Blair Sebastian Turgott (born 22 May 1994) is a 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 ...

who plays as a winger for

BK Häcken Bollklubben Häcken, more commonly known as BK Häcken or simply Häcken (), is a Swedish professional association football, football club based in Gothenburg. It currently plays in Allsvenskan, the top tier of Swedish football. Formed on 2 Augu ...

. He has previously played for

West Ham United West Ham United Football Club is an English professional football club that plays its home matches in Stratford, East London. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football. The club plays at the London Stadium, hav ...

and

Coventry City Coventry City Football Club is a professional association football club based in Coventry, West Midlands (county), West Midlands, England. The team currently compete in the EFL Championship, Championship, the second tier of the English footbal ...

and has had loan spells with

Bradford City Bradford City Association Football Club is an English professional football club in Bradford, West Yorkshire. The team competes in League Two, the fourth tier of the English football league system and are currently managed by Mark Hughes. Th ...

Colchester United Colchester United Football Club is a professional association football club based in the city of Colchester, Essex, England. The team competes in , the fourth tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1937, the club spent its earl ...

Rotherham United Rotherham United Football Club, nicknamed The Millers, is a professional football club based in Rotherham, South Yorkshire, England, which compete in the . The club's colours were initially yellow and black, but changed to red and white around 1 ...

and Dagenham & Redbridge. Born in England, he represents the Jamaica national team.

Career

West Ham United

Turgott joined

aged 8 becoming a youth and development squad player. He made his West Ham debut on 5 January 2014 in a 5–0 FA Cup defeat by

Nottingham Forest Nottingham Forest Football Club is an association football club based in West Bridgford, Nottinghamshire, England. Nottingham Forest was founded in 1865 and have been playing their home games at the City Ground, on the banks of the River Tren ...

. This was his only appearance for West Ham before being released in 2015.

Loan spells

He moved on loan from West Ham United to

in November 2012, and made his professional debut in the

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual knockout football competition in men's domestic English football. First played during the 1871–72 season, it is the oldest national football competi ...

in a 1–1 draw against

Brentford Brentford is a suburban town in West London, England and part of the London Borough of Hounslow. It lies at the confluence of the River Brent and the Thames, west of Charing Cross. Its economy has diverse company headquarters buildings whi ...

on 30 November 2012. Turgott stated in December 2012 that he hoped the loan move would toughen him up. On 4 March 2013, he returned to West Ham after his loan spell ended, having made 11 appearances for the club. Turgott signed an initial one-month loan deal with

on 28 November 2013. Turgott made his Colchester United debut on 14 December 2013, coming on as a half time substitute in a 4–0 home defeat by

Notts County Notts County Football Club is a professional association football club based in Nottingham, England. The team participate in the National League (division), National League, the fifth tier of the English football league system. Founded on the 2 ...

. He scored his first club career goal on 26 December 2013, the opener in a 4–0 home win over

Stevenage Stevenage ( ) is a large town and borough in Hertfordshire, England, about north of London. Stevenage is east of junctions 7 and 8 of the A1(M), between Letchworth Garden City to the north and Welwyn Garden City to the south. In 1946, Stevena ...

. Turgott returned to West Ham at the end of his loan having played four times and scoring once for Colchester. On 17 January 2014, Turgott joined

on an initial one-month loan. He made his Rotherham debut a day later in a 3–0 away win against

Shrewsbury Town Shrewsbury Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in Shrewsbury, Shropshire, England. The team competes in League One, the third tier of English football. The club plays its home games at the New Meadow, having mo ...

coming on as an 88th-minute substitute for

Ben Pringle Benjamin Philip Pringle (born 25 July 1988) is an English professional footballer who plays as a midfielder for UAE Second Division League club Fleetwood United. He has notably played for Derby County, Rotherham United, Fulham and Preston No ...

. This was his only appearance for Rotherham before he was recalled by West Ham in February 2014. On 27 March 2014, Turgott joined

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 Dagenham & Redbridge on loan for the remainder of the 2013–14 season. Turgott made his Dagenham & Redbridge two days after signing for the club, making his first start for them, in a 1–0 win over

Oxford United Oxford United Football Club is a professional football club in the city of Oxford, England. The team plays in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. The chairman is Grant Ferguson, the manager is Karl Robinson and t ...

. Turgott went on to make five appearances for the club.

Coventry City

Having been released from his contract by West Ham United, on 2 February 2015, Turgott signed for

on a short-term deal. Turgott made his Coventry City debut on 3 March 2015, coming on as a substitute for Adam Barton in the second half, in a 1–0 loss against

Barnsley Barnsley () is a market town in South Yorkshire, England. As the main settlement of the Metropolitan Borough of Barnsley and the fourth largest settlement in South Yorkshire. In Barnsley, the population was 96,888 while the wider Borough has ...

