Jay Bothroyd

Jay Bothroyd (born 7 May 1982) is an English professional footballer who plays as a striker for J1 League club Júbilo Iwata.
He has also played for the England national team. He was a product of the Arsenal Academy and left to join Coventry City, later playing for Perugia, Blackburn Rovers, Charlton Athletic, Wolverhampton Wanderers, Stoke City, Cardiff City, Queens Park Rangers, Sheffield Wednesday and Muangthong United.

Club career

Coventry City

Bothroyd was born in Islington, London. He started his career in Arsenal's Academy, and played in their win against Coventry City in the 1999–2000 FA Youth Cup Final. At 18 years of age, Bothroyd was sold to Coventry after throwing his shirt at youth coach Don Howe and the bench having been substituted in the 2000 Premier League Youth Cup final against West Ham United. Despite having never played a first-team game for Arsenal, he cost Coventry £1 million when he joined them on 13 July 2000. His league debut came on 4 November 2000 in a 2–1 home defeat to Manchester United in the Premier League.

In the three years he played for Coventry, he scored seventeen goals in total, despite making little impact in his first season, after making his debut against Preston North End in the League Cup. Bothroyd only featured for Coventry after many other members of the squad had to be sold off to relieve the club's financial problems. He scored his debut goal in a defeat against Bradford City on 24 August 2001, and in the 2002–03 season became the club's top-scorer with 11 goals.

Perugia

Bothroyd's form for Coventry brought interest from Perugia, and he transferred to the Serie A club when his Coventry contract expired in 2003.

Bothroyd was a mainstay for Perugia during their 2003–04 season, competing in the majority of their league games, but he was unsettled in Italy. He joined Blackburn Rovers in August 2004 on loan from Perugia. After getting sent off against Norwich City for violent conduct, after kicking opposing midfielder Mattias Jonson, he was unable to cement a place in the first team and returned to Perugia at the end of the season. He did manage to score once in the league for Blackburn, during a 2–2 draw with Liverpool in October 2004. In 2008, Bothroyd held an interview with the South Wales Echo where he revealed that he, along with other teammates, was the subject of regular racist abuse while playing in Italy.

During his time at Perugia, he befriended then-Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi's third son, Al-Saadi Gaddafi. At the end of October 2011, Bothroyd said of Al-Saadi:

"Saadi is a friend of mine. I saw him about 10 months ago when he was in London. All this drama. His dad is obviously a tyrant and he dictated over his countrymen through fear but Saadi was never like that. He was always friendly and polite. When he bought his house in Hampstead he asked me what I thought of it. He even came to my wedding. Obviously he used to have parties and stuff and he would invite me to Cannes to watch the Grand Prix. For his birthday he would fly me over on his plane. People who don’t know him might say he’s like this or like that or like his dad, but I’ve never seen that. I looked at him like a friend. He wasn't the best [footballer] but he did it as a hobby. He's a billionaire but it was something he wanted to do. He wanted to play football, to come in every day and train. And he did it, to be fair. He never expected any special treatment. But obviously there were his bodyguards around. It is very strange for me. People will say to me, 'how can you be friends with this guy?' But you can only judge people on how you see them. He was always nice to me. I never met his brothers or his dad, they must be completely different. It has been weird. He paid for my honeymoon. He asked me what we were doing for it and I told him we hadn’t decided yet. So he said he’d sort something out for me. He paid for us to go to LA for a week and then on to Hawaii. All first-class travel and top hotels. It was very generous. That's the side I see of him. I don’t see the other side. I don’t know it. There's always corruption where there's power, so you never know. His country want him back to prosecute him but they want to kill him apparently. It's all politics and I don’t really know about it. I just know that innocent people should never get hurt."

Charlton Athletic

Bothroyd signed for Charlton Athletic on 31 August 2005 having been released by Perugia due to their financial problems. His contribution here was perhaps most noted for his powerful free-kicks, and he scored twice in the league against Manchester City and Newcastle United.

In the close season, Bothroyd was released by the Addicks, for his poor performances. He was then taken on trial at Crystal Palace, but the club decided not to offer him a deal. Bothroyd later denied he was on trial with Crystal Palace, despite playing in Crystal Palace's pre-season tour of the United States.

Wolverhampton Wanderers

Bothroyd joined Wolverhampton Wanderers on 26 July 2006, becoming Mick McCarthy's first full signing for the club.

Bothroyd started the season in fine style, scoring three goals for his new club in their first six fixtures, including a 25-yard strike in injury time away at Leeds United to grab all three points. However, in the following game against Derby County, his fortunes took a turn for the worse as he had a penalty saved in a game that Wolves lost 1–0.

Bothroyd's goal scoring petered out after this initial burst and he suffered an injury in December that kept him out of the busy Christmas period, though he returned to the squad in February 2007 and made several substitute appearances. The most vital of these came when he scored the winning goal as Wolves beat their bitter Black Country rivals West Bromwich Albion 1–0 in a crucial encounter in the race for promotion.

The striker had to settle for a place on the bench for the start of the 2007–08 season. He was eventually given a start against his former club Charlton, where he scored one and created one in a 2–0 win and kept his starting place for the next three games, scoring Wolves' only goal of the game against Bristol City in a 1–1 draw.

After Wolves signed new strikers Sylvan Ebanks-Blake and brought in Kevin Kyle on loan during the January transfer window, Bothroyd found himself out of first team contention. To gain playing time, he moved to fellow Championship side Stoke City on an initial one-month loan on 14 March 2008, later extended to the end of the season, which ended in promotion to the Premier League. However, after featuring in just four games during his loan spell, he returned to his parent club who promptly put him up for transfer.

