Chris O'Grady

Chris O'Grady

O'Grady playing for Brighton & Hove Albion in 2015
Personal information
Full name	Christopher James O'Grady[1]
Date of birth	25 January 1986[1]
Place of birth	Nottingham, England
Height	6 ft 1 in (1.85 m)[1]
Playing position	Striker
Club information
Current team	Nottingham Forest (on loan from Brighton & Hove Albion)
Number	29
Youth career
	Nottingham Forest
2000–2003	Leicester City
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps^†	(Gls)^†
2003–2007	Leicester City	24	(1)
2004–2005	→ Notts County (loan)	9	(0)
2005–2006	→ Rushden & Diamonds (loan)	22	(4)
2007–2008	Rotherham United	51	(13)
2008–2010	Oldham Athletic	13	(0)
2008	→ Bury (loan)	6	(0)
2009	→ Bradford City (loan)	2	(0)
2009	→ Stockport County (loan)	18	(2)
2009–2010	→ Rochdale (loan)	24	(15)
2010–2011	Rochdale	66	(16)
2011–2013	Sheffield Wednesday	51	(9)
2013	→ Barnsley (loan)	16	(6)
2013–2014	Barnsley	40	(15)
2014–	Brighton & Hove Albion	31	(1)
2014	→ Sheffield United (loan)	4	(1)
2015–	→ Nottingham Forest (loan)	20	(2)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 17:03, 17 April 2016 (UTC). † Appearances (goals)

Christopher James "Chris" O'Grady (born 25 January 1986) is an English footballer who plays for Nottingham Forest as a striker. O'Grady is on loan at Forest from parent club Brighton & Hove Albion.

Club career

Leicester City

Born in Nottingham, Nottinghamshire,^[1] O'Grady originally caught the eye of former Leicester City boss Micky Adams as he was prolific in front of goal for the under 18s and reserves. O'Grady was handed his debut when coming off the bench in Leicester's 2–0 victory over Grimsby Town in April 2003, but failed to break through into the first team the following season.

He made 11 appearances during a loan spell at Notts County in late 2004, gaining some much needed league experience, and ended the 2004–05 campaign on a high, winning a place on the bench in City's final game of the season against Plymouth Argyle.

After scoring from the penalty spot against Inter Milan in pre-season, O'Grady had a successful spell on loan at Rushden & Diamonds at the end of 2005, before returning to Leicester to compete for a place in the first team line-up. He grabbed his first Championship goal at Luton Town in March 2006, a late strike which earned City a 2–1 away win.^[2]

In his first start for Leicester City, he scored the first goal in a 2–0 win over Macclesfield Town in the League Cup first round.^[3] His second start saw Leicester win 1–0 at home to Southend United.

Rotherham United

On 18 January 2007, O'Grady signed for Rotherham United on a two-and-a-half-year deal for £65,000. His first goal for Rotherham was a penalty against Huddersfield Town in February 2007. O'Grady altogether scored four goals in his first season with Rotherham.^[4]

O'Grady (right) at Bury with teammates Ben Futcher and Glynn Hurst

Oldham Athletic

O'Grady transferred to Oldham Athletic for an undisclosed fee on 28 May 2008,^[5] making his debut in the following season on 9 August in a 4–3 win over Millwall.^[6] After ten appearances for the Latics without a goal, he was loaned out to Bury.^[7]

O'Grady signed on loan for Bradford City on 2 January 2009 on a month's loan.^[8] His debut for Bradford came the following day when he was a second-half substitute for Michael Boulding in a 0–0 draw with Shrewsbury Town.^[9] O'Grady played just two games with Bradford,^[10] before he returned to Oldham and immediately joining another League One side Stockport County on loan until the end of the 2008–09 season.^[11] His debut for the Hatters came on 4 February, coming on at half-time in a 1–0 loss to Milton Keynes Dons.^[12] O'Grady's first goal for Stockport was in his seventh game to give the side a 1–1 draw with Leicester City on 3 March 2009.^[13]

Rochdale

O'Grady signed for Rochdale on loan on 21 August 2009 and impressed, scoring 12 league goals in 21 games. On 14 January 2010 O'Grady signed a two-and-a-half-year contract with Rochdale for an undisclosed fee.^[14]

On 23 January 2010 he scored his first hat-trick, against Cheltenham.

