Gregg Steven Blundell (born 3 October 1977) is an English retired

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 played as a striker. He is now a

physiotherapist Physical therapy (PT), also known as physiotherapy, is one of the allied health professions. It is provided by physical therapists who promote, maintain, or restore health through physical examination, diagnosis, management, prognosis, patient ...

for

Liverpool Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a popul ...

. Prior to his appointment at Tranmere he combined playing football and being the club's physiotherapist at

Barrow AFC Barrow Association Football Club is a professional football club based in Barrow-in-Furness, Cumbria, England. The club plays in EFL League Two, the fourth tier of the English league system. Since 1909, Barrow have played their home games at H ...

in the

Conference National The National League, known as the Vanarama National League for sponsorship reasons, is the highest level of the National League System and fifth-highest of the overall English football league system. It is the highest league that is semi-profes ...

Football career

Early career

Gregg started as a trainee at

Tranmere Rovers Tranmere Rovers Football Club is a professional association football club based in Birkenhead, Merseyside, England. The team compete in , the fourth tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1884 as Belmont Football Club, they adop ...

but was released. After a spell with Knowsley United, he began a prolific scoring record with

Vauxhall Motors Vauxhall Motors LimitedCompany No. 00135767. Incorporated 12 May 1914, name changed from Vauxhall Motors Limited to General Motors UK Limited on 16 April 2008, reverted to Vauxhall Motors Limited on 18 September 2017. () is a British car compa ...

, who rose through the non-league pyramid in his spell there. The goals continued to flow after a move to

Football Conference The National League (named Vanarama National League for sponsorship reasons) is an association football league in England consisting of three divisions, the National League, National League North, and National League South. It was called the ...

club

Northwich Victoria {{Infobox UK place , static_image_name = Northwich - Town Bridge.jpg , static_image_caption = Town Bridge, the River Weaver and the spire of Holy Trinity Church , official_name = Northwich , country ...

in 2001. Despite playing for a side in the bottom half of the table, Blundell had a strong scoring record. This prompted a move to Conference promotion chasers

Doncaster Rovers Doncaster Rovers Football Club is a professional association football club based in Doncaster, South Yorkshire, England. The team compete in League Two, the fourth tier of the English football league system. The club play their home games at ...

in March 2003.

Doncaster Rovers

Blundell's first season with Rovers ended with his promotion to the

Football League The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, the league is the oldest such competition in the world. It was the top-level football league in Engla ...

, after play-off wins over future club Chester City and

Dagenham & Redbridge Dagenham & Redbridge Football Club is a professional association football club based in Dagenham, Greater London, England. The team competes in the National League, the fifth tier of the English football league system. Often known simply as Dag ...

. His belated Football League debut at

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 9 August 2003 saw him open the scoring in a 3–1 win, as Rovers went on to win the

Division Three The Football League Third Division was the third tier of the English football league system in 1920–21 and again from 1958 until 1992. When the FA Premier League was formed, the division become the fourth tier level. In 2004, following the ...

title. Blundell scored 18 goals during the season. However, many Rovers fans felt that he had reached his level at League one and despite being given chances in the first team, he never managed to achieve the success he had the season before.

Chester City

Blundell was signed by Chester City from

for a Club Record Fee in July 2005 (reputedly £105,000). He made a quick impact with Chester, bagging six goals by the end of September 2005 as Chester challenged for promotion from

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 ...

. But his season was to lie in tatters after an injury sustained against

Rochdale Rochdale ( ) is a large town in Greater Manchester, England, at the foothills of the South Pennines in the dale on the River Roch, northwest of Oldham and northeast of Manchester. It is the administrative centre of the Metropolitan Borough ...

on 7 October 2005. After missing three months out injured, just one more goal was managed before the end of the season. His confidence was still never fully recovered the following season and Chester accepted a nominal bid for Blundell from

Darlington Darlington is a market town in the Borough of Darlington, County Durham, England. The River Skerne flows through the town; it is a tributary of the River Tees. The Tees itself flows south of the town. In the 19th century, Darlington underwen ...

as transfer deadline day approached in January 2007.

Darlington

He was re-united with former manager

Dave Penney David Mark Penney (born 17 August 1964) is an English football manager and former player. Born in Wakefield, West Riding of Yorkshire, Penney entered professional football at the relatively late age of 21. He had been working as a bricklayer and ...

at Darlington. Again the goals did not flow in the rest of the season, but he did score a late penalty equaliser on his return to

Chester Chester is a cathedral city and the county town of Cheshire, England. It is located on the River Dee, close to the English–Welsh border. With a population of 79,645 in 2011,"2011 Census results: People and Population Profile: Chester Loca ...

in April 2007. Apart from a loan spell with

Accrington Stanley Accrington Stanley Football Club is a professional association football club based in Accrington, Lancashire, England. The club competes in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. They have spent their complete history ...

, Blundell remained at Darlington until the summer of 2009 when he returned to Chester who had just suffered relegation to the

Chester and Barrow

Blundell stayed just a half a season with Chester, scoring three goals in eighteen league games, before moving to

on loan as Chester looked to cut costs. With Chester unable to pay their players, Blundell left in January 2010, signing permanently with Barrow. On 13 March 2010, Gregg scored the only goal of the match as Barrow beat Salisbury City in the 1st Leg of the FA Trophy Semi Final at Salisbury. He remained with Barrow for the following season, but left in June 2011.

Personal life

He graduated from the

University of Salford , caption = Coat of ArmsUniversity of Salford , mottoeng = "Let us seek higher things" , established = 1850 - Pendleton Mechanics Institute 1896 – Royal Technical Institute, Salford 1967 – gained ...

in 2008 with a degree in

Physiotherapy Physical therapy (PT), also known as physiotherapy, is one of the allied health professions. It is provided by physical therapists who promote, maintain, or restore health through physical examination, diagnosis, management, prognosis, patient ...

and has been studying for a master's degree in Football Rehabilitation at

Edge Hill University Edge Hill University is a campus-based public university in Ormskirk, Lancashire, England, which opened in 1885 as Edge Hill College, the first non-denominational teacher training college for women in England, before admitting its first male st ...

. Blundell is the uncle of

midfielder James Wallace.

Physiotherapy career

After combining playing football and physiotherapy at Barrow, he retired from professional football at the end of the 2010–11 season and on 21 June 2011

confirmed his appointment as the club's new physiotherapist. Since 2016, he has been a physiotherapist for

Honours

As a player

* Nationwide Division Three Title winner: 2003–04

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 ...

winner: 2009–10 Individual *

Goalscorer of the Month: August 2002

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Blundell, Gregg 1977 births Living people Tranmere Rovers F.C. players Doncaster Rovers F.C. players Chester City F.C. players Darlington F.C. players Northwich Victoria F.C. players Vauxhall Motors F.C. players Accrington Stanley F.C. players Barrow A.F.C. players England semi-pro international footballers English Football League players National League (English football) players English footballers Footballers from Liverpool Alumni of the University of Salford People associated with Edge Hill University Tranmere Rovers F.C. non-playing staff Liverpool F.C. non-playing staff Association football forwards