Luke Chambers

Luke Chambers

Luke Chambers playing in red for Nottingham Forest
Personal information
Full name	Luke Chambers
Height	6 ft 1 in (1.85 m)
Position(s)	Defender
Team information
Current team	Nottingham Forest
Number	4
Youth career
2001–2003	Northampton Town
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
2003–2007	Northampton Town	124	(1)
2007–	Nottingham Forest	182	(17)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals, correct as of August 16, 2011

Luke Chambers (born 28 September 1985 in Kettering) is an English footballer currently playing for Nottingham Forest. He is a centre-back but has also played as a right-back.

Career

Northampton Town

Chambers made his Town debut against Mansfield in 2003. After impressing in the first team for 3 seasons or so, he was named captain by then Northampton manager Colin Calderwood, who later signed him for Nottingham Forest. His only goal as a Northampton player came against Swansea City in October 2006.

Nottingham Forest

Luke Chambers playing for Nottingham Forest

Chambers signed for Forest for an undisclosed fee on 30 January 2007, rejoining former Northampton manager Colin Calderwood. His league debut came away against Bradford City. In his first season, he was mainly used as a substitute.

His big break came in the 2007–08 season. Although naturally a centre-back, Chambers was played regularly at right-back as part of a Forest defence that kept a record 24 clean sheets, eventually earning them promotion to the Championship. He scored 8 goals in total, 6 of them in the league.

On 4 August 2008, Chambers signed a new three-year contract, keeping him at the City Ground until 2011.

He began the 2008–09 season again selected at right-back. Criticism was expressed at his ability to fulful that position at Championship level. It wasn't until the arrival of new manager Billy Davies in January 2009 that Chambers was finally selected at centre-back. He shone towards the end of the season, putting on a show of solid displays to help Forest avoid relegation. He scored 2 goals.

He started the 2009–10 season as he had ended the last and scoring 2 goals in the process. This was not enough to keep him in the team however, and the return of Kelvin Wilson from injury, combined with the presence of Chris Gunter at right-back, saw Chambers end the season with a limited number of appearances.

Chambers started the 2010–11 season mainly as a substitute, however due to injuries and the poor form of Kelvin Wilson, he was given an opportunity at centre-back. He impressed with consistent performances, keeping Wilson out of the first team and becoming a first choice in the centre of Forest's defence. He made 45 league starts, scoring 6 goals including two in the 5-1 win over Scunthorpe United. He was voted Player of the Year for the 2010–11 season.

Chambers' outstanding form in the 2010–11 season has resulted in interest from the Republic of Ireland national team. Chambers qualifies through his grandfather. On 5 August 2011, just before the start of the 2011-12 season, he was appointed as Nottingham Forest captain by new manager Steve McClaren.

Career statistics

Template:Football player statistics 1 Template:Football player statistics 2 |- |2002–03||rowspan="5"|Northampton Town||Second Division||1||0||0||0||0||0||1||0 |- |2003–04||Third Division||24||0||2||0||2||0||28||0 |- |2004–05||rowspan="2"|League Two||29||0||2||0||2||0||33||0 |- |2005–06||43||0||4||0||2||0||49||0 |- |rowspan="2"|2006–07||rowspan="3"|League One||29||1||3||0||1||0||33||1 |- |rowspan="6"|Nottingham Forest||16||0||0||0||0||0||16||0 |- |2007–08||42||6||3||0||2||0||47||6 |- |2008–09||rowspan="4"|Championship||39||2||3||0||2||0||44||2 |- |2009–10||23||3||2||0||1||1||26||4 |- |2010–11||42||6||2||1||1||0||45||7 |- |2011–12||16||0||0||0||2||0||18||0 Template:Football player statistics 3262||18||19||0||13||1||294||20 Template:Football player statistics 5262||18||19||0||13||1||294||20 Template:Football player statistics end

Honours

Northampton Town

• League Two Runner-up: 2006

Nottingham Forest

• League One Runner-up: 2008

Individual

Nottingham Forest

• Player of the year: 2010-2011

External links

• Luke Chambers player profile at Forest website.
• Luke Chambers at Soccerbase