Sheffield Wednesday

O'Grady playing for Sheffield Wednesday in 2012

On 14 July 2011 Rochdale confirmed that a bid for O'Grady had been rejected from Sheffield Wednesday.^[15] On 9 August 2011 Wednesday confirmed the signing of Chris O'Grady from Rochdale for an undisclosed fee, believed to be around £350,000,^[16][17] with the striker putting pen to paper on a three-year contract at Hillsborough. Chris scored his first goal for the Owls in a 2–2 draw against fierce rivals Sheffield United. His next goal came away at Morecambe in the FA Cup. His third, a spectacular headed lob, came against local rivals and promotion candidates Huddersfield Town. He was considered the work horse of the Wednesday frontline by many an Owls fan. Despite having not scored many goals for the club, he cemented himself as first-choice forward alongside Gary Madine. O'Grady also formed a solid partnership with fellow frontman Ryan Lowe, when Madine was either suspended or out injured.

On 26 February 2012, O'Grady scored once against fierce rivals Sheffield United with a header from a Lewis Buxton cross in a 1–0 win for the Owls at Hillsborough.

At the start of the 2012–13 season, O'Grady scored three goals in two games, the first two against one of his previous clubs Oldham Athletic in the League Cup, and then, in the first league game, he scored a stunner against Derby County. He received the ball from Lewis Buxton, turned and smashed a shot with his left foot into the top left corner.

Loan at Barnsley

On January transfer deadline day in 2013, O'Grady joined Wednesday's South Yorkshire rivals Barnsley on loan for the remainder of the season.^[18]

Barnsley

After a successful loan spell at Barnsley, O'Grady joined them on a permanent basis on 19 June 2013 from Sheffield Wednesday on a two-year contract for an undisclosed fee, rumoured to be around £300,000.^[19]

Brighton & Hove Albion

Following Barnsley's relegation from the Championship at the end of the 2013–14 season, O'Grady transferred to Brighton & Hove Albion on 18 July 2014, signing a three-year contract for an undisclosed six figure fee believed to be £500,000.^[20]

Loan spells

On 27 November 2014 O'Grady went on loan to Sheffield United until the end of January 2015.^[21] On 29 December, Brighton & Hove recalled O'Grady from his loan spell at United due to a striker shortage.^[22]

On 1 September 2015, O'Grady joined Nottingham Forest on loan for the remainder of the season.^[23]

International career

O'Grady was capped by England at youth international level.^[1]

Career statistics

As of 23 April 2016

Club statistics

Club	Season	League			FA Cup		League Cup		Other		Total
		Division	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
Leicester City	2002–03[24]	Division One	1	0	0	0	0	0	—		1	0
	2003–04[25]	Premier League	0	0	0	0	0	0	—		0	0
	2004–05[26]	Championship	0	0	0	0	0	0	—		0	0
	2005–06[27]	Championship	13	1	0	0	0	0	—		13	1
	2006–07[28]	Championship	10	0	0	0	1	1	—		11	1
	Total		24	1	0	0	1	1	—		25	2
Notts County (loan)	2004–05[26]	League Two	9	0	1	0	0	0	1[lower-alpha 1]	0	11	0
Rushden & Diamonds (loan)	2005–06[27]	League Two	22	4	0	0	1	0	2[lower-alpha 1]	0	25	4
Rotherham United	2006–07[28]	League One	13	4	0	0	0	0	0	0	13	4
	2007–08[29]	League Two	38	9	2	1	1	0	1[lower-alpha 1]	1	42	11
	Total		51	13	2	1	1	0	1	1	55	15
Oldham Athletic	2008–09[30]	League One	13	0	0	0	2	0	1[lower-alpha 1]	0	16	0
	2009–10[31]	League One	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	1	0
	Total		13	0	0	0	3	0	1	0	17	0
Bury (loan)	2008–09[30]	League Two	6	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	6	0
Bradford City (loan)	2008–09[30]	League Two	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	2	0
Stockport County (loan)	2008–09[30]	League One	18	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	18	2
Rochdale (loan)	2009–10[31]	League Two	24	15	2	0	0	0	0	0	26	15
Rochdale			19	7	0	0	0	0	0	0	19	7
	2010–11[32]	League One	46	9	1	0	2	0	0	0	49	9
	2011–12[33]	League One	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0
	Total		90	31	3	0	2	0	0	0	95	31
Sheffield Wednesday	2011–12[33]	League One	32	5	4	2	0	0	0	0	36	7
	2012–13[34]	Championship	21	4	1	0	2	2	—		24	6
	Total		53	9	5	2	2	2	0	0	60	13
Barnsley (loan)	2012–13[34]	Championship	16	6	0	0	0	0	—		16	6
Barnsley	2013–14[35]	Championship	40	15	1	0	2	0	—		43	15
	Total		56	21	1	0	2	0	—		59	21
Brighton & Hove Albion	2014–15[36]	Championship	28	1	2	2	3	0	—		33	3
	2015–16[37]	Championship	3	0	0	0	2	0	—		5	0
	Total		31	1	2	2	5	0	—		38	3
Sheffield United (loan)	2014–15[36]	League One	4	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	4	1
Nottingham Forest (loan)	2015–16[37]	Championship	20	2	0	0	0	0	—		20	2
Career total			399	85	14	5	17	3	5	1	435	94

