Dave Kitson

Personal information
Full name	David Barry Kitson
Date of birth	21 January 1980 (1980-01-21) (age 29)
Place of birth	Hitchin, England
Height	6 ft 3 in (1.91 m)
Playing position	Striker
Club information
Current club	Middlesbrough (on loan from Stoke City)
Number	33
Youth career
1998-2000	Hitchin Town
2000-2001	Arlesey Town
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps†	(Gls)†
2001-2003	Cambridge United	102	(40)
2003-2008	Reading	135	(54)
2008-	Stoke City	25	(3)
2009	→ Reading (loan)	13	(2)
2009-	→ Middlesbrough (loan)	5	(3)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 17:52, 13 December 2009 (UTC). † Appearances (Goals).

David "Dave" Barry Kitson (born 21 January 1980) is an English professional footballer who plays for Middlesbrough on loan from Stoke City as a striker. He has previously played for Cambridge United and Reading.

[edit] Club career

[edit] Cambridge United

Born in in Hitchin, Hertfordshire, Kitson played for Cambridge United and Arlesey Town in the early years of his career. In his late teens Kitson gave up on football with his local club Hitchin Town, and concentrated on his day job at national supermarket chain Sainsbury's, as a frozen food stacker.^[1] However shortly after this he was signed by Cambridge after being spotted playing against their reserve side in a friendly against Arlesey Town.

[edit] Reading

Kitson was sold to Reading on 26 December 2003, for £150,000.^[2]. At Reading, he scored five goals in just 10 starts in his first season. In the 2004–05 season, despite injury he went on to record an impressive goals-to-game ratio, and continued to do so as Reading won the Championship title.

Kitson playing for Reading in 2007.

Following promotion to the Premier League with Reading, Kitson was badly injured in Reading's 3–2 home win against Middlesbrough on the opening day of the 2006–07 season.^[3] The injury kept him out of the game until Reading's FA Cup victory over Birmingham City on 27 January 2007.^[4] On 27 March, he committed his future to Reading, signing a new deal that would expire in June 2010.^[5]

At the start of 2007–08, when he was sent off less than a minute after coming on as a substitute for Reading against Manchester United, for a late challenge on Patrice Evra. In January 2008 he made some controversial comments regarding the FA Cup, saying "We are not going to win the FA Cup and I do not care less about it, to be honest."^[6]

[edit] Stoke City

In July 2008, Kitson was linked with a move to Birmingham City and had a bid rejected. However, on 18 July 2008, Kitson moved in a £5.5m move from Reading to Stoke City, breaking Stoke's record transfer fee.^[7]. He became the first Premier League signing of the 2008–09 season for Tony Pulis.

Having failed to score any goals in any of the 18 competitive games he has played for Stoke City in the 2008–2009 season, speculation arose as to whether Kitson was settled there or not. Chairman Peter Coates and manager Tony Pulis both denied any rumour that he might be leaving the Britannia Stadium.^[8]

The Stoke City board reacted to this growing disquiet, and he rejoined Reading on loan until the end of the 2008–09 season on 10 March 2009.^[9]

Kitson later revealed that he made the "wrong decision" in joining Stoke, adding that he and his family were happy at Reading and that "I threw all of that away for what I thought was going to be a new challenge... I hold my hands up - it was my fault. I made the decision to go to Stoke, I didn't have to, no-one forced me to go, and it was a bad decision." With regards to his failure to score for Stoke, he said "I'd been bought for a lot of money but I wasn't sure I was being utilised in the way I thought I was going to be... You do have some days at training when you go back in and wonder what you're doing there."^[10]

However Reading failed to gain promotion meaning that Kitson returned to Stoke. Kitson has stated that he will 'start his Stoke career again'.^[11] His first competitive goal for Stoke came in a 1-0 League Cup win at Leyton Orient on 26 August 2009.^[12] He scored his first league goal for Stoke on August 29 2009, which proved to be the winning goal against Sunderland^[13] and then scored again with a goal against Bolton Wanderers.^[14] However Kitson lost his place to James Beattie and joined Middlesbrough on a two month loan.^[15] He scored his first goals for Middlesbrough when he scored a brace against Peterborough United on 28 November 2009.^[16]

[edit] Career statistics

[edit] Honours

[edit] Club

Reading

• Football League Championship (1) : 2006

[edit] International career

Kitson has an Irish grandparent, and in January 2006 Steve Staunton, upon his appointment as the manager of the Republic of Ireland team, announced his intention to persuade Kitson to represent Ireland in international football, along with Manchester City midfielder Stephen Ireland. However Kitson declined Staunton's offer. Lawrie Sanchez also wanted Kitson to play for his Northern Ireland side, despite the fact that Kitson is not eligible.

In 2008, Kitson was the top scoring Englishman in the Premier League for most of the season, leading to some sections of the media touting him for an England call up. Gabriel Agbonlahor was preferred to him by England manager Fabio Capello.^[17]

[edit] Personal life

On 9 January 2008, Kitson was stopped by police whilst driving late at night near his home in Shinfield, Berkshire, and was charged with failing to provide a breath sample.^[18] He appeared at Reading Magistrates' Court on 18 January 2008, and received an 18-month driving ban, a £1000 fine, and was ordered to pay £60 costs.^[19]

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Dave Kitson career stats at Soccerbase
• Dave Kitson profile at readingfc.co.uk