Christopher Patrick "Chris" Baird (born 25 February 1982 in Rasharkin, County Antrim) is a Northern Irish footballer. He is a defender who currently plays for Fulham.

[edit] Club career

[edit] Southampton

Baird started his career at Northern Irish club, Ballymena United, before moving to Southampton as a young player for £100,000.

Baird made his debut for Southampton on 22 March 2003 as a late substitute for David Prutton in a 2–2 draw at home with Aston Villa. His second appearance came in a 6–1 defeat at Arsenal, when he came on after 26 minutes, with Arsenal already 5–0 up.

Baird's first start came on the final day of the 2002–03 League season, in a 1–0 win at Manchester City. A week later he started for Southampton in the 2003 FA Cup Final, also against Arsenal. Southampton lost the match 1–0, but Baird was voted as the Saints man of the match.^[1]

He subsequently made two successful loan spells away from Southampton. He spent two months at Walsall, where he played regularly in the first-team, and a month at Watford.

In the 2003–04 season, Baird made only four league appearances for Southampton, and none at all in the following season. Following Southampton's relegation from the Premiership, Baird re-established himself in the Southampton squad and was singled out for praise by Southampton manager George Burley.^{[citation needed]} He started 16 league games in the 2005–06 season.

In the first game of the 2006–07 season, away to Derby County on 6 August 2006, he was drafted into the centre half position when Claus Lundekvam went off injured in the sixth minute. On 25 November 2006, in his 50th first-team game for Southampton, he scored his first professional goal in a 2–1 victory over Luton Town.^[2]

He spent most of the season in central defence, and at the end of the season he was the winner of the Saints Player of the Season award.

[edit] Fulham

Baird left Southampton on 12 July 2007 to move to Premier League club Fulham for £3.025m.^[3]. Initially he wore the number 34 squad number, but changed to the number 6 squad number for the 2009/10 season. Due to the injuries to Dickson Etuhu and Danny Murphy he has been used in a central midfield role.

[edit] International career

In June 2003 Baird made his Northern Ireland debut against Italy in a 2–0 defeat. Since then he has been a regular member of the national side, despite playing little domestically between 2003 and 2005.

[edit] Career statistics

^[4] Updated to 19 February 2009

[edit] Honours

Southampton

• FA Cup finalist: 2003
• Fans' Player of the Season: 2006–07

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Chris Baird career stats at Soccerbase
• Feature in Daily Echo