Ty Gooden (born 23 October 1972) is an English former 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 ...

. Gooden, who played as a midfielder, featured for teams Arsenal,

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 ho ...

Swindon Town Swindon Town Football Club is a professional football club based in Swindon, Wiltshire, England. The team currently competes in , the fourth tier of the English football league system. The club has played home matches at the County Ground sin ...

, Gillingham and

Canvey Island Canvey Island is a town, civil parish and reclaimed island in the Thames estuary, near Southend-on-Sea, in the Castle Point district, in the county of Essex, England. It has an area of and a population of 38,170.Office for National Statistics. ( ...

. He was the first player to be signed in the new millennium in all the British leagues, when he signed for Gillingham in 2000.

Playing career

Gooden started his playing career at Arsenal, where he featured regularly for the club's academy teams. He then joined up with clubs

, where he again failed to make a senior appearance. Gooden then joined

. He made 26 league appearances in the 1995–96 season which saw the

Wiltshire Wiltshire (; abbreviated Wilts) is a historic and ceremonial county in South West England with an area of . It is landlocked and borders the counties of Dorset to the southwest, Somerset to the west, Hampshire to the southeast, Gloucestershire ...

side win the Division Two title. Gooden was then signed by Gillingham manager

Peter Taylor Peter Taylor may refer to: Arts * Peter Taylor (writer) (1917–1994), American author, winner of the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction * Peter Taylor (film editor) (1922–1997), English film editor, winner of an Academy Award for Film Editing Politi ...

for £100,000, in a deal that saw Swindon teammate

Iffy Onuora Ifem "Iffy" Onuora (born 28 July 1967) is a Scottish former professional footballer, manager, and coach for the England U21 national team. He is also the current equalities coach for the Professional Footballers Association. As a player, he wa ...

join the

Kent Kent is a county in South East England and one of the home counties. It borders Greater London to the north-west, Surrey to the west and East Sussex to the south-west, and Essex to the north across the estuary of the River Thames; it faces ...

club as well. Later that year Gooden won promotion to the First Division with Gillingham, after they beat

Wigan Athletic Wigan Athletic Football Club () is an English professional association football club based in Wigan, Greater Manchester, England. The team competes in the Championship, the second tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1932, ...

3–2 in the Division Two play-off Final at the old

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 original Wembley Stadium, which was demolished from 2002 to 2003. The stadium ...

. During the game Gooden provided a cross to Andy Thomson for him to score the winning goal. He went on to have a successful first season in the First Division with Gillingham, helping them to finish 13th in the league. He also scored in an

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual knockout football competition in men's domestic English football. First played during the 1871–72 season, it is the oldest national football competi ...

tie against former club Arsenal, in a 5–2 defeat away at

Highbury Highbury is a district in North London and part of the London Borough of Islington in Greater London that was owned by Ranulf brother of Ilger and included all the areas north and east of Canonbury and Holloway Roads. The manor house was sit ...

. However, injury hampered the rest of his time at the Gills and, in 2003, he was sold to

. In March 2004 he suffered a pull to his hamstring during Canvey's FA Trophy quarterfinal win over

Maidenhead United Maidenhead United Football Club is a semi-professional football club based in Maidenhead, Berkshire, England. They are currently members of and have played at York Road since 1871, making it the 'oldest senior football ground continuously ...

. This injury thus ruled him out of the Gulls Essex derby and for three weeks altogether. Gooden then went on to earn a winners medal as the club won the 2004 Isthmian Premier League title.

Scouting career

Gooden was the scout for

Reading Reading is the process of taking in the sense or meaning of letters, symbols, etc., especially by sight or touch. For educators and researchers, reading is a multifaceted process involving such areas as word recognition, orthography (spelling ...

in Europe while based in France. Gooden eventually left Reading after they failed to gain promotion to the Premiership. He soon afterward linked up with Sunderland as their French scout. After a brief spell with the Black Cats, Gooden then signed a deal which saw him work as a scout for Arsenal firstly within Belgium and thereafter in France.

Personal life

His brother, Ian, played for Canvey Island.

Honours

;Swindon *

Football League Second Division The Football League Second Division was the second level division in the English football league system between 1892 and 1992. Following the foundation of the FA Premier League, the Football League divisions were renumbered and the third t ...

: 1995–96 ;Gillingham * Football League Division Two playoffs:

2000 File:2000 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Protests against Bush v. Gore after the 2000 United States presidential election; Heads of state meet for the Millennium Summit; The International Space Station in its infant form as seen from S ...

;Canvey Island * Isthmian Premier League: 2004

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gooden, Ty 1972 births Living people English footballers National League (English football) players Arsenal F.C. players Wycombe Wanderers F.C. players Swindon Town F.C. players Gillingham F.C. players Canvey Island F.C. players Premier League players Men's association football midfielders People from Canvey Island Footballers from Essex