Shaun Want (born 9 February 1997) is a Scottish 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 defender for

NIFL Premiership The NIFL Premiership, known as the Danske Bank Premiership for sponsorship purposes, and colloquially as the Irish League or Irish Premiership, is a professional association football league which operates as the highest division of the Northe ...

side

Larne Larne (, , the name of a Gaelic Ireland, Gaelic territory) is a town on the east coast of County Antrim, Northern Ireland, with a population of 18,755 at the United Kingdom census, 2011, 2011 Census. It is a major passenger and freight Roll-on/ro ...

Career

Raised in the

Croftfoot Croftfoot ( sco, Croaftfuit, gd, Bun a' Chroit)
is a r ...

neighbourhood of

Glasgow Glasgow ( ; sco, Glesca or ; gd, Glaschu ) is the most populous city in Scotland and the fourth-most populous city in the United Kingdom, as well as being the 27th largest city by population in Europe. In 2020, it had an estimated popul ...

– reported as "in the shadow of

Hampden Park Hampden Park (Scottish Gaelic: ''Pàirc Hampden''), often referred to as Hampden, is a football stadium in the Mount Florida area of Glasgow, Scotland. The -capacity venue serves as the national stadium of football in Scotland. It is the no ...

" but actually about south of the national stadium – Want began his career with

Hamilton Academical Hamilton Academical Football Club, often known as Hamilton Accies, or The Accies, is a Scottish association football, football club from Hamilton, South Lanarkshire, Hamilton, South Lanarkshire who currently compete in the Scottish Championshi ...

, joining the

youth system In sporting terminology, a youth system (or youth academy) is a youth investment program within a particular team or league, which develops and nurtures young talent in farm teams, with the vision of using them in the first team in the future if ...

aged 10. In June 2019 he signed a contract extension with the ''Accies'', running until summer 2020. On 3 August 2020, Want signed a new three-year deal at Hamilton keeping him at the club until 2023. Having been a back-up squad player for much of his early career, at that time he stated that he hoped to play more in the coming season and was happy to fill in wherever needed; however, his campaign was ended by injury in October 2020 and the club was relegated from 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 ...

at its end. On the opening matchday of the following season, Want scored a late equaliser as Hamilton came back from four goals down to earn a draw against

Raith Rovers Raith Rovers Football Club is a Scottish professional football club based in the town of Kirkcaldy, Fife. The club was founded in 1883 and currently competes in the Scottish Championship as a member of the Scottish Professional Football Leag ...

in the

2021–22 Scottish Championship The 2021–22 Scottish Championship (known as the cinch Championship for sponsorship reasons) was the ninth season of the Scottish Championship, the second tier of Scottish football. The season began on 31 July. Ten teams contested the league: Ar ...

. A few weeks later he suffered facial injuries after a clash of heads with a teammate during a

Scottish Challenge Cup The Scottish Professional Football League Challenge Cup,Peterhead Peterhead (; gd, Ceann Phàdraig, sco, Peterheid ) is a town in Aberdeenshire, Scotland. It is Aberdeenshire's biggest settlement (the city of Aberdeen itself not being a part of the district), with a population of 18,537 at the 2011 Census. ...

in February 2022. In July 2022 he spoke about Hamilton's use of young players. Want left Hamilton by mutual consent in August 2022, in order to sign for Northern Irish club

Career statistics

Honours

Larne *

: 2022-23 *

County Antrim Shield The County Antrim & District Football Association Senior Shield (more commonly known as the County Antrim Shield) is a football competition in Northern Ireland. The competition is open to senior teams who are members of the North East Ulster Foo ...

: 2022-23

References

1997 births Living people Scottish men's footballers Footballers from Rutherglen Footballers from Glasgow Hamilton Academical F.C. players Peterhead F.C. players Larne F.C. players Scottish Professional Football League players Men's association football defenders NIFL Premiership players {{Scotland-footy-defender-1990s-stub