Ben Burgess

Ben Burgess

alt text Ben Burgess celebrating after scoring a goal for Blackpool F.C.
Personal information
Full name	Benjamin Kieron Burgess
Height	6 ft 3 in (1.91 m)
Position(s)	Forward
Team information
Current team	Notts County
Number	27
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
1998–2002	Blackburn Rovers	2	(0)
2000–2001	→ Northern Spirit (loan)	27	(16)
2001–2002	→ Brentford (loan)	43	(17)
2002–2003	Stockport County	19	(4)
2003	→ Oldham Athletic (loan)	7	(0)
2003–2006	Hull City	70	(24)
2006–2010	Blackpool	126	(23)
2010–	Notts County	6	(1)
International career‡
	Republic of Ireland U21	2	(0)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals, correct as of 10:48, 29 August 2010 (UTC) ‡ National team caps and goals, correct as of 6 July 2007 (UTC)

Benjamin Kieron Burgess (born 9 November 1981 in Buxton, Derbyshire) is an English-born Irish footballer who currently plays for Notts County. He has been capped twice by the Republic of Ireland at Under-21 level.

Club career

Early career

Burgess began his football career at Blackburn Rovers in 1998, where he stayed until 2002, but made just two league appearances for the club. On 3 October 2000 he went on loan to North Sydney based Northern Spirit in Australia. He scored 16 goals in 27 appearances for the club. In the 2001-02 season he went on loan to Brentford, before moving to Stockport County on 16 July 2002. He had a two month loan spell at Oldham Athletic from January to March 2003, before signing for Hull City on 27 March.

Hull City

He became the first Hull City player to score a hat-trick at the KC Stadium on 26 April 2003, in a match against Kidderminster Harriers. He was City's top scorer in their 2003-04 promotion campaign, scoring 18 goals and forming a partnership with Danny Allsopp. However, he suffered a serious cruciate ligament injury late in the season in a match against Huddersfield Town and did not appear in Hull's 2004-05 League One campaign until promotion had already been secured, showing sportsmanship by declining to accept any promotion award.

He soon returned to scoring despite playing two levels higher in the Championship, scoring one of two goals in the Tigers' first win of the 2005-06 season at home against Brighton & Hove Albion.

Blackpool

Burgess joined Blackpool on 31 August 2006, for an initial fee of £25,000, with a further £75,000 paid after he had played 30 games. On 31 October 2006, he scored his first goals for Blackpool when he bagged a brace in a 4-4 draw with Accrington Stanley in the League Trophy. On 27 May 2007, Burgess was an unused substitute in Blackpool's League One play-off final victory over Yeovil Town at Wembley. On 14 August 2007, Burgess, on as a second-half substitute, scored the only goal of the game as Blackpool beat Huddersfield Town in the first round of the League Cup. On 7 May 2008 Blackpool activated an option to extend his contract with the club by one year. On 27 March 2009 Burgess signed a new twelve month contract with the Seasiders with an option for a further year.

Burgess started the 2009-10 season by scoring in the Seasiders opening day 1-1 draw with Queens Park Rangers at Loftus Road on 8 August 2009. His 100th league appearance for the club was as a 61st-minute substitute in a goalless draw with Swansea City at the Liberty Stadium on 24 October. He gained his fourth promotion and second with Blackpool in the Championship play-off Final at Wembley on 22 May 2010.

Notts County

On 2 August 2010 Notts County confirmed the signing of Ben Burgess from Blackpool on a free transfer.

International career

Although born in England, Burgess qualified to play for both England and Republic of Ireland. Burgess chose to represent Ireland and played twice for the Republic of Ireland Under-21 team.

Club career statistics

As of 27 March 2010

Template:Football player statistics 1 Template:Football player statistics 2 |- |1999-2000||Blackburn Rovers||First Division||2||0||colspan="2"|-||colspan="2"|-||2||0 |- |2000-01||Blackburn Rovers||First Division||colspan="2"|-||colspan="2"|-||1||0||1||0 |- Template:Football player statistics 2 |- |2000–01||Northern Spirit (loan)||National Soccer League||27||16||colspan="2"|-||colspan="2"|-||27||16 |- Template:Football player statistics 2 |- |2001-02||Brentford (loan)||Second Division||43||17||2||1||2||0||51||18 |- |2002-03||Stockport County||Second Division||19||4||2||2||1||0||24||6 |- |2002-03||Oldham Athletic (loan)||Second Division||7||0||colspan="2"|-||colspan="2"|-||7||0 |- |2002-03||Hull City||Third Division||7||4||colspan="2"|-||colspan="2"|-||7||4 |- |2003-04||Hull City||Third Division||44||18||1||0||1||0||46||18 |- |2004-05||Hull City||League One||2||0||colspan="2"|-||colspan="2"|-||2||0 |- |2005-06||Hull City||Championship||14||2||colspan="2"|-||1||0||15||2 |- |2006-07||Hull City||Championship||3||0||colspan="2"|-||1||1||4||1 |- |2006-07||Blackpool||League One||27||2||3||1||colspan="2"|-||32||5 |- |2007-08||Blackpool||Championship||35||9||1||0||1||1||37||10 |- |2008-09||Blackpool||Championship||29||6||1||0||1||0||31||6 |- |2009-10||Blackpool||Championship ||31||6||||||2||2||33||8 |- Template:Football player statistics 327||16||0||0||0||0||27||16 Template:Football player statistics 4263||68||10||4||11||4||292||78 Template:Football player statistics 5290||84||10||4||11||4||319||94 Template:Football player statistics end

Notes

a. 3 league play-off appearances for Brentford in 2002 (included in 2001-02 total)
a. 1 league play-off appearances for Blackpool in 2007 (included in 2006-07 total)
c. All Football League Trophy results are included in totals

Personal life

Away from football Burgess gained a First class honours degree in Sports Journalism in 2009. After the end of the 2007-08 season he spent time at the Blackpool Gazette as a trainee journalist on work experience.

Honours

Blackpool

• League One play-off final winner: 2006-07
• Championship play-off final winner: 2009-10

External links

• Ben Burgess profile at blackpoolfc.co.uk
• Ben Burgess at Soccerbase
• Profile at PlayerHistory.com