Matthew Pennington
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Matthew Pennington (born 6 October 1994) 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
centre back In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield position whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Centre-backs are usually positioned in pairs, with one full-back on either s ...
for
Blackpool Blackpool is a seaside resort in Lancashire, England. Located on the North West England, northwest coast of England, it is the main settlement within the Borough of Blackpool, borough also called Blackpool. The town is by the Irish Sea, betw ...
. He has also played for Everton and
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 ...
, with loan spells at
Tranmere Rovers Tranmere Rovers Football Club is a professional association football club based in Birkenhead, Merseyside, England. The team compete in , the fourth tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1884 as Belmont Football Club, they adop ...
,
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 ...
,
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 ...
,
Leeds United Leeds United Football Club is a professional football club based in Leeds, West Yorkshire in England. The club competes in the Premier League, the highest level of England's football league system, and plays its home matches at Elland Road S ...
,
Ipswich Town Ipswich Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in Ipswich, Suffolk, England. They play in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. The club was founded in 1878 but did not turn profession ...
and
Hull City Hull City Association Football Club is a professional Association football, football club based in Kingston upon Hull, Hull, East Riding of Yorkshire, England, that compete in the . They have played home games at the MKM Stadium since moving ...
. He has also represented the
England national under-19 football team England national under-19 football team, also known as England under-19s or England U19(s), represents England in association football at under-19 age level and is controlled by the Football Association, the governing body for football in England ...
at international level.


Club career


Everton

Pennington joined Everton at the age of 11. In July 2013, he signed a new contract which would keep him at the club until the summer of 2015, followed by a three-year deal taking him to 2018. He played in two friendlies during July 2015 against
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 ...
and
Leeds United Leeds United Football Club is a professional football club based in Leeds, West Yorkshire in England. The club competes in the Premier League, the highest level of England's football league system, and plays its home matches at Elland Road S ...
and then made his full debut against
Barnsley Barnsley () is a market town in South Yorkshire, England. As the main settlement of the Metropolitan Borough of Barnsley and the fourth largest settlement in South Yorkshire. In Barnsley, the population was 96,888 while the wider Borough has ...
in the
League Cup In several sports, most prominently association football, a league cup or secondary cup generally signifies a cup competition for which entry is restricted only to teams in a particular league. The first national association football tournament t ...
on 26 August 2015.


Tranmere Rovers (loan)

On 2 January 2014, Pennington joined
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 ...
side
Tranmere Rovers Tranmere Rovers Football Club is a professional association football club based in Birkenhead, Merseyside, England. The team compete in , the fourth tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1884 as Belmont Football Club, they adop ...
on a one month's loan deal. He made his debut on 4 January 2014, playing ninety minutes in a 1–1 draw with
Wolverhampton Wanderers Wolverhampton Wanderers Football Club (), commonly known as Wolves, is a professional football club based in Wolverhampton, England, which compete in the . The club has played at Molineux Stadium since moving from Dudley Road in 1889. The club's ...
. On 25 January 2014, he scored his first senior goal in a 1–0 win over
Crewe Alexandra Crewe Alexandra Football Club is an English professional association football club based in the town of Crewe, Cheshire, that competes in League Two, the fourth tier of the English football league system. Nicknamed 'The Railwaymen' because of ...
. He was recalled by Everton on 22 February 2014 to strengthen their under-21 squad. On 27 March 2014, he re-joined Tranmere on loan until the end of the season.


Coventry City (loan)

On 27 November 2014, Pennington joined
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 ...
on loan until 4 January, and this was subsequently extended to 7 February. In January 2015, he was voted as the club's Player of the Month in a poll conducted by the ''
Coventry Telegraph The ''Coventry Telegraph'' is a local English tabloid newspaper. It was founded as ''The Midland Daily Telegraph'' in 1891 by William Isaac Iliffe, and was Coventry's first daily newspaper. Sold for half a penny, it was a four-page broadsheet ne ...
''. On 7 February 2015, his loan was extended to the end of the season, with Pennington from then on being played more consistently at his more natural centre back position. Pennington was named as Coventry City Young Player of the Year 2014–15, voted for unanimously by Coventry City manager Tony Mowbray and his coaching staff.


Walsall (loan)

On 23 March 2016, Pennington joined
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 ...
on loan until the end of the season, where he played 5 games at the club, before Everton activated a recall clause just 28 days into his loan spell.


