Harry Oliver Middleton (born 12 April 1995) 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 le ...

who played as a

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 ...

. He began his career at

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 ...

, making his first-team debut in November 2012. He established himself in the first-team in the 2015–16

relegation In sports leagues, promotion and relegation is a process where teams are transferred between multiple divisions based on their performance for the completed season. Leagues that use promotion and relegation systems are often called open leagues. ...

campaign, before helping Rovers to secure

promotion Promotion may refer to: Marketing * Promotion (marketing), one of the four marketing mix elements, comprising any type of marketing communication used to inform or persuade target audiences of the relative merits of a product, service, brand or i ...

out of

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 ...

in 2016–17. He signed with

Port Vale Port Vale Football Club are a professional football club based in Burslem, Stoke-on-Trent, England, which compete in . Vale are the only English Football League club not to be named after a place; their name being a reference to the valley o ...

in August 2017, and was

loan In finance, a loan is the lending of money by one or more individuals, organizations, or other entities to other individuals, organizations, etc. The recipient (i.e., the borrower) incurs a debt and is usually liable to pay interest on that d ...

ed out to

Halifax Town FC Halifax Town is a professional association football club based in Halifax, West Yorkshire, England. They currently compete in and play at the Shay. They replaced Halifax Town A.F.C., which went into administration in the 2007–08 season. ...

three months later. He signed with

Alfreton Town Alfreton Town Football Club is a football club based in Alfreton, Derbyshire, England. The club are currently members of and play at North Street. History The club was formed in 1959 following the merger of Alfreton Miners Welfare and Alfr ...

in August 2018 and moved on to

Gainsborough Trinity Gainsborough Trinity Football Club is a football club based in Gainsborough, Lincolnshire, England. Established in 1873, the club became members of the Football League in 1893 and remained members of the Second Division until 1912, making Gainsbo ...

three months later. He joined Cleethorpes Town in December 2019 and also had brief spells with Grantham Town and Barton Town. He became a police officer in 2022.

Career

Doncaster Rovers

Middleton began his career at

, and was part of the

Academy An academy ( Attic Greek: Ἀκαδήμεια; Koine Greek Ἀκαδημία) is an institution of secondary or tertiary higher learning (and generally also research or honorary membership). The name traces back to Plato's school of philosophy ...

team that won the Youth Alliance Cup with a 4–0 win over

Exeter City Exeter City Football Club is a professional association football club based in Exeter, Devon, England. The team play in , the third tier of the English football league system. Known as "the Grecians", the origin of their nickname is subject to ...

St James Park St James Park and variants may refer to: Municipalities * St James Park, New Zealand, a suburb of Hamilton, New Zealand Football stadiums * St James' Park, Newcastle upon Tyne, England * St James Park (Exeter), Exeter, England * St James Park, g ...

in 2012. He made his first-team debut in the

Football League Trophy The English Football League Trophy, known for sponsorship purposes as the Papa Johns Trophy after restaurant chain Papa John's Pizza, is an annual English association football knockout competition open to all clubs in EFL League One and EFL Leag ...

area quarter-final match against

Crewe Alexandra Crewe Alexandra Football Club is an English professional association football club based in the town of Crewe, Cheshire, that competes in League Two, the fourth tier of the English football league system. Nicknamed 'The Railwaymen' because of ...

at the Alexandra Stadium on 4 November 2012; Rovers drew 1–1 and lost the resulting

penalty shoot-out The penalty shootout is a method of determining a winner in sports matches that would have otherwise been drawn or tied. The rules for penalty shootouts vary between sports and even different competitions; however, the usual form is similar to pe ...

