Michael John Kightly (born 24 January 1986) is an English former 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 ...
who played as a
winger.
Kightly was rejected as a schoolboy by
Tottenham Hotspur
Tottenham Hotspur Football Club, commonly referred to as Tottenham () or Spurs, is a professional association football, football club based in Tottenham, London, England. It competes in the Premier League, the top flight of English footba ...
but worked his way back to League football with
Southend United
Southend United Football Club is a professional association football club based in Southend-on-Sea, Essex, England. As of the 2022–23 season, the team competes in the National League, the fifth tier of English football. Southend are known as ...
. He again slipped into the non-League though, before being spotted by
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 ...
while starring for
Grays Athletic
Grays Athletic Football Club is a football club based in Grays, Essex, England. They are currently members of the and play at Parkside in nearby Aveley.
History
The club was established as Grays Juniors in 1890, before merging with former S ...
. He soon became a vital player for Wolves and was pivotal in their promotion to the Premier League in 2009. However injuries disrupted his time in the top flight before the club's relegation after three seasons. He joined
Stoke City in August 2012 for an undisclosed fee. Kightly spent the
2012–13 season at Stoke before joining
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, Lancashire, Preston, at the confluence of the River C ...
on loan in August 2013. After helping the Clarets gain promotion to the Premier League he made the move permanent in June 2014.
Club career
Southend United
Born in
Basildon
Basildon ( ) is the largest town in the borough of Basildon, within the county of Essex, England. It has a population of 107,123. In 1931 the parish had a population of 1159.
It lies east of Central London, south of the city of Chelmsford and ...
, Kightly played schoolboy football for
Tottenham Hotspur
Tottenham Hotspur Football Club, commonly referred to as Tottenham () or Spurs, is a professional association football, football club based in Tottenham, London, England. It competes in the Premier League, the top flight of English footba ...
but was released and subsequently picked up by his hometown team,
non-League
Non-League football describes football leagues played outside the top leagues of a country. Usually, it describes leagues which are not fully professional. The term is primarily used for football in England, where it is specifically used to d ...
Basildon United. His stay was short and was soon back in professional football, signing a two-year scholarship with
Southend United
Southend United Football Club is a professional association football club based in Southend-on-Sea, Essex, England. As of the 2022–23 season, the team competes in the National League, the fifth tier of English football. Southend are known as ...
on 16 December 2002 following a five-game trial period. He made his league debut for the club on 3 May 2003, in a 1–0 defeat at
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 ...
.
Although featuring in all their cup games of this time, scoring once in the
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 Le ...
against
Luton Town
Luton Town Football Club () is a professional association football club based in the town of Luton, Bedfordshire, England, that competes in the Championship, the second tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1885, it is nicknam ...
, he made only 13 league appearances over three different seasons for them. On 22 October 2004, he joined
Farnborough Town
Farnborough Football Club is a semi-professional football club based in Farnborough, Hampshire, England. Founded in 1967 as Farnborough Town, they are currently members of the , the sixth tier of English football and play at Cherrywood Road.
H ...
on loan, spending three months with the club before returning to
Southend United
Southend United Football Club is a professional association football club based in Southend-on-Sea, Essex, England. As of the 2022–23 season, the team competes in the National League, the fifth tier of English football. Southend are known as ...
on 20 January 2005. He was released at the end of the season by Southend manager
Steve Tilson
Stephen Brian Tilson (born 27 July 1966) is an English football manager and former player, he is currently the manager of Heybridge Swifts.
Tilson is best known for his time in charge of Southend United, where he was in charge for seven year ...
.
Grays Athletic
Conference
A conference is a meeting of two or more experts to discuss and exchange opinions or new information about a particular topic.
Conferences can be used as a form of group decision-making, although discussion, not always decisions, are the main p ...
side
Grays Athletic
Grays Athletic Football Club is a football club based in Grays, Essex, England. They are currently members of the and play at Parkside in nearby Aveley.
History
The club was established as Grays Juniors in 1890, before merging with former S ...
signed Kightly, where he scored 15 league goals in his first season, and won the
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 ...
. He began the 2006–07 season still with Grays, and had scored 10 goals by November. Such form caught the eye of scouts at
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 ...
side
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 ...
, to whom he completed a two-month emergency loan move on 17 November 2006.
He would subsequently return to play against Grays for Wolves in a pre-season friendly, which was a condition of the permanent deal later made between the clubs.
