Oscar Lee Gobern (born 26 January 1991) is an English

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

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 ...

for

Havant & Waterlooville Havant & Waterlooville Football Club is a professional football club based in Havant, Hampshire, England. The club participates in the National League South, the sixth tier of English football, after relegation from the National League in the 20 ...

. He played at

EFL 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 E ...

level for

Southampton Southampton () is a port city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. It is located approximately south-west of London and west of Portsmouth. The city forms part of the South Hampshire built-up area, which also covers Po ...

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. The ...

and

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 ...

, as well as playing in the

Scottish Premiership The Scottish Premiership, known as the cinch Premiership for sponsorship reasons, is the top division of the Scottish Professional Football League (SPFL), the league competition for men's professional football clubs in Scotland. The Scottish ...

with Ross County. He also played in the

Football League The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, the league is the oldest such competition in the world. It was the top-level football league in Engla ...

for

Milton Keynes Dons Milton Keynes Dons Football Club (), usually abbreviated to MK Dons, is a professional association football club based in Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire, England. The team competes in , the third tier of the English football league system. The ...

Chesterfield Chesterfield may refer to: Places Canada * Rural Municipality of Chesterfield No. 261, Saskatchewan * Chesterfield Inlet, Nunavut United Kingdom * Chesterfield, Derbyshire, a market town in England ** Chesterfield (UK Parliament constitue ...

Doncaster Rovers Doncaster Rovers Football Club is a professional association football club based in Doncaster, South Yorkshire, England. The team compete in League Two, the fourth tier of the English football league system. The club play their home games at ...

Mansfield Town Mansfield Town Football Club is a professional association football, football club based in the town of Mansfield, Nottinghamshire, England. The team competes in , the fourth tier of the English football league system. Nicknamed 'The Stags', they ...

and

Yeovil Town Yeovil Town may refer to: * Yeovil Town F.C., an English football team based in Yeovil, Somerset * Yeovil Town L.F.C. Bridgwater United Women's Football Club are an English women's association football club based in Bridgwater, Somerset who wer ...

, before moving into non-league football with

Eastleigh Eastleigh is a town in Hampshire, England, between Southampton and Winchester. It is the largest town and the administrative seat of the Borough of Eastleigh, with a population of 24,011 at the 2011 census. The town lies on the River Itchen, o ...

Dover Athletic Dover Athletic Football Club is a semi-professional association football club based in the town of Dover, Kent, England. The club currently competes in the National League South, the sixth tier of English football. The club was formed in 198 ...

and

. He has been capped once by the England U19's.

Career

Southampton

Gobern was born in

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1.145 million in the city proper, 2.92 million in the West ...

and joined the

Southampton F.C. Academy Southampton F.C. B team and Academy or Saints B and Academy is the youth organisation run by Southampton F.C. to encourage and develop young footballers in the south of England. Renowned players including Gareth Bale, Theo Walcott, and Alan Shear ...

after a brief spell with

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 ...

. He made his league début as a substitute at

Deepdale Deepdale is a football stadium in the Deepdale area of Preston, England, the home of Preston North End. Deepdale is "widely recognised as being the oldest 'continuously used' football stadium in the world, though this is contested". History ...

against

Preston North End Preston North End Football Club, commonly referred to as Preston, North End or PNE, is a professional football club in Preston, Lancashire, England, who currently play in the EFL Championship, the second tier of the English football league syste ...

on 1 November 2008, as the "Saints" came from 2–0 down to claim a 3–2 victory. After making seven appearances the season earlier, Gobern made his first appearance of the 2009–10 season in a 1–1 draw with

Millwall Millwall is a district on the western and southern side of the Isle of Dogs, in east London, England, in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. It lies to the immediate south of Canary Wharf and Limehouse, north of Greenwich and Deptford, east ...