Cardiff City

Bothroyd remained in the Championship, joining Cardiff City, who beat off interest from newly promoted Premier League side Hull City, on 4 August 2008 in a three-year deal for a fee of £350,000. At the start of the season Bothroyd found himself in and out of the side as manager Dave Jones attempted to find his best strike partnership and, after a number of matches, Bothroyd assumed the role of first choice strike partner to Ross McCormack. On 30 September 2008, Bothroyd scored his first goal for the club when he found the net against one of his former clubs, Coventry City during a 2–1 win. It took Bothroyd just under a month to find the net again for the club when he scored twice during a 2–2 draw at Watford. Bothroyd continued in the first team but, on 1 November, he suffered a tear of his hamstring after just 13 minutes of a 2–1 defeat against Wolverhampton Wanderers, which was expected to rule him out for between 6 and 8 weeks.

He made his return to the side ahead of schedule after three weeks when he played 66 minutes during a 2–2 draw with Reading before being replaced by Eddie Johnson. After returning to match fitness, Bothroyd found the net three times in six games during December, scoring against Burnley, Ipswich Town and Plymouth Argyle, a record which saw him finish as runner-up behind Reading's Stephen Hunt in the Championship player of the month award. Bothroyd finished the season with 12 goals, but could not prevent Cardiff from slipping out of the playoffs.

Bothroyd made a bright start to the 2009–10 season, scoring the second goal in the first ever League game at the Cardiff City Stadium in a 4–0 victory over Scunthorpe United. He celebrated his 50th league appearance for Cardiff City by scoring the fourth goal in a 4–0 win over Watford on 3 October 2009, and scored in the next away game against Sheffield United, which Cardiff won 4–3. Between 24 October and 7 November 2009, Bothroyd enjoyed his most prolific scoring run with Cardiff, scoring in three consecutive matches against Sheffield United, Nottingham Forest and Swansea City. With club captain Mark Hudson injured, Bothroyd took over as captain on several occasions during the second half of the season and scored a total of 13 goals in all competitions, the highest single season total of his career, as Cardiff reached the play-off final where he was forced off after 15 minutes due to injury.

Bothroyd started the 2010–11 season in good form, scoring 15 goals in 16 games in all competitions. He was also nominated for August's Player of the Month but lost out to Queens Park Rangers' Adel Taarabt. He won the player of the month for October 2010. On 23 April 2011, Bothroyd scored a fantastic long range goal against league leaders QPR, later after the match, there were many wondering if he meant to cross instead of going for goal but Bothroyd claimed he went for goal. On 23 May 2011, Bothroyd left Cardiff City after failing to agree a new contract.

Queens Park Rangers

On 13 July 2011, Bothroyd signed for newly promoted Premier League team Queens Park Rangers on a three-year deal. He made his debut on the opening day of the season, playing the full 90 minutes of a 4–0 defeat at home to Bolton Wanderers. He scored his first goal on 30 October, in a 3–1 defeat away to Tottenham Hotspur. He scored his second goal in the following game, opening the scoring in a 3–2 defeat at home to eventual league winners Manchester City. After his loan spell at Sheffield Wednesday expired, he returned to Loftus Road and made his comeback as a half time substitute in the third round of the FA Cup against West Bromwich Albion, in a match which finished 1–1, before scoring the only goal in the replay between the teams to take QPR to the fourth round of the competition.

Bothroyd was released by QPR on 20 June 2013.

Sheffield Wednesday

On 31 August 2012, Bothroyd signed on loan to Sheffield Wednesday until 2 January 2013, in a move that saw him re-united with former manager Dave Jones, who he had worked with for three years at Cardiff City. He made his debut on 14 September, playing 87 minutes of a 3–0 defeat to Brighton & Hove Albion before being replaced by Gary Madine. He scored his only goal for the club on 19 October in a 1–1 draw at home to Leeds United.

Muangthong United

On 8 January 2014, Bothroyd ended a six-month period of free agency by signing a two-year deal with Muangthong United of the Thai Premier League. He made his competitive debut the following month, playing the full game as Muangthong lost to Buriram United in the Kor Royal Cup. His first goal for the club came on 8 February 2014, in a 2014 AFC Champions League qualifying game against Hà Nội T&T.

Júbilo Iwata

In February 2015, Bothroyd signed for J2 League side Júbilo Iwata. He scored two goals on his debut in a 3–1 win against Giravanz Kitakyushu. In the 2015 season, he was the top scorer in the J2 League. This aided his team to achieve promotion to Japan's top league, the J1 League.

International career

As a youngster Bothroyd represented England at several youth levels, getting as far as the under-21 team. He won one cap for the side during a friendly against Mexico at Filbert Street, scoring during the match with a spectacular overhead kick as England won 3–0.

In October 2008, it was revealed that Bothroyd was on the verge of a possible call-up to play for Jamaica as he qualifies through his grandparents.

In April 2010, Guyana were interested in calling-up Bothroyd, whom qualifies for the nation through his parents.

On 13 November 2010, Bothroyd was called up to the England squad for the friendly against France. He appeared as a second-half substitute in the 2–1 defeat, becoming Cardiff City's first England international in their 111-year history, and the first Football League player to represent England since David Nugent in 2007.

Style of play

Dave Jones described Bothroyd as a player who can "drift, he's got good ability and good pace."

Career statistics

Club

As of match played 17 September 2016

International

As of match played 17 November 2010

Honours

Arsenal

• FA Youth Cup: 1999–2000

Júbilo Iwata

• J2 League runners-up: 2015

Individual

• J2 League top scorer: 2015

• "Japan: J2 League: Top scorer". WorldFootball.net. Retrieved 7 May 2016.