Connal Trueman

Connal Joe Trueman (born 26 March 1996) is an English footballer who plays for Championship club Birmingham City. A goalkeeper, he made his Football League debut in August 2018. He previously spent time on loan at non-league clubs Leamington and Solihull Moors and at AFC Wimbledon of League One.

Connal Trueman
Personal information
Full name Connal Joe Trueman[1]
Date of birth (1996-03-26) 26 March 1996[2]
Place of birth Birmingham, England
Height 6 ft 1 in (1.86 m)[3]
Position(s) Goalkeeper
Club information
Current team
 Birmingham City
Number 27
Youth career
2007–2014 Birmingham City
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
2014– Birmingham City 12 (0)
2014 → Leamington (loan) 2 (0)
2017 → Solihull Moors (loan) 4 (0)
2020–2021 → AFC Wimbledon (loan) 19 (0)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 22:52, 8 January 2021 (UTC)

Club career

Trueman was born in Birmingham and attended King Edward VI Aston School.[2] He joined Birmingham City's academy in 2007,[2] and took up a scholarship in July 2012.[4] He signed his first professional contract, of one year with the option of a second, in June 2014.[5] When first-choice goalkeeper Darren Randolph had to miss the visit to Blackburn Rovers in October 2014 through suspension and previous third-choice Nick Townsend's loan had no recall clause, Trueman was given a squad number and a place among the substitutes;[6] he remained unused. He then spent time on loan at Leamington, for whom he played twice in the Conference North and once in the FA Trophy.[7][8]

At the end of the 2014–15 season, Birmingham took up their option for another year on Trueman's contract,[9] and in April 2016, he signed a one-year contract, with the option for a further year.[10] He made his first appearance of the season in a matchday squad on 30 April, at home to Middlesbrough, when Adam Legzdins took over in goal after Tomasz Kuszczak underwent surgery on a broken nose, and kept his place on the bench for the last match of the campaign, away to Cardiff City.[7][11] In between, he was an unused substitute for the Birmingham reserve team that lost the 2016 Birmingham Senior Cup final to National League North champions Solihull Moors.[12] On 13 September 2016, away to Reading, Kuszczak was injured during the warm-up, so Legzdins took his place in the starting eleven and Trueman was added to the substitutes. He retained his place in the matchday squad for a further four league matches while Kuszczak recovered.[13][7] He signed a new three-year contract in May 2017.[14]

When David Stockdale joined in 2018, Trueman dropped to fourth choice, and went on loan to Solihull Moors until January 2018.[15] An injury to Stockdale in September left the club with only one fit professional goalkeeper (Legzdins was sold before the season started), so Trueman was recalled to act as backup to Kuszczak.[16] When Stockdale returned to the starting eleven in November, manager Steve Cotterill retained Trueman in the matchday squad,[17][18] but when Garry Monk took over in March, he recalled Kuszczak to the bench.[19]

At the end of the season, Monk told both Stockdale and Kuszczak they were free to find other clubs, and neither took part in the first team's pre-season training.[20] A bid for Ipswich Town's Bartosz Białkowski came to nothing, and Trueman went through pre-season as first-choice goalkeeper.[21] He made his Football League debut in the starting eleven for the opening match of Birmingham's 2018–19 season, a 2–2 draw at home to Norwich City in the Championship,[22] and despite the arrival of the experienced Lee Camp kept his place for the visit to Middlesbrough. According to the Birmingham Mail, Trueman "had no chance with a superbly struck goal but [was] all at sea on a couple of occasions",[23] and Camp took over for the next match and the rest of the season, with Trueman as a regular on the bench.[7][24] With Birmingham safe from relegation, he was due to start the final match of the season, away to Reading, but illness prevented his appearance.[25]

Trueman signed a two-year contract extension ahead of the 2019–20 season,[26] which he began as third choice, with Camp in the team and Stockdale on the bench. He came into the matchday squad in late October after Stockdale was injured in training,[27] and afer Camp made mistakes that cost the team points,[28] made his first appearance of the season on 23 November away to Huddersfield Town. He performed well enough to keep his place,[29] and held it for ten matches, but after he and the team conceded five goals to Leeds United and then three against Hull City,[30] Camp was recalled for his ability to organise his defence[31] and retained for the rest of the season.

On 4 August 2020, the day after Camp left Birmingham at the end of his contract, Trueman joined League One club AFC Wimbledon for the 2020–21 campaign.[32] He was given squad number 1, and began his loan in the starting eleven for the opening match of the season, a 2–1 win at home to Charlton Athletic in the EFL Trophy.[33] After appearing in 22 matches for the Dons, Trueman was recalled by Birmingham on 8 January 2021.[34]

Career statistics
As of match played 2 January 2021
Appearances and goals by club, season and competition
Club Season League FA Cup EFL Cup Other Total
DivisionAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoals
Birmingham City 2014–15[35] Championship000000—00
2015–16[36] Championship000000—00
2016–17[37] Championship000000—00
2017–18[38] Championship0000——00
2018–19[39][7] Championship200000—20
2019–20[30] Championship1000000—100
2020–21[40] Championship—————
Total 1200000—120
Leamington (loan) 2014–15[7][8] Conference North20——1[lower-alpha 1]030
Solihull Moors (loan) 2017–18[7] National League40———40
AFC Wimbledon (loan) 2020–21[40] League One19010101[lower-alpha 2]0220
Career total 370101020410
  1. Appearance in FA Trophy
  2. Appearance in EFL Trophy

