Gordon Greer

Gordon Greer (born 14 December 1980) is a Scottish former professional footballer who played as a defender. Greer played for Clyde, Blackburn Rovers (two spells), Stockport County, Kilmarnock (two spells), Doncaster Rovers, Swindon Town and Brighton & Hove Albion during his career. He also played in 11 full international matches for Scotland between 2013 and 2016.

Gordon Greer

Greer in 2012
Personal information
Full name	Gordon Greer[1]
Date of birth	14 December 1980[1]
Place of birth	Glasgow, Scotland
Position(s)	Centre back
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
2000–2001	Clyde	30	(0)
2001–2003	Blackburn Rovers	0	(0)
2003	→ Stockport County (loan)	5	(1)
2003–2007	Kilmarnock	107	(4)
2007–2009	Doncaster Rovers	12	(1)
2009	→ Swindon Town (loan)	19	(2)
2009–2010	Swindon Town	46	(1)
2010–2016	Brighton & Hove Albion	209	(5)
2016–2017	Blackburn Rovers	21	(0)
2017–2018	Kilmarnock	20	(1)
Total		469	(14)
National team
2005–2006	Scotland B	2	(0)
2013–2016	Scotland	11	(0)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only

Career

Greer was born in Glasgow[1] and after a single season with Port Glasgow Juniors, began his professional career with Clyde, where he played in only 33 matches before securing a £250,000 move to English Premiership club Blackburn Rovers. Greer made only appearance for Blackburn in the Football League Cup.

Greer had a spell on loan with Stockport County, scoring once versus Wycombe Wanderers[2] before returning to Scotland to play for Scottish Premier League club Kilmarnock. Greer first received international recognition, having been capped for Scotland B versus Poland B in December 2005[3] and versus Republic of Ireland B in November 2006.[4]

In July 2007, Greer signed for Doncaster Rovers after he rejected a new contract offer from Kilmarnock.[5] Greer's first season at Doncaster was blighted by several injuries and he was restricted to only six appearances in the 2007–08 season, though he did manage to score his first goal for the club, against Bournemouth.[6] During the 2008–09 season Greer joined League One club Swindon Town on an initial one-month loan,[7] that was later extended for a further two months[8] thanks to a financial contribution from TrustSTFC's Red Army Fund. On his return to Doncaster, Greer was released from his contract on 7 May 2009,[9] after only 12 appearances in two seasons with the club.

Following his release from Doncaster, Greer soon agreed a two-year contract with Swindon Town on a free transfer in July 2009, having impressed after his loan at the club. After officially joining the club, Greer was announced as the club's captain for the 2009–10 season.[10] On 17 May 2010, Greer was shown a straight red card for a high tackle in the play-off 2nd leg versus Charlton Athletic, that Swindon went on to win on penalties. Greer's sending off meant that he was suspended from the play-off final versus Millwall on 29 May 2010.

On 10 July 2010, after weeks of speculation and numerous verbal and written approaches for Greer, it was suggested that he would travel down to Brighton & Hove Albion on the following Monday for a medical to agree a move to the Seagulls for a reported fee of £250,000 on a three-year deal. The deal was delayed until the next day, when Greer completed his move to the Seagulls. On 4 August 2010, it was also revealed that Brighton manager Gus Poyet had given Greer the club captaincy for the 2010–11 season.

Greer made his Brighton debut in the second game of the season on 14 August 2010 versus Rochdale after serving a two-match ban but was sent off after 51 minutes for violent conduct in a 2–2 draw. One of Rochdale's goals came from a penalty after Greer's red card incident. Greer then helped guide Brighton to winning the League One title and promotion to the Championship that season and stayed as on as club captain for the 2011–12 season. Greer scored his first Seagulls goal in a 2–0 win versus Barnsley in October 2011. In January 2012, Greer received another straight red card for violent conduct in Brighton's 3–0 win versus Southampton, his sending off arriving only three minutes before the end of the match. At the end of that season, Greer was subject to a bid from Barnsley, that was rejected and Poyet later stated that he wasn't up for sale.[11]

Greer playing for Blackburn Rovers in 2016.

