Joseph Widdowson (born 28 March 1989) 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 plays as a defender. He began his career with

Premier League The Premier League (legal name: The Football Association Premier League Limited) is the highest level of the men's English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Foo ...

side

West Ham United West Ham United Football Club is an English professional football club that plays its home matches in Stratford, East London. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football. The club plays at the London Stadium, hav ...

, spending time on loan with

Rotherham United Rotherham United Football Club, nicknamed The Millers, is a professional football club based in Rotherham, South Yorkshire, England, which compete in the . The club's colours were initially yellow and black, but changed to red and white around 1 ...

. He later signed a permanent contract with

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 ...

which was the start of an extensive

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 ...

career 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 ...

Northampton Town Northampton Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in the town of Northampton, England. The team plays in , the fourth tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1897, the club competed in the Midland ...

, Dagenham & Redbridge and

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 ...

. His final season was in the

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 ...

with

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 ...

Career

West Ham United

Widdowson began his career as a trainee at

in July 2007. He joined

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

in February 2008 on a one-month loan, where he made three league appearances. He made his non-competitive debut for West Ham on 17 July 2008 against Hampton & Richmond Borough completing 90 minutes in a 2–4 victory. This match was then followed with a full 90 minutes on 24 July 2008 in the

2008 MLS All-Star Game The 2008 Major League Soccer All-Star Game was the 13th annual MLS All-Star Game. The MLS All-Stars faced West Ham United of the English Premier League. The game was played on July 24, 2008, with the MLS winning 3–2. New England Revolution coac ...

in Toronto in which Widdowson was handed the difficult task of marking

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

legend

David Beckham David Robert Joseph Beckham (; born 2 May 1975) is an English former professional footballer, the current president and co-owner of Inter Miami CF and co-owner of Salford City. Known for his range of passing, crossing ability and bending fr ...

. Widdowson impressed many spectators during the game with the way he handled the task set in such a controlled manner, and ended the game swapping shirts with the

Los Angeles Galaxy LA Galaxy, also known as the Los Angeles Galaxy, are an American professional soccer club based in the Los Angeles metropolitan area. The Galaxy competes in Major League Soccer (MLS), as a member of the Western Conference. The club began play ...

star.

Grimsby Town

On 2 January 2009 Widdowson joined Grimsby Town on an initial one-month loan. Widdowson made his debut for Grimsby on 17 January 2009 in a 1–0 away victory against

Wycombe Wanderers Wycombe Wanderers Football Club is an English professional association football club based in the town of High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire. The team compete in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. They play their home ...

. He scored his first league goal, against

, in a 3–0 home win for the Mariners on 24 January 2009. The goal was good enough to win 2nd place in the club's goal of the season awards. Grimsby manager Mike Newell managed to extend Widdowson's loan until the end of the season, and he remained as the club's first choice left back, despite regular starter

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 ...

returning from injury. Newey was then loaned out to

, and Widdowson became an integral part of the Grimsby side that managed too stave off relegation from the Football League. He was given his first red card for the club on 25 April 2009 after being controversially dismissed in the 87th minute of play for a second bookable offence in the club's relegation crunch tie with

AFC Bournemouth AFC Bournemouth () is a professional association football club based in Kings Park, Boscombe, a suburb of Bournemouth, Dorset, England. The club competes in the Premier League, the highest division of English club football. Formed in 1899 as B ...

. On 18 May 2009, the Mariners announced Widdowson had signed a three-year contract with the club.

Rochdale

On 22 June 2010 Widdowson signed for

ahead of the club's first campaign in

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 ...

. In May 2012, Widdowson was released from Rochdale after being told his contract would not be renewed.

Northampton Town

On 5 July 2012 Widdowson joined

on a two-year contract.

Bury

On 6 August 2014, Widdowson signed for

Bury Bury may refer to: *The burial of human remains *-bury, a suffix in English placenames Places England * Bury, Cambridgeshire, a village * Bury, Greater Manchester, a town, historically in Lancashire ** Bury (UK Parliament constituency) (1832–19 ...

just days prior to the start of the new season, having impressed on a short-term trial.

Morecambe

On 29 August 2014, Widdowson signed for

Morecambe Morecambe ( ) is a seaside town and civil parish in the City of Lancaster district in Lancashire, England. It is in Morecambe Bay on the Irish Sea. Name The first use of the name was by John Whitaker in his ''History of Manchester'' (1771), w ...

on a two-month loan.

Dagenham & Redbridge

On 27 November 2014, Widdowson joined Dagenham & Redbridge on loan until 4 January 2015. In January 2015, his loan with Dagenham ended and he returned to Bury having made three appearances for the side. Later in the month he signed for Dagenham & Redbridge on a six-month contract until the end of the season after his short-term deal with Bury came to an end.

Leyton Orient

On 1 July 2017, Widdowson signed for

on a two-year contract. In May 2019, after winning promotion to League Two with the O's, his contract was renewed until 2021. Widdowson was released at the end of the 2020-21 season after 137 appearances for the O's.

Barnet

Widdowson signed a two-year contract with

in July 2021. He scored three times in ten games for the Bees. After opening the scoring away at

Stockport County Stockport County Football Club are a professional football club in Stockport, England, who compete in EFL League Two, the fourth tier of the English football league system. Formed in 1883 as Heaton Norris Rovers, they were renamed Stockport Co ...

in October 2021, he was stretchered off after a foul by Macauley Southam-Hales that saw the latter sent off. Widdowson spent the rest of the season out injured and departed the Bees following the conclusion of the season.

Career statistics

Honours

Leyton Orient *

: 2018–19 *

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 ...

runner-up: 2018–19

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Widdowson, Joe 1989 births Living people Footballers from Forest Gate English men's footballers Men's association football defenders West Ham United F.C. players Rotherham United F.C. players Grimsby Town F.C. players Rochdale A.F.C. players Northampton Town F.C. players Bury F.C. players Morecambe F.C. players Dagenham & Redbridge F.C. players Leyton Orient F.C. players Barnet F.C. players English Football League players Black British sportsmen National League (English football) players