. He was one of six

youth team In sporting terminology, a youth system (or youth academy) is a youth investment program within a particular team or league, which develops and nurtures young talent in farm teams, with the vision of using them in the first team in the future i ...

players to be given a one-year professional

contract A contract is a legally enforceable agreement between two or more parties that creates, defines, and governs mutual rights and obligations between them. A contract typically involves the transfer of goods, services, money, or a promise to tran ...

by the club in July 2013. He made his second first-team appearance on 7 October 2014, in a 3–0 victory at

Burton Albion Burton Albion Football Club is a professional association football club in the town of Burton upon Trent, Staffordshire, England. The team compete in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. The club moved its home groun ...

in the League Trophy, coming on as an 87th-minute substitute. He made his

League One The English Football League One (often referred to as League One for short or Sky Bet League One for sponsorship purposes, and known as the Football League One from 2004 until 2016) is the second-highest division of the English Football Leag ...

debut on 28 December, coming on for

Marc de Val Marc de Val Fernández (born 15 February 1990) is a Spanish professional footballer who plays for SCR Peña Deportiva as a central midfielder. Club career Spain Born in Blanes, Girona, Catalonia, de Val joined RCD Espanyol's youth setup in 20 ...

34 minutes into a 0–0 draw at

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 ...

. Speaking after the match,

manager Management (or managing) is the administration of an organization, whether it is a business, a nonprofit organization, or a government body. It is the art and science of managing resources of the business. Management includes the activities o ...

Paul Dickov Paul may refer to: *Paul (given name), a given name (includes a list of people with that name) *Paul (surname), a list of people People Christianity * Paul the Apostle (AD c.5–c.64/65), also known as Saul of Tarsus or Saint Paul, early Chri ...

said Middleton was close to starting a first-team game and that "he's been slightly unfortunate with the form of Paul Keegan,

Richie Wellens Richard Paul Wellens (born 26 March 1980) is an English professional football manager and former player who played as a midfielder. He is currently head coach of EFL League Two club Leyton Orient. Wellens began his career at Manchester United ...

, Marc de Val and Dean Furman being ahead of him". He made his first start for "Donny" on 14 April, in a 0–0 draw 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 ...

Coach Coach may refer to: Guidance/instruction * Coach (sport), a director of athletes' training and activities * Coaching, the practice of guiding an individual through a process ** Acting coach, a teacher who trains performers Transportation * Co ...

Rob Jones had also appointed him as

captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police department, election precinct, e ...

of the youth team for the 2014–15 season, and Middleton helped the squad to a second-place finish in the final Third Development League, before he signed a new two-year contract in June 2015. He worked with the club's new nutritionist in the 2015–16 pre-season, and bulked up significantly as a result. He established himself as a first-team regular, making 41 appearances across the campaign, however, Doncaster were

relegated In sports leagues, promotion and relegation is a process where teams are transferred between multiple divisions based on their performance for the completed season. Leagues that use promotion and relegation systems are often called open leagues. ...

into

. He signed a new three-and-a-half-year deal in December 2015. He made six starts and 19 substitute appearances in League Two in the 2016–17 season as Rovers finished in third-place to secure automatic

at the first attempt. However, he was one of five players

transfer Transfer may refer to: Arts and media * ''Transfer'' (2010 film), a German science-fiction movie directed by Damir Lukacevic and starring Zana Marjanović * ''Transfer'' (1966 film), a short film * ''Transfer'' (journal), in management studies ...

listed in May 2017. Two months later manager

Darren Ferguson Darren Ferguson (born 9 February 1972) is a Scottish professional football manager and former player, who was most recently the manager of Championship club Peterborough United. In between his stints with Peterborough, he also managed Preston N ...

said the only enquiries made for Middleton came from

Swindon Town Swindon Town Football Club is a professional football club based in Swindon, Wiltshire, England. The team currently competes in , the fourth tier of the English football league system. The club has played home matches at the County Ground sin ...

, who did not make any formal offer, and he went on to criticise Middleton's agent for failing to find him a move away from the

Keepmoat Stadium The Eco-Power Stadium (formerly known as Keepmoat Stadium) is a multi-purpose stadium in Doncaster, England, with a capacity of 15,231. It cost approximately £20 million to construct, as part of the wider Lakeside Sports Complex that it ...

Port Vale

On 31 August 2017, Middleton signed a one-year contract with newly relegated League Two side

, as manager Michael Brown's 19th summer signing. On 11 November 2017, he was allowed to join

F.C. Halifax Town FC Halifax Town is a professional association football club based in Halifax, West Yorkshire, England. They currently compete in and play at the Shay. They replaced Halifax Town A.F.C., which went into administration in the 2007–08 seaso ...