. Turgott scored his only Coventry goal on 28 March in a 0–1 away win against

Peterborough United Peterborough United Football Club is an English professional football club based in Peterborough, Cambridgeshire, England. The team compete in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. Peterborough have a long-standing ...

following-up a shot from Sanmi Odelusi. He was released by Coventry at the end of the 2014–15 season.

Leyton Orient

Turgott joined

club

Leyton Orient Leyton Orient Football Club is a professional football club based in Leyton, East London, England, who compete in , the fourth tier of the English football league system. They are the second oldest football club in London to play at a professio ...

on a one-year contract on 19 June 2015. He made his debut as a substitute on the opening day of the season, coming on for

Jay Simpson Jay-Alistaire Frederick Simpson (born 1 December 1988) is an English professional footballer who plays as a striker or winger for Welling United. A product of the Arsenal Academy, he never played a league game for Arsenal, spending most of h ...

in the 2–0 home win over

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 ...

, and scored his first goal for the club in the 3–0 win over

on 18 August. His opening goal for Leyton Orient was described as a "stunning goal" by their manager,

Ian Hendon Ian Michael Hendon (born 5 December 1971) is an English football manager and former player who played as a defender. Playing career Hendon was born in Ilford, Greater London. Primarily a right-back but sometimes deployed in the centre or in ...

. Meeting a right-wing cross from Sean Clohessy, Turgott hit a first-time volley from past the Stevenage goalkeeper,

Chris Day Christopher Nicholas Day (born 28 July 1975) is an English former professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper. Day started his career at Tottenham Hotspur, where he spent five years, making one Premier League appearance for the North Lon ...

. In May 2016, he was released from Leyton Orient when it was announced that he would not be retained when his contract expired.

Bromley

On 4 August 2016, after a successful pre-season in which he had scored four goals, it was announced that Turgott had signed for hometown club

Bromley Bromley is a large town in Greater London, England, within the London Borough of Bromley. It is south-east of Charing Cross, and had an estimated population of 87,889 as of 2011. Originally part of Kent, Bromley became a market town, char ...

Stevenage and Boreham Wood

After attending the V9 Academy, on 27 June 2017, Turgott joined

side

. After a single appearance for the Boro, as a second-half substitute in an

EFL Cup The EFL Cup (referred to historically, and colloquially, as the League Cup), currently known as the Carabao Cup for sponsorship reasons, is an annual knockout competition and major trophy in men's domestic football in England. Organised by the ...

loss at

Millwall Millwall is a district on the western and southern side of the Isle of Dogs, in east London, England, in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. It lies to the immediate south of Canary Wharf and Limehouse, north of Greenwich and Deptford, east ...

, he was loaned to

Boreham Wood Borehamwood (, historically also Boreham Wood) is a town in southern Hertfordshire, England, from Charing Cross. Borehamwood has a population of 31,074, and is within the London commuter belt. The town's film and TV studios are commonly known ...

on 8 September 2017. He played the full 90 minutes against former club Leyton Orient the following day. On 21 December 2017, Stevenage announced that Turgott's contract had been terminated, following which he returned to Boreham Wood on a permanent deal.

Sweden

In July 2019, Turgott left England and signed with

Allsvenskan Allsvenskan (; en, the All-Swedish, also known as Fotbollsallsvenskan, en, the Football All-Swedish) is a Swedish professional league for men's association football clubs. It was founded in 1924 and is the top tier of the Swedish football lea ...

side

Östersund Östersund (; sma, Staare) is an urban area (city) in Jämtland in the middle of Sweden. It is the seat of Östersund Municipality and the capital of Jämtland County. Östersund is located at the shores of Sweden's fifth-largest lake, Storsjön, ...

. It wasn't until on 10 August 2019 when he made his debut for the club against

GIF Sundsvall Gymnastik- och Idrottsföreningen Sundsvall, more commonly known as GIF Sundsvall (), Giffarna or simply Sundsvall, is a Swedish professional football club based in Sundsvall. The club is affiliated with Medelpads Fotbollförbund and plays its h ...

, coming on as a 43rd-minute substitute and won the penalty, which teammate Dino Islamović successfully converted the penalty, in a 1–1 draw. Two weeks later on 25 August 2019, Turgott scored his first goal for Östersunds FK, in a 3–1 lost against

AIK AIK Fotboll (), more commonly known simply as AIK (), an abbreviation for Allmänna Idrottsklubben (meaning ''the public'' or ''general sports club''), is a Swedish football club competing in Allsvenskan, the top flight of Swedish football. The ...

