George Robert James Sykes (born 14 September 1994) is an English

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

forward Forward is a relative direction, the opposite of backward. Forward may also refer to: People * Forward (surname) Sports * Forward (association football) * Forward (basketball), including: ** Point forward ** Power forward (basketball) ** Sm ...

for

Enfield Town Enfield is a large town in north London, England, north of Charing Cross. It had a population of 156,858 in 2018. It includes the areas of Botany Bay, Brimsdown, Bulls Cross, Bullsmoor, Bush Hill Park, Clay Hill, Crews Hill, Enfield Highway ...

Club career

Sykes joined the

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 ...

youth team as an under-16 from hometown club Buckhurst Hill and was top scorer in the English U-18 youth system in the 2011–12 season with 24 goals. He made his senior debut at the age of 17 against Bristol Rovers on 21 August 2012. Sykes signed his first professional contract with the Bees in November 2012. He won the League Two Apprentice of the Year award at the Football League Awards in March 2013. On 15 August 2013, he joined

Bishop's Stortford Bishop's Stortford is a historic market town in Hertfordshire, England, just west of the M11 motorway on the county boundary with Essex, north-east of central London, and by rail from Liverpool Street station. Stortford had an estimated po ...

on loan. On his return to Barnet in November, Sykes came on as substitute at home to Cambridge United. With the score at 2–2, Sykes put the ball in the net in injury time after it had dropped from a cloud of smoke caused by a smoke bomb, obscuring the view of the assistant referee, who controversially disallowed the goal, claiming the ball had gone out of play, and Sykes was denied his first goal for Barnet. His first goal for Barnet came on 30 November, when he scored an 89th minute acrobatic winner in an

FA Trophy The Football Association Challenge Trophy, commonly known as the FA Trophy, is a men's football knockout cup competition run by and named after the English Football Association and competed for primarily by semi-professional teams. The compet ...

first round tie against

Hayes & Yeading United Hayes & Yeading United Football Club is an association football club based in Hayes, in the London Borough of Hillingdon, England. The club was formed in 2007 from a merger of Hayes Football Club (founded in 1909) and Yeading Football Club (f ...

. Sykes joined

Farnborough Farnborough may refer to: Australia * Farnborough, Queensland, a locality in the Shire of Livingstone United Kingdom * Farnborough, Hampshire, a town in the Rushmoor district of Hampshire, England ** Farnborough (Main) railway station, a railw ...

on loan on 31 January 2014, along with Jon Nurse. On 13 March, he joined St Albans City on loan until the end of the season, and was part of the team that won the Southern Football League Premier Division play-offs. Sykes re-joined

on loan on 22 August 2014 until 1 January. Two weeks after his return from loan, he went out on loan for a fifth time, at

Canvey Island Canvey Island is a town, civil parishes in England, civil parish and reclaimed island in the Thames estuary, near Southend-on-Sea, in the Castle Point district, in the county of Essex, England. It has an area of and a population of 38,170.Office ...

. Sykes joined

Dartford Dartford is the principal town in the Borough of Dartford, Kent, England. It is located south-east of Central London and is situated adjacent to the London Borough of Bexley to its west. To its north, across the Thames estuary, is Thurrock in ...

on a free transfer in June 2015. After scoring only one goal in the

National League South The National League South, formerly Conference South, is one of the second divisions of the National League in England, immediately below the top division National League. Along with National League North, it is in the second level of the N ...

in the entire 2015–16 season, Sykes rejoined

for 2016–17. On 15 June 2017, after an impressive campaign with Canvey Island, Sykes joined National League South side

Braintree Town Braintree Town Football Club is a semi-professional football club based in Braintree, Essex, England. They are currently members of and play at Cressing Road. History The club was formed on 24 September 1898 as Manor Works, the works team o ...

. On 20 July 2017, it was announced that Sykes had rejoined Canvey Island despite only recently signing for Braintree. Sykes joined Maldon & Tiptree in September 2018, before joining

Tilbury Tilbury is a port town in the borough of Thurrock, Essex, England. The present town was established as separate settlement in the late 19th century, on land that was mainly part of Chadwell St Mary. It contains a 16th century fort and an ancie ...

in November. He then left in October 2019 to join Aveley. Following Aveley's promotion through the Isthmian League Premier Division play-offs, Sykes departed to return to Bishop's Stortford, also newly promoted to the

National League North The National League North, formerly Conference North, is a division of the National League in England, immediately below the National League division. Along with the National League South, it is at the second level of the National League Sy ...

International career

In September 2012, Sykes was called up by Ricky Sbragia to the Scotland U-19 training camp ahead of qualifying games against Armenia, Romania and Switzerland in October 2012.Scotland summon Sykes
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Career statistics

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Sykes, George 1994 births Living people Men's association football forwards English men's footballers Scottish men's footballers Barnet F.C. players Bishop's Stortford F.C. players Farnborough F.C. players St Albans City F.C. players Canvey Island F.C. players Dartford F.C. players Braintree Town F.C. players Maldon & Tiptree F.C. players Tilbury F.C. players Aveley F.C. players English Football League players National League (English football) players Isthmian League players Southern Football League players People from Buckhurst Hill Footballers from Essex