Wolverhampton Wanderers
Kightly scored his first ever league goal to earn a 1–0 victory at
Queens Park Rangers
Queens Park Rangers Football Club, commonly abbreviated to QPR, is a professional football club based in Shepherd's Bush, West London, England, which compete in the . After a nomadic early existence, they have played home matches at Loftus Ro ...
in December 2006. His form at Grays Athletic led him to be dubbed "The
Ryan Giggs
Ryan Joseph Giggs (né Wilson; 29 November 1973) is a Welsh association football, football coach and former player. Regarded as one of the greatest players of his generation, Giggs played his List of one-club men in association football, entir ...
of non-league football", and it was reported that Sir
Alex Ferguson was interested in signing Kightly for
Manchester United. After scoring two goals in five games, his loan move was made permanent when he signed a two-and-a-half-year contract for a nominal fee on New Year's Day 2007.
He became a first-team regular in the remainder of the season, and his six goals helped the club into a play-off position. His performances saw him come runner-up for Wolves' ''Player of the Year 2006–07'', losing out to goalkeeper
Matt Murray. Kightly signed a new four-year deal with Wolves in June 2007, after reported interest from
Manchester United,
Aston Villa
Aston Villa Football Club is a professional football club based in Aston, Birmingham, England. The club competes in the , the top tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1874, they have played at their home ground, Villa Park ...
, and
Everton.
His first full season with the club was severely hampered by a persistent ankle injury suffered in November 2007, from which he twice tried to return to first team football, eventually undergoing surgery in February 2008. Kightly had further injuries that kept him out of the Wolves side, finally returning to play in the final four fixtures as the club narrowly missed the play-off places on goal difference. He signed an improved new four-year deal with the club in June 2008.
During the
2008–09 season, he contributed eight goals, as Wolves led the promotion race. However, his campaign was prematurely halted by a broken
metatarsal
The metatarsal bones, or metatarsus, are a group of five long bones in the foot, located between the tarsal bones of the hind- and mid-foot and the phalanges of the toes. Lacking individual names, the metatarsal bones are numbered from the med ...
sustained during a reserve game in March 2009. He returned to make his first appearances in 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 ...
, following promotion, by September but again suffered another injury after needing an ankle operation. Although planned to return early in the 2010–11 season, he suffered a further setback and was therefore omitted from the club's 25-man squad list for the first part of the campaign. He eventually made his return to first team action after 16 months on the sidelines from various injuries, against
Newcastle United in April 2011.
In October 2011, he joined
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 ...
side
Watford
Watford () is a town and borough in Hertfordshire, England, 15 miles northwest of Central London, on the River Colne.
Initially a small market town, the Grand Junction Canal encouraged the construction of paper-making mills, print works, a ...
in an initial one-month loan deal to regain match fitness, making his debut on 15 October 2011 in a 2–0 loss against
Crystal Palace
Crystal Palace may refer to:
Places Canada
* Crystal Palace Complex (Dieppe), a former amusement park now a shopping complex in Dieppe, New Brunswick
* Crystal Palace Barracks, London, Ontario
* Crystal Palace (Montreal), an exhibition building ...
. This was later extended to run until January 2012, during which time Kightly made twelve appearances for the Hornets, scoring three times.
Following his loan spell, Kightly returned to Wolves and managed his longest period of Premier League football. However, he could not prevent the team from suffering relegation at the end of a troubled campaign that saw the departure of manager
Mick McCarthy
Michael Joseph McCarthy (born 7 February 1959) is a professional football manager, pundit, and former player. He was last in charge of EFL Championship club Cardiff City.
McCarthy began his playing career at Barnsley in 1977, and he later had ...
. Despite Wolves struggling Kightly hit a rich vein of form towards the end of the season scoring three goals against
Aston Villa
Aston Villa Football Club is a professional football club based in Aston, Birmingham, England. The club competes in the , the top tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1874, they have played at their home ground, Villa Park ...
,
Bolton Wanderers and
Stoke City. In August 2012 it was revealed by Wolves that Kightly was in talks with
Stoke City, having rejected a contract extension to instead remain in the top flight.
After signing for Stoke Kightly revealed that after missing 15 months of football at Wolves it left him fighting against depression.
Stoke City
Kightly joined
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 ...
side
Stoke City on 8 August 2012 for an undisclosed fee. He made an instant impact with Stoke scoring with his first touch in a 1–1 draw with German side
SpVgg Greuther Fürth
Spielvereinigung Greuther Fürth (), commonly known as Greuther Fürth (), is a German football club based in Fürth, Bavaria. They play in the 2. Bundesliga, the second tier of the German football league system, following relegation from the B ...
in a pre-season friendly. He then scored on his
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 ...
debut for Stoke in a 1–1 draw away at
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 ...
. He scored his second goal for Stoke on 20 October 2012 in a 4–2 defeat at
Manchester United. However, he fell out of favour with manager
Tony Pulis
Anthony Richard Pulis (; born 16 January 1958) is a Welsh football manager and former footballer who last managed Sheffield Wednesday.
