Carl Airey

Carl Airey
Personal information
Full name	Carl Airey
Date of birth	6 February 1965 (age 59)
Place of birth	Wakefield, England
Height	6 ft 0 in (1.83 m)
Position(s)	Centre forward
Senior career*
Years	Team
1983–1984	Barnsley
1983	→ Bradford City (loan)
1984–1986	Darlington
1986	Charleroi
1986–1987	→ Chesterfield (loan)
1987–1988	Rotherham United
1988–1990	Torquay United
1989	→ Shamrock Rovers (loan)
1990–19??	Salisbury
	*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Carl Airey (born 6 February 1965) is an English former professional footballer who made more than 200 appearances in the Football League playing as a centre forward during the 1980s.

Career

Carl Airey, a bustling centre-forward, began his professional career as an apprentice with Barnsley, turning professional in February 1983 and making his league debut the same season. He also spent a period on loan at Bradford City where he failed to score in five games at the start of the 1983–84 season.^[3] He left Oakwell in August 1984, after 38 league games in which he scored five goals, joining Darlington. He was top scorer the following season as Darlington, under Cyril Knowles, won promotion to the Third Division. He went on to score 28 goals in 75 league games before his transfer to Belgian side Charleroi in May 1986. His stay in Belgium was a short one, making 3 appearances without scoring, before returning to England in December of the same year to join Chesterfield on loan for whom he played 26 league games, scoring four goals. In August 1987, Airey was on the move once more, this time to Rotherham United, where he averaged a goal every three games, scoring 11 in 32 league games. He teamed up again with Knowles and former teammate Phil Lloyd when he joined Torquay United in December 1988. He made his debut on 20 January 1989 when he came on as a substitute for Ian Weston in a 2–0 defeat away to Halifax Town. He struggled to establish himself in the starting line-up, although he did start at Wembley in the 1989 Associate Members' Cup Final against Bolton Wanderers.

The following season, he started as first choice, but soon lost his place and along with Weston joined Shamrock Rovers on loan in September 1989 where after 5 appearances [1] he returned to the Torquay side the following month and equalled Sammy Collins' record of scoring in seven consecutive games before losing his place again and not featuring again in the first team after the end of January. He was released at the end of the season, joining Salisbury in July 1990. He was later reported to be working as a milkman in Salisbury.

Honours

Player

Darlington

Fourth Division third place: 1984–85

Torquay United

Associate Members' Cup runner-up: 1988–89

References

^ ^a ^b ^c "Carl Airey". Barry Hugman's Footballers. Retrieved 30 April 2020.
^ Dunk, Peter, ed. (1987). Rothmans Football Yearbook 1987–88. London: Queen Anne Press. p. 130. ISBN 978-0-356-14354-5.
^ Frost, Terry (1988). Bradford City A Complete Record 1903–1988. Breedon Books Sport. p. 309. ISBN 0-907969-38-0.

External links

Carl Airey at Post War English & Scottish Football League A–Z Player's Transfer Database

[Hugman-1] "Carl Airey". Barry Hugman's Footballers. Retrieved 30 April 2020.

[2] Dunk, Peter, ed. (1987). Rothmans Football Yearbook 1987–88. London: Queen Anne Press. p. 130. ISBN 978-0-356-14354-5.

[frost-3] Frost, Terry (1988). Bradford City A Complete Record 1903–1988. Breedon Books Sport. p. 309. ISBN 0-907969-38-0.

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