Elliott Leslie Ward (born 19 January 1985 in Harrow, Greater London) is an English professional footballer currently playing as a defender for Coventry City.

[edit] Playing career

[edit] West Ham

Ward came up through the youth system of West Ham United, making his debut for the Under-17 side before joining the first team in August 2003. In 2004, Ward went out for two loan spells, at Peterborough United and Bristol Rovers in July and December 2004 respectively.

Ward made an impact on the West Ham first team during the second half of the 2004-05 season, while the club were in the Football League Championship. Primarily due to injuries to more established defenders such as Christian Dailly and Malky Mackay, he found himself with the opportunity of partnering Anton Ferdinand in the centre of defence. He took his chance with much aplomb and is credited, along with Ferdinand, with helping to turn around what was proving to be a difficult season for the club.

When Ward was brought into the first team, for the 1-3 loss against Reading on 12 March 2005, the club were lying outside of even the playoff places and looked unlikely to make it back to the Premiership, a position that was perceived by many to be a major underachievement. The pairing of Ward and Ferdinand brought a level of confidence to the team that had been missing for the first part of the season and, perhaps because of this, the team went unbeaten for the rest of the season. This unbeaten run included the three playoff games, thus ensuring their return to the Premiership for the following season.

At the beginning of the 2005-06 season, to prepare for the upcoming Premiership campaign, West Ham signed a number of players, including central defenders Danny Gabbidon and James Collins from Cardiff City. Gabbidon became the preferred choice to partner Ferdinand, and this resulted in chances being few and far between for Ward. He played two League Cup games, but made only one substitute Premiership appearance (against Bolton on 27 August 2005) before being loaned out to Plymouth Argyle in November. The month-by-month loan deal lasted three months, and after playing 16 games, Ward returned to the Hammers in February 2006.

[edit] Coventry City

Despite signing a four-year contract extension with West Ham in August 2005, Ward left the East London club in the summer of 2006, joining Coventry City for £1m.

His performances for Coventry have attracted significant interest from Charlton Athletic and Fulham, or even a move back to former club West Ham for reported £2.5 million fees. The speculation heightened when Ward was omitted from the starting line up that faced Bristol City in an F.A. Cup 3rd round tie on 6 January. Coventry manager Micky Adams vehemently denied the rumour that Ward had been dropped to avoid him being cup-tied, but insisted that Ward had picked up a hamstring strain and thus was unfit to play.

[edit] Personal life

He is the brother of Wolverhampton Wanderers defender Darren Ward, who turned down the opportunity of joining West Ham and the Premiership, at the start of the 2005-06 season, instead opting for Championship side Palace, claiming he didn't want to keep his brother out of the team.

[edit] External links

• Elliott Ward player profile at ccfc.co.uk
• Elliott Ward player profile at pafc.co.uk
• Elliott Ward at Soccerbase