Matthew Philip "Matt" Heath (born November 1, 1981 in Leicester) is an English footballer, playing for Colchester United. His position is center half.

Heath began his career at his hometown club Leicester City in 2001. He made sixty appearances for the club, scoring six goals and gaining Premiership experience during his time at the Walkers Stadium. He was also loaned out to Stockport County in the 2003-04 season to gain first-team experience.

Heath scored against Coventry City for Leicester in a 3-0 win in the 2004-05 season before being signed by Coventry City for a nominal fee in 2005, by his former Leicester boss Micky Adams. On 9 November 2006 he joined Leeds United on loan^[1]. He made his Leeds debut in the 3-0 victory over Colchester United on November 11 2006. Heath played in nearly all of Leeds matches during his loan spell playing in central defence with the likes of Ugo Ehiogu and Matthew Kilgallon. Heath was not eligible to play in Leeds' 2-1 victory against Coventry City due to a clause in his loan contract. Heath's loan spell at Leeds came to an end on 1 January 2007 and returned to Coventry City, but the following day he was free transferred to Leeds United, with a permanent contract until the end of the season^[2]. Heath's contract came to an end in June 2007 and was released, however, he re-signed a new contract at Elland Road shortly after ^[3] with wages of £2,200 per week.

In March 2008, Heath was told by manager Gary McAllister that he could look for a club to go out on loan to, as he was behind the likes of Rui Marques, Ľubomír Michalík, and Paul Huntington in the Leeds United centre-back pecking order. Heath only featured once for Leeds since McAllister joined the club.^[4]

After being loaned out to then-Football League Championship side Colchester United for the remainder of the season, Heath joined them on a permanent basis on May 13.^[5]

On 2 March, 2009, Heath joined Brighton & Hove Albion on loan for a month^[6]. Heath scored on his debut for the Albion against Leyton Orient on the 8th March 2009, and went on to play six games during his loan spell.

On July 30 2009 Heath joined Southend United on an initial one month loan deal^[7].

Heath married 25 year old Theatre graduate Joanna Montagu in a beautiful Surrey wedding on the 6th June 2009.

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Matt Heath player profile at cu-fc.com
• Matt Heath player profile at lcfc.co.uk
• Matt Heath career stats at Soccerbase