Username
Password
Samuel Profile

 Jlloyd Samuel, Bolton Wanderers

Jlloyd Samuel

Born: San Fernando (Trinidad & Tobago), 29th March 1981

International Honours: England U21

Position: Defender

Squad Number:

Former Clubs: Aston Villa, Gillingham (loan), Bolton Wanderers

Bolton had been tracking Jlloyd Samuel for a long period of time after it became apparent that he was disgruntled with life at Aston Villa and was looking for a new challenge.

He had lost his place to Dutchman Wilfred Bouma at Villa Park and wanted to move on to have a hope of playing more regular first team football and in May 2007 his wish was granted as he agreed a Bosman transfer to Bolton ahead of the 2007-2008 season.

It was quite a wrench for the versatile full back to leave the Midlands club as he has been at Villa for over a decade and was one of their longest serving professionals.

Born in Trinidad, but raised in London, Samuel was with Charlton Athletic as a schoolboy but signed traineeship forms with Aston Villa in the summer of 1997, making his debut for the club in a League Cup game against Chester City in 1999.

He made his first Premiership start for the Villans against Derby County in March 2000 and was an unused substitute against the Wanderers in the FA Cup Semi Final at Wembley in the same season.

The presence of the pint sized Alan Wright at left back offered Samuel little hope of making the Villa starting eleven on a regular basis and as a result he spent eight games on loan with Gillingham in October 2001.

Whilst with the Gills he missed just one game of his loan spell and helped the Kent side go on an unbeaten run which propelled them safely into mid-table of the old First Division.

Former England manager Graham Taylor made the return as Villa chief in 2002 and this gave Samuel more opportunities to show what he could do and Taylor used him in both the right and left back positions.

The 2002-2003 season saw him back in the side on a regular basis and appearing regularly for the England U21 team and a year later he made the left back spot his own after Wright departed for Middlesbrough.

In early 2004 he faced Wanderers in the League Cup Semi Final but his late goal in the second leg game at Villa Park proved too little, too late, however putting that disappointment behind him, he was called up by then England manager Sven Goran Eriksson for the game against Sweden along with fellow uncapped player Alan Thompson.

The signing of Bouma in 2005 gave him competition and in the 2005-06 season he shared out the left back responsibility with the ex-PSV Eindhoven player, however the appointment of Martin O'Neill last summer saw Samuel lose his place and he appeared in just a handful of matches last term.

Middlesbrough boss Gareth Southgate wanted to bring his former team mate to the North East and Newcastle United chief Sam Allardyce was also beleived to be keen on stealing in ahead of his old club to bag Samuel but Bolton boss Sammy Lee moved quickly to make the dependable player his first signing of the summer.

What helped Bolton's cause was that Jlloyd's long term partner is Boltonian and grew up in the town.

BOLTON RECORD:

Bookmark or share this story with: