Stuart Elliott (footballer born 1978)

Football player infobox
playername = Stuart Elliott


fullname = Stuart Elliott
nickname = Billy, St.Stuart
dateofbirth = birth date and age|1978|7|23
cityofbirth = Belfast
countryofbirth = Northern Ireland
height = 5'10' (178cm)
currentclub = Doncaster Rovers
position = Midfielder
clubnumber = 25
youthyears =
youthclubs =
years = 1998–2000
2000–2002
2002-2008
2008
2008-
clubs = Glentoran
Motherwell
Hull City
→Doncaster Rovers (loan)
Doncaster Rovers
caps(goals) = 00- 0(-)
070 (22)
193 (65)0010 (0)
nationalyears = 2000-
nationalteam = Northern Ireland
nationalcaps(goals) = 036 0(4)
pcupdate = 31 January 2008 (UTC)
ntupdate = 07 Sep 06

Stuart Elliott (born July 23 1978 in Belfast, Northern Ireland) is a Northern Irish professional footballer currently playing for Doncaster Rovers after signing in May 2008 from Hull City. He plays as a left-winger, and is known for being one of the best attacking headers of the ball outside the top flight.

Football career

Elliott started his career at St Andrews FC, from Belfast, then moved on to Glentoran before joining Scottish Premier League club Motherwell.

Motherwell F.C.

He became a fans favourite at Fir Park and his impressive performances earned him his first cap for Northern Ireland against Malta in September 2002. In May 2002, Motherwell went into administration and as a result had to sell many of their best players. During his time at the club, Elliott scored 22 goals in 77 appearances.

Hull City

Elliott joined Hull City for £230,000 and in his first season finished as the club's top scorer in 2002/03 with 12 goals. In 2003/04, he continued to impress and again hit double figures for his club. As Hull City clinched a place in The Championship in 2004/05, Elliott enjoyed a fantastic season netting 27 goals in the league (which earned him the golden boot, albeit shared with Dean Windass) as well as 2 in the cup, while also starring for Northern Ireland. This goal scoring tally is perhaps made all the more impressive given that Elliott does not play as a striker and was out for 6 weeks with an injury during mid-season.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, Elliott was unable to maintain this incredible goal scoring form in the Championship. In fact, he found himself in-and-out of the team, but despite this he still finished 2005/06 as Hull's top scorer with 7 league goals. In 2006 it was revealed that he was suffering from a form of exercise-induced asthma, which affects his ability to perform for the full ninety minutes. In 2006/07 he was mainly used as an 'impact player' coming off the bench late in the game, such as in the January 13 match against QPR when he came on with eleven minutes to go and scored twice to give the Tigers a 2-1 victory.

Doncaster Rovers

On 31 January 2008, Elliott signed for Doncaster Rovers on loan until the end of the season with a view to a permanent deal. [http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/d/doncaster/7220537.stm] Elliott had already snubbed moves to Southend United and Darlington, citing a desire to remain in the local area. [http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/h/hull_city/7213988.stm] He signed a 2 year deal with Doncaster Rovers on 1 July. [http://www.hullcityafc.premiumtv.co.uk/page/News/NewsDetail/0,,10338~965378,00.html] On 27th September 2008, Elliott became one of three men in the Rovers team to successfully hit the bar on the "Crossbar Challenge"

Northern Ireland

Elliott has earned 36 caps for Northern Ireland, scoring 4 goals including an impressive free kick against Azerbaijan. He played in Northern Ireland's famous victory over England but soon after began to struggle for his place in the team due to emerging young talents Sammy Clingan and Chris Brunt.

Personal life

Elliott attended Ashfield Boys School in his native East Belfast, and worked as a window cleaner before becoming a full-time footballer. He was nicknamed "Zico" by fans of Glentoran, after the legendary Brazilian player of the 1980s. He is a born-again Christian, belonging to Living Hope Christian Church in Hull, where he is a frequent speaker. There are only three churches of this denomination in the world; these being in Belfast, Motherwell and Hull, which by no coincidence correspond exactly to where he has played his club football. [http://www.thisisull.com/interviews/faithfootball.html] Elliott is married with 2 children.

External links

* [http://www.doncasterroversfc.co.uk/page/ProfilesDetail/0,,10329~7878,00.html Doncaster Rovers official club website]
* [http://www.hullcityafc.net/page/ProfilesDetail/0,,10338~7878,00.html Hull City official club website]
*soccerbase|id=21146|name=Stuart Elliott