James Matthew Spencer (born 11 April 1985) 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

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 ...

Playing career

Stockport County

Born in

Stockport Stockport is a town and borough in Greater Manchester, England, south-east of Manchester, south-west of Ashton-under-Lyne and north of Macclesfield. The River Goyt and Tame merge to create the River Mersey here. Most of the town is within ...

Greater Manchester Greater Manchester is a metropolitan county and combined authority, combined authority area in North West England, with a population of 2.8 million; comprising ten metropolitan boroughs: City of Manchester, Manchester, City of Salford, Salford ...

, Spencer started his senior career with his local side Stockport County, where he came through the club's Centre of Excellence youth system, making his debut in a 2–1 victory over

Watford Watford () is a town and borough in Hertfordshire, England, 15 miles northwest of Central London, on the River Colne. Initially a small market town, the Grand Junction Canal encouraged the construction of paper-making mills, print works, a ...

in 2002, aged just 16. Since his debut in 2002, Spencer played regularly for the Stockport first team, linking him with moves to

Sunderland Sunderland () is a port city in Tyne and Wear, England. It is the City of Sunderland's administrative centre and in the Historic counties of England, historic county of County of Durham, Durham. The city is from Newcastle-upon-Tyne and is on t ...

and

West Bromwich Albion West Bromwich Albion Football Club () is an English professional football club based in West Bromwich, West Midlands, England. They compete in the EFL Championship, the second tier of English football. The club was formed in 1878 and has pla ...

. However, Spencer lacked first-team opportunities during the 2006–07 season.

Rochdale

In the summer of 2007 he signed a two-year contract with

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 ...

, however he lacked first team opportunities when a double hernia and stress fracture of the hip in April 2008 kept him out due to injury he was replaced by Sam Russell and subsequently Rochdale brought Premiership keeper

Frank Fielding Francis David Fielding (born 4 April 1988) is an English professional footballer who plays as a goalkeeper for Stoke City. He began his career at Blackburn Rovers in the Premier League. He spent time on loan at Wycombe Wanderers, Northampton T ...

in on a loan deal. On 9 April 2009, Spencer joined Chester City on an emergency loan, following an injury to regular goalkeeper John Danby. He played in the final five matches of the season but was unable to prevent City being relegated out of

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 ...

. At the end of the season, Spencer was released by Rochdale,

Non-League

After his release from Rochdale, he joined non-league side

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 August 2009, but after two successful seasons with the club, he was released in 2011, to cut the playing budget. He was then signed by FC United of Manchester in July 2011.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Spencer, James 1985 births Living people Footballers from Stockport English men's footballers Men's association football goalkeepers Stockport County F.C. players Rochdale A.F.C. players Chester City F.C. players Northwich Victoria F.C. players English Football League players F.C. United of Manchester players Northern Premier League players