Greer was released by Brighton at the end of the 2015–16 season. Greer then signed a one-year contract with Blackburn Rovers.[12] and his league debut was on 6 August 2016 versus Norwich City at Ewood Park. Greer was released by Rovers at the end of the 2016–17 season, during which the Ewood Park club were relegated to League One.

Greer returned to East Ayrshire to rejoin Kilmarnock in July 2017 for the 2017–18 season.[13] He made his last appearance for Kilmarnock in February 2018, and was released from his contract in August 2018.[14]

Greer announced his retirement from playing in October 2018.[15]

International career

On 21 May 2013, Greer was called up to the Scotland squad for the first time for the 2014 World Cup qualifier versus Croatia. Greer received a second call-up on 23 August 2013.[16] Greer made his international debut later that year, becoming the oldest player to make his first appearance for Scotland since Ronnie Simpson in the 1960s.[17][18] Greer made his first competitive appearance in October 2014, partnering Russell Martin in a UEFA Euro 2016 qualifying match versus Poland.[17][18] Greer made 11 appearances for Scotland in total, with his last cap coming in June 2016.[19]

Career statistics

Club

Appearances and goals by club, season and competition

Club	Season	League			National Cup		League Cup		Other		Total
		Division	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
Clyde	2000–01[20]	Scottish First Division	30	0	1	0	1	0	1[lower-alpha 1]	0	33	0
Blackburn Rovers	2001–02[21]	Premier League	0	0	0	0	1	0	—		1	0
Stockport County (loan)	2002–03[22]	Second Division	5	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	5	1
Kilmarnock	2003–04[23]	Scottish Premier League	25	0	2	0	0	0	—		27	0
	2004–05[24]		22	1	1	0	1	0	—		24	1
	2005–06[25]		27	2	1	0	2	0	—		30	2
	2006–07[26]		33	1	1	0	5	1	—		39	2
	Total		107	4	5	0	8	1	0	0	120	5
Doncaster Rovers	2007–08[27]	League One	11	1	2	0	2	0	2[lower-alpha 2]	0	17	1
	2008–09[28]	Championship	1	0	0	0	0	0	—		1	0
	Total		12	1	2	0	2	0	2	0	18	1
Swindon Town (loan)	2008–09[28]	League One	19	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	19	1
Swindon Town	2009–10[29]	League One	46	1	3	1	2	0	2[lower-alpha 2]	0	53	2
Brighton & Hove Albion	2010–11[30]	League One	32	0	4	0	0	0	0	0	36	0
	2011–12[31]	Championship	42	1	2	0	3	0	—		47	1
	2012–13[32]		38	1	2	0	1	0	2[lower-alpha 3]	0	43	1
	2013–14[33]		40	1	1	0	1	0	2[lower-alpha 3]	0	44	1
	2014–15[34]		37	2	2	0	1	0	—		40	2
	2015–16[35]		20	0	0	0	1	0	2[lower-alpha 3]	0	23	0
	Total		209	5	11	0	7	0	6	0	233	5
Blackburn Rovers	2016–17[36]	Championship	21	0	3	0	1	0	—		25	0
Kilmarnock	2017–18[37]	Scottish Premiership	20	1	0	0	1	0	—		21	1
	2018–19[38]		0	0	0	0	0	0	–		0	0
	Total		20	1	0	0	1	0	0	0	21	1
Career total			469	14	25	1	23	1	11	0	528	16

1. Appearance in the Scottish Challenge Cup
2. Appearance in the Football League Trophy
3. Appearances in the Championship play-offs

International appearances

As of 19:18, 16 January 2018 (UTC)[19]

Appearances and goals by national team and year

National team	Year	Apps	Goals
Scotland	2013	2	0
	2014	3	0
	2015	4	0
	2016	2	0
Total		11	0

Honours

Brighton & Hove Albion

• Football League One: 2010–11[39]

Individual

• PFA Team of the Year: 2010–11 League One[40]