Pulis obtained his FA coaching badge at age 19, followed by his UEFA 'A' licence aged 21 – making him on ...
and found himself in and out of the team. He scored against
Aston Villa
Aston Villa Football Club is a professional football club based in Aston, Birmingham, England. The club competes in the , the top tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1874, they have played at their home ground, Villa Park ...
on 6 April 2013. Kightly ended the season with 26 appearances to his name of which 19 were starts, as Stoke finished in 13th position. In May 2013 Pulis was replaced by
Mark Hughes
Leslie Mark Hughes (born 1 November 1963) is a Welsh football coach and former player who is the manager of Bradford City.
During his playing career he usually operated as a forward or midfielder. He had two spells at Manchester United, an ...
and Kightly expressed his desire to become a first team regular under the new manager and also admitted he struggled with confidence in the 2012–13 season.
Burnley
On 2 September Kightly joined
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, Lancashire, Preston, at the confluence of the River C ...
on loan for the
2013–14 season. He scored his first goal for Burnley in a 1–0 win over
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 ...
on 7 December 2013. Kightly scored five goals in 38 games for Burnley as they gained promotion to the Premier League.
He made his move to
Turf Moor
Turf Moor is an association football stadium in Burnley, Lancashire, England, which has been the home of Burnley F.C. since 1883. This unbroken service makes Turf Moor the second-longest continuously used ground in English professional footba ...
permanent on 27 June 2014, signing a three-year contract.
On 31 January 2017, Kightly joined
Burton Albion
Burton Albion Football Club is a professional association football club in the town of Burton upon Trent, Staffordshire, England. The team compete in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. The club moved its home grou ...
on loan until the end of the
2016–17 season. He scored on his debut for the club in a 2-1 win over
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 4 February 2017. He made a total of twelve appearances for the Brewers, scoring four goals as they secured their Championship status.
He was released by Burnley at the end of the 2016–17 season.
Return to Southend
Kightly playing for Southend United in 2017.
In July 2017 Kightly rejoined Southend United on a three-year contract. Kightly announced his retirement from football on 12 August 2019.
Rushall Olympic
On 4 September 2020, Kightly came out of retirement and signed for
Rushall Olympic
Rushall Olympic Football Club is an English football club based in Rushall, a former mining village now forming part of the northern suburbs of Walsall. The team plays in the .
History Early years
Although football had been played in the villa ...
.
International career
Kightly was called into the
England U21
The England national under-21 football team, also known as England under-21s or England U21(s), is considered to be the feeder team for the England national football team.
This team is for England players aged under 21 at the start of the calen ...
squad in August 2007 for a friendly against
Romania
Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern, and Southeast Europe, Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, S ...
and went on to make his debut, playing the first half of the game.
Personal life
Kightly has a daughter called Alexa and a son Leo. He grew up supporting
Manchester United but switched allegiances to
Tottenham Hotspur
Tottenham Hotspur Football Club, commonly referred to as Tottenham () or Spurs, is a professional association football, football club based in Tottenham, London, England. It competes in the Premier League, the top flight of English footba ...
.
[Stoke City Official Matchday Magazine 26 August 2012 v Arsenal]
Career statistics
Honours
Club
Grays Athletic
*
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 ...
: 2006
Wolverhampton Wanderers
*
Football League Championship
The English Football League Championship (often referred to as the Championship for short or the Sky Bet Championship for sponsorship purposes) is the highest division of the English Football League (EFL) and second-highest overall in the En ...
:
2008–09
Burnley Football Club
*
Football League Championship
The English Football League Championship (often referred to as the Championship for short or the Sky Bet Championship for sponsorship purposes) is the highest division of the English Football League (EFL) and second-highest overall in the En ...
runners up:
2013–14
*
Football League Championship
The English Football League Championship (often referred to as the Championship for short or the Sky Bet Championship for sponsorship purposes) is the highest division of the English Football League (EFL) and second-highest overall in the En ...
:
2015-16
Individual
*
PFA Championship Team of the Year: 2009
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kightly, Michael
1986 births
Living people
Sportspeople from Basildon
English footballers
England under-21 international footballers
England semi-pro international footballers
Association football wingers
Premier League players
English Football League players
National League (English football) players
Basildon United F.C. players
Southend United F.C. players
Farnborough F.C. players
Grays Athletic F.C. players
Wolverhampton Wanderers F.C. players
Watford F.C. players
Stoke City F.C. players
Burnley F.C. players
Burton Albion F.C. players
Rushall Olympic F.C. players
Essex Senior Football League players