Charlie Telfer (born 4 July 1995) is a Scottish

midfielder A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

who plays for Airdrieonians. He began his career with Rangers before a transfer to

Dundee United Dundee United Football Club is a Scottish professional football club based in the city of Dundee. The club name is usually abbreviated to Dundee United. Formed in 1909, originally as Dundee Hibernian, the club changed to the present name in 1 ...

in June 2014. He joined Livingston on loan in January 2016 for the rest of the 2015–16 season. After he was released by Dundee United, he joined Dutch club Almere City in August 2017. He returned to Scotland in 2018, spending one season at

Greenock Morton Greenock Morton Football Club is a Scottish professional football club, which plays in the Scottish Championship. The club was founded as Morton Football Club in 1874, making it one of the oldest senior Scottish clubs. Morton was renamed Green ...

, before joining Falkirk in 2019. After bring released from Falkirk at the end of the 2021/2022 season he then signed for Airdrieonians in September 2022. Telfer represented Scotland at under-17, under-19 and under-21 level.

Early life

Telfer was born in Carluke and grew up supporting Rangers. He joined the club as a youth player after being spotted at a Football in the Community course at

Bell College Bell College was a higher education college based in Hamilton and Dumfries in Scotland. Founded in 1972, the College merged with the University of Paisley on 1 August 2007, it is now part of the renamed University of the West of Scotland. Hist ...

, Hamilton, when he was eight.

Club career

Rangers

After progressing through the Rangers academy, Telfer signed his first professional contract with the club in November 2011. He would make one competitive first team appearance for the club against Stenhousemuir in April 2014. On 13 May 2014, he was in the Rangers side that won the

Scottish Youth Cup The Scottish Youth Cup (also known as the SFA Youth Cup) is an annual Scottish football competition run by the Scottish Football Association for under-18 teams,

beating Hearts 8–7 on penalties following a 2–2 draw, at

St Mirren Park St Mirren Park, also known as The SMISA Stadium for sponsorship reasons, is a football stadium in Paisley, Scotland. It is the home of St Mirren. The stadium is the sixth home of the club and replaced Love Street. History Talks over a new ...

. Telfer later describe playing in the Scottish Youth Cup Final as his biggest game of his life. At the end of the 2013–14 season, Telfer's future at Rangers appeared to be in doubt when

were reported to be keen to sign him. Dundee United then made a £50,000 bid to sign Telfer, which was rejected by Rangers, who offered him a new contract.

Dundee United

After rejecting the offer of a new contract with Rangers, Telfer signed for Dundee United in June 2014, with a compensation payment still to be agreed between the clubs. Telfer's departure from Rangers was commented on by the club's manager

Ally McCoist Alistair Murdoch McCoist, (; born 24 September 1962) is a Scottish former footballer who has since worked as a manager and TV pundit. McCoist began his playing career with Scottish club St Johnstone before moving to English side Sunderland in ...

, who described him as a "great prospect" and said that the club had wanted to keep him but it had been Telfer's decision to leave. The level of compensation to be paid was set by an independent tribunal, with Dundee United paying £200,000 to Rangers in January 2015. He made his Dundee United debut as a substitute against

Aberdeen Aberdeen (; sco, Aiberdeen ; gd, Obar Dheathain ; la, Aberdonia) is a city in North East Scotland, and is the third most populous city in the country. Aberdeen is one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas (as Aberdeen City), and ...

in the opening match of the 2014–15 season, and scored his first goal for the club in a 3–0 win over St Mirren on 1 November 2014. Telfer was named as SPFL Young Player of the Month for November 2014. On 1 January 2015 he scored United's sixth goal in a 6–2

Dundee derby The Dundee derby is a football match between Dundee and Dundee United. The clubs are based yards apart in the city of Dundee, the fourth-largest city in Scotland. History Dundee is the older of the two, having been founded in 1893, compared ...

victory over local rivals Dundee. This was followed by two goals against Motherwell later that month. Telfer was a substitute for the 2015 Scottish League Cup Final, but was unused as Dundee United lost 2–0 to Celtic. He made 25 appearances and scored 4 times in his first season at the club. Having been unable to gain a regular place in the Dundee United team, Telfer moved on loan to

Scottish Championship The Scottish Championship, known as the cinch Championship for sponsorship reasons, is the second tier of the Scottish Professional Football League, the league competition for men's professional football clubs in Scotland. The Scottish Champio ...

side Livingston in January 2016 until the end of the 2015–16 season. Telfer was released by United on 5 June 2017.

Almere City

Telfer signed for Dutch club Almere City in August 2017 on a one-year contract. He had been training with

Dumbarton Dumbarton (; also sco, Dumbairton; ) is a town in West Dunbartonshire, Scotland, on the north bank of the River Clyde where the River Leven flows into the Clyde estuary. In 2006, it had an estimated population of 19,990. Dumbarton was the ca ...

and Bolton Wanderers; rejecting a contract at the Macron Stadium to move to the

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

Greenock Morton

Telfer signed a one-year contract with Scottish Championship club

in June 2018. He went on to make 29 league appearances, 24 of them in the starting line-up. Morton manager Jonatan Johansson and his assistant

Peter Houston Peter Houston (born 19 July 1958) is a Scottish football player and manager who is currently assistant manager of the Scotland under-21 side. Houston played as a striker for Airdrieonians, Livingston United, Albion Rovers, Falkirk, Dumbart ...

walked out on the club before the final game of the season in May 2019, claiming that chairman Crawford Rae had told them not to select Telfer, as one further appearance would trigger an automatic contract extension. Rae subsequently suggested that Telfer could still be offered a new contract once a replacement manager was appointed.

Falkirk

On 18 June 2019, Telfer signed for Falkirk on a two-year contract. At the end an injury-hit 2020–21 season, Telfer signed a further one-year contract with the club. After three years at Falkirk, he left at the end of his contract in May 2022.

Airdrieonians

Following a trial spell with Airdrieonians, Telfer signed a contract with the club in September 2022. Telfer played a key role in helping Airdrieonians gain promotion back to the Scottish Championship via the play-offs at the end of season 2022-23.

International career

Telfer has represented Scotland at under-17, under-19 and under-21 level.

Career statistics

Honours

Club

;Rangers *

Scottish Youth Cup The Scottish Youth Cup (also known as the SFA Youth Cup) is an annual Scottish football competition run by the Scottish Football Association for under-18 teams,

: 2013-14 ;Dundee United * Scottish Challenge Cup:

2016-17 16-17 is a band from Basel, Switzerland. Their music combines punk rock, hardcore punk, jazz and industrial music. Biography 16-17 was founded in 1983 by Alex Buess, Knut Remond and Markus Kneubühler. When the group played its first con ...

Individual

* SPFL Young Player of the Month: November 2014

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Telfer, Charlie 1995 births Footballers from South Lanarkshire Almere City FC players Men's association football midfielders Dundee United F.C. players Eerste Divisie players Expatriate men's footballers in the Netherlands Greenock Morton F.C. players Living people Livingston F.C. players People from Carluke Rangers F.C. players Scottish expatriate men's footballers Scottish men's footballers Scottish Professional Football League players Scotland men's under-21 international footballers Scotland men's youth international footballers Falkirk F.C. players Airdrieonians F.C. players