Billy Clifford (footballer)

Billy Clifford

Clifford warming-up for Chelsea in 2010
Personal information
Full name Billy Clifford[1]
Date of birth (1992-10-18) 18 October 1992[2]
Place of birth Slough, England
Height 1.70 m (5 ft 7 in)[3]
Playing position Midfielder
Club information
Current team
 Crawley Town
Number 18
Youth career
1999–2010 Chelsea
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
2010–2014 Chelsea 0 (0)
2013 → Colchester United (loan) 18 (1)
2013 → Yeovil Town (loan) 0 (0)
2014 → Royal Antwerp (loan) 4 (0)
2014–2015 Walsall 13 (0)
2015–2016 Boreham Wood 21 (1)
2016– Crawley Town 18 (0)

* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 3 December 2016 (UTC).


Billy Clifford (born 18 October 1992) is an English footballer who plays as a midfielder, for Crawley Town. He played in the Football League for Colchester United and Walsall and in the Belgian Second Division for Royal Antwerp.

Club career

Chelsea

Born in Slough, Clifford came through the Chelsea academy, having signed with them at the age of 8.[4] He turned professional in 2010. He played in Chelsea's pre-season friendly away to Ajax, and on 18 October he joined the first team for an away Champions League game against Spartak Moscow, where he was an unused substitute.[5] Clifford signed a new four-year contract for Chelsea in September 2011.[2] On 19 March 2012, Clifford made headlines when he, along with Jacob Mellis, set off a smoke grenade and caused an evacuation of the club's Cobham training ground. The pair escaped with a fine after admitting he brought the grenade – understood to be from a paintball expedition – into Chelsea's Cobham training headquarters.[6] The pair were suspended after the incident on 2 March, though Mellis was sacked.[7]

Loan spells

On 11 January 2013, he joined Colchester United on a one-month loan deal, and made his debut the next day as they fell to a 2–1 home defeat to Scunthorpe – a club-record ninth successive defeat.[8] Having been joined in Essex by his Chelsea team mate Sam Walker, also on loan,[9] Billy started the remaining four games of his initial loan spell as the U's fortunes began to turn.

On 12 February after a 1–0 win at home to Preston North End,[10] the loan deal was extended until the end of the season[11] with U's boss Joe Dunne describing Billy as "tenacious, has great technial ability, his heart is big and it's a chance to get out and play which he has taken."[12]

A fortnight later he scored his first goal for the U's in a 2–0 win at home to Yeovil Town,[13] before assisting Jabo Ibehre to open the scoring in another 2–0 win at Stevenage which took the U's out of the bottom four.[14] He made his final appearance for the club on the final day of the 2012–13 season, helping the club secure a 2–0 away victory at Carlisle United to guarantee League One safety.[15]

On 10 July 2013, Clifford joined Football League Championship side Yeovil Town on a six-month loan deal.[16] He made his debut for Yeovil as in their Football League Cup first round victory over Southend United, on 6 August 2013.[17] On 25 August, Clifford returned to Chelsea after failing to break into the Yeovil first team.[18]

On 30 January 2014, Clifford was loaned for the rest of the season to Belgian club Royal Antwerp, then managed by former Chelsea striker Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink.[19]

Walsall

On 7 August 2014, Clifford agreed to cancel his contract with Chelsea by mutual consent to seek regular football.[20] On 8 August 2014, Walsall signed the midfielder on a six-month contract.[21] The next day, Clifford made his debut for the club, where he came on as substitute for James Baxendale in the 70th minute, in a 1–1 draw against Port Vale.[22] Clifford made thirteen league appearances for the Saddlers before leaving the club on 9 January 2015 at the end of his contract.[23]

Boreham Wood

On 15 July 2015, Clifford joined Boreham Wood after a successful trial.[24] He left the Wood at the end of the season after contributing to the club's successful battle against relegation.

Crawley Town

On 20 July 2016, Clifford joined Crawley Town on a one-year deal following a successful trial.[25] On 6 August 2016, Clifford made his Crawley debut in a 1–0 victory against Wycombe Wanderers, replacing Jason Banton in the 82nd minute.[26] A week later, manager Dermot Drummy gave Clifford his first Crawley start in a 1–1 draw against Doncaster Rovers, in which he featured up until the 70th minute before being replaced by Bobson Bawling.[27] On 5 November 2016, in an FA Cup tie against Bristol Rovers, Clifford scored Crawley's equaliser in a 1–1 draw, scoring in the 35th minute after Lee Brown had given the visitors the lead.[28]

Career statistics

As of match played 3 December 2016.
Club statistics
Club Season League National Cup League Cup Other Total
DivisionAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoals
Chelsea 2010–11[29] Premier League 0000000000
2011–12[30] Premier League 0000000000
2012–13[31] Premier League 0000000000
2013–14[32] Premier League 0000000000
Total 0000000000
Colchester United (loan) 2012–13[31] League One 181000000181
Yeovil Town (loan) 2013–14[32] Championship 000010—10
Royal Antwerp (loan) 2013–14[33] Belgian Second Division 4000——40
Walsall 2014–15[34] League One 130002010160
Boreham Wood 2015–16[35] National League 21120—00231
Crawley Town 2016–17[36] League Two 180210030231
Career total 732413040883

