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Michael Theo

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Michael Theo
Theo playing for Brisbane Roar in 2011
Personal information
Full name Michael Theo
Birth name Michael Theoklitos
Date of birth (1981-02-11) 11 February 1981 (age 43)
Place of birth Melbourne, Australia
Height 1.86 m (6 ft 1 in)[1]
Position(s) Goalkeeper
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1998–2000 Bulleen Inter Kings 0 (0)
2000 Bulleen Zebras 1 (0)
2000–2001 South Melbourne 5 (0)
2001 Bulleen Zebras 24 (0)
2001–2002 Football Kingz 20 (0)
2002–2003 Blackpool 2 (0)
2003–2004 South Melbourne 5 (0)
2004 Bulleen Zebras 19 (0)
2005–2009 Melbourne Victory 71 (0)
2009–2010 Norwich City 1 (0)
2010–2018 Brisbane Roar 159 (0)
2019 Nunawading City
Managerial career
2021– Western United FC (Goalkeeping coach)
2022– Nunawading City (Assistant coach)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals, correct as of 9 December 2024

Michael Theo[2][3][4] (né Theoklitos) (born 11 February 1981) is an Australian goalkeeper who is the goalkeeping coach at A-League club Western United FC.[5]

Career

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Early career

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Theoklitos began his football journey through the junior ranks at now defunct East Richmond Jaguars. His career as a semi-pro began by playing in the Victorian Premier League (VPL) for Bulleen Zebras. He was then picked up by South Melbourne FC but failed to make an impact ahead of number 1 Eugene Galekovic. After 5 appearances for Hellas, he was sold to the Football Kingz FC for the 2001–2002 season where he became a fan favourite making 20 appearances in the National Soccer League. During his time with the Kingz he was scouted by Blackpool FC who signed him in 2002. Due to injury he only played in three games, only two of which counted as full representation for Blackpool. He returned to Australia where he rejoined Bulleen. While playing for them in the 2004 VPL final, he saved three of four penalties to help Bulleen to victory.[6]

Melbourne Victory

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Michael Theo (then known as Theoklitos) with Melbourne Victory in 2008.

He joined Melbourne Victory FC for their inaugural season in the 2005/06 A-League. In the 2006/07 A-League season, Theoklitos kept ten clean sheets from 21 games, attracting interest from both the Australia and Greece national associations. He has not made a senior appearance for either country.

In the 2008/09 season, Theoklitos was part of Melbourne Victory's grand-final success, keeping five clean sheets at the end of the season. He earned another call-up to the Australian national squad for the match against Kuwait on 5 March 2009, but did not play.

In May 2009, Theoklitos declined a contract extension. In July 2009, it was confirmed that he would be leaving Melbourne Victory, with his contract expiring on 30 July. In early July 2009, he signed a two-year contract with English League One side Norwich City.[7]

Norwich City

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In the opening match of the season on 8 August 2009, Theoklitos made his debut for Norwich against Colchester United at Carrow Road, conceding five goals before half-time and seven in total. He described the match as "the worst performance I've had in my career" to BBC Radio Norfolk.[8] Despite the performance, Theoklitos still had the support of manager Bryan Gunn, a former goalkeeper himself.[8] However, Gunn did not have the support of the Norwich board, and was replaced by Colchester manager Paul Lambert, who had engineered the 7–1 defeat. Under Lambert, Theoklitos was demoted to third-choice goalkeeper.

He was recalled to the first-team bench for a Football League Trophy match against Gillingham, but according to the club he failed to show up for the match, causing the club to discipline him.[9][10] Theoklitos denied the claim, saying "It's not that I did not turn up but I was half an hour late" because "I got my wires mixed up".[11]

Lambert confirmed in December 2009 that he expected Theoklitos to be leaving the club.[12] Theoklitos' contract was terminated by mutual consent in March 2010.[13] His debut was the only game he played for the Canaries.[11]

Brisbane Roar

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On 14 March 2010, Theoklitos signed with the Brisbane Roar on a three-year deal.[14] He made his debut in round one of the A league season against Gold Coast United, in a 0–0 draw.[15] Theoklitos registered a second clean sheet against Sydney FC in round two.

Following the 3–0 loss to Melbourne Victory, Theoklitos had gone 876 minutes without conceding a goal, setting a new record for the most minutes without conceding a goal in an Australian League—beating former recordholder Jeff Olver's record of 790 minutes.[16] Theoklitos won the Goalkeeper of the Year award for the 2010/11 A-League season.

Prior to the 2014/15 season, Theo sustained a wrist injury in pre-season training which ruled him out for half of the season. Theo returned after the January Asian Cup break with a 3–2 home win against the Wellington Phoenix, despite conceding a foolish goal which was credited to Kenny Cunningham. Theo went on to play 3 more matches that season, keeping a clean sheet against the Central Coast Mariners, before injuring his quad muscle.

