Andrew Dorman (born 1 May 1982) is a former professional

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby le ...

. During his club career, he played for

New England Revolution The New England Revolution is an American professional soccer club based in the Greater Boston area that competes in Major League Soccer (MLS), in the Eastern Conference of the league. It is one of the ten charter clubs of MLS, having compet ...

, Crystal Palace and St. Mirren. Born in England, represented the Wales national team. Born in England of English parents, he grew up in Wales and represented the Wales schools team, eventually gaining full senior international recognition when FIFA amended its rules on eligibility. He has played professionally in the United States, Scotland, and England.

College

Dorman moved to the United States to attend

Boston University Boston University (BU) is a private research university in Boston, Massachusetts. The university is nonsectarian, but has a historical affiliation with the United Methodist Church. It was founded in 1839 by Methodists with its original campu ...

, where he was a standout for the school's

college soccer College soccer is played by teams composed of soccer players who are enrolled in colleges and universities. It is very prominent in United States, Japan, South Korea, Canada, and as well as in South Africa and the Philippines. The United Kingd ...

team.

Club career

New England

After graduating, Dorman was drafted 58th overall in the

2004 MLS SuperDraft The 2004 MLS SuperDraft, held in Charlotte, North Carolina on January 16, 2004, was the fifth incarnation of the annual Major League Soccer SuperDraft. The draft was most notable at the time for the selection of one of the youngest athletes in Am ...

by the

, and succeeded in making the team's 2004

developmental roster In Major League Soccer, in addition to the senior roster, each team can carry a developmental roster of a certain number of young players whose contracts do not count against the salary cap. The allowable size of developmental rosters has varied th ...

. Dorman made his debut for New England, coming on for

Daouda Kanté Daouda Kante (born July 16, 1978) is a Malian retired footballer who played as a defender. He spent three seasons in Major League Soccer, and two in the Major Indoor Soccer League. Currently, he is the executive and technical director for Kansa ...

in a late minutes, in a 3–1 loss against

San Jose Earthquakes The San Jose Earthquakes are an American professional soccer team based in San Jose, California. The Earthquakes compete as a member club of the Western Conference of Major League Soccer (MLS). Originally as the San Jose Clash, the franchise ...

on 17 April 2004. In his first season with the Revs, Dorman clocked only 365 minutes, but scored two goals and an assist in that time, evincing an attacking flair. The 2006 season was a break-out year for Dorman, as he played in all 32 games for the Revs, scoring 6 goals and assisting on 10 others. During a season when many Revolution players missed time due to injury, suspension, or international duty, Dorman was forced to play many roles and positions. His diligence and creativity on the attack gained the attention and respect of many around the league, and he was named the 2006 "Man of the Year" by the Midnight Riders, the Revolution's independent supporters group. Although Dorman wanted to re-sign with

New England New England is a region comprising six states in the Northeastern United States: Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont. It is bordered by the state of New York to the west and by the Canadian provinces ...

in MLS, contract negotiations fell through.

St Mirren

Dorman signed with

Scottish Premier League The Scottish Premier League (SPL) was the top level league competition for professional football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football' ...

outfit St Mirren. Upon joining St Mirren, teammate Jay Heaps said Dorman was 'world class'. One year on, Dorman revealed upon signing for St Mirren, he did not know the location of the club (Paisley). He made his debut during a home league match against

Motherwell Motherwell ( sco, Mitherwall, gd, Tobar na Màthar) is a town and former burgh in North Lanarkshire, Scotland, United Kingdom, south east of Glasgow. It has a population of around 32,120. Historically in the parish of Dalziel and part of Lanarks ...

on 19 January 2008, and provided an early assist in a 3–1 victory. Dorman then scored a winning goal in a

Scottish Cup The Scottish Football Association Challenge Cup,Dundee United and he also scored against them in a 1–1 draw one month later. His performances for St Mirren during 2008–09 led to many teams watching Dorman with a view to bringing him into their side. Teams known to be interested included Sheffield United and

Bolton Wanderers Bolton Wanderers Football Club () is a professional football club based in Horwich, Bolton, Greater Manchester, England, which competes in . The club played at Burnden Park for 102 years from 1895 after moving from their original home at Pike's ...

