Liam John Agnew (born 11 April 1995) is an English 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

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 ...

. Agnew started his career with

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 ...

, progressing through the club's academy and having a period on

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 ...

with

Boston United Boston United Football Club is a semi-professional association football club based in Boston, Lincolnshire, England. The club participates in the National League North, at the sixth tier of the English football league system. The club is known ...

in the

Conference 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 ...

in early 2014. He made one first-team appearance for Sunderland in February 2015, against

Fulham Fulham () is an area of the London Borough of Hammersmith & Fulham in West London, England, southwest of Charing Cross. It lies on the north bank of the River Thames, bordering Hammersmith, Kensington and Chelsea. The area faces Wandsworth ...

in the

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual knockout football competition in men's domestic English football. First played during the 1871–72 season, it is the oldest national football competi ...

. Agnew was released by Sunderland in 2016, and had a short period back at Boston United before signing for

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 ...

club Harrogate Town in 2017. He was part of the team promoted to the National League in 2018. He played on loan at

York City York City Football Club is a professional association football club based in the city of York, North Yorkshire, England. As of the 2022–23 season, the team compete in the National League, at the fifth tier of the English football league sys ...

in the National League North from December 2018 to January 2019.

Career

Sunderland

Agnew was born in

, Tyne and Wear. He started his career in Sunderland's Youth Academy. Agnew joined

club

on 10 January 2014 on

with the team missing players through injury and suspension. He made his debut the next day, starting in a 4–2 away defeat to

Hednesford Town Hednesford Town Football Club is a football club based in Hednesford, Staffordshire, England. They are currently members of the and play at Keys Park. History The club was established in 1880 as a merger of the Red & Whites and Hill Top.

. After extending his loan at Boston, Agnew scored in his second meeting against Hednesford on 1 March 2014, in a 4–0 win. After making 18 appearances and scoring 2 goals for Boston, Agnew returned to his parent club in May 2014. Agnew signed his first professional contract at Sunderland in March 2014, of two years, contracting him to the club until June 2016. Whilst on loan at Boston, Agnew graduated to the first team-squad at Sunderland, and although he appeared as an unused substitute, this did not affect his loan at Boston. He made his debut for Sunderland on 4 February 2015, appearing as an 87th-minute substitute in a 3–1

victory away to

. Whilst in the reserve team, Agnew captained the under-21s. At the end of the 2015–16 season, Agnew was released by the club.

Boston United

Agnew signed for Boston United of the

in September 2016. He was expecting to join

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 ...

club

Bradford City Bradford City Association Football Club is an English professional football club in Bradford, West Yorkshire. The team competes in League Two, the fourth tier of the English football league system and are currently managed by Mark Hughes. Th ...

, having impressed manager

Phil Parkinson Philip John Parkinson (born 1 December 1967) is an English professional football manager and former player who played as a midfielder. He is currently manager of National League side Wrexham. Parkinson is the only manager to take an English fou ...

on trial. However, the transfer did not happen, as Parkinson stated he remained unsure of offering Agnew a contract. Agnew made his second Boston debut on 3 September 2016, where he scored again, in a 3–2 loss against

F.C. United of Manchester Football Club United of Manchester is a semi-professional football club based in Moston, Manchester, England, that competes in the , the seventh tier of the English football league system, and plays home matches at Broadhurst Park. Found ...

. Since then, he became the club's

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 ...

. Agnew suggested that his non-contract agreement with Boston was close to being replaced by a permanent contract, which came after Lincoln City manager

Danny Cowley Danny Cowley (born 22 October 1978) is an English professional football coach who was most recently manager of EFL League One side Portsmouth. He has previously managed Concord Rangers, Braintree Town, Lincoln City, Huddersfield Town and P ...

denied rumours that he was interested in signing Agnew. The club's manager Dennis Greene was confident of Agnew signing a contract. He suffered a foot injury in October and missed the rest of the year.

Harrogate Town

Agnew signed for Boston's National League North rivals

Harrogate Town Harrogate Town A.F.C. is a professional association football club in Harrogate, North Yorkshire, England, which competes in League Two, the fourth tier of the English football league system. The club is nicknamed the Sulphurites, due to the ...

on 26 January 2017. Having been an unused substitute on 4 February against his former club Boston, he made his debut on 11 February, coming on as an 81st-minute substitute in a 3–0 home win over

Worcester City Worcester City Football Club is an English football club based in Worcester, Worcestershire. The club play in the Midland Football League, the ninth tier of English football. Established in 1902, the club play at Claines Lane. Worcester City's ...

. He came on as a 90th-minute substitute on 13 May 2018 when Harrogate beat Brackley Town 3–0 at

Wetherby Road Wetherby Road, known for sponsorship purposes as the EnviroVent Stadium, is a multi-purpose stadium in Harrogate, England. It is mostly used for football matches, being the home ground of Harrogate Town A.F.C. The stadium has a capacity ...

in the National League North play-off final, which resulted in the club being promoted to 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 ...

for the first time. Agnew played regularly for Harrogate in the first few months of the 2018–19 season and signed a new contract with the club in October 2018, with manager Simon Weaver stating that his "performances have gone to another level recently". He re-joined National League North club Boston United on 23 November 2018 on a one-month loan, making his debut the following day when starting their 5–0 away win over Ashton United in the

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 ...

. He played regularly for Boston, although the club's attempts to extend his loan were unsuccessful. He joined another National League North club,

, on 26 December on a one-month loan, making his debut the same day as a half-time substitute in a 5–1 defeat away to

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 ...

. He returned to Harrogate on 23 January 2019 having made five appearances for York.

Career statistics

Honours

Harrogate Town *

play-offs:

2018 File:2018 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2018 Winter Olympics opening ceremony in PyeongChang, South Korea; Protests erupt following the Assassination of Jamal Khashoggi; March for Our Lives protests take place across the United ...

References

External links

Profile
at the Harrogate Town A.F.C. website {{DEFAULTSORT:Agnew, Liam 1995 births Living people Footballers from Sunderland English men's footballers Men's association football midfielders Sunderland A.F.C. players Boston United F.C. players Harrogate Town A.F.C. players York City F.C. players Gateshead F.C. players Blyth Spartans A.F.C. players National League (English football) players