70000070
Newport County (loan) 2011–12[26] Conference Premier 10000010
Welling United 2012–13[27] Conference South 344504[lower-alpha 1]0434
2013–14[28] Conference Premier 2603000290
Total 6048040724
Luton Town 2013–14[28] Conference Premier 1700000170
2014–15 League Two 2000100030
Total 190001000200
Career total 128812010801498
  1. 1.0 1.1 1.2 Appearance(s) in FA Trophy
  2. Appearance(s) in Football League Trophy

Honours

AFC Wimbledon
Welling United
Luton Town
Individual

References

  1. "Search 1837 to 2006 – Birth, Marriage and Death indexes". FindMyPast.com. Retrieved 4 October 2011.
  2. "MacDonald sings fore Swans". Sky Sports Football. BSkyB. 12 August 2008. Retrieved 20 January 2014.
  3. "Brentford FC defender goes out on loan". Get West London. Trinity Mirror. 18 September 2009. Retrieved 20 January 2014.
  4. "Fraser Franks player profile". Basingstoke Town F.C. Retrieved 9 November 2011.
  5. "Brentford release Mark Phillips and Steve Kabba". BBC Sport. 11 May 2010. Retrieved 20 January 2014.
  6. "AFC Wimbledon 2–1 Crawley Town". BBC Sport. 23 September 2010. Retrieved 20 January 2014.
  7. "AFC Wimbledon 3–0 Cambridge Utd". BBC Sport. 29 September 2010. Retrieved 20 January 2014.
  8. "Dons defender won't be ready for pre-season (archived)". Hounslow, Heston and Whitton Chronicle. Trinity Mirror. 6 June 2011. Retrieved 20 January 2014.
  9. "AFC Wimbledon sign defender Mat Mitchell-King". BBC Sport. 24 June 2011. Retrieved 20 January 2014.
  10. "Franks loaned to Hayes & Yeading". Pitchero Non-League. 23 September 2011. Retrieved 20 January 2014.
  11. "Swindon 1–1 AFC Wimbledon". BBC Sport. 8 November 2011. Retrieved 20 January 2014.
  12. "Newport County sign defender Fraser Franks on loan". BBC Sport. 22 March 2012. Retrieved 20 January 2014.
  13. "AFC Wimbledon release nine players". London 24. Archant Community Media Ltd. 8 May 2012. Retrieved 20 January 2014.
  14. "Franks joins Welling". Kent News. Archant Community Media Ltd. 20 June 2012. Retrieved 20 January 2014.
  15. "Fraser Franks now has a chance to kick-start his career, says Welling United boss Jamie Day". Kentish Football. 19 June 2012. Retrieved 20 January 2014.
  16. "Welling United seal Blue Square Bet South title". BBC Sport. 23 April 2013. Retrieved 20 January 2014.
  17. "Six Kent players in Team of the Year". Kent Sports News. 9 June 2013. Retrieved 20 January 2014.
  18. "Centre back signs new Wings contract". Welling United F.C. 17 June 2013. Retrieved 20 January 2014.
  19. "Former AFC Wimbledon and Brentford defender Fraser Franks leaves Welling United to join Skrill Premier title favourites Luton Town". Kent Online. KM Group. 17 January 2014. Retrieved 20 January 2014.
  20. "Lethal Gray sends Hatters six points clear". Luton Today. Johnston Publishing Ltd. 11 February 2014. Retrieved 12 February 2014.
  21. "Luton Town win Conference Premier and Football League spot". BBC Sport. 15 April 2014. Retrieved 28 April 2014.
  22. "Bermuda 0–6 England C". The Football Association. Retrieved 4 June 2013.
  23. "Hatters duo help England C to Czech Republic draw". Luton Today. Johnston Publishing Ltd. 20 November 2013. Retrieved 20 January 2014.
  24. "Games played by Fraser Franks for Basingstoke in 2009/10". Basingstoke Town F.C. Retrieved 20 January 2014.
  25. Appearances and goals for this season are taken from:
    "Games played by Fraser Franks in 2010/11". Soccerbase. Retrieved 20 January 2014.
    "Basingstoke 0 AFC Wimbledon 1". Wimbledon Guardian. Newsquest Ltd. 25 October 2010. Retrieved 20 January 2014.
  26. 26.0 26.1 26.2 "Games played by Fraser Franks in 2011/12". Soccerbase. Retrieved 20 January 2014.
  27. Appearances and goals for this season are taken from:
    "Games played by Fraser Franks in 2013/14". Soccerbase. Retrieved 20 January 2014.
    "Concord Rangers 1–1 Welling United". Concord Rangers F.C. 22 September 2012. Retrieved 20 January 2014.
    "Welling United 2–1 Concord Rangers". Kentish Football. 26 September 2012. Retrieved 20 January 2014.
    "Welling held by plucky Thurrock". News Shopper. Newsquest Ltd. 6 October 2012. Retrieved 20 January 2014.
    "Thurrock vs Welling United". Thurrock Gazette. Newsquest Ltd. 9 October 2012. Retrieved 20 January 2014.
    "Welling United 1 Bishop's Stortford 3". Kent Online. KM Group. 22 October 2012. Retrieved 20 January 2014.
    "FA Trophy: Cray Wanderers 0 Welling Utd 1". Cray Wanderers F.C. 11 November 2012. Retrieved 20 January 2014.
    "Welling United 2 Newport County 0". Kent Online. KM Group. 26 November 2012. Retrieved 20 January 2014.
    "Woking 0–1 Welling United". Kentish Football. 15 December 2012. Retrieved 20 January 2014.
    "FA Trophy match report: Welling United 1 Grimsby Town 2". Grimsby Telegraph. Local World. 14 January 2013. Retrieved 20 January 2014.
  28. 28.0 28.1 Appearances and goals for this season are taken from:
    "Games played by Fraser Franks in 2013/14". Soccerbase. Retrieved 20 January 2014.
    "Welling through to FA Cup First Round". Welling United F.C. 26 October 2013. Retrieved 20 January 2014.

External links