On 27 March 2018, it was announced that Theo's contract with the Roar would not be renewed after the 2017–18 A-League.[17]

Career statistics

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As of 16 March 2014

CS = Clean Sheets

Club Season Division League1 Cup International2 Total
Apps CS Apps CS Apps CS Apps CS
Bulleen Zebras 2000 Victorian Premier League 1 ? 0 0 - - 1 ?
2001 24 ? 0 0 - - 24 ?
2004 19 ? 0 0 - - 19 ?
Total 44 ? 0 0 - - 44 ?
South Melbourne 2000–01 National Soccer League 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
2003–04[18] 5 3 0 0 0 0 5 3
Total 5 3 0 0 0 0 5 3
Football Kingz 2001–02[18] National Soccer League 20 3 0 0 0 0 20 3
Total 20 3 0 0 0 0 20 3
Blackpool 2002–03[19] Division Two 2 0 0 0 - - 2 0
Total 2 0 0 0 - - 2 0
Melbourne Victory 2005–06[18][20] A-League 10 1 2 1 - - 12 2
2006–07[18][20] 20 10 2 1 - - 22 11
2007–08[18][20] 20 6 4 0 5 1 29 7
2008–09[18][20] 21 10 4 3 - - 25 13
Total 71 27 12 5 5 1 88 33
Norwich City 2009–10[21] Football League One 1 0 0 0 - - 1 0
Total 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0
Brisbane Roar 2010–11[20] A-League 33 12 - - - - 33 12
2011–12[20][21] 29 8 - - 6 0 35 8
2012–13[20][21] 29 8 - - 1 1 30 9
2013–14[20] 21 5 - - - - 21 5
2014–15[20] 4 1 - - - - 4 1
Total 112 33 - - 7 1 119 34
Career Total 255 66 12 5 12 2 279 73

1 – includes A-League final series statistics
 2 – AFC Champions League statistics are included in season ending during group stages (i.e. ACL 2012 and A-League season 2011–12 etc.)

Personal life

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Theoklitos was born in Melbourne, Australia and is of Greek ancestry.

The Michael Theo Soccer Academy was established in 2010, running annual clinics during the July school holiday period.

Theoklitos married Victoria Curtis in April 2011 and separated in 2019.

On 1 August 2012 Theoklitos announced that he had changed his name by deed poll to Michael Theo.[2][3][4] He said of the change:

"Around the football traps, I’ve always been known as Michael Theo so I just thought, why not make it official? It’s no big deal, I haven’t changed my name completely, just shortened it. I’ve been thinking about it for a while and it was a decision I made on my own, it’s really not so hard to do on deed poll. My signature has altered, slightly changed but that’s pretty much it."[4]

Honours

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Current as at 15 March 2017

With Melbourne Victory:

With Brisbane Roar:

Personal honours:

References

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  1. ^ "Michael Theo". brisbaneroar.com.au. Brisbane Roar FC. Archived from the original on 18 September 2017. Retrieved 6 February 2017.
  2. ^ a b "Motorsport Video |Motorsport Highlights, Replays, News, Clips".
  3. ^ a b "Goodbye Theoklitos, Hello Theo... - Australia News - Australian FourFourTwo - the Ultimate Football Website". Archived from the original on 5 October 2013. Retrieved 10 July 2013.
  4. ^ a b c "Theo is the name of the game - Michelle Tobin - Brisbane Roar FC 2013". www.footballaustralia.com.au. Archived from the original on 4 October 2013.
  5. ^ "Interview with former A-League player and Western United goalkeeping coach Michael Theo". Sha Nen YouTube channel. 9 December 2021. Retrieved 25 February 2022.
  6. ^ "Green Gully - Melbourne Australia". www.greengully.com. Archived from the original on 6 December 2004.
  7. ^ Aussie Keeper Joins Canaries Archived 2 March 2012 at the Wayback Machine, Norwich City F.C., 8 July 2009. Retrieved 2009-07-08
  8. ^ a b "Norwich keeper admits to blunders". BBC. 10 August 2009. Retrieved 22 January 2010.
  9. ^ Cuffley, David. Norwich City 'keeper goes AWOL. The Pink'Un. 7 October 2009. Retrieved 6 June 2011.
  10. ^ Norwich keeper fails to turn up. BBC Sport. 7 October 2009. Retrieved 6 June 2011.
  11. ^ a b Micallef, Phillip. Norwich nightmare spurs on Theoklitos. The World Game (SBS). 4 January 2011. Retrieved 6 June 2011.
  12. ^ "Norwich City Goalkeeper Michael Theoklitos Rules Out A-League Return With Melbourne Heart". Goal.com. 28 December 2009. Retrieved 22 January 2010.
  13. ^ Theoklitos Leaves City Archived 8 March 2010 at the Wayback Machine (press release). Norwich City Football Club. 9 March 2010. Retrieved 6 June 2011.
  14. ^ "Theoklitos joins Roar: A League: News: The World Game on SBS". theworldgame.sbs.com.au. Archived from the original on 17 March 2010.
  15. ^ Goalkeeper Michael Theoklitos leaves Norwich City
  16. ^ a b Banking, Ally. Roar keeper sets record. Brisbane Times. 14 September 2010. Retrieved 6 June 2011.
  17. ^ Monteverde, Marco (27 March 2018). "Brisbane Roar to give goalkeeper Michael Theo a Suncorp send-off". The Courier-Mail.
  18. ^ a b c d e f "Michael Theo » Club matches". worldfootball.net. 2 February 2014.
  19. ^ "Michael Theo Soccer Stats". The Irish Times. Archived from the original on 3 March 2016.
  20. ^ a b c d e f g h i "Michael Theo (Brisbane Roar)". Ultimate A-League.
  21. ^ a b c Michael Theo at Soccerway
  22. ^ Ultimate A-League
  23. ^ Jackson, Jamie (20 July 2013). "Manchester United thrash A-League All Stars to give David Moyes first win". The Guardian. Sydney. Retrieved 7 September 2020.
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