Leon Cort

Personal information
Full name	Leon Terence Anthony Cort
Date of birth	September 11, 1979 (1979-09-11) (age 30)
Place of birth	Southwark, England
Height	1.91 m (6 ft 3 in)
Playing position	Defender
Club information
Current club	Stoke City
Number	5
Youth career
1997–1998	Dulwich Hamlet
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps†	(Gls)†
1998-2001	Millwall	0	(0)
2000-2001	→ Forest Green Rovers (loan)	12	(0)
2001	→ Stevenage Borough (loan)	9	(0)
2001-2004	Southend United	137	(11)
2004-2006	Hull City	86	(10)
2006-2008	Crystal Palace	49	(7)
2007-2008	→ Stoke City (loan)	14	(4)
2008-	Stoke City	30	(4)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 14:49, 27 October 2009 (UTC). † Appearances (Goals).

Leon Terence Anthony Cort (born September 11, 1979 in Southwark) is an English professional footballer currently playing for Stoke City of the Premier League. He is a defender who wears the number 5 shirt for the Potters. He is of Guyanese descent, and is the younger brother of Carl Cort.

[edit] Playing career

Born in South London, Cort began his career at local non-league side Dulwich Hamlet. He was invited by Mick Beard to trial at Millwall before signing pro-forms with his local league club Millwall in 1998. His career at The New Den never really took off, and after a loan spell at Forest Green Rovers and Stevenage Borough he joined Southend United on a free transfer. While at Southend Cort earned rave reviews and was tipped for greater things.^[1] He became a regular in the side, achieving a remarkable feat of appearing in 130 consecutive league matches without missing any through injury or suspension.

In May 2004 Hull City manager Peter Taylor said he would be interested in signing Cort.^[2] Cort moved to newly-promoted Hull City in the summer of 2004, again on a free transfer.^[3] Hull were promoted again that season, to The Championship, and in this division Cort excelled himself as Hull survived comfortably. In a game between Hull and Carl's team at the time Wolverhampton Wanderers in 2006, Leon scored for Hull and Carl scored for Wolves.

At the end of that season manager Peter Taylor departed to Crystal Palace and made Cort his first signing for £1.25m, and gave him a return to his native South London.^[4] He again impressed and became popular with the Palace fans, winning the Player of the Year Award in 2007. The following season started poorly for the Eagles and saw Taylor sacked and replaced by Neil Warnock, and Cort soon departed on loan to Stoke City,^[5] with a view to making it a full-time transfer, which was completed for a fee of £1.2m, making him the Potters' record signing. Ironically, Cort's last game for Palace was at Selhurst Park against Stoke. Cort's career at the Britannia Stadium began very well, with assured performances being complimented by a remarkable tally of eight goals in just six months from the defender.

The most remarkable statistic of Cort's career is his record of cards. Cort was last given a yellow card in one of his last outings for Southend in April 2004, and has not been booked or sent off in any of the over 150 competitive games he has featured in for Southend, Hull, Palace and Stoke since then.

[edit] Career statistics

Statistics accurate as of match played October 2009.^[6]

[edit] Notes

[edit] External links

• Leon Cort player profile at stokecityfc.com
• Leon Cort career stats at Soccerbase