    References

    1. ↑ "Premier League Clubs submit Squad Lists" (PDF). Premier League. 4 February 2014. p. 9. Archived from the original (PDF) on 16 March 2014. Retrieved 11 February 2014.
    2. 1 2 "BILLY CLIFFORD". ChelseaFC.com. Retrieved 12 January 2013.
    3. ↑ "Billy Clifford". ESPN. Retrieved 2013-01-12.
    4. ↑ "It's the real world at Walsall for Billy Clifford". Express and Star. 12 August 2014. Retrieved 26 October 2014.
    5. ↑ "Spartak Moscow 0–2 Chelsea". BBC Sport. 18 October 2010.
    6. ↑ "Chelsea part company with Jacob Mellis over smoke grenade incident". The Guardian. London. 20 March 2012.
    7. ↑ Ashton, Neil (20 March 2012). "Chelsea sack starlet Mellis and fine team-mate Clifford over smoke bomb prank". Daily Mail. London.
    8. ↑ "Colchester 1–2 Scunthorpe". BBC Sport. Retrieved 12 January 2013.
    9. ↑ "Chelsea keeper Sam Walker joins Colchester United on loan". BBC Sport. Retrieved 14 January 2013.
    10. ↑ "Colchester 1–0 Preston". BBC Sport. Retrieved 9 February 2013.
    11. ↑ "Clifford loan extended". Chelsea F.C. Archived from the original on 5 January 2014. Retrieved 12 February 2013.
    12. ↑ "U's Loanees Proving A Big Plus". Vital Colchester. Retrieved 14 February 2013.
    13. ↑ "Colchester 2–0 Yeovil". BBC Sport. Retrieved 26 February 2013.
    14. ↑ "Stevenage 0–2 Colchester". BBC Sport. Retrieved 2 March 2013.
    15. ↑ "Carlisle 0–2 Colchester". BBC Sport. Retrieved 28 April 2013.
    16. ↑ "Yeovil Town sign Michael Ngoo and Billy Clifford on loan". BBC Sport. 10 July 2013. Retrieved 10 July 2013.
    17. ↑ "Southend 0–1 Yeovil". BBC Sport. 6 August 2013. Retrieved 6 August 2013.
    18. ↑ "Billy goes back to Chelsea". Yeovil Town F.C. 25 August 2013. Archived from the original on 28 August 2014. Retrieved 25 August 2013.
    19. ↑ "Clifford loaned to Belgian club". Chelsea F.C. 20 January 2014. Archived from the original on 27 February 2014. Retrieved 28 August 2014.
    20. ↑ "Billy Clifford confirms Chelsea departure". Give Me Sport. 7 August 2014. Retrieved 28 August 2014.
    21. ↑ "Billy Clifford: Walsall sign former Chelsea midfielder". BBC Sport. 8 August 2014. Retrieved 28 August 2014.
    22. ↑ "Port Vale 1–1 Walsall". BBC Sport. 9 August 2014. Retrieved 28 August 2014.
    23. ↑ "Walsall confirm Billy Clifford has moved on". Express and Star. 9 January 2015. Retrieved 20 June 2016.
    24. ↑ "Allinsob bags hat trick of signings". Boreham Wood F.C. 15 July 2015.
    25. ↑ "Billy Clifford signs for Reds". Crawley Town F.C. 20 July 2016. Retrieved 20 July 2016.
    26. ↑ "Crawley Town 1-0 Wycombe Wanderers". BBC Sport. 6 August 2016. Retrieved 28 October 2016.
    27. ↑ "Doncaster Rovers 1-1 Crawley Town". BBC Sport. 13 August 2016. Retrieved 5 November 2016.
    28. ↑ "Crawley Town 1-1 Bristol Rovers". BBC Sport. 5 November 2016. Retrieved 5 November 2016.
    29. ↑ "Games played by Billy Clifford in 2010/2011". Soccerbase. Retrieved 18 June 2014.
    30. ↑ "Games played by Billy Clifford in 2011/2012". Soccerbase. Retrieved 18 June 2014.
    31. 1 2 "Games played by Billy Clifford in 2012/2013". Soccerbase. Retrieved 18 June 2014.
    32. 1 2 "Games played by Billy Clifford in 2013/2014". Soccerbase. Retrieved 18 June 2014.
    33. ↑ "Games played by Billy Clifford in 2013/2014 for Royal Antwerp". R.A.F.C. Museum. Retrieved 18 June 2014.
    34. ↑ "Games played by Billy Clifford in 2014/2015". Soccerbase. Retrieved 18 June 2014.
    35. ↑ "Games played by Billy Clifford in 2015/2016". Soccerbase. Retrieved 18 June 2015.
    36. ↑ "Games played by Billy Clifford in 2016/2017". Soccerbase. Retrieved 18 June 2015.

    External links

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