Jamie Cureton

Jamie Cureton

Personal information
Full name	Jamie Cureton
Date of birth	28 August 1975 (1975-08-28)
Place of birth	Bristol, England
Height	1.73 m (5 ft 8 in)
Playing position	Striker
Club information
Current club	Leyton Orient
Number	10
Youth career
	Norwich City
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps†	(Gls)†
1993–1996	Norwich City	29	(6)
1995	→ Bournemouth (loan)	5	(0)
1996–2000	Bristol Rovers	176	(72)
2000–2003	Reading	108	(50)
2003	Busan I'cons	21	(4)
2004–2005	Queens Park Rangers	43	(6)
2005–2006	Swindon Town	30	(7)
2005–2006	→ Colchester United (loan)	8	(4)
2006–2007	Colchester United	44	(23)
2007–2010	Norwich City	69	(16)
2008–2009	→ Barnsley (loan)	8	(2)
2010	→ Shrewsbury Town (loan)	12	(0)
2010–2011	Exeter City	30	(17)
2011-	Leyton Orient	19	(1)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 28 January 2012. † Appearances (Goals).

Jamie Cureton (born 28 August 1975, in Bristol) is an English professional footballer who currently plays for Leyton Orient.

Career

Early years

Cureton began his professional career with Norwich City, before moving on to Bristol Rovers. An England youth international, he achieved significant status with the Norwich fans when he dyed his hair yellow and green for a Old Farm derby game against Ipswich in 1996 and subsequently scoring in the same fixture. He was sold by Mike Walker to Bristol Rovers in 1996.

Bristol Rovers

Cureton enjoyed a prolific spell at his hometown club. This was particularly the case during the 1999–2000 season where he struck up a partnership with Jason Roberts that almost took the club to promotion. After the club dipped out of the play-off places on the final day of the season he decided his future lay with pastures new, and headed to Reading.

Reading

The best spell of football in his career since leaving Norwich came with Reading, whom he joined in 2000. He played at Reading for three years. While at the club, the RFC supporters' trust had a newly discovered star in the "Perseus" constellation named after him. Here he struck a formidable partnership with Martin Butler, becoming one of the most feared combinations in the football league.

South Korea

Cureton then made a mid-2003 switch to K-League side Busan I'cons (now Busan I'Park). He failed to settle in East Asia however, and after being released from his contract, he returned to England and joined Queens Park Rangers. After an unsettled season at Loftus Road, he joined Swindon Town in June 2005. He failed to make his mark in his first spell at the club and subsequently joined Colchester United on loan.

Swindon Town

He then briefly returned to Swindon Town as they failed to avoid relegation to League Two. After Swindon's relegation, Cureton activated a clause in his contract that allowed him to leave Swindon on a free transfer, and rejoined Colchester on a permanent basis.

Colchester United

Cureton scored a hat-trick in the 3–0 away win against Southend United.

His 23 goals in the 2006–07 season gave him the Championship Golden Boot as the league's top scorer, and made him the first Colchester United striker since Tony Adcock to score 20 league goals in a season; the first for 22 years.

On 5 June 2007, due to agent demands, Cureton handed in a transfer request to Colchester United, citing Colchester's ambitions differing from his own, underlined when the club failed to re-sign several key players. This inevitably fuelled speculation that Cureton might return to Norwich City, the club where he began his career. Cureton himself stated that he would like to return to the club.

Colchester initially rejected the transfer request, saying that Cureton was an important part of the club's future and that they wanted to keep him., though Norwich City manager Peter Grant confirmed that he would like to sign Cureton. Cureton moved to Norwich City for £825,000 on 29 June 2007. He was signed as a replacement for Robert Earnshaw^{[citation needed]}, Norwich's top scorer of the 2006–07 season, who left for Derby County in a £3.5m deal the same day.

Norwich City

After his success at Colchester United, Cureton had a disappointing return to Norwich City.

He scored his first goals for Norwich since re-signing against King's Lynn at The Walks. This was followed up by another goal on Norwich's pre season tour of Holland against AGOVV Apeldoorn.

He then scored two in the League Cup against Barnet and two on his league debut for Norwich against Southampton.

Cureton, continued to play very much of a bit part during the season & one of his few goals came during the Canaries' 1–0 win at Scunthorpe United, a victory that lifted Norwich clear of the relegation places ahead of the Christmas and New Year fixtures.

Due to lack of first team football, On 27 November 2008, Cureton joined Barnsley on a 3 month loan deal, but on 14 January 2009, he was recalled to Norwich City after Glenn Roeder's termination as manager.

