Sonny Bradley (born 13 September 1991) 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

centre-back In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield position whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Centre-backs are usually positioned in pairs, with one full-back on either s ...

for club

Derby County Derby County Football Club () is a professional association football club based in Derby, Derbyshire, England. In 2022, it was announced that DCFC was acquired by Clowes Developments (UK) Ltd, a Derbyshire-based property group. Founded in 1884 ...

. He has formerly played for

Hull City Hull City Association Football Club is a professional Association football, football club based in Kingston upon Hull, Hull, East Riding of Yorkshire, England, that compete in the . They have played home games at the MKM Stadium since moving ...

Harrogate Town Harrogate Town A.F.C. is a professional association football club in Harrogate, North Yorkshire, England, which competes in League Two, the fourth tier of the English football league system. The club is nicknamed the Sulphurites, due to the ...

IK Frej IK Frej is a Swedish sports club located in Täby kyrkby. It currently plays in Division 4, the sixth tier in Swedish football. Background IK Frej was founded 5 February 1968 by Åke Berghagen and his friends. Today, IK Frej has more than 1200 ...

Aldershot Town Aldershot Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in Aldershot, Hampshire, England. The team competes in the National League, the fifth tier of the English football league system. The club was founded in the spring ...

Portsmouth Portsmouth ( ) is a port and city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. The city of Portsmouth has been a unitary authority since 1 April 1997 and is administered by Portsmouth City Council. Portsmouth is the most dens ...

Crawley Town Crawley Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in the town of Crawley, West Sussex, England. The club was founded as Crawley Football Club in 1896, changed its name to Crawley Town Football Club in 1958. The team co ...

and

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, ...

Early life

Bradley was born and raised in

Kingston upon Hull Kingston upon Hull, usually abbreviated to Hull, is a port city and unitary authority in the East Riding of Yorkshire, England. It lies upon the River Hull at its confluence with the Humber Estuary, inland from the North Sea and south-east ...

, East Riding of Yorkshire. He progressed through the

youth ranks, joining the club at the age of seven. While in the youth ranks at Hull City, Bradley met his childhood friend,

Danny East Daniel East (born 23 January 1992) is an English footballer who plays as a forward for North Ferriby. He has notably played professionally for Hull City, Northampton Town, Portsmouth, Gillingham, Aldershot Town and Grimsby Town. Career Hull ...

, who he has known for more than ten years.

Career

Hull City

In October 2010, he was sent out on loan to

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 Sy ...

club

, making his debut in a 3–2 win over

Worcester City Worcester City Football Club is an English football club based in Worcester, Worcestershire. The club play in the Midland Football League, the ninth tier of English football. Established in 1902, the club play at Claines Lane. Worcester City's ...

. He made seven appearances for the Town, scoring in an

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 ...

tie with

Witton Albion Witton may refer to one of several places in England: *Witton, historic name of an area of Northwich, Cheshire **Witton Albion F.C. *Witton Gilbert, County Durham *Witton-le-Wear, County Durham *Witton, an area of Blackburn, Lancashire * Witton, B ...

. In April 2011, he joined

Division 1 Norra Ettan Fotboll, or simply Ettan ( en, the one), which also is its common name in everyday speech, is the third level in the Swedish football league system and consists of 32 Swedish Swedish or ' may refer to: Anything from or related to Sweden ...

team

on a one-month loan after going on trial with the club. Bradley made his debut on 25 April, against

BK Forward Bollklubben forward, commonly known as BK forward, is a football team from Örebro, Sweden. They play in Division 1 Norra. The club plays in a small multipurpose stadium called Trängens IP. The base of the club is in the western end of downtown, ...

, and scoring against

Dalkurd FF Dalkurd Fotbollsförening, commonly known as Dalkurd FF or simply Dalkurd () is a Swedish football club based in Uppsala. The club plays in the Ettan Norra, which is the third tier of football in the country. On 26 September 2004, the club was ...

on 7 May. He returned to Hull after making five appearances and scoring once. He was offered his first professional contract by

in the summer of 2011. Bradley was also a former pupil at

Kelvin Hall School Kelvin Hall School is a co-educational secondary school located in Kingston upon Hull in the East Riding of Yorkshire, England. History It opened as Kelvin Hall, Bricknell High School in 1959, and was a technical school. Kelvin Hall was opera ...

and at sixteen, Bradley missed out the apprenticeship. In January 2012, he joined

League Two The English Football League Two (often referred to as League Two for short or Sky Bet League Two for sponsorship purposes, and known as the Football League Two from 2004 until 2016) is the third and lowest division of the English Football Lea ...

club

on a one-month loan deal. He made his professional debut on 7 January 2012, in a 3–0 defeat to

Oxford United Oxford United Football Club is a professional football club in the city of Oxford, England. The team plays in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. The chairman is Grant Ferguson, the manager is Karl Robinson and t ...

at the

Recreation Ground A park is an area of natural, semi-natural or planted space set aside for human enjoyment and recreation or for the protection of wildlife or natural habitats. Urban parks are green spaces set aside for recreation inside towns and cities. N ...

