Lewis Cass (footballer)

Lewis Cass

Lewis Cass, Stockport County FC
Personal information
Full name	Lewis Graham Cass [1]
Date of birth	(2000-02-27) 27 February 2000 (age 24) [2]
Place of birth	North Shields, England [2]
Height	1.85 m (6 ft 1 in) [3]
Position(s)	Defender
Team information
Current team	Stockport County (on loan from Port Vale)
Number	32
Youth career
20??–2012	North Shields Juniors
2012–2020	Newcastle United
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
2020–2022	Newcastle United	0	(0)
2020–2021	→ Hartlepool United (loan)	34	(0)
2021–2022	→ Port Vale (loan)	19	(0)
2022–	Port Vale	31	(0)
2024–	→ Stockport County	8	(1)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals, correct as of 12:46, 25 March 2024 (UTC)

Cass as a Port Vale player.

Lewis Graham Cass (born 27 February 2000) is an English professional footballer who plays as a defender for EFL League Two club Stockport County, on loan from EFL League One club Port Vale.

Cass was with Newcastle United from 2012 to 2022. He spent the 2020–21 season on loan at Hartlepool United, who won promotion out of the National League via the play-offs. He spent the first half of the 2021–22 season on loan at Port Vale, before joining the club permanently in July 2022. He was loaned to Stockport County for the second half of the 2023–24 season.

Career

Newcastle United

Cass joined the Academy at Newcastle United from North Shields Juniors at the age of 12. ^[4] He was named on the "Magpies" Premier League bench for the first time on the final day of the 2018–19 season at Fulham, in what was Rafael Benítez’s final game as manager. ^{[5] [6]} He was next named on the bench by new manager Steve Bruce in an FA Cup tie with Rochdale in January 2020. ^[6]

On 1 October 2020, Cass joined National League club Hartlepool United on loan for the 2020–21 season. ^[7] He made his first-team debut two days later as "Pools" recorded a 2–1 win over Aldershot Town. ^[8] He played primarily on the right-hand side of a three-man defence at Hartlepool. ^[5] He signed a new contract with Newcastle in January, keeping him tied to St James' Park until 2022. ^[9] On 9 March, he was sent off 24 minutes into a 1–1 draw at Altrincham. ^[10] He made a total of 37 appearances throughout the campaign, helping Hartlepool to qualify for the play-off quarter-finals in fourth-place. ^[3] Hartlepool went on to secure promotion out of the play-offs, though Cass was not in the matchday squad for the final as he was recovering from a hamstring injury. ^{[11] [4]} Hartlepool manager Dave Challinor tried to bring back Cass to Victoria Park on loan for the following season but was unable to do so due to competition from other clubs. ^[12]

Port Vale

On 12 July 2021, Newcastle United loan manager Shola Ameobi sanctioned a season-long loan move to League Two side Port Vale. ^[13] He was signed by manager Darrell Clarke to compete with James Gibbons at right-back and to provide cover at centre-back. ^[14] He made his debut for the "Valiants" on 10 August, coming on as a 65th-minute substitute for Dan Jones in a 2–1 defeat to Newcastle's Tyne–Wear derby rivals Sunderland in an EFL Cup first round fixture at Vale Park. ^[15] He scored his first goal in professional football in a 5–1 victory over Accrington Stanley in an FA Cup first round match on 6 November. ^[16] He impressed in his 27 appearances for the "Valiants", playing on the right of the back three or at wing-back, and received interest from other lower league clubs in the January transfer window before his season was cut short after he tore his ankle ligaments in training on 27 January. ^{[17] [18]} During his recovery time he provided scouting reports for Port Vale acting manager Andy Crosby in the North East. ^[19] Port Vale went on to win promotion out of the play-offs in May, and Cass said that "I hate watching this on TV, I would rather be a part of it". ^[20]

