Gavin Gordon (footballer)

Gavin Gordon

Personal information
Full name	Gavin Kenyatta Gordon [1] [2]
Date of birth	(1979-06-24) 24 June 1979 (age 44)
Place of birth	Manchester, England
Height	6 ft 1 in (1.85 m) [3]
Position(s)	Striker
Youth career
	Hull City
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
1995–1997	Hull City	38	(9)
1997–2000	Lincoln City	99	(29)
2000–2004	Cardiff City	50	(6)
2002	→ Oxford United (loan)	6	(1)
2004–2006	Notts County	33	(5)
2006	Crawley Town	4	(0)
2007–2008	Histon	0	(0)
2012–2013	Sleaford Town	7	(3)
2013–2014	Three Bridges	2	(0)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Gavin Kenyatta Gordon (born 24 June 1979) is an English former professional footballer who played as a striker.

Gordon played in the Football League between 1995 and 2006, playing for Hull City, Lincoln City, Cardiff City, Oxford United and Notts County. In 2006, he moved into Non-league football and appeared for Crawley Town and Histon before retiring in 2008. In 2012, he joined the coaching staff of Sleaford Town and also shortly afterwards he came out of retirement as well as continuing his role as a coach.

In November 2013, Gordon signed for Three Bridges. ^[4]

Career

A youth player at Hull City, Gordon became the second youngest player to ever play for them when he came on as a substitute against Coventry City in the Football League Cup. But he struggled to ever establish himself at Hull and was allowed to leave and join Lincoln City for £30,000 in November 1997 where he formed a very effective strike partnership with Lee Thorpe. His scoring feats at Lincoln lead Cardiff City ^[5] to pay £550,000 for him in December 2000, with the amount due to rise depending on appearances ^[6] but he never reached the required amount. He scored his first goal for Cardiff on 1 January 2001 with a header during a 6–1 victory over Exeter City, but the rest of his season was spent on the treatment table with persistent back problems. The same injury ruled him out of a large part of the following year, although one of the matches he did manage to play in was a Football League Trophy match against Rushden & Diamonds which ended in a 7–1 victory for Cardiff with Gordon finding the net five times. ^[7]

He spent a short time on loan at Oxford United to gain fitness. At Oxford he scored the winning goal on his debut against York City ^[8] before returning to Ninian Park where he finally broke into the first team but at the end of the year he was released. He was signed by Notts County where he managed to regain some of the form he showed at Lincoln. After a stuttering second year he left ^[9] to join Crawley Town ^[10] on a free transfer but suffered a serious injury during the season which has seen him out of action for over a year. He signed for Histon at the start of the 2007–08 season but did not make an appearance for them due to the injury. He then went on to play for Heckington, amateur side.^{[ citation needed ]}

In October 2012, he was appointed to act as coach to Kris Jones who had taken over the running of Sleaford Town's reserve team in the Lincolnshire Football League. ^[11] He also made occasional appearances for the team, debuting in the 2–0 home defeat to Grimsby Borough Reserves on 13 October 2012 ^[12] and making 3+4 league appearances in which he netted three times including a brace against Louth Town Reserves. ^[13] In June 2013, with Kris Jones having been promoted to first team manager, Gordon stepped up to become first team coach at Sleaford Town with his one-time Lincoln City teammate Terry Fleming acting as assistant manager. ^[14]

Personal life

Gordon now works as a postman for Royal Mail and lives in Sleaford. ^[15]

Career statistics

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
Hull City	1995–96	Second Division	13	3	0	0	2	0	0	0	15	3
	1996–97	Third Division	20	4	0	0	2	1	1	0	23	5
	1997–98	Third Division	5	2	0	0	1	0	0	0	6	2
	Total		38	9	0	0	5	1	1	0	44	10
Lincoln City	1997–98	Third Division	13	3	4	0	0	0	1	0	18	3
	1998–99	Second Division	27	5	0	0	0	0	2	0	29	5
	1999–2000	Third Division	41	11	3	1	2	1	1	0	47	13
	2000–01	Third Division	18	10	2	1	0	0	0	0	20	11
	Total		99	29	9	2	2	1	4	0	114	32
Cardiff City	2000–01	Third Division	10	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	10	1
	2001–02	Second Division	15	2	2	1	1	0	1	5	19	8
	2002–03	Second Division	10	2	0	0	0	0	1	1	11	3
	2003–04	First Division	15	1	0	0	1	0	0	0	16	1
	Total		50	6	2	1	2	0	2	6	56	13
Oxford United (loan)	2002–03	Third Division	6	1	0	0	1	0	0	0	7	1
Notts County	2004–05	League Two	27	5	4	3	0	0	1	0	32	8
	2005–06	League Two	6	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	7	0
	Total		33	5	5	3	0	0	1	0	39	8
Crawley Town	2005–06	Conference National	4	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	4	0
Histon	2007–08	Conference Premier	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Career total			230	50	16	6	10	3	8	6	264	65

References

1. Hayes, Dean (2006). The Who's Who of Cardiff City. Derby: Breedon Books. p. 75. ISBN   1-85983-462-0.
2. "Cork fails to keep it bottled up". The Guardian. 12 February 2001. Retrieved 28 November 2016.
3. Rollin, Glenda; Rollin, Jack, eds. (1997). Rothmans Football Yearbook 1997–98 (28th ed.). London: Headline Publishing Group. p. 461. ISBN   9780747277385. OCLC   1194925023.
4. "Leatherhead too strong for Three Bridges, to the power of four goals". Your Local Guardian. 18 November 2013. Retrieved 19 March 2023.
5. "Gordon signs for Cardiff" BBC Sport Retrieved on 9 January 2008
6. "Gordon deal depends on Jamaica" BBC Sport Retrieved on 9 January 2008
7. "Cardiff 7–1 Rushden". BBC. 16 October 2001. Retrieved 20 August 2012.
8. "York 0–1 Oxford". BBC. 28 September 2002. Retrieved 20 August 2012.
9. "Gordon confirms Notts County Exit" BBC Sport Retrieved on 9 January 2008
10. "Crawley bring in striker Gordon" BBC Sport Retrieved on 9 January 2008
11. "Jones in new reserve manager". Sleaford Town F.C. Official Website. 7 October 2012. Retrieved 10 June 2013.
12. "Gavin Gordon's 2012–13 Playing Statistics". Football.mitoo.co.uk. Retrieved 10 June 2013.
13. "Good form goes on for reserves". Sleaford Standard. 7 December 2012. Retrieved 10 June 2012.
14. "Former professionals join management team". Sleaford Town F.C. Official Website. 8 June 2013. Retrieved 10 June 2013.
15. "Lincoln fan stunned to find out his postman is former Imps striker". 17 October 2018.

External links

• Gavin Gordon at Soccerbase
• Unofficial Gavin Gordon Profile at The Forgotten Imp
• Gavin Gordon career statistics