Tony Stokes

Anthony Ronald Stokes (born 7 January 1987) is an English footballer who plays as a forward for Grays Athletic in the Isthmian Division One North. He played in the Football League for Rushden & Diamonds and Brighton & Hove Albion.

For the Irish footballer, see Anthony Stokes.

Tony Stokes
Personal information
Full name Anthony Ronald Stokes
Date of birth (1987-01-07) 7 January 1987
Place of birth London, England
Height 5 ft 10 in (1.78 m)
Position(s) Forward
Club information
Current team
 Grays Athletic
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
2005–2009 West Ham United 0 (0)
2006 → Rushden & Diamonds (loan) 19 (0)
2006 → Brighton & Hove Albion (loan) 6 (0)
2007–2008 → Stevenage Borough (loan) 3 (1)
2009 → Újpest FC (loan) 13 (0)
2009–2010 Újpest FC 11 (0)
2010–2015 Concord Rangers 124 (78)
2013 → Canvey Island (loan) 4 (3)
2015–2016 Canvey Island 28 (5)
2016 → Southend Manor (loan) 2 (0)
2016–2017 Concord Rangers 16 (4)
2017–2018 Bowers & Pitsea 25 (8)
2018–2019 Brentwood Town 64 (21)
2019– Grays Athletic 20 (8)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 22:11, 8 August 2020 (UTC)

Club career

Stokes came up through the West Ham United academy along with Mark Noble and Kyel Reid. He made his first team debut and only appearance for West Ham at the age of 18 in September 2005 as a replacement for Tomáš Řepka in the League Cup match against Sheffield Wednesday.[1][2]

During the 2005–06 season, Stokes was loaned to Conference National side Rushden & Diamonds,[3] where he made 19 appearances.[2] He joined Football League One side Brighton & Hove Albion in a one-month loan deal in August 2006,[4] which was extended for a second month but Stokes decided to return to West Ham after finding first-team opportunities at Brighton difficult. He made seven appearances in all competitions for Brighton.[2] Stokes joined Stevenage Borough on a two-month loan in November 2007.[5] He scored his first career goal in the 3–1 win over Salisbury City in December 2007.[6] He was named reserve team captain when Jack Collison was promoted to the first team for the 2008–09 season. However, he found first team football hard to come by as Collison, Valon Behrami, Scott Parker and Mark Noble were the preferred starters and did not even make the bench on most occasions.

On 19 February 2009, Stokes joined Újpest FC on loan until the end of the 2008–09 season.[7] He made his competitive debut for Ujpest on 7 March 2009 in a 2–0 home win against Siófok.[8] He was released by West Ham on 3 June 2009,[9] and signed for Újpest FC in July 2009 ahead of the 2009–10 Hungarian NB1 season.

Stokes requested that his two-year contract be terminated early and he returned to the UK in May 2010.[10] In July 2010, Stokes signed for Isthmian League Premier Division side, Concord Rangers.[11] Stokes was a key part of Concord Rangers start in the Isthmian League Premier Division, contributing 20 goals from 41 league appearances in his first season, and was made captain for the 2012–13 season.[12] In 2012, he gained promotion with Concord to the Conference South, scoring the winning goal in extra time in the play-off semi-final against Wealdstone.[13]

In October 2015, Stokes moved from Concord Rangers to local rivals Canvey Island where he had spent a brief loan spell two years earlier.[14]

On 10 June 2019, Stokes joined Grays Athletic.[15]

References
  1. "Sheff Wed 2–4 West Ham". BBC Sport. 20 September 2005. Retrieved 2 July 2007.
  2. "Tony Stokes". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 1 February 2019.
  3. "Hunter encouraged by new signings". BBC Sport. 8 January 2006. Retrieved 2 July 2007.
  4. "Hammers prospect joins Brighton". BBC Sport. 3 August 2006. Retrieved 2 July 2007.
  5. "Stevenage recruit three loanees". BBC Sport. 22 November 2007. Retrieved 12 January 2007.
  6. "Stevenage 3–1 Salisbury". BBC Sport. 7 December 2007. Retrieved 26 February 2008.
  7. "Stokes stays in Hungary | West Ham United". West Ham United F.C. Archived from the original on 23 February 2009. Retrieved 25 July 2010.
  8. "Busy weekend for loanees | West Ham United". West Ham United F.C. Archived from the original on 11 March 2009. Retrieved 25 July 2010.
  9. "Summer squad latest | West Ham United". West Ham United F.C. Archived from the original on 11 June 2009. Retrieved 7 June 2010.
  10. "Stokes happy to be back". West Ham United F.C. Archived from the original on 11 June 2010. Retrieved 7 June 2010.
  11. "Coup signing for Concord". Non League Daily. 20 July 2010. Archived from the original on 30 September 2012. Retrieved 25 July 2010.
  12. "Concord Rangers Football Club First Team Appearances / Goals 010-11". Concord Rangers F.C. Archived from the original on 24 July 2011. Retrieved 15 May 2011.
  13. Colosanti, James (1 May 2013). "Wealdstone 1, Concord Rangers 2 (after extra-time)". Southend Echo.
  14. "Tony Stokes signs for the Gulls!". Canvey Island F.C. 4 October 2015. Archived from the original on 6 October 2015. Retrieved 6 October 2015.
  15. Tony Stokes Joins The Blues, graysathletic.co.uk, 10 June 2019
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.