When Norwich played Barnsley on the following weekend, the Canaries were 4–0 victors with Cureton scoring one. Cureton played his 100th game for Norwich City against Coventry but put in a bad performance and was dropped for the rest of the season.

The following season, newly appointed manager manager Paul Lambert started Cureton for the his first three games, only to drop him to the bench for the next two games, leaving him an unused sub for both.

Cureton scored his first two goals of the season, against Leyton Orient and Bristol Rovers, both in which he came on as a late sub. Cureton scored the winning penalty in a Johnstones paint trophy match against Swindon. However this was to be his last ever appearance for Norwich as after this he failed to even secure a place on the bench. After being loaned out to Shrewsbury for the remainder of the season Cureton was released by Norwich City

Shrewsbury Town

Cureton joined Shrewsbury Town on loan until the end of the 2009/2010 season on 16 February 2010 from Norwich. After a number of starts and a number of unimpressive performances, he was sent back to Norwich prematurely.

Exeter City

Cureton spent the 2010 pre-season on trial with Exeter City after stating he would like to link up with a club closer to his Bristol home. On 2 August 2010 it was announced that he would sign for them on non-contract terms until the club are in a position to offer him something more permanent. On 24 August it was announced that Cureton had signed a permanent deal with the club until January 2011. Cureton signed a contract extension at Exeter City until the end of the 2010–11 season. Cureton, clearly enjoying his Football at Exeter saw a much rejuvenated and fitter player finish the clubs top scorer for the 2010-11 season with 20 goals in all competitions making him a fans favourite at St James Park. He won the Supporters Player of the year and Players Player of the year awards and with manager Paul Tisdale keen to extend Cureton's stay with the Grecians, he has been offered a deal for the 2011-12 season but declined the offer, and he left the club after just one season.

Leyton Orient

Cureton signed for Leyton Orient on 28 June 2011, being the third pre-season signing for Orient at the time. He scored his first goal for the club on 7 January 2012, in a 4–1 loss at Carlisle United.

Career statistics

Season	Club	Division	League		FA Cup		League Cup		FA Trophy		Total
			Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
1994–95	Norwich City	Premier League	17	4							17	4
1995–96		First Division	12	2							12	2
1995–96	Bournemouth (Loan)	Second Division	5	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	6	0
1996–97	Bristol Rovers		38	11	1	0	0	0			39	11
1997–98			43	13	2	0	2	0	2	1	49	14
1998–99			46	25	6	2	2	1	1	1	55	29
1999–00			46	22	1	0	4	1	2	1	53	24
2000–01			1	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	1
2000–01	Reading		46	27	3	1	2	1	2	1	53	30
2001–02			38	15	2	1	2	0	0	0	42	16
2002–03		First Division	29	9	2	0	1	0	0	0	32	9
Season	Club	Division	League		KFA Cup		Asia		Other		Total
			Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
2003	Busan I'cons	K-League	21	4	0	0	0	0	0	0	21	4
Season	Club	Division	League		FA Cup		League Cup		FA Trophy		Total
			Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
2003–04	Queens Park Rangers	Second Division	13	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	13	2
2004–05		Championship	30	4	1	0	2	1	0	0	33	5
2005–06	Swindon Town	League One	30	7	0	0	1	0	1	0	32	7
2005–06	Colchester United (Loan)		8	4	2	3	0	0	0	0	10	7
2006–07	Colchester United	Championship	44	23	1	1	1	0	0	0	46	24
2007–08	Norwich City		41	12	2	0	2	2	0	0	45	14
2008–09			22	2	0	0	1	0	0	0	23	2
2008–09	Barnsley (Loan)		8	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	8	2
2009–10	Norwich City	League One	6	2	0	0	0	0	2	0	8	2
2009–10	Shrewsbury Town (loan)	League Two	12	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	12	0
2010–11	Exeter City	League One	41	17	1	0	0	0	5	3	47	20
2011–12	Leyton Orient		19	1	2	0	2	0	0	0	23	1
Total	England		595	205	27	8	24	6	15	7	661	226
	South Korea		21	4	0	0	0	0	0	0	21	4
Career total			615	210	27	8	24	6	15	7	682	230

Cureton joined a select number of footballers who have scored over 200 league goals, by scoring his 200th and 201st in a match against Yeovil Town on 19 March 2011.

As of 28 January 2012

External links

• Jamie Cureton profile at canaries.co.uk
• Jamie Cureton career stats at Soccerbase
• Career information at ex-canaries.co.uk
• K-League Player Record (Korean)