Gerard Lavin

Gerard Lavin

Personal information
Date of birth	5 February 1974
Place of birth	Corby, Northamptonshire, England
Playing position	Right back
Youth career
1988–1992	Watford
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps^†	(Gls)^†
1992–1995	Watford	126	(3)
1995–1999	Millwall	74	(0)
1999–2001	Bristol City	22	(0)
2001	→ Wycombe Wanderers (loan)	2	(0)
2001–2003	Northampton Town	2	(0)
2003–2004	Farnborough	1	(0)
Total		227	(3)
National team
1993–1994	Scotland under-21	7[1]	(1)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only. † Appearances (goals)

Gerard Lavin (born 5 February 1974) is an English born former footballer who played as a right back. He played in the English Football League for Watford, Millwall, Bristol City, Wycombe Wanderers and Northampton Town, before finishing his playing career at Southern League side Farnborough. He also played for Scotland at under-21 level.

Career

Born in the English town of Corby to Scottish parents, Lavin started his career as a schoolboy at Watford. He became an apprentice at the club upon leaving school, and signed professionally in May 1992. Over the next three years Lavin made 147 first team appearances, most of them at right back in place of injured club captain Nigel Gibbs.^[2] Lavin scored 3 goals during his time at Watford, including one after 13 seconds in a match against future club Millwall.^[3]

After Watford finished 7th in the First Division in 1994–95, Lavin was sold to Millwall for £400,000.^[4] Watford were relegated the following season. At Millwall Lavin made 87 appearances over four years, before being released on a free transfer in 1999, and joining Bristol City. He made his début for City on 7 August 1999 against Reading, but was sent off for deliberately kicking the ball at Reading fans. The ball broke a Reading fan's wrist, and Lavin was later convicted of assault.^[5]

Lavin made a further 22 appearances for Bristol in 1999–2000, but struggled to make the first team the following season. He was loaned to Wycombe Wanderers, and in May 2001 joined Northampton Town. He played 3 times in the first team over the next 2 seasons, before leaving to join non-league Farnborough.^[4]

References

General

• Jones, Trefor (1996). The Watford Football Club Illustrated Who's Who. ISBN 0-9527458-0-1.

Specific

1. Jones p.279
2. Jones p. 143
3. "Football: Match facts". The Independent (London). 27 March 1994. Retrieved 7 March 2010.
4. Gerard Lavin career statistics at Soccerbase
5. Murray, Scott (28 February 2002). "Cups that runneth over with pain". The Guardian (London). Retrieved 7 March 2010.