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Matthew Upson
Personal information
Full name	Matthew James Upson
Date of birth	April 18, 1979 (age 27)
Place of birth	Hartismere, Suffolk, England
Height	6 ft 1 in (1.85 m)
Playing position	Central defence
Club information
Current club	West Ham United
Number	35
Senior clubs1
Years	Club	App (Gls)*
1994-1997 1997-2003 2000 2001 2002 2003-2007 2007-	Luton Town Arsenal → Nottingham Forest (loan) → Crystal Palace (loan) → Reading (loan) Birmingham City West Ham United	001 (0) 035 (0) 001 (0) 007 (0) 014 (0) 113 (5) 002 (0)
National team2
2002-2004	England	007 (0)
1 Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 18:18, 4 March 2007 (UTC). 2 National team caps and goals correct as of 22:07, 14 November 2006 (UTC). * Appearances (Goals)

Matthew James Upson, (born 18 April 1979 in Hartismere, Suffolk), is an English football player who currently plays for West Ham United. He is a central defender.

Contents 1 Arsenal 2 Birmingham City 3 West Ham United 4 References 5 External links

He started his career at Luton Town where he was tipped as a future England international and caught the eye of a number of Premier League clubs. He was eventually signed by Arsenal in 1997 after just one first-team appearance for the Hatters in a £2 million deal.

However, faced with the longevity of Arsenal's existing centre backs, Tony Adams, Steve Bould and Martin Keown, and struck by injury problems of his own, Upson rarely had a chance to break into the first team. After spending a year out of the game recovering from an anterior cruciate ligament injury sustained in 1999, Upson only made a handful of first team appearance for Arsenal, in between loan spells at Nottingham Forest and Crystal Palace in 2000 and 2001 respectively.

In 2001-02, his final full season at Arsenal however, Upson did make 22 appearances; these included 14 in the league (earning him a Premier League winners' medal) but a broken leg in February 2002 ruled him out for the rest of the season, and Arsenal's FA Cup-winning run, as they won the Double. After recovering from his broken leg, Upson spent a loan spell at Reading in September 2002, and with Arsenal's newly-established centre back pairing of Sol Campbell and Kolo Touré keeping him out of the side, he was bought by Birmingham City in January 2003. In total he played 56 times for Arsenal, never scoring.

Birmingham City were playing in the Premier League at that time, and was selected for the England squad later that year. He made seven appearances for England during his time at Birmingham, earning a reputation as the best English left centre-back.^{[citation needed]}

Upson suffered a leg injury whilst preparing for the local derby against Aston Villa in April 2006 and subsequently missed the rest of the season. Following Birmingham City's relegation to The Championship, Upson was linked with a move to Tottenham Hotspur, Newcastle United or Reading.^[1] He was also linked with a £7 million move to Chelsea,^[2] but instead stayed with the club while he worked on regaining his fitness. He returned to action in December in the Blues' 3-0 victory over Plymouth Argyle, scoring the second of the three goals.

On 18 January 2007, West Ham United had a bid for Upson of £4million rejected, with a subsequent improved bid of £6million rejected on 23 January 2007. A £6million offer for Upson from West Ham was finally accepted by Birmingham City on 31 January 2007, with the potential to rise to £7.5million, depending on appearances. Upson agreed a four-and-a-half year contract.^[3] However, Upson suffered a calf injury less than 30 minutes into his West Ham United debut against Aston Villa, which West Ham lost 0-1.^[4][5]. He then lasted just 11 minutes of his comeback game before coming off injured against Spurs in a 4-3 loss at Upton Park on 5 March 2007.

• Matthew Upson career stats at Soccerbase
• Matthew Upson profile at whufc.com

West Ham United F.C. - Current Squad

1 Carroll | 2 Neill | 3 Konchesky | 4 Gabbidon | 5 Ferdinand | 6 McCartney | 7 Dailly | 8 Sheringham | 9 Ashton | 10 Harewood | 11 Etherington | 12 Cole | 13 Boa Morte | 14 Pantsil | 15 Benayoun | 17 Mullins | 18 Spector | 19 Collins | 20 Reo-Coker | 21 Green | 22 Stokes | 23 Walker | 24 Noble | 25 Zamora | 27 Davenport | 29 Bowyer | 30 Tomkins | 31 Štěch | 32 Tévez | 33 Quashie | 35 Upson | 37 Kepa | Manager: Curbishley

Persondata
NAME	Upson, Matthew
ALTERNATIVE NAMES
SHORT DESCRIPTION	Footballer
DATE OF BIRTH	18 April 1979
PLACE OF BIRTH	Suffolk
DATE OF DEATH
PLACE OF DEATH