Niall Nathan Michael Ennis (born 20 May 1999) 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 club

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 ...

. Ennis began his career with his local team

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 ...

, progressing through their academy. After loan spells with Shrewsbury Town, Doncaster Rovers and Burton Albion he joined League One side

Plymouth Argyle Plymouth Argyle Football Club is a professional football club based in the city of Plymouth, Devon, England. As of the 2021–22 season, the team are competing in League One, the third tier of English football. They have played at Home Park, ...

in January 2021. Ennis scored 12 goals in

2022–23 The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen b ...

helping them gain promotion to the Championship. He signed for Blackburn Rovers in May 2023 on a four-year contract, however in February 2024 he joined

Career

Wolverhampton Wanderers

Born in

Wolverhampton Wolverhampton () is a city, metropolitan borough and administrative centre in the West Midlands, England. The population size has increased by 5.7%, from around 249,500 in 2011 to 263,700 in 2021. People from the city are called "Wulfrunian ...

, Ennis is a youth product of hometown club

having joined their academy at the age of seven and attended Thomas Telford School. In November 2015 he signed a three-year professional contract to come into effect on his 17th birthday. He suffered a fibula fracture in January 2016 that kept him out of action until the summer. He was part of Wolves' pre-season preparations for the 2016–17 campaign, scoring twice against Cork City and Northampton Town, but did not make a first-team appearance during the season proper after suffering another fibula fracture in November 2016. On 26 July 2017, he moved on on loan to League One side Shrewsbury Town for the 2017–18 season. He made his senior debut on 8 August 2017 in an

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 ...

first round defeat at

Nottingham Forest Nottingham Forest Football Club is an association football club based in West Bridgford, Nottinghamshire, England. Nottingham Forest was founded in 1865 and have been playing their home games at the City Ground, on the banks of the River Tren ...

in a 2–1 loss and then made his league debut against

AFC Wimbledon AFC Wimbledon is an English professional Association football, football club, based in London Borough of Merton, Merton, London, that plays in the EFL League Two, after being relegated from the EFL League One following the 2021–22 EFL Leagu ...

four days later. On 5 September, it was revealed Ennis had suffered yet another long-term injury, this time to his knee, putting him out of action for an estimated four to six months. He was recalled by Wolves in December 2017. Ennis made his first-team debut for Wolverhampton Wanderers on 5 February 2019 in an FA Cup fourth round replay against his former team Shrewsbury, coming on as a late substitute. Ennis signed a new contract on 2 August 2019 to remain with Wolves until 2022. He then joined Doncaster Rovers on loan for the 2019–20 season alongside Wolves under-21 teammate Cameron John. On 24 August, he scored his first senior goal, a 25-yard strike to open a 2–1 home win over Lincoln City. He scored six goals in 32 games for Doncaster before the League One season was curtailed early due to the coronavirus pandemic. Ennis joined Burton Albion on 16 October 2020 on loan for the 2020–21 season. He was recalled by Wolves on 5 January 2021, after making ten appearances for the Brewers.

Plymouth Argyle

On 18 January 2021, Ennis joined League One side

on a permanent basis, for an undisclosed fee, signing a two-and-a-half-year deal. He scored his first goal for Argyle on 9 February 2021 in a 1–0 win against Accrington Stanley. He was praised by manager

Ryan Lowe Ryan Thomas Lowe (born 18 September 1978) is an English football manager and former professional player, who is manager of Championship side Preston North End. His playing career, as a striker, began at Burscough in 1999 and he became a Footbal ...

in March 2021 for the impact he had made since joining the club. Ennis scored twice against rivals Bristol Rovers on 20 March 2021. He scored six goals in 24 appearances in

2020–21 The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen b ...

as Plymouth, finished in 17th, six points above the relegation zone. Ennis injured his hamstring in the warm-up prior to the opening match of the 2021–22 season, ruling him out for four months. He returned from injury in December 2021. Ennis would go on to score four goals in 28 games as Plymouth missed out on a play-off spot after losing 5–0 to Milton Keynes Dons on the final day of the season. The 2022–23 season proved to be a very successful season for Ennis and Plymouth as under the management of

Steven Schumacher Steven Thomas Schumacher (born 30 April 1984) is an English football manager and former professional footballer, who is currently the manager of League One side Plymouth Argyle. Club career Everton Born in Liverpool, Merseyside, Schumacher bega ...

they won the League One title with 101 points, with Ennis scoring 14 goals in 45 matches.

Blackburn Rovers

On 26 May 2023, it was announced Ennis had reject and new contract at Plymouth and agreed a four-year deal with Championship side Blackburn Rovers. He scored on his debut for Blackburn in a 4–3 win over

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 ...

in the

on 8 August 2023. Ennis struggled to make much impact under

Jon Dahl Tomasson Jon Dahl Tomasson (; born 29 August 1976) is a Danish football manager and former player who is the current head coach of EFL Championship club Blackburn Rovers. A forward, his most notable run of football came in his first stint at Feyenoord, w ...

in the first half of the 2023–24 season and after failing to score a league goal in eleven appearances it was reported that Blackburn would be willing to let Ennis leave

Ewood Park Ewood Park () is a football stadium in Blackburn, Lancashire, England, and the home of Blackburn Rovers F.C., founding members of the Football League and Premier League, who have played there since 1890. It is an all seater multi-sports facili ...

in the January transfer window.

Stoke City

Ennis joined Championship rivals

on 1 February 2024 for an undisclosed fee, linking up with former Plymouth manager

. Ennis scored his first goal for Stoke on 10 February 2024, against his former team Blackburn Rovers in a 3–1 defeat. He made 14 appearances for Stoke in 2023–24 as the team avoided relegation.

Career statistics

Honours

; Plymouth Argyle *

EFL 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 ...

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 ...

runner-up:

References

External links

*
England profile
at

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

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ennis, Niall 1999 births Living people Footballers from Wolverhampton English men's footballers England men's youth international footballers Men's association football forwards Wolverhampton Wanderers F.C. players Shrewsbury Town F.C. players Doncaster Rovers F.C. players Burton Albion F.C. players Plymouth Argyle F.C. players Blackburn Rovers F.C. players Stoke City F.C. players English Football League players Black British sportsmen