Jlloyd Samuel
Personal information
Full name	Jlloyd Samuel
Date of birth	29 March 1981 (1981-03-29) (age 28)
Place of birth	San Fernando, Trinidad and Tobago
Height	5 ft 11 in (1.80 m)
Playing position	Defender
Club information
Current club	Bolton Wanderers
Number	3
Youth career
	Senrab F.C. West Ham United Charlton Athletic
Senior career1
Years	Club	App (Gls)*
1998–2007 2001–2002 2007–	Aston Villa → Gillingham (loan) Bolton Wanderers	169 (2) 008 (0) 067 (0)
National team2
2001–2004 2009–	England U21 Trinidad and Tobago	007 (0) 002 (0)
1 Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 15:00, 31 October 2009 (UTC). 2 National team caps and goals correct as of 18:14, 9 August 2009 (UTC). * Appearances (Goals)

Jlloyd Samuel (pronounced "Jay-Lloyd"^[1]; born 29 March 1981 in San Fernando, Trinidad and Tobago) is an English based Trinidad and Tobago football defender, who currently plays for Bolton Wanderers.

[edit] Football career

Jlloyd, or as he is sometimes credited, 'Walter' (after the Internazionale defender Walter Samuel) or among his close friends, 'Sammy', attended St Joseph's Academy, Blackheath, London through the 90's. He was a valuable member of the school football teams as well as the London Schoolboys teams. Jlloyd spent his youth football at Charlton Athletic, before signing a professional contract with Aston Villa. There was a dispute with Charlton concerning "poaching" of their youth system by Aston Villa and at the FA tribunal which was set up in response to the charges, John Gregory was famously quoted as saying that he'd signed Jlloyd and didn't expect him to play for the first team.

As a youth, Jlloyd played for the Sunday league team Senrab F.C.^[2] and West Ham United, and was released from the East London club on the same day as Paul Konchesky, Bobby Zamora (both of whom have since returned to the Hammers) and Fitz Hall, now of QPR.^[3]

Samuel's Aston Villa debut came after 51 minutes of a second-leg League Cup match against Chester City F.C., on 21 September 1999 which finished 5-0 in Aston Villa's favour.

Since the beginning of his Aston Villa career, Jlloyd has also been on loan to Gillingham F.C., where he made seven full appearances and one substitute appearance between 25 October and 3 December 2001.

Though looking set for the 2002 European Under-21 Championships, Samuel picked up a groin injury which ensured his being out of action for a sustained period of time.

When Graham Taylor took over the reins at Villa, Samuel became more assured of a place on the team, despite his nervousness on the pitch. His best season, however, was 2003-04, as, under newly appointed Villa boss David O'Leary, he rose to become one of the best left-backs in the Premier League and was selected in the England squad for the game against Sweden, although his involvement only went as far as being an unused substitute. It was also during this season that he scored his first league goals for Villa. His first coming at home to Charlton,^[4] and then his second against the same team in the corresponding away tie.^[5] That season he also scored for Villa in their League Cup semi final defeat to Samuel's future club Bolton.^[6]

He claimed that he wanted to change back to represent Trinidad and Tobago in World Cup 2006, but the application rejected by FIFA.^[7]

However in 2004-05, Samuel's place in the team was due to a severe lack of options in the squad rather than his own form as he soon began to look like the player he had been earlier on in his career, nervous and indecisive on the ball. Samuel lost his place in the team to Netherlands international defender Wilfred Bouma, who signed from Dutch side PSV Eindhoven at the start of the 2005-06 season, though throughout the few appearances Samuel did make during this season due to Bouma's severe lack of basic match fitness, he showed promise that he was gaining in confidence and game awareness once again.

During his appearance on MTV's Footballers Cribs, Samuel revealed he calls himself 'Sweetboy' and calls his wife Emma Pritchard 'Sweetgirl'. He also has a cat known only as MC Cattybumbum.

In March 2007 he hinted on his personal website that his time with Aston Villa could be about to come to an end due to lack of recent opportunities. Samuel had been a professional at Villa for the last decade but the signing of Bouma and various injury problems limited his playing time over the last two years. He signed a four year contract with Bolton Wanderers on 1 July 2007. He was former Wanderers' boss, Sammy Lee's first signing.^[8]

[edit] International Career

On August 7, 2009, it was revealed that Bobby Zamora and Bolton defender Jlloyd Samuel had received their Trinidadian passports making them eligible to play for the national team.^[9] Samuel made his debut for the Soca Warriors in a 4–1 defeat to Honduras on September 6 the same year.

Samuel had previously received a call up for the England team in the spring of 2004 whilst enjoying a spell of good form domestically at Aston Villa, but in the end he was not selected to play by then Three Lions head coach Sven Goran Eriksson and ultimately chose to play for the country of his birth.

[edit] Honours

Aston Villa

• UEFA Intertoto Cup Winner: 2000–01

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Jlloyd Samuel Official Website at officialplayerwebsites.com
• Jlloyd Samuel career stats at Soccerbase