. Dorman's contract with St Mirren included a club option of an extra year, which was exercised in March 2009 after he was voted

player of the month for February 2009 and another player of the month for April 2009. Dorman spoke out about his transfer speculation, stating that he doesn't pay attention to the rumours and insists he's happy at St Mirren, while manager Gus MacPherson said he would only let Dorman leave for £1 million. Dorman finished the season as St Mirren's joint top scorer (with Billy Mehmet) with 12 goals each. However, the following season, Dorman couldn't re-produce his form of the previous campaign and was unable to rediscover his goalscoring form; but still, other clubs were tracking him; like Championship side

Watford Watford () is a town and borough in Hertfordshire, England, 15 miles northwest of Central London, on the River Colne. Initially a small market town, the Grand Junction Canal encouraged the construction of paper-making mills, print works, a ...

. Shortly after the transfer headlines, Dorman suffered a hamstring injury, ruling him out for six weeks after coming off in the first half in a 3–1 loss against

Celtic Celtic, Celtics or Keltic may refer to: Language and ethnicity *pertaining to Celts, a collection of Indo-European peoples in Europe and Anatolia **Celts (modern) *Celtic languages **Proto-Celtic language * Celtic music *Celtic nations Sports Fo ...

. In the next meeting against Celtic on 24 March 2010, Dorman scored a brace in a 4–0 win. After the match, MacPherson praised the players, including Dorman, himself. In mid April, Dorman scored three goals in the three games, including against

Falkirk Falkirk ( gd, An Eaglais Bhreac, sco, Fawkirk) is a large town in the Central Lowlands of Scotland, historically within the county of Stirlingshire. It lies in the Forth Valley, northwest of Edinburgh and northeast of Glasgow. Falkirk had a ...

St Johnstone St Johnstone Football Club is a professional association football club in Perth, Scotland which is a member of the Scottish Premiership for the 2022–23 season. The club's name is derived from St John's Toun ''aka'' Saint Johnstoun – an old ...

and

Kilmarnock Kilmarnock (, sco, Kilmaurnock; gd, Cill Mheàrnaig (IPA: ʰʲɪʎˈveaːɾnəkʲ, "Marnock's church") is a large town and former burgh in East Ayrshire, Scotland and is the administrative centre of East Ayrshire, East Ayrshire Council. ...

. Dorman finished the season as St Mirren's league top scorer, with Billy Mehmet with 12 goals each in all appearances. At the end of the season, Dorman announced his intention to leave St Mirren, ending a two-year association with the club, with Championship side

Portsmouth Portsmouth ( ) is a port and city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. The city of Portsmouth has been a unitary authority since 1 April 1997 and is administered by Portsmouth City Council. Portsmouth is the most dens ...

keen to sign him.

Crystal Palace

After his contract at St Mirren expired, Dorman made the move to England to join Championship side Crystal Palace. On the opening day of the season, Dorman made his debut in a 3–2 win over Leicester City; two-months later, Dorman scored his first goal in a 4–3 loss against

Preston Preston is a place name, surname and given name that may refer to: Places England *Preston, Lancashire, an urban settlement **The City of Preston, Lancashire, a borough and non-metropolitan district which contains the settlement **County Boro ...

. However, he made a slow start to life with the Eagles and soon dropped out of the Palace first-team after the sacking of George Burley, although Burley's successor

Dougie Freedman Douglas Alan Freedman (born 25 May 1974) is a Scottish professional football manager and former player. He is the current sporting director of Crystal Palace. Freedman played as a striker, primarily for Crystal Palace and also had spells as ...

said out of favour players Dorman and

Owen Garvan Owen William Garvan (born 29 January 1988) is an Irish former professional footballer who played as a midfielder. Garvan began his career in his native Ireland where he played for Home Farm as a schoolboy. He earned a move to England with Ipsw ...

did have a future. On 31 August 2012, Dorman's contract was terminated by mutual consent, despite it being expected to end the next season.

Loan at Bristol Rovers

His second season in south London saw him limited to appearances for Palace's reserve team, and so Dorman made the move to

League Two The English Football League Two (often referred to as League Two for short or Sky Bet League Two for sponsorship purposes, and known as the Football League Two from 2004 until 2016) is the third and lowest division of the English Football Lea ...

side Bristol Rovers on a loan deal in November 2011. He made his debut for Rovers on 12 November in the FA Cup 3–1 win against

Corby Town Corby Town Football Club is a football club based in Corby, Northamptonshire, England. They are currently members of the and play at Steel Park. History The club was established in 1948, taking over from Stewarts & Lloyds as the main team i ...

