Matthew Rhys Gillam (born 4 October 1998) is an English footballer who plays for

Northern Premier League The Northern Premier League is an English football league that was founded in 1968. It has four divisions: the Premier Division (which stands at level 7 of the English football league system), Division One East, Division One West and Divisio ...

side Glossop North End.

Career

Early life

Gillam was born in Bexley, Kent but moved with his family to

Congleton Congleton is a town and civil parish in the unitary authority of Cheshire East in Cheshire, England. The town is by the River Dane, south of Manchester and north of Stoke on Trent. At the 2011 Census, it had a population of 26,482. Top ...

Cheshire Cheshire ( ) is a ceremonial and historic county in North West England, bordered by Wales to the west, Merseyside and Greater Manchester to the north, Derbyshire to the east, and Staffordshire and Shropshire to the south. Cheshire's county t ...

, when he was only a few months old. He first started playing for a local junior side, where he was quickly scouted by

Port Vale Port Vale Football Club are a professional football club based in Burslem, Stoke-on-Trent, England, which compete in . Vale are the only English Football League club not to be named after a place; their name being a reference to the valley o ...

and signed up for their Academy system. At the age of 12 he was spotted by

Manchester City 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 Salford to the west. The tw ...

scouts and spent three months there before joining the

Stoke City Stoke City Football Club is a professional football club based in Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, England, which competes in the . Founded as Stoke Ramblers in 1863, it changed its name to Stoke in 1878 and then to Stoke City in 1925 after Stoke ...

Academy. He was not offered a scholarship by Stoke, so he subsequently moved to

Rochdale Rochdale ( ) is a large town in Greater Manchester, England, at the foothills of the South Pennines in the dale on the River Roch, northwest of Oldham and northeast of Manchester. It is the administrative centre of the Metropolitan Borough ...

where they did offer him one.

Rochdale

He signed his first professional contract with Rochdale during the summer of 2016, after the youngster came through the youth ranks at the Crown Oil Arena. His first appearance for the club came on 9 November 2016 in the

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 ...

, with a 2-1 win over

Hartlepool Hartlepool () is a seaside and port town in County Durham, England. It is the largest settlement and administrative centre of the Borough of Hartlepool. With an estimated population of 90,123, it is the second-largest settlement in County ...

. He marked the occasion with a debut goal. At the end of the 2017-2018 season, Gillam's contract was due to expire in the summer. On 25 May 2018, the 19 year old signed a new two-year deal with

. In February 2019, following a week long trial, Gillam signed a short term loan contract with Cork City until July.

Non-league

On 14 August 2020, following on from his release from Rochdale, he signed for National League North side Guiseley following a recommendation from his former Rochdale teammate, Brad Wade. The season was curtailed due to COVID-19 and Gillam only went on to make nine appearances for the club. On 28 August 2021, he dropped down a division to sign for

Premier Division side Atherton Collieries, where he would contribute seven goals and four assists over 33 competitive appearances, before signing for Glossop North End on 6 June 2022.

Career statistics

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Gillam, Matty English men's footballers 1997 births Living people Rochdale A.F.C. players Stalybridge Celtic F.C. players Cork City F.C. players Guiseley A.F.C. players Atherton Collieries A.F.C. players English Football League players National League (English football) players Northern Premier League players League of Ireland players Men's association football forwards Footballers from the London Borough of Bexley People from Bexley