Matthew James Piper (born 29 September 1981) 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 le ...

and current coach, who played as a winger.

Career

Piper came through the youth ranks of hometown club

Leicester City Leicester ( ) is a city, unitary authority and the county town of Leicestershire in the East Midlands of England. It is the largest settlement in the East Midlands. The city lies on the River Soar and close to the eastern end of the National ...

. After signing a professional contract in 2000, he made his first team debut in the

League Cup In several sports, most prominently association football, a league cup or secondary cup generally signifies a cup competition for which entry is restricted only to teams in a particular league. The first national association football tournament t ...

on 9 October 2001, playing the whole of a 6–0 home defeat to

Leeds United Leeds United Football Club is a professional football club based in Leeds, West Yorkshire in England. The club competes in the Premier League, the highest level of England's football league system, and plays its home matches at Elland Road S ...

. After another appearance in a 4–1 league defeat to

Liverpool Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a popul ...

, he was loaned to

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 ...

, for whom he played eight times. He impressed there, and scored his first senior goal against Swansea City. On his return in January 2002, Piper played 27 games as Leicester fought relegation from the

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 ...

. Although Leicester were ultimately relegated with a mere five league wins all season, Piper made his mark in the club's history by scoring the last ever competitive goal at

Filbert Street Filbert Street was a football stadium in Leicester, England, which served as the home of Leicester City F.C. from 1891 until 2002. Although officially titled the City Business Stadium in the early 1990s, it remained known almost exclusively b ...

on 11 May 2002, in a 2–1 win against

Tottenham Hotspur Tottenham Hotspur Football Club, commonly referred to as Tottenham () or Spurs, is a professional association football, football club based in Tottenham, London, England. It competes in the Premier League, the top flight of English footba ...

Sunderland Sunderland () is a port city in Tyne and Wear, England. It is the City of Sunderland's administrative centre and in the Historic counties of England, historic county of County of Durham, Durham. The city is from Newcastle-upon-Tyne and is on t ...

signed Piper from Leicester in August 2002, for a fee of £3.5 million. Despite initially impressing, Piper's time at Sunderland was mostly an unhappy one as he suffered a number of serious injuries, resulting in him having ten operations in three years. Piper missed most of the 2003-04 and 2004-05 seasons due to injury and rehabilitation. Following Sunderland's promotion to the Premiership in the 2004-05, Piper was included in Sunderland's squad for the pre-season tour of the United States and Canada, playing in two friendlies against American opposition. Piper made just one start against

Cheltenham Town Cheltenham Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in the town of Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, England. From the 2021–22 season, the club compete in League One, the third tier of the English football league syst ...

in the

. This was to be Piper's final appearance for Sunderland, and his contract was terminated by mutual consent in January 2006 following an unsuccessful trial with

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 ...

. He had made just 29 appearances, including 15 starts, in three and a half years at Sunderland. In the summer of 2007, Piper participated in pre-season training at Mansfield Town, in an attempt to rebuild his fitness. However, he decided to retire before the start of the 2007-08 season. In March 2008, he started training with local side Anstey Nomads. He managed just one appearance before retiring from football completely Piper retired at the age of 26, and has since spoken about his battles with drink and drugs as a result.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Piper, Matt 1981 births Living people Footballers from Leicester English footballers Association football wingers Leicester City F.C. players Mansfield Town F.C. players Sunderland A.F.C. players Anstey Nomads F.C. players Oadby Town F.C. players Premier League players British people of Montserratian descent Leicester City F.C. non-playing staff