Michael Edward Spillane (born 23 March 1989) is a 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 ...

, who played as a defender, currently assistant manager at

Chelmsford City Chelmsford City Football Club is a semi-professional football club based in Chelmsford, Essex, England. Currently members of they play at the Melbourne Stadium. History Chelmsford Chelmsford Football Club was established in 1878 by members of ...

. Born in Jersey, he represented the Republic of Ireland at youth international level.

Club career

Spillane signed a full, professional, three-year contract with

Norwich City Norwich City Football Club (also known as The Canaries or The Yellows) is an English professional football club based in Norwich, Norfolk. The club competes in the EFL Championship following their relegation from the Premier League in the 20 ...

on 30 June 2006. He had already made his first team debut by this time against

West Ham United West Ham United Football Club is an English professional football club that plays its home matches in Stratford, East London. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football. The club plays at the London Stadium, hav ...

in the 2006

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 ...

third round, making him the youngest ever player for Norwich City to play in the FA Cup. Spillane was given his first extended run in the Norwich side by

manager Management (or managing) is the administration of an organization, whether it is a business, a nonprofit organization, or a government body. It is the art and science of managing resources of the business. Management includes the activities o ...

Peter Grant towards the end of the 2006–07 season. He got his chance in the centre of midfield due to injuries to

Youssef Safri Youssef Joshua Safri ( ar, يوسف سفري, born 3 January 1977) is a Moroccan retired footballer who currently is coach for Qatar SC. Club career Safri started his youth career at Rachad Bernoussi. The following year, he was promoted to the s ...

, Simon Lappin and Mark Fotheringham. This was after he initially played at

right 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 ...

under

Nigel Worthington Nigel Worthington (born 4 November 1961) is a Northern Irish former professional footballer who was most recently the manager of York City. He played a defender and a midfielder, playing his club football for Ballymena United, Notts County, ...

. Spillane signed on loan for

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 ...

for the 2008–09 season in August 2008. He scored his first Luton goal in the match against

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 ...

on 13 September. Spillane made a total of 38 league appearances for Luton, scoring three goals. He was also part of the Luton side that won 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 Leag ...

, beating Scunthorpe United 3–2 at

Wembley Wembley () is a large suburbIn British English, "suburb" often refers to the secondary urban centres of a city. Wembley is not a suburb in the American sense, i.e. a single-family residential area outside of the city itself. in north-west Londo ...

. In April 2009, Spillane signed a two-year contract extension with Norwich City. Spillane went on to play a bigger part in Norwich's 2009–10 League One winning season playing 13 times and scoring once against

Leyton Orient Leyton Orient Football Club is a professional football club based in Leyton, East London, England, who compete in , the fourth tier of the English football league system. They are the second oldest football club in London to play at a professio ...

, although he missed around half the season with injury. In July 2010, he transferred to

Brentford Brentford is a suburban town in West London, England and part of the London Borough of Hounslow. It lies at the confluence of the River Brent and the Thames, west of Charing Cross. Its economy has diverse company headquarters buildings whi ...

for an undisclosed fee. In September 2010, he scored his penalty as Brentford knocked Everton out of 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 penalties. Spillane scored his first and what turned out to be only Brentford goal in a 3–1 win at

Sheffield Wednesday Sheffield Wednesday Football Club is a professional association football club based in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England. The team competes in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. Formed in 1867 as an offshoot of ...

. He signed on loan for Dagenham & Redbridge, on 17 November 2011, turning this into a permanent deal on 6 January 2012. On 17 January 2013, Spillane signed for Southend United. On 23 August 2013, Spillane signed a one-year-deal with

Cambridge United Cambridge United Football Club is a professional association football club based in the city of Cambridge, England. They compete in EFL League one , the 3rd tier of the English football league system. The club is based at the Abbey Stadium on Ne ...

. He left the club on 31 January 2014 by mutual consent and joined

Sutton United Sutton United Football Club is a professional football club in Sutton, South London, England, who play in League Two, the fourth tier of the English football league system. They play home games at Gander Green Lane in Sutton about 11 miles so ...

. On 26 September 2015, Spillane signed for Lowestoft Town, becoming the eighth former Norwich player at the club. In December 2016, Spillane moved a tier higher to join

. On 30 March 2019, Spillane made his 100th appearance in all competitions for Chelmsford, captaining and scoring for the club in a 2–1 home win against

Oxford City Oxford City Football Club is a semi-professional English association football club based in Marston, Oxford. They currently compete in the National League South, the sixth tier of English football, and play their home matches at Marsh Lane. ...

. On 30 January 2020, Spillane was confirmed as assistant to interim manager

Robbie Simpson Robbie Simpson (born 15 March 1985 in Poole, Dorset) is an English semi-professional association football, footballer who plays as a forward (association football), forward. Simpson is currently manager at National League South club Chelmsford ...

alongside Chris Whelpdale following the sacking of Rod Stringer. On 28 April 2020, Spillane was named as Chelmsford's Head of Academy.

International career

Spillane has represented Republic of Ireland U17s, for whom he was the captain. Spillane also captained the Republic of Ireland U18s to an international tournament win, scoring twice in the Portugal tournament; netting in a 2–2 draw with

Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to th ...

and then striking a late winner against

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic ( pt, República Portuguesa, links=yes ), is a country whose mainland is located on the Iberian Peninsula of Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Atlantic archipelagos of ...

. The squad also recorded a 3–1 win against

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the Southeast United States Georgia may also refer to: Places Historical states and entities * Related to the ...

. He has played six times for Republic of Ireland U21s, scoring the equaliser in a 1–1 draw against

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

in February 2009. Spillane won the Republic of Ireland Under-19 Player of the Year Award in March 2009.

Personal life

Spillane was born in

Jersey Jersey ( , ; nrf, Jèrri, label=Jèrriais ), officially the Bailiwick of Jersey (french: Bailliage de Jersey, links=no; Jèrriais: ), is an island country and self-governing Crown Dependencies, Crown Dependency near the coast of north-west F ...

as a result of his mother being hospitalised on the island for the final eight weeks of her pregnancy. Spillane's uncle, Terry, has previously managed

Stansted London Stansted Airport is a tertiary international airport serving London, England, United Kingdom. It is located near Stansted Mountfitchet, Essex, England, northeast of Central London. London Stansted serves over 160 destinations acro ...

Aveley Aveley is a town and former civil parish in the unitary authority of Thurrock in Essex, England, and forms one of the traditional Church of England parishes. Aveley is 16 miles (26.2 km) east of Charing Cross. In the 2021 United Kingdom ...

and Maldon & Tiptree.

Career statistics

Honours

Luton Town *

: 2008–09 Norwich City *

Football 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 ...

: 2009–10

References

External links

Michael Spillane player profile
at canaries.co.uk *
Ireland profile
at Soccerscene * {{DEFAULTSORT:Spillane, Michael 1989 births Living people Jersey men's footballers Republic of Ireland men's association footballers Republic of Ireland men's under-21 international footballers Norwich City F.C. players Luton Town F.C. players Brentford F.C. players Dagenham & Redbridge F.C. players Southend United F.C. players Cambridge United F.C. players Sutton United F.C. players Lowestoft Town F.C. players English Football League players National League (English football) players Men's association football midfielders Men's association football defenders Chelmsford City F.C. players Republic of Ireland expatriate men's association footballers English men's footballers English people of Irish descent Chelmsford City F.C. non-playing staff Association football coaches