Return to Everton

On 21 April 2016, his loan was terminated at the minimum 28-day point due to a defensive crisis at his home club. He was recalled to be available for Everton's FA Cup semi-final against
Manchester United Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of City of Salford, Salford to ...
. After picking up a hamstring injury in the final day of the
Premier League The Premier League (legal name: The Football Association Premier League Limited) is the highest level of the men's English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Foo ...
2015/16 season on 15 May 2016 in a 3–0 victory against
Norwich City Norwich City Football Club (also known as The Canaries or The Yellows) is an English professional football club based in Norwich, Norfolk. The club competes in the EFL Championship following their relegation from the Premier League in the 20 ...
, a recurrence of the injury in pre-season required surgery and ruled Pennington out until January 2017. After returning from injury, his first goal came on 1 April 2017, in the
Merseyside derby The Merseyside derby is the football matches between Everton and Liverpool, the two primary clubs in Liverpool, England. Named after the county of Merseyside, in which Liverpool is located, it is the longest running top-flight derby in England ...
against
Liverpool Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a popul ...
, equalising the game at 1–1, in an eventual 3–1 loss.


Leeds United (loan)

On 19 July 2017, Pennington joined
Leeds United Leeds United Football Club is a professional football club based in Leeds, West Yorkshire in England. The club competes in the Premier League, the highest level of England's football league system, and plays its home matches at Elland Road S ...
on a season-long loan, for a reported loan fee of £500,000. On 6 August 2017, Pennington made his Leeds United debut in the 3–2 victory against
Bolton Wanderers Bolton Wanderers Football Club () is a professional football club based in Horwich, Bolton, Greater Manchester, England, which competes in . The club played at Burnden Park for 102 years from 1895 after moving from their original home at Pike's ...
, he picked up an ankle injury in the match and had to be replaced by fellow debutant
Conor Shaughnessy Conor Glynn Shaughnessy (born 30 June 1996) is an Irish professional footballer who plays as a central defender for club Portsmouth. He is also able to operate as a central midfielder. He has represented the Republic of Ireland national footb ...
in the 2nd half. He was unavailable until the latter half of September, when he returned to the bench. In October, following inconsistent results for the team, Pennington returned intermittently to the starting eleven. After 24 appearances, on 18 May 2018, Leeds announced Pennington would be returning to his parent club upon the expiry of his loan.


Return to Everton

He returned to Everton to play in the 2018–19 pre season under their new Manager
Marco Silva Marco Alexandre Saraiva da Silva (; born 12 July 1977) is a Portuguese former footballer who played as a right-back, currently manager of club Fulham. He played for a variety of Portuguese clubs, finishing his career with a six-year spell at ...
and on 11 May 2018 Pennington signed a new long term contract at the club keeping him there until the end of the 2021 season.


Ipswich Town (loan)

On 31 August 2018, Pennington joined
Ipswich Town Ipswich Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in Ipswich, Suffolk, England. They play in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. The club was founded in 1878 but did not turn profession ...
on loan until the end of the season. He scored his first goal for the club in a 2–2 draw against
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 ...
on 29 September 2018, however he was later sent off in the same match.


Hull City (loan)

On 8 August 2019, Pennington joined
Hull City Hull City Association Football Club is a professional Association football, football club based in Kingston upon Hull, Hull, East Riding of Yorkshire, England, that compete in the . They have played home games at the MKM Stadium since moving ...
on loan for the 2019–20 season. Pennington made his first appearance for Hull City in the first round of the
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 ...
in the 0–3 away win against
Tranmere Rovers Tranmere Rovers Football Club is a professional association football club based in Birkenhead, Merseyside, England. The team compete in , the fourth tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1884 as Belmont Football Club, they adop ...
.


Shrewsbury Town (loan)

On 31 December 2020, Pennington joined
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 ...
side
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 ...
on loan until the end of the 2020–21 season. On 24 April, Matthew scored his first goal for Shrewsbury in the 53rd minute during a 1-0 win away against Blackpool at Bloomfield Road.


Shrewsbury Town

On 27 May 2021, Pennington signed for
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 ...
on a permanent deal following his release from Everton.


Blackpool

After rejecting the offer of a new contract with Shrewsbury, Pennington agreed to join
Blackpool Blackpool is a seaside resort in Lancashire, England. Located on the North West England, northwest coast of England, it is the main settlement within the Borough of Blackpool, borough also called Blackpool. The town is by the Irish Sea, betw ...
on 1 July 2023.


International career

Pennington made his debut for England U19s on 21 March 2013, coming on as a 70th-minute substitute in a 1–0 win over
Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a list of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolia, Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with ...
.


Career statistics


References


External links


Profile
at the Everton F.C. website * {{DEFAULTSORT:Pennington, Matthew 1994 births Living people Footballers from Warrington English men's footballers England men's youth international footballers Men's association football defenders Everton F.C. players Tranmere Rovers F.C. players Coventry City F.C. players Walsall F.C. players Leeds United F.C. players Ipswich Town F.C. players Hull City A.F.C. players Blackpool F.C. players English Football League players Premier League players