References
  1. "Notification of shirt numbers: AFC Wimbledon" (PDF). English Football League. p. 3. Retrieved 17 September 2020.
  2. "Blue kid on the block – Connal Trueman". Birmingham City F.C. 27 November 2013. Archived from the original on 10 December 2014.
  3. "Connal Trueman". Birmingham City F.C. Retrieved 30 July 2018.
  4. "List of players registered as scholars in accordance with Rule C.3 between 01/07/2012 and 31/07/2012". The Football Association. Archived from the original (PDF) on 3 February 2016.
  5. "Connal Trueman signs first contract". Birmingham City F.C. 23 June 2014. Archived from the original on 18 July 2014.
  6. Kendrick, Mat (20 October 2014). "And in other Birmingham City news... Colin Doyle will be in goal at Blackburn". Birmingham Mail. Retrieved 21 July 2018.
  7. "C. Trueman". Soccerway. Perform Group. Retrieved 7 May 2019.
  8. Whiting, Ian (30 November 2014). "Frost strikes as Bradford Park Avenue warm up after cold first-half display". Telegraph & Argus. Bradford. Retrieved 21 July 2018.
  9. Tattum, Colin (5 May 2015). "Quartet offered new deals". Birmingham City F.C. Retrieved 21 July 2018.
  10. "Blues trio offered new deals". Birmingham City F.C. 27 April 2016. Retrieved 21 July 2018.
  11. "Early Blues team news ahead of Cardiff City trip". Birmingham City F.C. 4 May 2016. Retrieved 21 July 2018.
  12. Dick, Brian (5 May 2016). "Birmingham Senior Cup final: Birmingham City U21s 1 Solihull Moors 2". Birmingham Mail. Retrieved 21 July 2018.
  13. "Reading v Birmingham City, 13 September 2016". 11v11.com. AFS Enterprises. Retrieved 21 July 2018.
  14. "Connal Trueman: Birmingham City goalkeeper, 21, signs three-year contract". BBC Sport. 9 May 2017. Retrieved 21 July 2018.
  15. "David Stockdale: Birmingham City to sign Brighton and Hove Albion keeper on 1 July". BBC Sport. 13 June 2017. Retrieved 21 July 2018.
    "Birmingham City: Connal Trueman and Dan Cleary join Solihull Moors on loan". BBC Sport. 26 July 2017. Retrieved 21 July 2018.
  16. Dick, Brian (23 September 2017). "Birmingham City end youngster's loan because he is needed for injury cover". Birmingham Mail. Retrieved 21 July 2018.
  17. Kendrick, Mat (16 January 2018). "Birmingham City monitoring non league striker Oladapo Afolayan – reports". Birmingham Mail. Retrieved 21 July 2018.
  18. Dick, Brian (6 March 2018). "The Birmingham City players who could benefit most from Garry Monk's 'fresh start'". Birmingham Mail. Retrieved 21 July 2018.
  19. "Birmingham City 0–1 Middlesbrough". BBC Sport. 6 March 2018. Retrieved 21 July 2018.
  20. Kendrick, Mat (7 July 2018). "Birmingham City jet off on tour to Austria – leaving these players behind". Birmingham Mail. Retrieved 21 July 2018.
  21. Dicken, Alex (30 July 2018). "Garry Monk sticks to his guns but remains keen for Birmingham City transfers". Birmingham Mail. Retrieved 30 July 2018.
  22. "Birmingham City 2–2 Norwich City". BBC Sport. 4 August 2018. Retrieved 4 August 2018.
  23. Dick, Brian (13 August 2018). "How Birmingham City's players rated against Middlesbrough". Birmingham Mail. Retrieved 7 May 2019.
  24. "Games played by Lee Camp in 2018/2019". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 5 May 2019.
  25. Dick, Brian (18 May 2019). "Harding, Lakin and Bellingham – The pipeline pumping the talent through Birmingham City". Birmingham Mail. Retrieved 18 May 2019.
  26. "Trueman signs new contract". Birmingham City F.C. 30 July 2019. Retrieved 30 July 2019.
  27. Dick, Brian; Bonell, Jonny (2 November 2019). "'Recovery' – latest Birmingham City injury news ahead of Cardiff City trip". Birmingham Mail. Retrieved 4 August 2020.
  28. Dick, Brian; Wakefield, Mark (16 November 2019). "January transfers, Lee Camp selection & Jude Bellingham – key Birmingham City questions answered". Birmingham Mail. Retrieved 4 August 2020.
  29. Dick, Brian (24 November 2019). "'Proof' – Our verdict on how Birmingham City rookie Connal Trueman did after replacing Lee Camp". Birmingham Mail. Retrieved 4 August 2020.
  30. "Games played by Connal Trueman in 2019/2020". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 23 July 2020.
  31. Dick, Brian (13 January 2020). "Explained: Why Lee Camp is back in Birmingham City's first team". Birmingham Mail. Retrieved 4 August 2020.
  32. "Connal Trueman: AFC Wimbledon sign Birmingham City goalkeeper on a season's loan". BBC Sport. 4 August 2020. Retrieved 4 August 2020.
  33. "Roscrow off the mark as Dons march to Trophy win". AFC Wimbledon. 1 September 2020. Retrieved 3 September 2020.
  34. "Connal returns to Birmingham". AFC Wimbledon. 8 January 2021. Retrieved 9 January 2021.
  35. "Games played by Connal Trueman in 2014/2015". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 21 July 2018.
  36. "Games played by Connal Trueman in 2015/2016". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 21 July 2018.
  37. "Games played by Connal Trueman in 2016/2017". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 21 July 2018.
  38. "Games played by Connal Trueman in 2017/2018". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 21 July 2018.
  39. "Games played by Connal Trueman in 2018/2019". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 23 November 2019.
  40. "Games played by Connal Trueman in 2020/2021". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 2 January 2021.
  • Profile at Birmingham City F.C. website
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