, making a further two appearances for the Saints before, on 17 September, he was loaned out to fellow

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

on a one-month deal, making his debut as a 24th-minute substitute against

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 14 October. After the match, manager

Paul Ince Paul Emerson Carlyle Ince (; born 21 October 1967) is an English professional football manager and former player who is the current manager of EFL Championship side Reading. A former midfielder, Ince played professionally from 1982 to 2007, star ...

commented "''We had a young lad in Oscar Gobern playing left-back, who I thought did a fantastic job.''" Gobern also made a brief appearance as an 89th-minute substitute against Gillingham on 17 October, when he played alongside his elder brother,

Lewis Lewis may refer to: Names * Lewis (given name), including a list of people with the given name * Lewis (surname), including a list of people with the surname Music * Lewis (musician), Canadian singer * "Lewis (Mistreated)", a song by Radiohead ...

, for the first time in a professional match, before returning to Southampton after making just two appearances for the Dons. He went on to make a further four appearances for the Saints that season. Gobern's first goal in his professional career came in the 87th minute for Southampton against

Cheltenham Town Cheltenham Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in the town of Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, England. From the 2021–22 season, the club compete in League One, the third tier of the English football league syst ...

, in the FA Cup second round on 27 November 2010. He received his first professional red card in a 3–1 victory at

Bournemouth Bournemouth () is a coastal resort town in the Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole council area of Dorset, England. At the 2011 census, the town had a population of 183,491, making it the largest town in Dorset. It is situated on the Southern ...

. His first professional league goal for Southampton came on 30 April 2011 in stoppage time of a 3–0 victory at

Brentford Brentford is a suburban town in West London, England and part of the London Borough of Hounslow. It lies at the confluence of the River Brent and the Thames, west of Charing Cross. Its economy has diverse company headquarters buildings whi ...

. Gobern made a total of 13 appearances for

Nigel Adkins Nigel Howard Adkins (born 11 March 1965) is an English professional football manager and former player and physiotherapist. Adkins played as a goalkeeper for Tranmere Rovers and Wigan Athletic. He finished his playing career and began his mana ...

' side during the 2010–11 season as the Saints gained automatic promotion to the

Football 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 ...

, with Gobern's scoring two goals.

Huddersfield Town

On 19 June 2011, it was announced that Gobern was set to join

club

, having failed to agree a new deal at Southampton when his contract expired at the conclusion of the 2010–11 season. He signed a two-year deal with the Terriers on 1 July, and his compensation fee was decided by a tribunal on 5 September 2011 as £275,000, rising to £400,000 on appearances. He made his debut in a 1–1 draw against

Bury Bury may refer to: *The burial of human remains *-bury, a suffix in English placenames Places England * Bury, Cambridgeshire, a village * Bury, Greater Manchester, a town, historically in Lancashire ** Bury (UK Parliament constituency) (1832–19 ...

at the

Galpharm Stadium Kirklees Stadium (currently known due to naming rights, sponsorship as the John Smith's Stadium) is a multi-use stadium in Huddersfield in West Yorkshire, England. Since 1994, it has been the home ground of Association football, football club ...

on 6 August 2011. His first goal for the Terriers came in the 3–0 win over

Sheffield United Sheffield United Football Club is a professional football club in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England, which compete in the . They are nicknamed "the Blades" due to Sheffield's history of cutlery production. The team have played home games at ...

Brammall Lane Bramall Lane is a football stadium in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England, which is the home of Sheffield United. The stadium was originally a cricket ground, built on a road named after the Bramall family of file and graver manufacturers. T ...

on 13 September 2011. Gobern scored his second goal of the season in the club's 6–0 thrashing of

Wycombe Wanderers Wycombe Wanderers Football Club is an English professional association football club based in the town of High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire. The team compete in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. They play their home ...

away in January 2012, with teammate

Jordan Rhodes Jordan Luke Rhodes (born 5 February 1990) is a Scottish professional footballer who plays as a striker for Championship club Huddersfield Town and the Scottish national team. He started his career at Ipswich Town and after loan spells at Oxf ...

scoring the other five. Gobern made 21 league appearances in 2011–12, scoring twice, and made a total of 25 appearances in all competitions. He helped Huddersfield secure promotion to the

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 ...

, as the club finished the season as League One play-off winners, beating

Wembley Stadium Wembley Stadium (branded as Wembley Stadium connected by EE for sponsorship reasons) is a football stadium in Wembley, London. It opened in 2007 on the site of the Wembley Stadium (1923), original Wembley Stadium, which was demolished from 200 ...