On 11 June 2022, Port Vale announced that Cass would join the club on a contract of undisclosed length from 1 July; David Flitcroft, the club's director of football, stated that "I spoke to Darrell [Clarke], Andy [Crosby] and Dean [Whitehead] and the way they all spoke about him you could see they admired him... it was a collective decision". ^[21] He started four of the opening five league games of the 2022–23 season, before dropping out of the team to accommodate Will Forrester. ^[22] He missed February and March after being sidelined with a calf strain. ^{[23] [24]}

On 4 November 2023, he put in a man of the match performance in a 0–0 draw at home to Burton Albion after centre-back partner Nathan Smith was sent off, and after the game commented that he felt his physicality had greatly improved over the previous 12 months as he adapted to League One football. ^[25] However, seven days later he made a mistake to give away the equalising goal in a 1–1 draw at Lincoln City, only to come off the bench to score his second career goal in the replay at Burton Albion four days on from the Lincoln game. ^[26]

On 1 February 2024, Cass signed for League Two club Stockport County until the end of the 2023–24 season, reuniting with his former boss at Hartlepool, Dave Challinor. ^[27] He scored his first ever league goal on his debut for the club nine days later, in a 3–1 win at Grimsby Town. ^[28] On 9 March, he won nine aerial duels and also made four clearances and two interceptions as Stockport beat Newport County 1–0; his performance earned himself a place in the EFL Team of the Week. ^[29]

Style of play

Cass is a defender who can play at right-back or centre-back. ^[5]

Career statistics

As of match played 18 March 2024

Club	Season	League			FA Cup		EFL Cup		Other		Total
		Division	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
Newcastle United	2018–19 [3]	Premier League	0	0	0	0	0	0	—		0	0
	2019–20 [3]	Premier League	0	0	0	0	0	0	—		0	0
	2020–21 [3]	Premier League	0	0	0	0	0	0	—		0	0
	2021–22 [3]	Premier League	0	0	0	0	0	0	—		0	0
	Total		0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Newcastle United U21	2018–19 [3]	—	—		—		—		2 [lower-alpha 1]	0	2	0
	2019–20 [3]	—	—		—		—		3 [lower-alpha 1]	0	3	0
	2020–21 [3]	—	—		—		—		2 [lower-alpha 1]	0	2	0
	Total		0	0	0	0	0	0	7	0	7	0
Hartlepool United (loan)	2020–21 [3]	National League	34	0	2	0	—		1 [lower-alpha 2]	0	37	0
Port Vale (loan)	2021–22 [30]	League Two	19	0	3	1	1	0	4 [lower-alpha 1]	0	27	1
Port Vale	2022–23 [31]	League One	19	0	1	0	0	0	4 [lower-alpha 1]	0	24	0
	2023–24 [32]	League One	12	0	2	1	4	0	2 [lower-alpha 1]	0	20	1
	Total		50	0	6	2	5	0	10	0	71	2
Stockport County (loan)	2023–24 [32]	League Two	8	1	—		—		—		8	1
Career total			92	1	8	2	5	0	18	0	123	3

