David Ijaha

David Ijaha

Ijaha captaining Whitehawk in 2017
Personal information
Date of birth	(1990-02-20) 20 February 1990 (age 34)
Place of birth	London, [1] England
Position(s)	Midfielder
Team information
Current team	Cray Wanderers
Youth career
2002–2005	Chelsea
2006–2008	Wolverhampton Wanderers
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
2010–2011	Harrow Borough [2]	39	(2)
2011–2012	St Albans City [3]	62	(3)
2012–2014	Tonbridge Angels [1]	55	(4)
2014	Hayes & Yeading United [3]	7	(0)
2014–2016	Whitehawk [1]	62	(2)
2016–2017	Plymouth Argyle	3	(0)
2017	Wealdstone	3	(0)
2017–2018	Whitehawk	31	(2)
2018–2019	Welling United	35	(3)
2019–2020	Dulwich Hamlet	26	(3)
2020–2021	Dartford	10	(0)
2022	Dartford	0	(0)
2022	→ Whitehawk (loan)	4	(0)
2022–	Cray Wanderers	66	(1)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals, correct as of 17:10, 27 April 2024 (UTC)

David Ijaha (born 17 February 1990) is an English footballer who plays as a midfielder or defender currently for Cray Wanderers. ^[1]

Career

Early career

Ijaha was at his local Chelsea academy for three years as a youngster, being released at the age of 15. Having earned a place at an England Schoolboy training camp he met up with Kyle Bennett who introduced him to Wolverhampton Wanderers, ^[4] where he spent two seasons playing for the U18 side and the reserves, ^[5] before being released. ^[6]

Non-League career

After a spell out of the game, Ijaha joined Harrow Borough in August 2010 and then followed his manager David Howell to Southern Premier Division club St Albans City, where he was made captain. He signed for National League South side Tonbridge Angels in December 2013. ^[6] Following Tonbridge's relegation, Ijaha joined Hayes & Yeading United at the start of the 2014–2015 season, where he had been a long term target of manager Phil Babb. However, he soon moved to National League South rivals Whitehawk ^[7] where he spent two seasons.

Plymouth Argyle

At the start of the 2016–17 season, Ijaha was invited down to Home Park for a trial by Plymouth Argyle's assistant manager Craig Brewster, who had previously coached in Sussex at Whitehawk. Ijaha impressed enough to be offered a contract ^[8] and he made his Football League debut at the age of 27, playing for Plymouth Argyle in a 3–0 loss against Luton Town on 6 August 2016. ^[1] After struggling with a long-term injury, ^[9] Ijaha was released at the end of the 2016–17 season having made three league appearances. ^[10]

Later career

Ijaha had a short spell with National League South club Wealdstone at the beginning of the 2017–18 season, ^[11] before rejoining Whitehawk and being appointed captain in September. ^[12]

After a season at Welling United in 2018–19 and another season at Dulwich Hamlet in 2019–20, Ijaha joined league rivals Dartford for the 2020–21 season. He re-joined Dartford towards the end of the 2021–22 season before going out on loan to former-side Whitehawk. ^[13]

On September 16 2022, Ijaha signed for Cray Wanderers. ^[14]

Personal life

Ijaha was educated at St Thomas More School in Chelsea. ^[4]

