Grant Leadbitter

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Grant Leadbitter
Personal information
Full name	Grant Leadbitter
Date of birth	7 January 1986 (1986-01-07) (age 23)
Place of birth	Chester-le-Street, England
Height	5 ft 9 in (1.75 m)
Playing position	Midfielder
Club information
Current club	Sunderland
Number	18
Youth career
2002–2003	Sunderland
Senior career1
Years	Club	App (Gls)*
2003– 2005	Sunderland → Rotherham United (loan)	102 (11) 005 0(1)
National team2
2004–2005 2007–2008	England U20 England U21	001 0(0) 003 0(0)
1 Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 23:08, 14 March 2009 (UTC). 2 National team caps and goals correct as of 18:07, 11 February 2009 (UTC). * Appearances (Goals)

Grant Leadbitter (born 7 January 1986 in Chester-le-Street) is an English professional footballer who plays as a midfielder for the Premier League club Sunderland A.F.C.. He has played for Sunderland since 2003 upon rising up as a product from the teams Youth Academy. In 2007 Grant Leadbitter received a call-up for England U21, and has so far featured for them three times.

Contents 1 Club career 1.1 Youth career 1.2 Sunderland 2 International career 3 Honours 4 References 5 External links

[edit] Club career

[edit] Youth career

Grant Leadbitter grew up in Fence Houses as a Sunderland fan, and joined the Sunderland youth academy at the age of 16. Leadbitter spent 6 months in a young offender's institution in Chester-le-Street ages 13 for his part in a gang beating of a youth at Waldridge Comprehensive School. He progressed through the ranks and represented England at the U19 level in 2002, scoring against Brazil to help England finish in the top four in the league tournament

[edit] Sunderland

Leadbitter's first professional appearance for Sunderland came as a substitute in a League Cup defeat against Huddersfield Town in September 2003. Before obtaining a regular first-team place at the club, he was loaned to Rotherham United in September 2005. After his loan stay in Rotherham, he began to be selected regularly by then manager Mick McCarthy, and started in several Premiership games for the Black Cats in February 2006.

After Sunderland's relegation in 2006, Leadbitter stalled on contract talks, with many predicting he was aiming to attract the attention of a Premiership club after his impressive displays during the previous season. However, a contract was subsequently agreed with the player claiming he only ever wanted to stay with Sunderland, and henceforth, Leadbitter has played an important role in the Black Cats' revival under the management of Roy Keane. Leadbitter took part in every one of Sunderland's games in the 2006–07 season and contributed seven goals,^[1] ranking as the clubs 3rd top scorer of that season. On Sunderland's return to the Premier League Leadbitter has continued to feature regularly with Roy Keane even making comparisons with Paul Scholes (he wears the no. 18 shirt allegedly in honour of his hero Scholes). In June 2008 Leadbitter signed a new contract with Sunderland, keeping him at the club until 2011.^[2]

On October 4 2008, Leadbitter scored a memorable goal against Arsenal after just coming off the bench. The 25 yard goal was celebrated in emotional style, as he ran over to his manager and had his head on the floor, nearly in tears. This emotional celebration was because his father, Brian Leadbitter had died just weeks beforehand, and his ashes had been buried right on that spot under the grass on Stadium of Light. "People close to me know why I went down on the floor like I did, I just want to leave it at that. The people who know me, know why I kissed that area of the ground. My dad's ashes were buried there. I don't want to go on about it. It just means a lot to me and my family. It's exactly that spot and it was always my intention to do something like that when I scored my first goal here." Leadbitter said to the press after the match.

[edit] International career

Grant Leadbitter came on as a late substitute replacing Gabriel Agbonlahor, in a 2–0 win in England Under 21's 2009 UEFA European Under-21 Football Championship qualification group, against Bulgaria national under-21 football team.^[3] He featured again for England U21 on 25 March 2008 and made his final appearance in a 0-0 draw against Poland U21, not being picked after that and turning 23 soon after.

[edit] Honours

• Football League Championship (II): 2007

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Grant Leadbitter career stats at Soccerbase

v • d • e Sunderland A.F.C. – current squad 1 Gordon · 2 Bardsley · 3 McCartney · 4 Tainio · 5 Nosworthy · 6 Whitehead (c) · 7 Edwards · 8 Malbranque · 10 Richardson · 14 Murphy · 15 Collins · 17 Jones · 18 Leadbitter · 20 Reid · 23 Healy · 24 Carson · 25 M'voto · 26 Ferdinand · 27 Anderson · 30 McShane · 32 Fülöp · 33 Liddle · 34 Colback · 35 Kay · 36 Luscombe · 37 Weir · 38 Chandler · 39 Waghorn · 40 Dowson · 41 Meyler · 42 Henderson · 43 Hourihane · 44 Stokes · — O'Donovan · Manager: Bruce