, a

National League The National League of Professional Baseball Clubs, known simply as the National League (NL), is the older of two leagues constituting Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States and Canada, and the world's oldest extant professional team s ...

club previously coached by new "Valiants" manager

Neil Aspin Neil Aspin (born 12 April 1965) is an English football manager and former player. A solid defender who could play at centre-back and right-back, he was a good marker and an adept tackler. He made his debut in the English Football League for L ...

. Middleton said "I didn't see coming here as a step back. I saw it as a way to kick-start my career". He was released upon the expiry of his contract at

Vale Park Vale Park is a football stadium in Stoke-on-Trent, England. It has been the home ground of Port Vale F.C. since 1950. The ground has seen its capacity go up and down, its peak being 42,000 in 1954 against Blackpool, although a club record 49, ...

in May 2018.

Non-League

On 1 August 2018, Middleton signed a one-year contract with

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 ...

side

. After three months at North Street, during which time he featured just six times from the bench, he left the "Reds" and joined

Northern Premier League The Northern Premier League is an English football league that was founded in 1968. It has four divisions: the Premier Division (which stands at level 7 of the English football league system), Division One East, Division One West and Divisio ...

Premier Division club

. Trinity manager

Lee Sinnott Lee Sinnott (born 12 July 1965) is an English professional football manager and former player who was most recently manager of Gainsborough Trinity. As a player, he was a defender for Walsall, Watford, Bradford City, Crystal Palace, Hudder ...

said that "we wanted to supplement what we already have, and he will keep things fresh in the middle of the park". The "Holy Blues" ended the 2018–19 season in sixth-place, one point outside the play-offs; Middleton signed a new contract in the summer. On 13 December 2019, Middleton joined Northern Premier League Division One South East club Cleethorpes Town. He scored his first career goal on 22 February, as he opened the scoring for the "Owls" in a 5–0 victory over Spalding United. The 2019–20 season was abandoned and all results voided due to the

COVID-19 pandemic in England The COVID-19 pandemic was first confirmed to have spread to England with two cases among Chinese nationals staying in a hotel in York on 31 January 2020. The two main public bodies responsible for health in England are NHS England and Public ...

. He signed with Northern Premier League Premier Division side Grantham Town on 7 July 2020, joining his brother Ben. However, he returned to Cleethorpes by September. He scored two goals in eight games before the

2020–21 The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen b ...

season was curtailed due to the ongoing pandemic. He joined

Northern Counties East League The Northern Counties East Football League is a semi-professional English football league. It has two divisions – Premier Division and Division One – which stand at the ninth and tenth levels of the football pyramid respectively. History T ...

Premier Division side Barton Town on a dual registration deal on 12 November 2021 after "Swans" midfielder Josh Baker underwent surgery on his foot. He played five games for Barton under

player-manager A player-coach (also playing coach, captain-coach, or player-manager) is a member of a sports team who simultaneously holds both playing and coaching duties. A player-coach may be a head coach or an assistant coach. They may make changes to the sq ...

Nathan Jarman Nathan George Jarman (born 19 September 1986) is an English professional footballer who is the player/manager of Barton Town. He played in the Football League for Barnsley, Bury and Grimsby Town, later playing in non-league football for Work ...

. He scored one goal from 29 games for Cleethorpes in the 2021–22 campaign. He retired from football in 2022 in order to become an officer with

South Yorkshire Police South Yorkshire Police (SYP) is the territorial police force responsible for policing South Yorkshire in England. The force is led by Chief Constable Lauren Poultney. Oversight is conducted by Police and Crime Commissioner Alan Billings. T ...

Style of play

Middleton described himself as a creative deep-lying

Career statistics

Honours

Doncaster Rovers *

EFL 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 ...

third-place promotion: 2016–17

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Middleton, Harry Living people 1995 births Footballers from Doncaster English men's footballers Men's association football midfielders Doncaster Rovers F.C. players Port Vale F.C. players FC Halifax Town players Alfreton Town F.C. players Gainsborough Trinity F.C. players Cleethorpes Town F.C. players Grantham Town F.C. players Barton Town F.C. players English Football League players National League (English football) players Northern Premier League players Northern Counties East Football League players British police officers South Yorkshire Police officers