Liam James McAlinden (born 26 September 1993) is a 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

forward Forward is a relative direction, the opposite of backward. Forward may also refer to: People * Forward (surname) Sports * Forward (association football) * Forward (basketball), including: ** Point forward ** Power forward (basketball) ** Sm ...

for club

Wrexham Wrexham ( ; cy, Wrecsam; ) is a city and the administrative centre of Wrexham County Borough in Wales. It is located between the Welsh mountains and the lower Dee Valley, near the border with Cheshire in England. Historically in the count ...

. Born in England, he is a former youth international for Ireland.

Playing career

Wolves

McAlinden signed his first professional contract in 2010 with Wolves, before making his senior debut on 27 April 2013 as a substitute in a 1–2 defeat to

Burnley Burnley () is a town and the administrative centre of the wider Borough of Burnley in Lancashire, England, with a 2001 population of 73,021. It is north of Manchester and east of Preston, at the confluence of the River Calder and River Bru ...

. The striker has represented Northern Ireland at youth levels as, although born in England, he qualified through his grandfather. However, in June 2013, he switched his allegiance to the Republic of Ireland, from which his parents hail. He scored his first senior goal on 3 September 2013 in a

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 ...

tie against

Walsall Walsall (, or ; locally ) is a market town and administrative centre in the West Midlands (county), West Midlands County, England. Historic counties of England, Historically part of Staffordshire, it is located north-west of Birmingham, east ...

. Later in the season, he scored his first Wolves league goal to earn a 1–0 victory at

MK Dons Milton Keynes Dons Football Club (), usually abbreviated to MK Dons, is a professional association football club based in Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire, England. The team competes in , the third tier of the English football league system. The ...

in March 2014 as the team went on to win promotion back to the Championship. In October 2013 McAlinden was loaned to fellow

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

Shrewsbury Town Shrewsbury Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in Shrewsbury, Shropshire, England. The team competes in League One, the third tier of English football. The club plays its home games at the New Meadow, having mo ...

for three months. He scored on his club debut after coming on as a substitute against Gillingham, the first of three goals in nine appearances before being recalled by Wolves in early December. In October 2014 McAlinden moved on a three-month-loan deal to League One

Fleetwood Town Fleetwood Town Football Club is an English professional association football club based in the town of Fleetwood, Lancashire. Established in 1997, the current Fleetwood Town F.C. is the fourth incarnation of the club; it was originally formed in ...

. However, after scoring twice in his first 5 appearances for Fleetwood, he was recalled to cover injuries at his parent club. On 15 January 2015 McAlinden returned on loan to Fleetwood for the remainder of the season, where he scored two further goals during 14 appearances. McAlinden returned to Shrewsbury Town for a second time on a half-season loan in July 2015. In March 2016 he signed a loan deal with

Crawley Town Crawley Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in the town of Crawley, West Sussex, England. The club was founded as Crawley Football Club in 1896, changed its name to Crawley Town Football Club in 1958. The team co ...

until the end of the 2015–16 season. McAlinden was released by

Wolverhampton Wolverhampton () is a city, metropolitan borough and administrative centre in the West Midlands, England. The population size has increased by 5.7%, from around 249,500 in 2011 to 263,700 in 2021. People from the city are called "Wulfrunian ...

at the end of the 2015–16 season after his contract was not renewed.

Exeter City

On 31 May 2016, McAlinden signed for

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 ...

club

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 ...

. He scored his first goal for Exeter in a 2–1 defeat to

Hartlepool United Hartlepool United Football Club is a professional association football club based in Hartlepool, County Durham, England. The team competes in League Two, the fourth tier of the English football league system. They were founded in 1908 as Hartle ...

on 13 August 2016. He was released by Exeter at the end of the 2017–18 season.

Cheltenham Town

Follow his release from Exeter, McAlinden signed a two-year deal with

side Cheltenham Town on 28 July 2018. On 15 December 2018, McAllinden joined

Brackley Town Brackley Town Football Club is a Association football, football club in Brackley, Northamptonshire, England. They are currently members of and play at St. James Park. The club won the FA Trophy in 2018. History Established in 1890, the club sp ...

on an initial month's loan. He then returned to Cheltenham after one month, and two days later, he then joined

Kidderminster Harriers Kidderminster Harriers Football Club is a professional association football club based in Kidderminster, Worcestershire, England. The team compete in the National League North, at the sixth tier of the English football league system. Formed in ...

also on loan deal for one month. The club announced on 21 February 2019, that the loan deal had been extended until the end of the season.

FC Halifax Town

At the start of the 2019–20 season he signed for

FC 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. ...

Stockport County

On 14 January 2020, he signed for

Stockport County Stockport County Football Club are a professional association football, 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 wer ...

Morecambe

On 4 August 2020, McAlinden signed for

club

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 ...

. He was released at the end of the 2020–21 season after a disappointing spell at the club.

Wrexham

On 9 July 2021, McAlinden signed for National League side

on a two-year deal.

Career statistics

Honours

Wolverhampton Wanderers *

: 2013–14 Morecambe *

EFL League Two play-offs The EFL League Two play-offs are a series of play-off matches contested by the association football teams finishing from fourth to seventh in EFL League Two, the fourth tier of the English football league system. They are part of the annual Engli ...

2021 File:2021 collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: the James Webb Space Telescope was launched in 2021; Protesters in Yangon, Myanmar following the 2021 Myanmar coup d'état, coup d'état; A civil demonstration against the October–November 2021 ...

Wrexham *

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 ...

2022–23 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 ...

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: 2021–22

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:McAlinden, Liam 1993 births Living people Sportspeople from Cannock Republic of Ireland men's association footballers Republic of Ireland men's under-21 international footballers Men's association footballers from Northern Ireland Northern Ireland men's under-21 international footballers English men's footballers English people of Irish descent English people of Northern Ireland descent Men's association football forwards Wolverhampton Wanderers F.C. players Shrewsbury Town F.C. players Fleetwood Town F.C. players Crawley Town F.C. players Cheltenham Town F.C. players Brackley Town F.C. players Kidderminster Harriers F.C. players FC Halifax Town players Stockport County F.C. players Morecambe F.C. players Wrexham A.F.C. players English Football League players National League (English football) players Footballers from Staffordshire