Vadaine Aston James Oliver (born 21 October 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

striker Striker or The Strikers may refer to: People *A participant in a strike action *A participant in a hunger strike *Blacksmith's striker, a type of blacksmith's assistant *Striker's Independent Society, the oldest mystic krewe in America People wi ...

for

Bradford City Bradford City Association Football Club is an English professional football club in Bradford, West Yorkshire. The team competes in League Two, the fourth tier of the English football league system and are currently managed by Mark Hughes. Th ...

. He has played in the English Football League for Crewe Alexandra,

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 ...

, York City, Notts County,

Morecambe Morecambe ( ) is a seaside town and civil parish in the City of Lancaster district in Lancashire, England. It is in Morecambe Bay on the Irish Sea. Name The first use of the name was by John Whitaker in his ''History of Manchester'' (1771), w ...

, Northampton Town and Gillingham.

Career

Early life and career

Oliver was born in Sheffield, South Yorkshire. He began his career with Sheffield Wednesday's youth system, and signed a professional contract in 2010. He was released by the club in May 2012, before joining Conference Premier club Lincoln City on 4 August 2012 on a one-year contract. He scored 13 goals for Lincoln in the 2012–13 season, 11 of which came in the league. He attracted interest from

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 ...

clubs and signed for League One club Crewe Alexandra on 10 June 2013 on a two-year contract for an undisclosed fee. He made his debut as an 89th-minute substitute in a 3–3 draw with Rotherham United on 3 August 2013. Oliver scored his first Crewe goal after sliding in from a Brad Inman cross in the 15th minute of a 2–2 draw at home to Peterborough United on 7 September 2013.

York City

Oliver signed for League Two club York City on 20 May 2015 on a three-year contract. He made his debut when starting York's 3–0 away defeat by Wycombe Wanderers on 8 August 2015, the opening match of 2015–16. His first goal for the club came in the 59th minute of a 3–0 away win over Newport County on 5 September 2015, with a close-range shot after

James Berrett James Trevor Berrett (born 13 January 1989) is a professional footballer who plays as a midfielder. Berrett has played professionally in the Football League with Huddersfield Town, Carlisle United, Yeovil Town, York City and Grimsby Town befor ...

's shot was saved. Early in the season, Oliver showed a desire to flick on aerial balls, but once that desire seemingly disappeared he "cut a lethargic figure up front", according to Dave Flett of '' The Press''. He finished the season as York's top scorer with 10 goals from 42 appearances, although he only scored once in his last 19 appearances. Following York's relegation to the National League after finishing 24th in League Two, Oliver was transfer listed by the club. On 2 August 2016, Oliver joined League Two club Notts County on loan until 7 January 2017. He debuted four days later as a 56th-minute substitute for

Jon Stead Jonathan Graeme Stead (born 7 April 1983) is an English retired professional footballer who played as a striker. He currently is an assistant coach for the Tampa Bay Rowdies in USL Championship, the American second division. Stead played for H ...

in a 2–0 defeat away to Yeovil Town. He scored his first goal for the club in a 2–1 loss against

on 11 October 2016. On 21 May 2017, Oliver started as York beat

Macclesfield Town Macclesfield Town Football Club was an English professional association football, football club based in Macclesfield, Cheshire, that was liquidation, wound-up after a High Court of Justice, High Court ruling on 16 September 2020. Initially kno ...

3–2 at Wembley Stadium in the

2017 FA Trophy Final The 2016–17 FA Trophy Final was the 48th final of the Football Association's cup competition for teams at levels 5–8 of the English football league system. The match was contested between Macclesfield Town and York City. The final of the FA ...

, scoring in the 22nd minute with a three-yard shot from

Sean Newton Sean Michael Newton (born 23 September 1988) is an English professional footballer who plays as a left-back for Buxton, on loan from club York City. He has played in the Football League for Chester City and Notts County. Club career Early car ...

's low cross. He finished 2016–17 with 10 goals from 23 appearances for York as the club was relegated to the National League North after finishing in 21st place in the National League. He was transfer listed at the end of the season at his own request.

Morecambe and Northampton Town

Oliver signed for League Two club Morecambe on 30 June 2017 for an undisclosed fee, on a contract of undisclosed length. He scored his first goal for Morecambe in a 4–3

EFL Cup The EFL Cup (referred to historically, and colloquially, as the League Cup), currently known as the Carabao Cup for sponsorship reasons, is an annual knockout competition and major trophy in men's domestic football in England. Organised by the ...

defeat away to

Barnsley Barnsley () is a market town in South Yorkshire, England. As the main settlement of the Metropolitan Borough of Barnsley and the fourth largest settlement in South Yorkshire. In Barnsley, the population was 96,888 while the wider Borough has ...

on 8 August 2017. He was released by Morecambe at the end of the 2018–19 season. Oliver signed for League Two club Northampton Town on 3 July 2019 on a one-year contract.

Gillingham

Oliver signed for League One club Gillingham on 5 August 2020. He scored his first goal for Gillingham in a 2–1 home win over Crawley Town on 8 September in the

EFL 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 ...

with a 52nd-minute header. After scoring eight goals in eight games, on 9 April 2021, Oliver was awarded the League One Player of the Month award for March 2021. He finished the 2020–21 season as the Kent side's top goal scorer, with 20 goals in all competitions. Oliver was also top scorer the following season with 11 goals in all competitions, but could not prevent Gillingham's relegation to League Two. Oliver announced on his Twitter account that he would be leaving the Kent side at the end of his contract.

Bradford City

On 10 July 2022, Oliver signed for League Two club

on a three-year deal.

Career statistics

Honours

Club

York City *

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 ...

: 2016–17 Northampton Town * EFL League Two play-offs:

2020 2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global Social impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, social and Economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of events, COVID- ...

Individual

* League One Player of the Month: March 2021 * Gillingham Players' Player of the Season:

2020–21 The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen b ...

References

External links

Profile
at the Gillingham F.C. website {{DEFAULTSORT:Oliver, Vadaine 1991 births Living people Footballers from Sheffield English men's footballers Men's association football forwards Sheffield Wednesday F.C. players Lincoln City F.C. players Crewe Alexandra F.C. players Mansfield Town F.C. players York City F.C. players Notts County F.C. players Morecambe F.C. players Northampton Town F.C. players Gillingham F.C. players National League (English football) players English Football League players Black British sportsmen Bradford City A.F.C. players