1. Appearances in EFL Trophy
2. Appearance in FA Trophy

References

1. "Lewis Cass :: Lewis Graham Cass :: Port Vale". www.zerozero.pt (in Portuguese). Retrieved 14 September 2021.
2. Lewis Cass at Soccerbase
3. Lewis Cass at Soccerway. Retrieved 1 July 2021.
4. Starforth, Miles (15 June 2021). "The Newcastle United defender making a name for himself away from the club". Shields Gazette. Retrieved 12 July 2021.
5. "Cass joins Port Vale on loan". Newcastle United Football Club. 12 July 2021. Retrieved 12 July 2021.
6. "Report: Lewis Cass set to join Port Vale on loan from Newcastle". Geordie Boot Boys. 12 July 2021. Retrieved 12 July 2021.
7. "Cass completes loan switch to Hartlepool". Newcastle United Football Club. 1 October 2020. Retrieved 12 July 2021.
8. "Hartlepool 2-1 Aldershot Town". BBC Sport. 3 October 2020. Retrieved 12 July 2021.
9. Ryder, Lee (21 January 2021). "New contract for Newcastle United youngster Lewis Cass". ChronicleLive. Retrieved 12 July 2021.
10. Scurr, Dominic (9 March 2021). "Story of the night: Altrincham 1-1 Hartlepool United – 10 man Pools hang on for a point". Hartlepool Mail. Retrieved 12 July 2021.
11. Pilnick, Brent (20 June 2021). "Hartlepool seal dramatic EFL return". BBC Sport. Retrieved 12 July 2021.
12. Scurr, Dominic (12 July 2021). "Hartlepool United miss out on re-signing Lewis Cass on loan from Newcastle United with defender having medical with League Two rivals Port Vale". Hartlepool Mail. Retrieved 12 July 2021.
13. Ryder, Lee (12 July 2021). "Newcastle youngster Lewis Cass joins Port Vale". ChronicleLive. Retrieved 12 July 2021.
14. Baggaley, Michael (12 July 2021). "Port Vale make Newcastle United's Cass 12th signing of summer". StokeonTrentLive. Retrieved 12 July 2021.
15. "Port Vale 1-2 Sunderland". BBC Sport. 10 August 2021. Retrieved 10 August 2021.
16. "Port Vale 5-1 Accrington Stanley". BBC Sport. 6 November 2021. Retrieved 8 November 2021.
17. Baggaley, Michael (11 June 2022). "Darrell Clarke verdict as Port Vale sign Lewis Cass from Newcastle". StokeonTrentLive. Retrieved 13 June 2022.
18. Baggaley, Michael (28 January 2022). "Port Vale's Newcastle loan defender Lewis Cass ruled out for season". StokeonTrentLive. Retrieved 28 January 2022.
19. Baggaley, Michael (18 March 2022). "Lewis Cass still helping Port Vale despite season-ending injury". StokeonTrentLive. Retrieved 20 March 2022.
20. Baggaley, Michael (13 June 2022). "Lewis Cass talks Port Vale return after transfer from Newcastle". StokeonTrentLive. Retrieved 13 June 2022.
21. Mounteney, Luke (11 June 2022). "Lewis Cass to join the Valiants". Port Vale F.C. Retrieved 11 June 2022.
22. "Lewis Cass | "We have got a really tight-knit group and we are only looking to progress"". Port Vale F.C. 4 November 2022. Retrieved 5 November 2022.
23. Baggaley, Michael (17 February 2023). "Port Vale injury update on defenders Lewis Cass and Dan Jones". StokeonTrentLive. Retrieved 17 February 2023.
24. Baggaley, Michael (2 April 2023). "Port Vale confirm Ben Garrity and Lewis Cass injury setbacks". StokeonTrentLive. Retrieved 2 April 2023.
25. Baggaley, Mike (6 November 2023). "Taking chances and limited options as Port Vale prepare for Wrexham". Valiant's Substack. Retrieved 12 November 2023.
26. Baggaley, Mike (15 November 2023). "Outstanding Port Vale overcome absences with FA Cup win". Valiant's Substack. Retrieved 15 November 2023.
27. "Lewis Cass: Stockport County sign Port Vale defender on loan". BBC Sport. 1 February 2024. Retrieved 1 February 2024.
28. "Grimsby Town 1-3 Stockport County". BBC Sport. 10 February 2024. Retrieved 11 February 2024.
29. "See who made the EFL Team of the Week". EFL. 11 March 2024. Retrieved 15 April 2024.
30. "Games played by Lewis Cass in 2021/2022". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 1 July 2021.
31. "Games played by Lewis Cass in 2022/2023". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 1 July 2021.
32. "Games played by Lewis Cass in 2023/2024". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 1 July 2021.