Samuel Ian Russell (born 4 October 1982) is a former professional footballer As a player he was a

goalkeeper In many team sports that involve scoring goal (sport), goals, the goalkeeper (sometimes termed goaltender, netminder, GK, goalie, or keeper) is a designated player charged with directly preventing the opposing team from scoring by blocking or i ...

from 2000 until 2021. He began his career in the

Premier League The Premier League is a professional association football league in England and the highest level of the English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Football Lea ...

with

Middlesbrough Middlesbrough ( ), colloquially known as Boro, is a port town in the Borough of Middlesbrough, North Yorkshire, England. Lying to the south of the River Tees, Middlesbrough forms part of the Teesside Built up area, built-up area and the Tees Va ...

although he failed to make a first team appearance but would notably go on to have three spells with

Darlington Darlington is a market town in the Borough of Darlington, County Durham, England. It lies on the River Skerne, west of Middlesbrough and south of Durham. Darlington had a population of 107,800 at the 2021 Census, making it a "large town" ...

between 2002 and 2012. He also played for

Gateshead Gateshead () is a town in the Gateshead Metropolitan Borough of Tyne and Wear, England. It is on the River Tyne's southern bank. The town's attractions include the twenty metre tall Angel of the North sculpture on the town's southern outskirts, ...

Scunthorpe United Scunthorpe United Football Club is a professional association football club based in Scunthorpe, North Lincolnshire, England. The team competes in the National League, the fifth tier of the English football league system. The club was formed in ...

Rochdale Rochdale ( ) is a town in Greater Manchester, England, and the administrative centre of the Metropolitan Borough of Rochdale. In the United Kingdom 2021 Census, 2021 Census, the town had a population of 111,261, compared to 223,773 for the wid ...

Wrexham Wrexham ( ; ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, city in the North East Wales, north-east of Wales. It lies between the Cambrian Mountains, Welsh mountains and the lower River Dee, Wales, Dee Valley, near the England–Wales border, borde ...

and

Forest Green Rovers Forest Green Rovers Football Club is a professional association football club based in Nailsworth, Gloucestershire, England. The team competes in the National League, the fifth level of the English football league system. Formed in October 188 ...

before joining

Grimsby Town Grimsby Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in Cleethorpes, North East Lincolnshire, England, that competes in , the fourth level of the English football league system. Nicknamed "the Mariners", the club was f ...

in 2018 where he combined playing duties as James McKeown's number two with coaching the clubs goalkeepers.

Playing career

Middlesbrough

Russell was born in

North Yorkshire North Yorkshire is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in Northern England.The Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority areas of City of York, York and North Yorkshire (district), North Yorkshire are in Yorkshire and t ...

and signed as a professional on 7 July 2000 for his hometown team after progressing through their

youth system In sporting terminology, a youth system (or youth academy) is a youth investment program within a particular team or league, which develops and nurtures young talent in farm teams, with the vision of using them in the first team if they show en ...

. He had a successful loan spell at

during the tail end of the 2001–02 season, followed by a brief period at

on loan in 2002 after Mick Tait brought him in during a keeping crisis. He played in only one game, a 1–1 draw against

Torquay United Torquay United Football Club is a professional association football club based in Torquay, Devon, England. The team currently compete in the National League South, the sixth level of the English football league system. They have played their ho ...

. In August 2003 he was sent to

on loan where he stayed for three months and made 10 appearances. He finally left Middlesbrough in the summer of 2004, moving to

on a permanent basis. He never appeared in Middlesbrough's first team.

Darlington

He was brought to Darlington by David Hodgson in August 2004. With the retirement of goalkeeping legend Andy Collett, the club only had two goalkeepers on their books in Michael Price and youth team player Jack Norton. Russell was a target for Hodgson after he heard that Middlesbrough were releasing the youngster. Initially it was thought Russell would be number two to Price, but performances during pre-season meant that Russell got the nod. Assistant manager Mark Proctor said that both Price and Russell were of virtual equal quality but Russell's distribution was slightly better. In the opening game of the 2004–05 season Russell made his mark with a superb performance which earned him the man of the match. His superb saves kept Darlington in the game and meant Darlington hung on to an opening day victory. He was ever-present in the first team in the 2004–05 season, and signed a new two-year contract in July 2005. He seemed to have established himself as the number one until just before the start of the 2007–08 season until failed to agree terms with then manager Dave Penny and Russell left to go to Rochdale and left Darlington in June 2007 after three years in which he made 107 league appearances.

Rochdale

In July 2007 he signed for

, making his first start for the club in the

Football League Trophy The English Football League Trophy, officially known as the Vertu Trophy for sponsorship reasons, is an annual English football knockout competition open to all clubs in EFL League One and EFL League Two and U-21 teams from the Premier Le ...

second round tie against Bury in October 2007. Following an injury to regular keeper James Spencer, Russell was next called upon in the

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual Single-elimination tournament, knockout association football, football competition in domestic Football in England, English football. First played during ...

defeat at

Southend United Southend United Football Club is a professional association football club based in Southend-on-Sea, Essex, England, which competes in the National League, the fifth level of English football. The team are known as "The Shrimpers", a reference ...

. He retained his place in the side and in December 2007, signed a contract until the end of the season having been on non-contract terms. He broke a finger in the 2–1 defeat at Lincoln City in February 2008 and was expected to be out of action until April. In the 2008–09 season Russell was handed the number one shirt for Rochdale. He had made some important saves for Rochdale that season, however he made the occasional mistake, such as scoring an own goal in the Rochdale–Bury derby, and slipping in a late equaliser by

Jamie Ward Jamie John Ward (born 12 May 1986) is 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, Ca ...

against Chesterfield despite a Tom Kennedy late winner. In February he was replaced by Blackburn loanee

Frank Fielding Francis David Fielding (born 4 April 1988) is an English professional footballer who plays as a goalkeeper for club Stoke City. He began his career at Blackburn Rovers in the Premier League. He spent time on loan at Wycombe Wanderers, Northamp ...

after Spencer was loaned out to Chester City.

