Michael Douglas Maidens (7 May 1987 – 19 October 2007) was a British 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

midfielder A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

. He started his career with

Hartlepool United Hartlepool United Football Club is a professional association football club based in Hartlepool, County Durham, England. The team competes in EFL League Two, League Two, the fourth tier of the English football league system. They were founded i ...

in 2004, making his debut 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 ...

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 ...

in September 2004. He joined

York City York City Football Club is a professional association football club based in the city of York, North Yorkshire, England. As of the 2022–23 season, the team compete in the National League, at the fifth tier of the English football league sys ...

on a one-month

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 ...

in January 2007 and made three appearances in the Conference National. He joined

Blyth Spartans Blyth Spartans Association Football Club is a football club based in Blyth, Northumberland. They are currently members of and play at Croft Park. They were founded in September 1899 by Fred Stoker, who was the club's first secretary before fo ...

on loan during the 2007–08 season and made seven appearances and scored one goal for them in

Conference 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 Syst ...

Career

Born in

Middlesbrough Middlesbrough ( ) is a town on the southern bank of the River Tees in North Yorkshire, England. It is near the North York Moors national park. It is the namesake and main town of its local borough council area. Until the early 1800s, the a ...

North Yorkshire North Yorkshire is the largest ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county (lieutenancy area) in England, covering an area of . Around 40% of the county is covered by National parks of the United Kingdom, national parks, including most of ...

, Maidens started his career as a trainee with

and in 2001 was placed on standby for

The Football Association The Football Association (also known as The FA) is the governing body of association football in England and the Crown Dependencies of Jersey, Guernsey and the Isle of Man. Formed in 1863, it is the oldest football association in the world a ...

's "Under-15 Schoolboy Development Course", before being given a full call-up. His first team debut came on 21 September 2004 when he was a late substitute for Gavin Strachan in the 2–1

defeat away to

. A month later, on 30 October 2004, he made his league debut in the 1–0 home win against

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 ...

. He scored Hartlepool's goal of the season in the 2005–06 season, a curling effort in a 3–1 victory over

Huddersfield Town Huddersfield Town Association Football Club is a professional football club based in Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, England, which compete in the . The team have played home games at the Kirklees Stadium since moving from Leeds Road in 1994. Th ...

in March 2006. He signed a professional contract with Hartlepool on 4 July 2006. Maidens joined Conference National side

on a one-month

on 19 January 2007. He made three appearances for the club. He joined

on loan in time for the start of the 2007–08 season and scored on his

debut, a 2–0 win at home to

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 made seven appearances and scored one goal for the club.

Death

On 20 October 2007,

announced that Maidens had died in a road traffic accident. He was a passenger in a vehicle which lost control and collided with a metal post near a roundabout on the A174 near Lazenby, North Yorkshire at 20.25 hours on 19 October 2007. Both their youth team game and their league game against Swansea City were postponed as a mark of respect. The postponement was fully backed by Swansea City and

the Football League The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional association football, football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, the league is the oldest such competition in Association football around the wor ...

. Swansea City and Hartlepool players paid tribute to Maidens on 21 October 2007. Hartlepool retired Maidens' number 25 shirt. Hartlepool United later named their Goal of the Season Award 'The Michael Maidens Goal of the Season Award' in honour of Maidens scoring Hartlepool's Goal of the Season in 2006.

Career statistics

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Maidens, Michael 1987 births Footballers from Middlesbrough 2007 deaths English footballers Association football midfielders Hartlepool United F.C. players York City F.C. players Blyth Spartans A.F.C. players English Football League players National League (English football) players Road incident deaths in England