Club career Matthew Upson

1 club career

1.1 luton town
1.2 arsenal
1.3 birmingham city
1.4 west ham united
1.5 stoke city
1.6 brighton & hove albion
1.7 leicester city
1.8 milton keynes dons

club career
luton town

upson born in eye, suffolk, , attended diss high school in norfolk. @ ipswich town centre of excellence, joined luton town trainee after ipswich youth coach terry westley moved there. upson signed professional forms in april 1996, , made sole football league appearance team 88th-minute substitute against rotherham united in august 1996.

arsenal

he joined arsenal in may 1997 in £2 million deal. however, faced longevity of arsenal s existing centre backs, tony adams, steve bould , martin keown, , struck injury problems of own, upson had chance break first team. played 5 matches in 1997–98 premier league season arsenal won title, did not qualify winners medal. after spending year out of game recovering anterior cruciate ligament injury sustained in 1999, upson made handful of first-team appearance arsenal, in between loan spells @ nottingham forest in 2000 , crystal palace in 2001.

in 2001–02, final full season @ arsenal, upson made 22 appearances. these included 14 in league, earned him premier league winners medal, broken leg in february 2002 ruled him out rest of season , arsenal s fa cup-winning run won double. after recovering injury, upson joined reading in september 2002 on three-month loan. reading scored first professional career goal, in 3–1 loss @ cambridge united in league cup. arsenal s newly established centre-back pairing of sol campbell , kolo touré keeping him out of team, bought birmingham city in january 2003.

birmingham city

birmingham city completed signing of upson arsenal in january 2003, bbc sport thought initial fee of £1 million, potentially rising £3 million depending on appearances.

he suffered leg injury whilst preparing local derby against aston villa in april 2006 , subsequently missed rest of season birmingham city relegated championship. upson remained club while worked on regaining fitness, , returned action in december in 3–0 victory on plymouth argyle, scoring second of 3 goals.

west ham united

upson warming west ham united in 2009

on 18 january 2007, birmingham rejected west ham united s bid upson of £4 million, , turned down improved bid of £6 million few days later. offer of £6 million, potential rise £7.5 million depending on appearances, accepted on last day of transfer window, , upson agreed four-and-a-half-year contract west ham. birmingham city s manager steve bruce later claimed did not want sell upson, forced club s managing director karren brady.

upson suffered calf injury less 30 minutes west ham united debut, 1–0 defeat against aston vill. lasted 11 minutes of comeback match before coming off injured against tottenham hotspur in 4–3 loss @ upton park in march 2007.

upson completed first full match west ham in 2–0 home defeat manchester city in august 2007. 1 week later made first appearance west ham captain in 1–0 away win against former club birmingham city. on 29 december, upson scored first time in west ham colours when headed in winning goal against premier league champions manchester united.

in july 2008, upson s squad number of 6 retired club in memory of bobby moore, after took number 15 shirt. in august 2009, following departure of lucas neill, upson appointed captain of west ham. captained west ham through difficult 2009–10 campaign in scored goal in opening match against wolverhampton wanderers , 2 more against stoke city , portsmouth.

following west ham s relegation premier league in may 2011, new manager sam allardyce confirmed upson leave club when contract expired.

stoke city

upson joined stoke city on two-year contract on 9 august 2011. said playing in uefa europa league 1 of main reasons decided join stoke. upson made debut stoke in 1–0 victory on fc thun in europa league. scored first goal club in second leg against thun in 4–1 victory @ britannia stadium. since joining stoke upson , fellow summer signing jonathan woodgate have been used backup first-choice centre backs robert huth , ryan shawcross. regular in europa league, appearing in 6 group matches, sent off in last stoke qualified round of 32. scored first league goal stoke in 2–0 home win against swansea city on 26 february 2012 in man-of-the-match performance. shawcross suspended, upson made first league appearance of 2012–13 season on 29 december 2012 against southampton; scored stoke s second goal in 3–3 draw.

brighton & hove albion

on 31 january 2013, upson joined championship club brighton & hove albion on loan until end of season. scored first goal seagulls in 6–1 win on blackpool on 20 april. released stoke @ end of season, upson joined brighton on permanent basis on 10 july 2013, signing one-year contract.

leicester city

on 23 may 2014, upson agreed one-year contract newly promoted premier league club leicester city. after spending first half of season on sidelines injury, returned full training in late january 2015. on 10 february, upson made leicester debut, playing hour before being substituted, in 2–1 defeat former club arsenal. released when contract expired @ end of season.

milton keynes dons

on 30 july 2015, upson signed championship club milton keynes dons on one-year contract. made debut on 11 august in 2–1 league cup first round win against leyton orient, made 6 more appearances club , contract not renewed. retired playing in 2016.