Thomas Charles Kilbey (born 19 October 1990) is an English

television personality Celebrity is a condition of fame and broad public recognition of a person or group as a result of the attention given to them by mass media. An individual may attain a celebrity status from having great wealth, their participation in sports ...

. He used to play as a 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 ...

for Portsmouth F.C. Tom Kilbey grew up in East London and went to Forest School.

Football career

Millwall

Born in

Leytonstone Leytonstone () is an area in east London, England, north-east of Charing Cross. Part of the London Borough of Waltham Forest, a local authority district of Greater London. It adjoins Wanstead to the north-east, Forest Gate to the south-east, S ...

, east

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

, Kilbey was originally signed to

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, eas ...

where he made his first team debut against Swansea City in September 2007 at the age of 16 in the

Football League 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 ...

in a defensive midfield role.

Portsmouth and loans

In October 2007, Kilbey signed a contract with

Premier League The Premier League (legal name: The Football Association Premier League Limited) is the highest level of the men's English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Foo ...

team

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 ...

moving for an undisclosed fee. During his first season on the south coast he established himself in the academy side with a strong pairing with fellow midfielder Marlon Pack. The 2008–09 season saw Kilbey play more regularly for the

reserve team In sports, a reserve team is a team composed of players under contract to a club but who do not normally play in matches for the first team. Reserve teams often include back-up players from the first team, young players who need playing time to i ...

. This saw Kilbey put in some classy performances including scoring a

hat-trick A hat-trick or hat trick is the achievement of a generally positive feat three times in a match, or another achievement based on the number three. Origin The term first appeared in 1858 in cricket, to describe H. H. Stephenson taking three wic ...

against

West Bromwich Albion West Bromwich Albion Football Club () is an English professional football club based in West Bromwich, West Midlands, England. They compete in the EFL Championship, the second tier of English football. The club was formed in 1878 and has pl ...

on 6 April 2009. 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 ...

team Dagenham & Redbridge on a month's loan on 1 September. His debut for Dagenham came against

MK 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. ...

in a Football League Trophy match. In June 2010 he signed a one-year contract extension with the club, keeping him at the club until at least June 2011. He was part of the Portsmouth squad which toured North America and Canada in the Summer of 2010, scoring in the opening game 2–1 defeat at Club America. He made his league debut as a substitute at Watford on New Year's Day 2011. He scored his first goal for the club as a substitute against

Brighton Brighton () is a seaside resort and one of the two main areas of the City of Brighton and Hove in the county of East Sussex, England. It is located south of London. Archaeological evidence of settlement in the area dates back to the Bronze A ...

on 8 January 2011. On 15 May 2011 it was announced that Kilbey would not be offered a new deal at Portsmouth and would therefore be leaving the club.

Lincoln City loan

On 24 March 2011, Kilbey was loaned again, this time to

club Lincoln City, until the end of the season. Kilbey received the 26 jersey and made his debut on the following day against

Rotherham Rotherham () is a large minster and market town in South Yorkshire, England. The town takes its name from the River Rother which then merges with the River Don. The River Don then flows through the town centre. It is the main settlement of ...

TV career

Kilbey featured in series 4-7 of the

ITV2 ITV2 is a British free-to-air television channel owned by ITV Digital Channels, a division of ITV plc. It was launched on 7 December 1998. For a number of years, it had the largest audience share after the five analogue terrestrial stations, a ...

television show ''

The Only Way Is Essex ''The Only Way Is Essex'' (often abbreviated as ''TOWIE'' ) is a British reality television series based in Brentwood, Essex, England. It shows "real people in modified situations, saying unscripted lines but in a structured way." Originally b ...

'', in which his sister

Cara Cara or CARA may refer to: Places * Čara, a village on the island of Korčula, Croatia * Cara, a village in Cojocna Commune, Cluj County, Romania * Cara Island Cara Island ( gd, Cara) is a small island which is located off the west coast o ...

also stars.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Kilbey, Tom 1990 births Living people Footballers from Leytonstone English men's footballers Men's association football midfielders Millwall F.C. players Portsmouth F.C. players Dagenham & Redbridge F.C. players Lincoln City F.C. players English Football League players