Leon Leroy Knight (born 16 September 1982 in Hackney, London) is an English professional footballer who plays for Scottish Premier League club Hamilton Academical.

[edit] Personal life

Knight was born in Hackney, London, to a Jamaican mother and St. Lucian father, and was educated at Raine's Foundation School, Bethnal Green,^[1][2] He has three sisters,^[2] and is the cousin of Bolton Wanderers defender Zat Knight.^[1][3]

Knight was a good all-round sportsman and a third dan black belt in karate as a child.^[2] He played schoolboy football for his school, the Hackney & Tower Hamlets District team and Senrab, and had trials with Charlton and Tottenham Hotspur before joining Chelsea as a trainee.^[1]

[edit] Club career

Knight began his career as a trainee at Chelsea (where he made one appearance in the UEFA Cup against Levski Sofia), spending loan periods at Queens Park Rangers,^[4] Huddersfield Town,^[5] Sheffield Wednesday^[6] and Brighton & Hove Albion^[7] before joining Brighton on a permanent contract in August 2003. Although his transfer was initially free, £50,000 was to be paid if Brighton were promoted. It was Knight himself who secured this, with his penalty against Bristol City in the play-off final at the Millennium Stadium, Cardiff in 2004.

After falling out with Brighton manager Mark McGhee, Knight moved to Swansea City in January 2006,^[8] and scored a hat-trick on his debut against Milton Keynes Dons.^[9]

Knight's stay at the Liberty Stadium was short-lived, as he was placed on the transfer list in October 2006,^[10] and, after a short spell on loan with Barnsley, joined Milton Keynes Dons in January 2007.^[11]

In January 2008, Knight signed for Wycombe Wanderers, just one year after joining MK Dons.^[12]

On 19 August 2008, Knight's contract was "terminated by mutual consent", after he scored five goals in 20 appearances during his short stay with Wycombe.^[13]

Knight signed for Rushden & Diamonds on 24 August 2008.^[14]

Leon Knight was transfer listed by Rushden & Diamonds on 29 October, along with Lee Tomlin, Curtis Woodhouse, Andy Burgess, Phil Gulliver, Sagi Burton, Lee Phillips and Dean McDonald, after the club's poor start to the season.

On 12 December, Rushden & Diamonds confirmed that Knight had been sacked after continuous breachs of conduct between November and December 2008. Despite the contract termination, Knight was prevented from joining another club, until the term of his contract had expired. Rushden have confirmed that they are not allowing any club to sign Knight on a free transfer and that they must pay a transfer fee to Rushden.^{[citation needed]} The FA have confirmed and validated this, meaning so Leon Knight could not play at any level of football until 2011-12 season.^{[citation needed]} The official date was not confirmed.

On 13 January 2009, Knight joined Greek club, Thrasivoulos Filis, on a six-month contract. He made his Super League debut on 25 January as a second half sub playing 20 minutes against Skoda Xanthi. Knight made only 2 appearances as a sub since then, his last coming on the 8 February 2009. Knight had not been involved in any game for the club in over 3 months and looked certain to leave Thrasivoulos when his contract expired at the end of the current season. After his contract expired he went on trial with Major League Soccer side San Jose Earthquakes. Knight joined Hamilton Academical on 21 August making his SPL début against Aberdeen as a second half substitute the following day.

Knight has played for England at under 19 and under 20 level.

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Leon Knight career stats at Soccerbase