. In 2012–13, Gobern's season was disrupted by injury, with him not featuring for the Terriers until late February 2013. However, he became a key part of the side that avoided relegation and was subsequently offered a new 3-year deal, which he accepted, keeping him at the club until the summer of 2016. Having become out of favour at Huddersfield, on 23 October 2014, Gobern joined

on an initial one-month loan deal. The loan was ended early on 12 November.

Queens Park Rangers

On 6 August 2015, Gobern signed a one-year deal with

following a successful trial period. On 12 August 2015, Gobern made his competitive QPR debut in a 3–0 win away to

in the first round of the

2015–16 Football League Cup The 2015–16 Football League Cup (known as the Capital One Cup for sponsorship purposes) was the 56th season of the Football League Cup. It began on 11 August 2015 and concluded on 28 February 2016. It is a knock-out competition for the top 92 foo ...

, starting the game before being replaced by

Junior Hoilett David Wayne Hoilett Jr. (born 5 June 1990), known as Junior Hoilett, is a Canadian professional soccer player who plays as a winger for EFL Championship club Reading and the Canada national team. After impressing in a youth tournament, Hoile ...

Mansfield Town

Gobern signed for

in September 2016.

Ross County

On 20 January 2017, Gobern signed for

club Ross County until the end of the 2016–17 season. He left at the end of the season, making only one appearance as a substitute in the

Scottish Cup The Scottish Football Association Challenge Cup,Aberdeen Aberdeen (; sco, Aiberdeen ; gd, Obar Dheathain ; la, Aberdonia) is a city in North East Scotland, and is the third most populous city in the country. Aberdeen is one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas (as Aberdeen City), and ...

Yeovil Town

On 1 December 2017, Gobern signed for

until the end of the season. He was offered a new contract by Yeovil at the end of the 2017–18 season.

Eastleigh

On 14 June 2018, Gobern rejected Yeovil's offer of a new contract and instead signed for

National League The National League of Professional Baseball Clubs, known simply as the National League (NL), is the older of two leagues constituting Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States and Canada, and the world's oldest extant professional team s ...

side

on a one-year deal.

Dover Athletic

On 6 June 2019, Gobern joined

on a two-year deal from 1 July. Following's Dover's decision to not play any more matches in the 2020–21 season, made in late January, and subsequent null and voiding of all results, on 5 May 2021 it was announced that Gobern was out of contract and had left the club.

Havant & Waterlooville

In August 2021, Gobern joined

National League South The National League South, formerly Conference South, is one of the second divisions of the National League in England, immediately below the top division National League. Along with National League North, it is in the second level of the N ...

side

, linking up with former-Dover teammates Josh Passley and Paul Rooney who had both also joined the club that summer.

International career

Gobern has represented the country of his birth, England, at international level, having been capped by England's under-19 side in 2009, during his time at Southampton. He was called up for a friendly match against Russia Under-19s at

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 ...

ProStar Stadium New Meadow, also known as Montgomery Waters Meadow for sponsorship purposes, is a stadium situated on the southern outskirts of Shrewsbury, Shropshire, between the districts of Meole Brace and Sutton Farm, and close to the A5. It serves the ho ...

in September 2009. He made his début in the match, coming on as a substitute in the 60th minute in a 2–1 victory over Russia, in what is his only appearance at international level.

Personal life

Gobern is the younger brother of fellow professional footballer Lewis Gobern, who retired in 2011.

Career statistics

Honours

Huddersfield Town *

Football 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 ...

play-off winner:

2012 File:2012 Events Collage V3.png, From left, clockwise: The passenger cruise ship Costa Concordia lies capsized after the Costa Concordia disaster; Damage to Casino Pier in Seaside Heights, New Jersey as a result of Hurricane Sandy; People gather ...

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Gobern, Oscar 1991 births Living people Footballers from Birmingham, West Midlands English footballers Association football midfielders Southampton F.C. players Milton Keynes Dons F.C. players Huddersfield Town A.F.C. players Chesterfield F.C. players Queens Park Rangers F.C. players Doncaster Rovers F.C. players Mansfield Town F.C. players Ross County F.C. players Yeovil Town F.C. players Eastleigh F.C. players Dover Athletic F.C. players Havant & Waterlooville F.C. players English Football League players National League (English football) players England youth international footballers