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Zat Knight

Personal information
Full name	Zatyiah Knight
Date of birth	2 May 1980 (1980-05-02) (age 29)
Place of birth	Solihull, England
Height	1.98 m (6 ft 6 in)
Playing position	Centre back
Club information
Current club	Bolton Wanderers
Number	12
Youth career
1999	Rushall Olympic
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps†	(Gls)†
1999–2007	Fulham	150	(3)
2000	→ Peterborough United (loan)	8	(0)
2007–2009	Aston Villa	40	(2)
2009–	Bolton Wanderers	13	(0)
National team‡
	England U21	4	(0)
2005	England	2	(0)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 20:00, 15 December 2009 (UTC). † Appearances (Goals). ‡ National team caps and goals correct as of 22:39, 30 November 2007 (UTC)

Zatyiah "Zat" Knight (born 2 May 1980 in Solihull) is an English footballer who plays for Bolton Wanderers in the Premier League. Knight has two caps for England.

[edit] Club career

Zat Knight in action for Aston Villa

[edit] Fulham

Fulham signed Knight from Rushall Olympic on a free transfer in 1999. As Knight was not a professionally contracted player to Olympic, Fulham were not obliged to pay a fee for him and sent the club 30 tracksuits as a gesture of thanks.

Knight scored four goals for Fulham, two in the 2004–05 season and two in the 2006–07 season. The first in a FA Cup match against Watford in a 1–1 draw, his second a Premier League goal against Norwich City in a 6–0 win. His last goal for Fulham came against Bolton Wanderers in a 2–1 loss. He was arguably Fulham's most consistent player in the 2006–07 season, a reward for this being given temporary captaincy of the club while regular skipper Luís Boa Morte was out injured. Such form and Knight's imposing stature led to him being nicknamed affectionately "The Black Knight" by his Australian fans as quoted by David Kelly because "He always saves the day".

Before the game against West Ham United it was announced that he had broken his jaw in two places after messing around with his brother. Chris Coleman has been quoted as saying that it takes more than horseplay to break one's jaw in two places, but Knight insists there was "nothing sinister" about the incident.^[1].

[edit] Aston Villa

On 29 August 2007, Knight signed a four year contract deal with the club he supported as a boy, Aston Villa, in a £3.5 million deal. ^[2] Ironically his last Fulham match was the 2–1 defeat against Villa, in which he played a part in Villa's equaliser when an Ashley Young shot deflected off him into the net, although this was later given as Young's goal. In the early hours of the day of his transfer (29 August), Knight, along with his brother Carlos, were arrested in a drugs raid on the family home^[3]. Knight was released on police bail while Carlos was remanded in custody. Police said that a quantity of drugs were seized at the home. Knight feared that he may miss the press conference announcing his signing but his agent bailed him out and no mention of the incident was made at the press conference.^[4] Knight scored a headed goal on his Villa debut in a 2–0 win against Chelsea on 2 September 2007.^[5][6] Knight's next goal for Villa wouldn't come until the following season, on 26 December 2008 when Villa were trailing 2–1 against Arsenal at Villa Park. Knight scored the equaliser in the 91st minute of the game in front of the Holte End to make it 2–2.

[edit] Bolton Wanderers

On Saturday 25 July 2009, Knight signed a three year contract with Bolton Wanderers for an undisclosed fee believed to be in the region of £4 million. ^[7].

Zat made his Bolton debut in the 1–0 reverse against Sunderland on 15 August 2009.

[edit] Trivia

• His cousin is current Hamilton Academical player Leon Knight, formerly of Chelsea.

[edit] Career statistics

[edit] International career

He made his England debut on 28 May 2005 as a substitute against the United States in a friendly match. He gained his second cap in a friendly against Colombia on 31 May.^[8]

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Zat Knight career stats at Soccerbase
• Profile from the BBC