Matthew James Rhead (born 31 May 1984) 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

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

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

Alfreton Town Alfreton Town Football Club is a football club based in Alfreton, Derbyshire, England. The club are currently members of and play at North Street. History The club was formed in 1959 following the merger of Alfreton Miners Welfare and Alfr ...

. He notably spent two successful professional spells with both

Mansfield Town Mansfield Town Football Club is a professional association football, football club based in the town of Mansfield, Nottinghamshire, England. The team competes in , the fourth tier of the English football league system. Nicknamed 'The Stags', they ...

and Lincoln City where he won promotion to the

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 ...

with both and saw further success with The Imps that yielded an

EFL 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 Le ...

triumph and later the

EFL 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 ...

title. Prior to his time at Mansfield he had come up through Non-League football and had played for Norton United, Kidsgrove Athletic,

Eastwood Town Eastwood Town Football Club was an English football club based in Eastwood, Nottinghamshire. The club last participated in the Northern Premier League Division One South, the eighth tier of English football. A new club, Eastwood C.F.C., was f ...

Nantwich Town Nantwich Town Football Club is a semi-professional football club based in Nantwich, Cheshire, England. The club was founded in 1884 and is nicknamed ''The Dabbers'', a reference to the town's tanning industry. They currently compete in and play ...

Congleton Town Congleton Town Football Club is an association football club based in Congleton, Cheshire, England. They currently play in the and are full members of the Cheshire County Football Association. The club have played in a number of regional league ...

and

Corby Town Corby Town Football Club is a football club based in Corby, Northamptonshire, England. They are currently members of the and play at Steel Park. History The club was established in 1948, taking over from Stewarts & Lloyds as the main team i ...

. Following his release from Lincoln he has returned back to playing at a semi-professional level and has turned out for both

Billericay Town Billericay Town Football Club is a football club based in Billericay, Essex, England. The club are currently members of and play at New Lodge. They are the second most successful club in FA Vase history, having won the competition on three o ...

and

Boreham Wood Borehamwood (, historically also Boreham Wood) is a town in southern Hertfordshire, England, from Charing Cross. Borehamwood has a population of 31,074, and is within the London commuter belt. The town's film and TV studios are commonly known ...

Career

Early career

Rhead was born in

Stoke-on-Trent Stoke-on-Trent (often abbreviated to Stoke) is a city and Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area in Staffordshire, England, with an area of . In 2019, the city had an estimated population of 256,375. It is the largest settlement ...

and played for nearby non-league sides Norton United and Stallington before joining Kidsgrove Athletic ahead of the 2004–2005 season. He moved on to join

, making a goal scoring debut in the club's 2–3 home defeat to

Matlock Town Matlock Town Football Club is a association football, football club based in Matlock, Derbyshire, Matlock, Derbyshire, England. Nicknamed 'the Gladiators', they are currently members of the and play at Causeway Lane. History The club was esta ...

on 16 October 2007. The fee was a record for the two clubs and Rhead would end the season as Eastwood's top goalscorer of the season having netted 17 goals from 26 starts. At the end of September 2008, he rejoined Kidsgrove Athletic on a month's loan but with the loan restricting him only to league games, he started only a single game before returning to Eastwood at the end of the loan period. He departed Eastwood to join

for the start of the 2009–2010 season before joining

on an initial month's loan, making a goalscoring debut in the club's draw with

Squires Gate Squires Gate is a district and an Wards and electoral divisions of the United Kingdom, electoral ward in South Shore, Blackpool, South Shore, Blackpool on the The Fylde, Fylde coast in the county of Lancashire, England. It is located at the south ...

on 12 December 2009; after a month's loan he agreed terms to join the club on a permanent basis until the end of the 2009–10 season. Having been invited for pre-season training with

he rejoined the club he had first joined for £4000 from Kidsgrove back in October 2007. He joined

from

in June 2011.

Mansfield Town

He signed for

in January 2012, and scored two goals in 17 games in the 2011–12 season. In July 2012, he quit his job as a team leader at JCB to become a full-time professional footballer. He then scored five goals in 37 games in the

2012–13 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1. I ...

campaign as the "Stags" won promotion into

the 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 ...

as champions of the

Conference Premier The National League, known as the Vanarama National League for sponsorship reasons, is the highest level of the National League System and fifth-highest of the overall English football league system. It is the highest league that is semi-profess ...

Lincoln City

Rhead signed a two-year contract with Lincoln City on 14 May 2015. The following year he handed in a transfer request and was set to join Barrow, but the arrival of

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 ...

as Lincoln manager persuaded him to stay at the club, and he finished the 2016-17 season as Lincoln's top scorer as they won the National League. The same year he, played an important part in Lincoln's record-breaking run to the quarter-finals of the FA Cup, gaining fame when

Joey Barton Joseph Anthony Barton (born 2 September 1982) is an English professional football manager and former player who played as a midfielder. He made 269 appearances in the Premier League, including 130 for Manchester City. He is currently the man ...

took a dive in an attempt to get him sent off during Lincoln's win at

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 ...

Billericay Town

Following two promotions from 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 ...

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 ...

with Lincoln City, Rhead began to find his opportunities at Lincoln decreasing, and on 25 July 2019, Rhead signed for

on a two-year deal for an undisclosed fee. On 16 October 2019, after only two months with the club, Rhead departed after the club's chairman and director resigned.

Alfreton Town

On 2 July 2021, Rhead joined

following his departure from Boreham Wood. The striker was awarded with the Supporters' Player of the Year Award following the conclusion of the 2021/22 campaign.

Career statistics

Honours

Club

Mansfield Town *

Lincoln City *

: 2016–17 *

: 2017–18 *

: 2018–19

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Rhead, Matt 1984 births Living people Footballers from Stoke-on-Trent English footballers Association football forwards Norton United F.C. players Kidsgrove Athletic F.C. players Eastwood Town F.C. players Nantwich Town F.C. players Congleton Town F.C. players Corby Town F.C. players Mansfield Town F.C. players Lincoln City F.C. players Billericay Town F.C. players Boreham Wood F.C. players Alfreton Town F.C. players National League (English football) players English Football League players