Wrexham

After being released by Rochdale at the end of the season, Russell signed for

Conference National The National League, officially known as Vanarama National League for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in England. The National League is the first division of the National League (English football), National Le ...

side

after impressing on trial.

Return to Darlington

In May 2010 he agreed to rejoin Darlington on a one-year contract. He became their regular goalkeeper, and played 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 the London Borou ...

as they beat

Mansfield Town Mansfield Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in the town of Mansfield, Nottinghamshire, England. The team competes in , the third level of the English football league system. The club was formed in 1897 as Mans ...

to win the

FA Trophy The Football Association Challenge Trophy, also known as the Isuzu FA Trophy for sponsorship reasons, is a men's football knockout cup competition run by and named after The Football Association (the FA) and competed by mainly National League ...

. He signed a one-year contract extension, but when the club suffered financial difficulties and failed to pay the players, he submitted his 14-day notice at the end of December and left the club for fellow Conference club

in January 2012.

Forest Green Rovers

Russell made his Forest Green debut on 21 January 2012 in a 0–0 draw against Newport County. In his first eight Forest Green performances he saved four consecutive penalty kicks. He made his hundredth league appearance for the club in a 2–1 win over

on 18 March 2014. In March 2014, he signed a contract extension to remain with the club. A run of 144 consecutive league appearances for Forest Green was brought to an end on 21 February 2015 when he was replaced by Steve Arnold for a 3–0 win over

AFC Telford United AFC Telford United is a football club based in Telford, Shropshire, England. The club was formed in 2004 after the original Telford United F.C., founded in 1872, folded due to financial problems. They are currently members of the and play at ...

. On 4 May 2015, it was announced that he was leaving Forest Green after his contract had come to an end.

Gateshead

In June 2015, Russell joined

National League National League often refers to: *National League (baseball), one of the two baseball leagues constituting Major League Baseball in the United States and Canada *National League (division), the fifth division of the English football (soccer) system ...

side

, returning to a club where over a decade earlier he had spent time on loan.

Return to Forest Green Rovers

On 1 July 2016, it was announced that Russell had returned to former club

on a two-year deal. He made his 150th league appearance for the club in a 4–1 away win over Maidstone United on 27 August 2016. Between 17 September 2016 and 29 October 2016, he kept a run of seven

clean sheets, until Oliver Hawkins header in a 1–1 draw with

Dagenham & Redbridge Dagenham & Redbridge Football Club (), often known simply as Dagenham and abbreviated when written to Dag & Red, is a professional association football club based in Dagenham, Greater London, England that play in the , the sixth level of the En ...

saw him concede and narrowly miss out on the league record of eight consecutive clean sheets set by

Alan Julian Alan John Julian (born 11 March 1983) is a former professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper. He is manager of club Hampton & Richmond Borough. Julian started his career at Brentford, progressing through the club's academy and making ...

for

Stevenage Stevenage ( ) is a town and borough in Hertfordshire, England, about north of London. Stevenage is east of junctions 7 and 8 of the A1(M), between Letchworth Garden City to the north and Welwyn Garden City to the south. In 1946, Stevenage w ...

. Russell appeared in every single of minute of Forest Green's 2016–17 campaign, as he helped the club secure promotion to the

Football League The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional association football, football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, it is the oldest football league in Association football around the world, the w ...

for the first time in their history with a 3-1

play-off final win against

Tranmere Rovers Tranmere Rovers Football Club are a professional association football club based in Birkenhead, Merseyside, England. The team competes in , the fourth level of the English football league system. Founded in 1884 as Belmont Football Club, they ...

Wembley Stadium Wembley Stadium, currently branded as Wembley Stadium connected by EE Limited, EE for sponsorship reasons, is an association football stadium in Wembley, London. It opened in 2007 on the site of the Wembley Stadium (1923), original Wembley Sta ...

. He was rewarded with a new one-year contract in June 2017 for Forest Green's first season in League Two. He was released by Forest Green at the end of the 2017–18 season.

Coaching career

Grimsby Town

On 9 July 2018 he joined

as the club's new player / goalkeeper coach. Russell retired from playing at the end of the 2020–21 season but remained

Paul Hurst Paul Michael Hurst (born 25 September 1974) is an English football manager and former player. As a player, he was a left back from 1993 to 2008, notably playing his entire career at Rotherham United, bar a brief loan spell with Burton Albion i ...

's first team goalkeeping coach. On 25 June 2022, Russell announced via his

Twitter Twitter, officially known as X since 2023, is an American microblogging and social networking service. It is one of the world's largest social media platforms and one of the most-visited websites. Users can share short text messages, image ...

account that he was leaving Grimsby. Russell returned to former club Forest Green Rovers as an academy goalkeeping coach in November 2022.

Career statistics

Honours

Darlington *

2010–11 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number, numeral, and glyph. It is the first and smallest positive integer of the infinite sequence of natural numbers. This fundamental property has led to its unique uses in other fields, ranging from science to sp ...

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Russell, Sam 1982 births Living people Footballers from Middlesbrough English men's footballers Men's association football goalkeepers English Football League players National League (English football) players Northern Premier League players Middlesbrough F.C. players Gateshead F.C. players Darlington F.C. players Scunthorpe United F.C. players Rochdale A.F.C. players Wrexham A.F.C. players Forest Green Rovers F.C. players Grimsby Town F.C. players Grimsby Town F.C. non-playing staff Forest Green Rovers F.C. non-playing staff 21st-century English sportsmen