Marcel Errol Emmanuel Oakley (born 30 October 2002) 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 defender. He began his career with hometown club

Birmingham City Birmingham City Football Club is a professional football club based in Birmingham, England. Formed in 1875 as Small Heath Alliance, it was renamed Small Heath in 1888, Birmingham in 1905, and Birmingham City in 1943. Since 2011, the first te ...

, for whom he made his senior debut in 2021. He spent the first half of the 2022–23 season on loan at

Scottish Championship The Scottish Championship, known as the cinch Championship for sponsorship reasons, is the second tier of the Scottish Professional Football League, the league competition for men's professional football clubs in Scotland Scotland (, ...

club

Arbroath Arbroath () or Aberbrothock ( gd, Obar Bhrothaig ) is a former royal burgh and the largest town in the council area of Angus, Scotland, with a population of 23,902. It lies on the North Sea coast some ENE of Dundee and SSW of Aberdeen. The ...

and the second half with divisional rivals Queen's Park. He was released by Birmingham at the end of the 2023–24 season.

Career

Early life and career

Oakley was born in

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1.145 million in the city proper, 2.92 million in the West ...

, where he attended Ninestiles School in the

Acocks Green Acocks Green is an area and ward of southeast Birmingham, England. It is named after the Acock family, who built a large house there in 1370. Acocks Green is one of four wards making up Yardley formal district. It is occasionally spelled "Acoc ...

district. He took up a two-year scholarship with Birmingham City's academy in July 2019. According to the then academy manager Kristjaan Speakman, Oakley "has the flexibility to play centre-back or right-back and is a very robust defender who excels in one v one duels in either position. His athletic qualities are improving and in possession as a right back he has the physical and technical qualities to join play in high areas of the pitch." He made his debut for Birmingham's under-23 team in February 2020, playing the whole of a 1–0 win against Derby County U23, and was a member of the team that finished as runners-up in the 2020–21

Professional Development League The Professional Development League is a system of youth association football, football leagues that are managed, organised and controlled by the Premier League or by the Football League. It was introduced by the The Football Association, Footbal ...

Northern Section, but did not play in the final against Sheffield United U23 which secured the overall title.

Birmingham City

Oakley was one of five second-year scholars offered their first professional contract in 2021, and one of four who accepted. He played in first-team

pre-season friendlies An exhibition game (also known as a friendly, a scrimmage, a demonstration, a preseason game, a warmup match, or a preparation match, depending at least in part on the sport) is a sporting event whose prize money and impact on the player's or ...

against Barrow, he "was an outlet down the right hand side behind Odin Bailey and mopped things up at the back, making a couple of important blocks in the process"and was given

squad number In team sports, the number, often referred to as the uniform number, squad number, jersey number, shirt number, sweater number, or similar (with such naming differences varying by sport and region) is the number worn on a player's uniform, to ...

52 for the 2021–22 season. Oakley made his senior debut on 10 August, starting at right back in Birmingham's

EFL Cup The EFL Cup (referred to historically, and colloquially, as the League Cup), currently known as the Carabao Cup for sponsorship reasons, is an annual knockout competition and major trophy in men's domestic football in England. Organised by the ...

first-round match at home to

Colchester United Colchester United Football Club is a professional association football club based in the city of Colchester, Essex, England. The team competes in , the fourth tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1937, the club spent its earl ...

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 ...

. After 75 minutes, he scored the only goal of the match: he "was fed down the right hand side and he proceeded to lash the ball home into the far corner, via a nick from a defender." His first

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 ...

appearance came on 6 November when, with five senior defenders unavailable through injury and himself only recently returned to fitness, he started at right wing-back in a 2–1 defeat at home to

Reading Reading is the process of taking in the sense or meaning of Letter (alphabet), letters, symbols, etc., especially by Visual perception, sight or Somatosensory system, touch. For educators and researchers, reading is a multifaceted process invo ...

in the

Championship In sport, a championship is a competition in which the aim is to decide which individual or team is the champion. Championship systems Various forms of competition can be referred to by the term championship. Title match system In this system ...

. According to manager

Lee Bowyer Lee David Bowyer (; born 3 January 1977) is an English football manager and former professional player. As a player, he was a midfielder who featured for Charlton Athletic, Leeds United, West Ham United (two spells), Newcastle United, Birmingha ...

, "He was excellent. First half up and down, up and down and putting tackles, he's only a little lad, but he doesn't care, he just fights." He started again on 23 November in a goalless draw away to

Coventry City Coventry City Football Club is a professional association football club based in Coventry, West Midlands (county), West Midlands, England. The team currently compete in the EFL Championship, Championship, the second tier of the English footbal ...

, but suffered a foot injury that was to keep him out until the following February.

Loan to Arbroath

On 1 September 2022, Oakley joined

club

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 ...

until January 2023. He made his debut two days later at home to

Partick Thistle Partick Thistle Football Club are a professional association football, football club from Glasgow, Scotland. Despite their name, the club are based at Firhill Stadium in the Maryhill area of the city, and have not played in Partick since 1908. ...

, coming on after 78 minutes with the score goalless but with his side having had a player

sent off In sports, an ejection (also known as dismissal, sending-off, disqualification, or early shower) is the removal of a participant from a contest due to a violation of the sport's rules. The exact violations that lead to an ejection vary depending ...

; Arbroath conceded twice in the last few minutes. He played 16 league matches (19 in all competitions) and "turned in some energetic wing-back displays", but although Arbroath manager Dick Campbell wanted to keep him at the club, he returned to Birmingham when his loan expired.

Loan to Queen's Park

Oakley returned to Scottish football at the end of the January 2023 transfer window, signing for another Championship club, Queen's Park, on loan until the end of the season. He scored once from 13 starts at right back, and helped the team go into the last match of the regular season needing to beat

Dundee Dundee (; sco, Dundee; gd, Dùn Dè or ) is Scotland's fourth-largest city and the 51st-most-populous built-up area in the United Kingdom. The mid-year population estimate for 2016 was , giving Dundee a population density of 2,478/km2 or ...

to win the division and gain automatic promotion to the

Scottish Premiership The Scottish Premiership, known as the cinch Premiership for sponsorship reasons, is the top division of the Scottish Professional Football League (SPFL), the league competition for men's professional football clubs in Scotland. The Scottish ...

at their opponents' expense. They lost 5–3, and Oakley started in both legs of the play-off quarter-finals which Queen's Park lost heavily to

. He was released by Birmingham when his contract expired at the end of the 2023–24 season.

Career statistics

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Oakley, Marcel 2002 births Living people Footballers from Birmingham, West Midlands English men's footballers Men's association football defenders Birmingham City F.C. players Arbroath F.C. players Queen's Park F.C. players English Football League players Scottish Professional Football League players Black British sportsmen