; Seven days later, Dorman made his league debut for the club in a 2–0 loss against

Barnet Barnet may refer to: People *Barnet (surname) * Barnet (given name) Places United Kingdom *Chipping Barnet or High Barnet, commonly known as Barnet, one of three focal towns of the borough below. *East Barnet, a district of the borough below; an ...

. Dorman had initially signed until 2 January, which was extended by a further month. On 27 January 2012, he signed for the rest of the season, along with four other players. On 25 February 2012, Dorman scored his first goal in a 1–0 win over Rotherham United After scoring his first goal, Dorman spoke out about his frustration at wanting to get playing time after having his career revived at Bristol Rovers. Dorman also said he had experienced playing under three different managers during his loan spell, but saw the positive side of this. Towards the end of the season, Dorman scored his second goal in a 5–1 win over Accrington Stanley. After his loan spell at Bristol Rovers, Dorman did not rule out returning to the club after clarifying his future with Crystal Palace.

Return to New England

Dorman re-signed with

on 15 November 2012.

Career statistics

:''(correct as of 5 May 2012)''

International career

Although he was born in England of English parents, Dorman grew up in Wales, and represented the Welsh schools team. He expressed interest in either playing for

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the Wales–England border, east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the ...

or gaining American citizenship and playing for the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

, having lived there for over seven years. Dorman had moved to America to attend

, where he was named a two-time All-New England player. Although Dorman considers himself to be Welsh, he was not eligible to play for Wales as he was born in England and none of his parents or grandparents were born in Wales. In October 2009, however,

FIFA FIFA (; stands for ''Fédération Internationale de Football Association'' ( French), meaning International Association Football Federation ) is the international governing body of association football, beach football and futsal. It was found ...

ratified changes which allow players with 5 years compulsory education in a country before the age of 16 to represent that country, which made Dorman eligible to represent Wales. Dorman was included in the squad to play against

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

on 14 November 2009 when, ironically, he was playing his club football for Scottish team St Mirren. Wales won 3–0, but he stayed on the bench for the whole game. Dorman made his debut for the

Wales national football team ) , Association = Football Association of Wales (FAW) , Confederation = UEFA (Europe) , Coach = Rob Page , Captain = Gareth Bale , Most caps = Gareth Bale (111) , Top scorer = Gareth ...

on 23 May 2010 against Croatia at the Stadion Gradski.

Personal life

Dorman has said his idol is Michael Owen. He attended

Hawarden High School Hawarden High School () is an English language medium secondary school in Hawarden, Flintshire, Wales. It is part of the Flintshire LEA. The school traces its history back to 1606 when a single-classroom grammar school was established with £30 ...

where Owen and the late Gary Speed also attended. His brother is fellow player Richie Dorman. Dorman holds a

US green card A green card, known officially as a permanent resident card, is an identity document which shows that a person has permanent residency in the United States. ("The term 'lawfully admitted for permanent residence' means the status of having been ...

which qualifies him as a domestic player for MLS roster purposes.

Honours

;New England Revolution *

U.S. Open Cup The Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup, commonly known as the U.S. Open Cup (USOC), is a Single-elimination tournament, knockout cup competition in men's Soccer in the United States, soccer in the United States of America. It is the oldest ongoing nati ...

(1):

2007 File:2007 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Steve Jobs unveils Apple's first iPhone; TAM Airlines Flight 3054 overruns a runway and crashes into a gas station, killing almost 200 people; Former Pakistani Prime Minister of Pakistan, Pr ...

*Supporter's Player of the Year: 2006 ;St Mirren *

Scottish League Cup The Scottish League Cup (also known as the Viaplay Cup for sponsorship reasons) is a football competition open to all Scottish Professional Football League (SPFL) clubs. First held in 1946–47, it is the oldest national League Cup in existen ...

runner-up: 2009–10 * Renfrewshire Cup (2): 2008–09, 2009–10 *

Player of the Month: March 2009

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Dorman, Andy 1982 births Living people Sportspeople from Chester Association football midfielders Welsh footballers English footballers Wales international footballers Boston University alumni Boston University Terriers men's soccer players New England Revolution players St Mirren F.C. players Crystal Palace F.C. players Bristol Rovers F.C. players FC Boston players Major League Soccer players Scottish Premier League players English Football League players USL League Two players Welsh expatriate footballers Welsh expatriate sportspeople in the United States Expatriate soccer players in the United States New England Revolution draft picks English expatriate sportspeople in the United States English expatriate footballers