From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Jlloyd Samuel (born March 29, 1981 in San Fernando, Trinidad and Tobago) is an English football defender of Trinidadian descent, who currently plays for Bolton Wanderers.

Jlloyd attended St Joseph's Academy, Blackheath, London through the 90's. He was a valuable member of the school football teams as well as the London Schoolboys teams. Jlloyd spent his youth football at Charlton Athletic, before signing a professional contract with Aston Villa. There was a dispute with Charlton concerning "poaching" of their youth system by Aston Villa and at the FA tribunal which was set up in response to the charges, John Gregory was famously quoted as saying that he'd signed Jlloyd and didn't expect him to play for the first team.

As a youth, Jlloyd played for the sunday league team Senrab F.C.^[1] and West Ham United, and was released from the East London club on the same day as Paul Konchesky, Bobby Zamora (both of whom have now returned to the Hammers) and Fitz Hall, now of Wigan Athletic.^[1]

Samuel's Aston Villa debut came after 51 minutes of a second-leg League Cup match against Chester City F.C., on September 21, 1999 which finished 5-0 in Aston Villa's favor.

Since the beginning of his Aston Villa career, Jlloyd has also been on loan to Gillingham F.C., where he made seven full appearances and one substitute appearance between October 25 and December 3, 2001.

Though looking set for the 2002 European Under-21 Championships, Samuel picked up a groin injury which ensured his being out of action for a sustained period of time.

When Graham Taylor took over the reins at Aston Villa, Samuel became more assured of a place on the team, despite his nervousness on the pitch. His best season, however, was 2003-04, as, under newly appointed Villa boss David O'Leary, he rose to become one of the best left-backs in the Premiership and was selected in the England squad for the game against Sweden, although his involvement only went as far as being an unused substitute.

He claimed that he wanted to change back to represent Trinidad and Tobago in World Cup 2006, but the application rejected by FIFA.^[2]

However in 2004-05, Samuel's place in the team was due to a severe lack of options in the squad rather than his own form as he soon began to look like the player he had been earlier on in his career, nervous and indecisive on the ball. Samuel lost his place in the team to Netherlands international defender Wilfred Bouma, who signed from Dutch side PSV Eindhoven at the start of the 2005-06 season, though throughout the few appearances Samuel did make during this season due to Bouma's severe lack of basic match fitness, he showed promise that he was gaining in confidence and game awareness once again.

During his appearance on MTV's Footballers Cribs, Samuel revealed he calls himself 'Sweetboy' and calls his girlfriend Emma Pritchard 'Sweetgirl'.

In March 2007 he hinted on his personal website that his time with Aston Villa could be about to come to an end due to lack of recent opportunities. Samuel has been a professional at Villa for the last decade but the signing of Wilfred Bouma and various injury problems have limited his match action over the last two years. Newcastle United and Middlesbrough F.C. are believed to be watching contract developments with a keen interest with Newcastle manager Sam Allardyce having previously spoken of his admiration for the full back and Boro manager Gareth Southgate a former defensive colleague of the player during their days together at Villa.

Jlloyd signed a four year contract with Bolton Wanderers on 1 July 2007. He was new Wanderers' boss, Sammy Lee's first signing.^[3]

Aston Villa

• 2000/2001 - Intertoto Cup Winner
• 2003/2004 - League Cup Semi-finalist

• ^  Sam Pilger (October 2003). "The Boy's A Bit Special". FourFourTwo (110): 31. 

• Jlloyd Samuel Official Website at Icons.com
• Jlloyd Samuel career stats at Soccerbase