Graham Fenton

Football player infobox
playername= Graham Fenton
fullname = Graham Anthony Fenton
dateofbirth = birth date and age|1974|5|22
cityofbirth = Wallsend
countryofbirth = England
height = height|ft=5|in=10
currentclub = Blyth Spartans
clubnumber =
position = Midfielder
youthyears = 1990–1992
youthclubs = Aston Villa
years = 1992–1995
1994
1995–1997
1997–2000
2000
2000
2000–2001
2001–2003
2002
2003–
clubs = Aston Villa
→ West Bromwich Albion (loan)
Blackburn Rovers
Leicester City
→ Walsall (loan)
Stoke City
St Mirren
Blackpool
→ Darlington (loan)
Blyth Spartans
caps(goals) = 030 (3)
007 (3)
027 (7)
034 (3)
009 (1)
005 (1)
026 (2)
015 (5)
006 (1)
116 (9)
nationalyears = 1994
nationalteam = England U21
nationalcaps(goals) = 001 (0)
pcupdate = July 21, 2007
ntupdate = 19:56, 19 August 2007 (UTC)

Graham Anthony Fentoncite book | last = Matthews | first = Tony | title = The Who's Who of West Bromwich Albion | publisher = Breedon Books | date = 2005 | pages = pp. 79-80 | isbn = 1-85983-474-4] (born May 22, 1974 in Wallsend, Tyne and Wear) is an English professional footballer. He is currently player-assistant manager at Conference North side Blyth Spartans. He was capped once by England at under-21 level.

Career

Fenton joined Aston Villa as a trainee in June 1990, turning professional in February 1992. He was loaned out to West Bromwich Albion in January 1994, making his league debut against Leicester City in the same month. His loan spell at Albion was very successful, leaving many Albion fans "bitterly disappointed" when he did not sign permanently. He instead returned to Villa, making his club debut in a 0-0 Premiership draw at home to Manchester City on on February 22, 1994. In March 1994 he played in Villa's League Cup winning side, playing all of the 3-1 victory against Manchester United at Wembley. Fenton made his only appearance for the England Under-21s on 15 November, 1994 in a 1-0 win against Ireland U-21s at St James' Park; the team included several future full internationals, including Sol Campbell and Nicky Butt. [cite web
last=Courtney
first=Barrie
date=2004-01-10
url=http://www.rsssf.com/tablese/eng-u21-intres86.html
title=England - U-21 International Results 1986-1995 - Details
publisher=RSSSF
accessdate=2007-08-19]

In November 1995 Fenton made a £1,500,000 move to reigning Premiership champions Blackburn, but with Alan Shearer and Chris Sutton in rich goalscoring form his first team opportunities were limited. He scored seven times for Blackburn, including two as a late substitute against Newcastle United, the team Fenton has supported since childhood, in April 1996 which effectively ended Newcastle's title challenge.

In August 1997 he moved to Martin O'Neill's Leicester City for a fee of £1,100,000. He scored on his Leicester debut, having replaced Ian Marshall as a late substitute in the 2-1 win away to Liverpool, but again struggled to establish himself, making only 34 league appearances (21 as substitute) over three seasons.

He joined Walsall on loan in March 2000 and had an unsuccessful trial with Barnsley in July 2000. [cite news
date=2000-07-27
url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/b/barnsley/854353.stm
title=Fenton's trial ends with release
publisher=BBC Sport
accessdate=2007-08-19] In August 2000 he joined Stoke City on a monthly contract [cite news
date=2000-08-10
url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/s/stoke_city/874202.stm
title=Fenton joins Stoke on loan
publisher=BBC Sport
accessdate=2007-08-19] and at the end of the following month signed for St Mirren on a two-year contract. [cite news
date=2000-09-29
url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/s/st_mirren/948007.stm
title=Saints swoop for Fenton
publisher=BBC Sport
accessdate=2007-08-19]

In August 2001 Fenton joined Blackpool on a free transfer, but once more struggled to establish himself in the first team. He had a spell on loan with Darlington between September and December 2002 [cite news
date=2002-09-19
url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/d/darlington/2268787.stm
title=Darlington sign Fenton
publisher=BBC Sport
accessdate=2007-08-19] [cite news
date=2002-10-16
url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/d/darlington/2332987.stm
title=Fenton extends Quakers stay
publisher=BBC Sport
accessdate=2007-08-19] and was one of nine players released by Blackpool manager Steve McMahon in May 2003. [cite news
date=2003-05-02
url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/b/blackpool/2996103.stm
title=Blackpool release nine
publisher=BBC Sport
accessdate=2007-08-19]

In July 2003 Fenton returned to the North East of England, joining Blyth Spartans. [cite news
date=2003-07-16
url=http://www.nonleaguedaily.com/news/index.php?newsmode=FULL&nid=11324
title=Fenton coup for Blyth
publisher=nonleaguedaily.com
accessdate=2007-08-19] Blyth manager Paul Baker appointed Fenton as player-assistant manager in July 2004. [cite news
date=2004-07-08
url=http://www.nonleaguedaily.com/news/index.php?newsmode=FULL&nid=18771
title=Blyth appoint Fenton as number two
publisher=nonleaguedaily.com
accessdate=2007-08-19] Fenton took over as caretaker-manager of Blyth when Baker left that September, [cite news
date=2004-09-23
url=http://www.nonleaguedaily.com/news/index.php?newsmode=FULL&nid=20642
title=Baker quits Blyth.......
publisher=nonleaguedaily.com
accessdate=2007-08-19] returning to his player-assistant manager role in October 2004 after the appointment of Harry Dunn as manager. [cite news
date=2004-10-04
url=http://www.nonleaguedaily.com/news/index.php?newsmode=FULL&nid=20929
title=.....and Dunn lands Spartans Post
publisher=nonleaguedaily.com
accessdate=2007-08-19] In the 2005-06 season he was part of the Spartans' side that gained promotion to the Conference North by winning the Northern Premier League.

References

External links

Persondata
NAME=Fenton, Graham
ALTERNATIVE NAMES=Fenton, Graham Anthony
SHORT DESCRIPTION=Footballer
DATE OF BIRTH=May 22, 1974
PLACE OF BIRTH=Wallsend, Tyne and Wear, England
DATE OF DEATH=
PLACE OF DEATH=