1. Appearances in Football League Trophy

Honours

Rochdale

• Football League Two promotion: 2009–10

Sheffield Wednesday

• Football League One promotion: 2011–12

References

1. Hugman, Barry J., ed. (2010). The PFA Footballers' Who's Who 2010–11. Mainstream Publishing. p. 317. ISBN 978-1-84596-601-0.
2. "Luton 1–2 Leicester". BBC. 11 March 2006. Retrieved 18 January 2014.
3. "Leicester 2–0 Macclesfield". BBC. 22 August 2006. Retrieved 18 January 2014.
4. "Rotherham snap up Foxes striker". BBC Sport. 18 January 2007. Retrieved 25 March 2007.
5. "Millers' O'Grady makes Latics switch". Oldham Athletic. 28 May 2008. Retrieved 28 May 2008.
6. "Oldham 4–3 Millwall". BBC Sport. 9 August 2008. Retrieved 16 January 2009.
7. "O'Grady seals Shakers switch". Sky Sports. 17 October 2008. Retrieved 16 January 2009.
8. "Bradford sign O'Grady from Oldham". BBC Sport. 2 January 2009. Retrieved 2 January 2009.
9. "Bradford 0–0 Shrewsbury". BBC Sport. 3 January 2009. Retrieved 3 January 2009.
10. "Chris O'Grady". Soccerbase. Retrieved 2 February 2009.
11. "Hatters land O'Grady". Sky Sports. 2 February 2009. Retrieved 2 February 2009.
12. "Stockport 0–1 MK Dons". BBC Sport. 4 February 2009. Retrieved 4 February 2009.
13. "Leicester 1–1 Stockport". BBC Sport. 3 March 2009. Retrieved 4 March 2009.
14. "O'Grady signs". Rochdale AFC official website. 14 January 2010.
15. "Owls Fail with Striker Bid". Sky Sports. 14 July 2011. Retrieved 14 July 2011.
16. "O'Grady deal done". Sheffield Wednesday. 9 August 2011. Retrieved 9 August 2011.
17. "Owls clinch striker deal". www.thestar.co.uk. 10 August 2011. Retrieved 16 August 2011.
18. http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/21921394
19. "O'Grady signs for Barnsley". www.swfc.co.uk. 19 June 2013.
20. "O'Grady signs for Albion". Brighton & Hove Albion. 18 July 2014. Retrieved 18 July 2014.
21. "Chris O'Grady: Sheffield United bring in Brighton striker". BBC Sport (BBC). 27 November 2014. Retrieved 27 November 2014.
22. "Sheffield United: Blades hope to re-sign O’Grady after Seagulls recall". Sheffield Star. 30 December 2014. Retrieved 30 December 2014.
23. "O'Grady joins Forest". Brighton & Hove Albion F.C. Retrieved 1 September 2015.
24. "Games played by Chris O'Grady in 2002/2003". Soccerbase. Retrieved 19 May 2014.
25. "Games played by Chris O'Grady in 2003/2004". Soccerbase. Retrieved 19 May 2014.
26. "Games played by Chris O'Grady in 2004/2005". Soccerbase. Retrieved 19 May 2014.
27. "Games played by Chris O'Grady in 2005/2006". Soccerbase. Retrieved 19 May 2014.
28. "Games played by Chris O'Grady in 2006/2007". Soccerbase. Retrieved 19 May 2014.
29. "Games played by Chris O'Grady in 2007/2008". Soccerbase. Retrieved 19 May 2014.
30. "Games played by Chris O'Grady in 2008/2009". Soccerbase. Retrieved 19 May 2014.
31. "Games played by Chris O'Grady in 2009/2010". Soccerbase. Retrieved 19 May 2014.
32. "Games played by Chris O'Grady in 2010/2011". Soccerbase. Retrieved 19 May 2014.
33. "Games played by Chris O'Grady in 2011/2012". Soccerbase. Retrieved 19 May 2014.
34. "Games played by Chris O'Grady in 2012/2013". Soccerbase. Retrieved 19 May 2014.
35. "Games played by Chris O'Grady in 2013/2014". Soccerbase. Retrieved 19 May 2014.
36. "Games played by Chris O'Grady in 2014/2015". Soccerbase. Retrieved 19 May 2014.
37. "Games played by Chris O'Grady in 2015/2016". Soccerbase. Retrieved 19 May 2014.

External links

• Chris O'Grady career statistics at Soccerbase