Glen Downey (born 20 September 1978) is an English 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 ...

who played as a defender from 1997 to 2007. He notably played in the Football League for

Grimsby Town Grimsby Town Football Club is a professional football club based in Cleethorpes, North East Lincolnshire, England, that in the 2022–23 season will compete in , the fourth tier of the English football league system, following the victory in t ...

, having also had spells with

Hartlepool United Hartlepool United Football Club is a professional association football club based in Hartlepool, County Durham, England. The team competes in EFL League Two, League Two, the fourth tier of the English football league system. They were founded i ...

, Bishop Auckland, Spennymoor United, Gateshead, Shelbourne, Newry City,

Scarborough Scarborough or Scarboro may refer to: People * Scarborough (surname) * Earl of Scarbrough Places Australia * Scarborough, Western Australia, suburb of Perth * Scarborough, New South Wales, suburb of Wollongong * Scarborough, Queensland, su ...

and

Worksop Town Worksop Town Football Club is an English football club based in Worksop, Nottinghamshire. As of the 2021–22 season the team plays in the . They are nicknamed ''The Tigers'' and play their home games at Sandy Lane in Worksop. History First clu ...

Career

Downey started his career as a trainee at

in 1997 but in three years with the club he had failed to make a single first team appearance and was released in 2000. He then moved into Non-League whilst having a brief loan spells with Bishop Auckland and Gateshead before moving to Ireland where he featured for Shelbourne and Newry City. He then joined Conference National side

in 2003. He had struggled to make an impact with The Seadogs, and following his release in 2004 he was surprisingly signed up for

Football 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

Russell Slade Russell Mark Slade (born 10 October 1960) is an English professional football manager, who was most recently managerial consultant of League Two club Stevenage. Having had an extended career at reserve team level, Slade entered professional ...

, his manager at Scarborough. Originally signed as defensive cover, he was given a new one-year-deal a year later despite the fact he only played 14 minutes in his first season with The Mariners. In his first appearance of the 05–06 season Downey impressed after replacing the injured Rob Jones in the impressive 1-0 Football League Cup victory away against

Derby County Derby County Football Club () is a professional association football club based in Derby, Derbyshire, England. In 2022, it was announced that DCFC was acquired by Clowes Developments (UK) Ltd, a Derbyshire-based property group. Founded in 188 ...

. In his only league appearance of that season on New Year's Eve, he came on as substitute and scored an 84th-minute winner against

Wrexham Wrexham ( ; cy, Wrecsam; ) is a city and the administrative centre of Wrexham County Borough in Wales. It is located between the Welsh mountains and the lower Dee Valley, near the border with Cheshire in England. Historically in the count ...

in a game where both Grimsby centre backs Simon Ramsden and Rob Jones departed through injury. Downey had played at left back as part of a makeshift back four with regular left back

Tom Newey Thomas William Newey (born 31 October 1982) is an English former professional footballer, commentator and football coach who is the Under 15s & Under 16s Coach at Leeds United. As a player he was a left-back from 2002 to 2017. He could also ope ...

moving to centre back to partner striker Gary Jones. Despite earning several plaudits in all 3 of his appearances for the club, Downey was released and joined

Conference 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 Syst ...

side

at the start of the 2006–07 season. This was only to be a brief spell and he departed after playing only a handful of games. Following his release from Worksop he was never to sign again with a club at neither professional or semi-professional terms, and despite never officially announcing his retirement from the sport he would never play competitive football again,

Personal life

Downey's younger brother Gareth was also a professional footballer who played as a

goalkeeper In many team sports which involve scoring goals, the goalkeeper (sometimes termed goaltender, netminder, GK, goalie or keeper) is a designated player charged with directly preventing the opposing team from scoring by blocking or intercepting o ...

. Like Glen he was on the books for

, Shelbourne, and

. Downey now runs a chain of Fish and Chips shops with his brother in

Wearside Wearside () is a built-up area in both Tyne and Wear and County Durham, Northern England. It is named after the River Wear which flows through it and traditionally all in the County of Durham. In the 2011 census, its official name was the Sunderl ...

Honours

Grimsby Town

Play-off runner up: 2005-06

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Downey, Glen English men's footballers 1978 births Living people Hartlepool United F.C. players Bishop Auckland F.C. players Spennymoor United A.F.C. players Gateshead F.C. players Scarborough F.C. players Grimsby Town F.C. players Worksop Town F.C. players English Football League players National League (English football) players Northern Premier League players Men's association football defenders Shelbourne F.C. players League of Ireland players Expatriate men's association footballers in the Republic of Ireland Footballers from Newcastle upon Tyne