Career statistics

As of match played 27 April 2024 ^{[15] [16]}

Appearances and goals by club, season and competition

Club	Season	League			FA Cup		League Cup		Other		Total
		Division	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
Harrow Borough [17]	2010–11	Isthmian Premier	39	2	2	0	—	—	6	0	47	2
	Harrow Borough total		39	2	2	0	0	0	6	0	47	2
St Albans City	2011–12	SFL - Premier Division	40	2	4	0	—	—	2 [lower-alpha 1]	0	46	2
	2012–13		22	1	3	0	—	—	4 [lower-alpha 2]	0	29	1
	St Albans City total		62	3	7	0	0	0	6	0	75	3
Tonbridge Angels	2012–13	Conference South	21	3	—	—	—	—	0	0	21	3
	2013–14		34	1	0	0	—	—	2 [lower-alpha 3]	0	36	1
	Tonbridge total		55	4	0	0	0	0	2	0	57	4
Hayes & Yeading United	2014–15	Conference South	7	0	0	0	—	—	0	0	7	0
	Hayes & Yeading United total		7	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	7	0
Whitehawk	2014–15	Conference South	30	0	3	0	—	—	6 [lower-alpha 4]	0	39	0
	2015–16	National League South	36	2	5	0	—	—	1 [lower-alpha 3]	0	42	2
	Whitehawk total		66	2	8	0	0	0	7	0	81	2
Plymouth Argyle	2016–17	League Two	3	0	1	0	0	0	3 [lower-alpha 5]	0	7	0
Wealdstone	2017–18	National League South	3	0	0	0	—	—	0	0	3	0
Whitehawk	2017–18	National League South	31	2	0	0	—	—	6 [lower-alpha 4]	0	37	2
Welling United	2018–19	National League South	35	3	1	0	—	—	0	0	36	3
Dulwich Hamlet	2019–20	National League South	26	3	0	0	—	—	1 [lower-alpha 3]	0	27	3
Dartford	2020–21	National League South	10	0	0	0	—	—	1 [lower-alpha 3]	0	11	0
	2021–22		0	0	0	0	—	—	1 [lower-alpha 6]	0	1	0
	Dartford total		10	0	0	0	0	0	2	0	12	0
Whitehawk (loan)	2021–22	Isthmian League South East Division	4	0	—	—	—	—	—	—	4	0
Cray Wanderers	2022–23 [18]	Isthmian League Premier Division	28	0	0	0	—	—	2 [lower-alpha 3] [lower-alpha 7]	1	30	1
	2023–24 [19]		38	1	3	1	—	—	3 [lower-alpha 3]	0	44	1
	Cray Wanderers total		66	1	3	1	0	0	5	1	74	2
Career total			407	20	22	1	0	0	38	1	467	21

1. One appearance in the FA Trophy and one in the Southern League Cup
2. One appearance in the Herts Charity Cup, one in the FA Trophy, one in the Southern League Cup and one in the Herts Senior Cup
3. Appearances in the FA Trophy
4. Appearances in the FA Trophy and Sussex Senior Cup
5. Appearances in the EFL Trophy
6. Appearance in the Kent Senior Cup
7. Appearance in the Isthmian League Premier Division Play-Offs

References

1. David Ijaha at Soccerway. Retrieved 8 August 2017. The discrepancy between source and infobox figures for Whitehawk is because Soccerway counts playoff matches in with league matches and Wikipedia does not.
2. "David Ijaha - Harrow Borough Football Club First Team". Pitchero.
3. "David Ijaha". aylesburyunitedfc.co.uk. Aylesbury United FC and Luke Buckingham Brown. Retrieved 11 January 2017.
4. Whitehawk Official Matchday Programme v Chippenham Town, 25 November 2017
5. "Stourbridge 1 Wolves 4". Birmingham Mail. 9 January 2008.
6. "David Ijaha Signs for the Angels - News - Tonbridge Angels". Archived from the original on 22 December 2017. Retrieved 21 December 2017.
7. "Ijaha Makes Hawks Switch". 2 October 2014.
8. "Plymouth sign midfielder Ijaha". BBC Sport. Retrieved 21 December 2017.
9. Cross, Beren (8 August 2017). "David Ijaha secures non-league contract after Argyle exit". Plymouth Herald.
10. Munday, David (10 May 2017). "Plymouth Argyle release nine first team players as retained list is announced". Plymouth Herald. Retrieved 17 July 2017.^{[ permanent dead link ]}
11. "Player news – one in & one out". Wealdstone F.C. 8 August 2017. Retrieved 8 August 2017.
12. "David Ijaha". Whitehawk F.C. Retrieved 13 October 2017.
13. "WADHAMS STRIKES EMPHATICALLY TO LIFT WHITEHAWK OVER HIGH-FLYING RAMSGATE". Whitehawk F.C. Retrieved 20 March 2020.
14. "CRAY WANDERERS SQUAD UPDATE – NEW SIGNING, DAVID IJAHA". Cray Wanderers. Retrieved 16 September 2022.
15. "D. Ijaha - Profile". Soccerway.
16. "Whitehawk FC".
17. "David Ijaha". Pitchero. Retrieved 21 December 2017.
18. "Cray Wanderers | Appearances | David Ijaha | Football Web Pages".
19. "Cray Wanderers | Appearances | David Ijaha | Football Web Pages".