. At the end of the 2019 season, he went on to make sixteen appearances and scoring once in all competitions. At the start of the 2021 season, Turgott helped Östersund when he scored three times in the Svenska Cupen's group stage matches, including a brace against

Landskrona BoIS Landskrona Boll och Idrottsällskap ( en, Landskrona Ball and Sports Society, locally referred to as BoIS) is a Swedish professional football club located in Landskrona, Scania, which currently plays in Superettan, the second league tier of fo ...

and saw the club reach through the group stage. Turgott scored his first hat–trick of his Östersund's career, in a 5–0 win against

Örebro SK Örebro Sportklubb, more commonly known as Örebro SK, Örebro or (especially locally) ÖSK, is a Swedish professional football club based in Örebro. The club are affiliated to Örebro Läns Fotbollförbund and play their home games at Behrn A ...

on 18 April 2021. He then scored his second hat–trick of his Östersund's career, in a 3–1 win against

IF Elfsborg Idrottsföreningen Elfsborg, more commonly known as IF Elfsborg or simply Elfsborg (), is a professional football club based in Borås, Sweden, and is affiliated to the Västergötlands Fotbollförbund. They play in the Allsvenskan and have spent ...

on 19 September 2021. However, he was unable to help the club avoid relegation after they lost 3–0 against

Varbergs BoIS Varbergs BoIS FC is a Swedish football club located in Varberg, the main town of Varberg Municipality in Halland County. Background The club was formed at a meeting in the Varbergs Folkets Hus on 25 March 1925. The backbone of the new club w ...

. Despite this, Turgott finished as Östersund's top–scorer with thirteen goals in a total of twenty–nine appearances in the 2021 season. On 5 May 2022, Turgott joined

side

on a two-year deal. He won the 2022 Allsvenskan in his first season with

, scoring in the title deciding match against IFK Goteborg in October 2022.

International career

He has represented England up to under-19 level. He scored in the

2011 FIFA U-17 World Cup The 2011 FIFA U-17 World Cup was the fourteenth tournament of the FIFA U-17 World Cup, and the eleventh played since the change in age limits from under 16s to Under 17s in 1991. It was held in Mexico with games being played amongst various venues ...

against Canada and helped England to top their group. He scored his first goal at under-19 level during

2013 UEFA European Under-19 Football Championship qualification The 2013 UEFA European Under-19 Championship (qualifying round) was the first round of qualifications for the 2013 UEFA European Under-19 Championship final tournament. The 48 participating teams were divided into 12 groups of four teams, with each ...

in a 3–0 win against

Estonia Estonia, formally the Republic of Estonia, is a country by the Baltic Sea in Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland across from Finland, to the west by the sea across from Sweden, to the south by Latvia, a ...

. He also scored twice in the 6–0 win against

Faroe Islands The Faroe Islands ( ), or simply the Faroes ( fo, Føroyar ; da, Færøerne ), are a North Atlantic island group and an autonomous territory of the Kingdom of Denmark. They are located north-northwest of Scotland, and about halfway bet ...

, helping England finish top of their qualification group which also contained

Ukraine Ukraine ( uk, Україна, Ukraïna, ) is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the second-largest European country after Russia, which it borders to the east and northeast. Ukraine covers approximately . Prior to the ongoing Russian inv ...

. Turgott was called up to represent the Jamaica national team for a pair of friendlies in June 2021. On 7 June 2021, he made his senior international debut for Jamaica in a 1–1 draw against

Serbia Serbia (, ; Serbian language, Serbian: , , ), officially the Republic of Serbia (Serbian language, Serbian: , , ), is a landlocked country in Southeast Europe, Southeastern and Central Europe, situated at the crossroads of the Pannonian Bas ...

Personal life

In April 2017, Turgott was charged with offences relating to

fraud In law, fraud is intentional deception to secure unfair or unlawful gain, or to deprive a victim of a legal right. Fraud can violate civil law (e.g., a fraud victim may sue the fraud perpetrator to avoid the fraud or recover monetary compens ...

and

money laundering Money laundering is the process of concealing the origin of money, obtained from illicit activities such as drug trafficking, corruption, embezzlement or gambling, by converting it into a legitimate source. It is a crime in many jurisdictions ...

. He was subsequently cleared of a charge of converting criminal property, while a jury failed to reach a verdict on the other charge of fraud.

Career statistics

Club

Honours

BK Häcken *

2022 File:2022 collage V1.png, Clockwise, from top left: Road junction at Yamato-Saidaiji Station several hours after the assassination of Shinzo Abe; 2022 Sri Lankan protests, Anti-government protest in Sri Lanka in front of the Presidential Secretari ...

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Turgott, Blair 1994 births Living people Footballers from Bromley Jamaican footballers Jamaica men's international footballers English footballers England men's youth international footballers English people of Jamaican descent West Ham United F.C. players Bradford City A.F.C. players English Football League players Black British sportsmen Men's association football midfielders Colchester United F.C. players Rotherham United F.C. players Dagenham & Redbridge F.C. players Coventry City F.C. players Leyton Orient F.C. players Bromley F.C. players Stevenage F.C. players National League (English football) players England men's semi-pro international footballers Boreham Wood F.C. players Maidstone United F.C. players Östersunds FK players BK Häcken players Allsvenskan players V9 Academy players 2021 CONCACAF Gold Cup players Expatriate footballers in Sweden English expatriate sportspeople in Sweden