References

1. "Gordon Greer". Barry Hugman's Footballers. Retrieved 19 October 2017.
2. "Wycombe 1–4 Stockport". BBC Sport. 5 April 2003. Retrieved 11 April 2010.
3. "Scotland Future 2–0 Poland Future". BBC Sport. 6 December 2005. Retrieved 5 January 2010.
4. "Rep of Ireland B 0–0 Scotland B". BBC Sport. 14 November 2006. Retrieved 5 January 2010.
5. "Greer completes Doncaster switch". BBC Sport. 23 July 2007. Retrieved 5 January 2010.
6. "Doncaster 1–2 Bournemouth". BBC Sport. 25 August 2007. Retrieved 11 April 2010.
7. "ONE, TWO, THREE, FOUR". Swindon Town F.C. 26 January 2009. Archived from the original on 5 October 2011.
8. "GREER SIGNS UP". Swindon Town F.C. 23 February 2009. Archived from the original on 26 February 2009.
9. "O'Driscoll wields the axe". Sky Sports. 7 May 2009. Retrieved 7 May 2009.
10. "SWINDON TOWN: Greer is leader of the pack". Swindon Advertiser. 2 July 2009. Archived from the original on 7 October 2011. Retrieved 10 July 2009.
11. "Poyet – Greer not for sale". Sky Sports. 19 May 2012. Retrieved 19 May 2012.
12. "Gordon Greer: Blackburn Rovers bring in former Brighton defender". BBC Sport. 2 August 2016. Retrieved 2 August 2016.
13. "Kilmarnock: Scotland defender Gordon Greer becomes club's 10th signing". BBC Sport. 31 July 2017. Retrieved 31 July 2017.
14. "Gordon Greer: Kilmarnock defender leaves club 'by mutual consent'". BBC Sport. 6 August 2018. Retrieved 6 August 2018.
15. "Gordon Greer was a great leader and the best captain Brighton & Hove Albion has ever had - Scott McCarthy". Brighton & Hove Independent. 10 October 2018. Retrieved 22 August 2020.
16. "Greer receives Scotland call". Brighton & Hove Albion F.C. 21 May 2013. Retrieved 21 May 2013.
17. Berry, Gavin. "Gordon Greer took daunting challenge in his stride as he battled Poles in Warsaw". Daily Record.
18. "Scotland: Brighton captain Gordon Greer 'honoured' by first start". BBC Sport.
19. Gordon Greer at the Scottish Football Association
20. "Games played by Gordon Greer in 2000/2001". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 14 November 2017.
21. "Games played by Gordon Greer in 2001/2002". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 14 November 2017.
22. "Games played by Gordon Greer in 2002/2003". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 14 November 2017.
23. "Games played by Gordon Greer in 2003/2004". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 14 November 2017.
24. "Games played by Gordon Greer in 2004/2005". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 14 November 2017.
25. "Games played by Gordon Greer in 2005/2006". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 14 November 2017.
26. "Games played by Gordon Greer in 2006/2007". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 14 November 2017.
27. "Games played by Gordon Greer in 2007/2008". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 14 November 2017.
28. "Games played by Gordon Greer in 2008/2009". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 14 November 2017.
29. "Games played by Gordon Greer in 2009/2010". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 14 November 2017.
30. "Games played by Gordon Greer in 2010/2011". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 14 November 2017.
31. "Games played by Gordon Greer in 2011/2012". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 14 November 2017.
32. "Games played by Gordon Greer in 2012/2013". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 14 November 2017.
33. "Games played by Gordon Greer in 2013/2014". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 14 November 2017.
34. "Games played by Gordon Greer in 2014/2015". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 14 November 2017.
35. "Games played by Gordon Greer in 2015/2016". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 14 November 2017.
36. "Games played by Gordon Greer in 2016/2017". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 14 November 2017.
37. "Games played by Gordon Greer in 2017/2018". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 14 November 2017.
38. "Games played by Gordon Greer in 2018/2019". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 16 July 2018.
39. Rollin, Glenda; Rollin, Jack, eds. (2011). Sky Sports Football Yearbook 2011–2012. London: Headline Publishing Group. pp. 39, 104–105. ISBN 978-0-7553-6231-8.
40. "Spurs' Gareth Bale wins PFA player of the year award". BBC Sport. 17 April 2011. Retrieved 24 May 2018.

External links

• Gordon Greer player profile at swindon-town-fc.co.uk
• Gordon Greer at Soccerbase