Karl William Elsey (born 20 November 1958) is a Welsh 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 ...

. His clubs included Swansea City,

Queens Park Rangers Queens Park Rangers Football Club, commonly abbreviated to QPR, is a professional football club based in Shepherd's Bush, West London, England, which compete in the . After a nomadic early existence, they have played home matches at Loftus Ro ...

, Newport County, Cardiff City, Gillingham,

Reading Reading is the process of taking in the sense or meaning of letters, symbols, etc., especially by sight or touch. For educators and researchers, reading is a multifaceted process involving such areas as word recognition, orthography (spelling ...

and Maidstone United. In total he made over 450 Football League appearances.

Career

Elsey joined Pembroke Borough from local amateur football and had a brief spell with Swansea City in the 1978–79 season before returning to Pembroke Borough. He signed for

in January 1979, but failed to establish himself. Elsey moved to Newport County in July 1980, during the most successful period in the club's history. Elsey was part of the team that won promotion and the

Welsh Cup The FAW Welsh Cup ( cy, Cwpan Cymdeithas Pêl-droed Cymru), currently known as the JD Welsh Cup for sponsorship reasons, is a knock-out football competition contested annually by teams in the Welsh football league system. It is considered the mos ...

and in the subsequent season reached the quarter-final of the 1981

European Cup Winners Cup The UEFA Cup Winners' Cup was a European football club competition contested annually by the winners of domestic cup competitions. The cup was, chronologically, the second seasonal inter-European club competition organised by UEFA. The tourna ...

. He moved to Cardiff City in September 1983 in a move that saw Elsey and

Nigel Vaughan Nigel Mark Vaughan (born 20 May 1959 in Caerleon) is a Welsh former professional footballer and Wales international. He gained ten international caps during his football career. Club career Newport County Vaughan started his playing career at ...

join Cardiff from Newport in exchange for Tarki Micallef,

John Lewis John Robert Lewis (February 21, 1940 – July 17, 2020) was an American politician and civil rights activist who served in the United States House of Representatives for from 1987 until his death in 2020. He participated in the 1960 Nashville ...

and

Linden Jones ''For the Welsh cricketer see Lyndon Jones''. Linden Jones (born 5 March 1961) is a Welsh former professional footballer. Club career Jones was born in New Tredegar, Monmouthshire. He began his career at Cardiff City joining them as an appr ...

. He played over 60 games for Cardiff before joining Gillingham on a free transfer in May 1985. He moved to

in August 1988 and, although virtually ever-present in the Reading side the following season, left to join Maidstone United in July 1989. He rejoined Gillingham in August 1991, but dropped out of league football in March 1992 when he joined

Sittingbourne Sittingbourne is an industrial town in Kent, south-east England, from Canterbury and from London, beside the Roman Watling Street, an ancient British trackway used by the Romans and the Anglo-Saxons and next to the Swale, a strip of sea separa ...

. He moved to Braintree Town in December 1993, but in February 1994 moved to Ashford Town (Kent). The following month he joined Hastings Town. In September 1994 he joined Faversham Town, but the following month left to join

Margate Margate is a seaside town on the north coast of Kent in south-east England. The town is estimated to be 1.5 miles long, north-east of Canterbury and includes Cliftonville, Garlinge, Palm Bay and Westbrook. The town has been a significan ...

. In April 1995 he became Margate's caretaker manager and was appointed as player-manager in early May. He was sacked in March 1996 and joined Ramsgate as a player. In April 1996 he joined Chatham Town and became their player-manager in October 1996. He left Chatham in March 1997 and joined Lordswood as a player. He remained with Lordswood until early in the following season when he dropped out of senior football. He signed for Maidstone United in the 1998 close season and played twice for the reformed side in the

Kent County League The Kent County League is a football competition based in Kent, England. The league has seven senior divisions – a Premier Division, Division One East and West, Division Two East and West and Division Three East and West. It sits below the Sout ...

before retiring in September 1998.

Personal life

His father Billy was also a professional footballer and played for Swansea.

References

External links

Karl Elsey profile at Margate F.C. History site
{{DEFAULTSORT:Elsey, Karl 1958 births Living people Footballers from Swansea Welsh footballers Pembroke Borough A.F.C. players Swansea City A.F.C. players Queens Park Rangers F.C. players Newport County A.F.C. players Cardiff City F.C. players Gillingham F.C. players Reading F.C. players Maidstone United F.C. (1897) players Sittingbourne F.C. players Braintree Town F.C. players Ashford United F.C. players Hastings United F.C. players Faversham Town F.C. players Margate F.C. players Ramsgate F.C. players Chatham Town F.C. players Lordswood F.C. players Maidstone United F.C. players English Football League players Welsh football managers Margate F.C. managers Association football midfielders