. The loan period was later extended to 7 April 2012. He finished the season with 14 appearances for Aldershot before being recalled by Hull on 29 March 2012. He made his league debut for Hull on 31 March when he was used as a half-time substitute for captain

Jack Hobbs Sir John Berry Hobbs (16 December 1882– 21 December 1963), always known as Jack Hobbs, was an English professional cricketer who played for Surrey from 1905 to 1934 and for England in 61 Test matches between 1908 and 1930. Known as "The Mast ...

in the 0–2 defeat by

Coventry City Coventry City Football Club is a professional association football club based in Coventry, West Midlands (county), West Midlands, England. The team currently compete in the EFL Championship, Championship, the second tier of the English footbal ...

at the

KC Stadium The MKM Stadium (also known as the Hull City Stadium due to UEFA sponsorship regulations) is a multi-purpose facility in the city of Kingston upon Hull, England. The stadium was previously called the KC Stadium, but was renamed the KCOM Stadi ...

. He was handed his first start on 7 April, in a 0–2 defeat against

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 ...

. On 7 August 2012, Bradley returned to Aldershot in a season-long loan. He made his second debut for the club on 11 August, against

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 23 October, Bradley scored his first career goal, an 87th-minute header in a 2–1 win against

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 finished the season with 42 league appearances, scoring once. Despite relegation to Conference Premier, Bradley says his time at Aldershot Town in his second spell helped him improved as a player. Bradley was released at the end of 2012–13 season.

Portsmouth

After his release from Hull, Bradley signed a two-year deal with

on 9 May 2013, where he will joining with Danny East. Bradley revealed he turned down a move from Championship and League One clubs in favour joining Portsmouth. Bradley would also take number six shirt at the club. He made his debut in a 4–1 home defeat to Oxford United on 3 August 2013. Despite the loss, Bradley was impressed with the club's supporters attendance at the stadium. Since his debut, Bradley had an extended run of the first team and then on 1 January 2014, Bradley scored his first goal for the club and also the first goal of 2014 for the club, as Portsmouth lose 2–1 to Southend United. But towards the end of the season, Bradley would be often used in first team ins and out, mostly on the substitution bench. Bradley would then score his second goal of the season, just ten minutes after coming on as a substitute, in a 4–4 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 ...

on 26 April 2014, in which it turns out to be his last appearance for the club.

Crawley Town

On 17 June 2014, Bradley signed a two-year contract at

, from Portsmouth for an undisclosed fee. Crawley had fought off competition from Championship clubs for his signature.

Plymouth Argyle

On 11 July 2016, Bradley signed for

. He was offered a new contract by Plymouth at the end of the 2017–18 season. After two successful campaigns with Plymouth, Bradley opted not to renew his contract and left on 8 June 2018, having made 95 appearances for the Devon club.

Luton Town

Bradley agreed to sign for newly promoted

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 ...

club

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 ...

on 12 June 2018 on a three-year contract, effective from 1 July. He scored his first goal for Luton with a half volley from 25 yards on the opening day of the 2019–20 season in a 3–3 home draw with

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 ...

. On 10 May 2023, it was announced that Bradley would be departing the club following the conclusion of their play-off campaign.

Derby County

On 7 July 2023, Bradley signed for

on a free transfer.

Career statistics

Honours

Luton Town *

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 ...

: 2018–19 *

EFL Championship play-offs The English Football League Championship play-offs are a series of play-off matches contested by the association football teams finishing from third to sixth in the EFL Championship table and are part of the English Football League play-offs. , t ...

: 2022-23 Individual * EFL Team of the Season: 2016–17 *

PFA Team of the Year The Professional Footballers' Association Team of the Year (often called the PFA Team of the Year, or simply the Team of the Year) is an annual award given to a set of 55 footballers across the top four tiers of men's English football; the Premie ...

: 2016–17 League Two

References

External links

Profile
at the Luton Town F.C. website {{DEFAULTSORT:Bradley, Sonny 1991 births Living people Footballers from Kingston upon Hull English men's footballers Men's association football defenders Hull City A.F.C. players Harrogate Town A.F.C. players IK Frej players Aldershot Town F.C. players Portsmouth F.C. players Crawley Town F.C. players Plymouth Argyle F.C. players Luton Town F.C. players Derby County F.C. players National League (English football) players Ettan Fotboll players English Football League players English expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Sweden English expatriate sportspeople in Sweden