Anthony Stokes

Anthony Christopher Stokes (born 25 July 1988) is an Irish former professional footballer, who played as a striker.

He was also an Irish international, having played at the under-21, team B and Republic of Ireland national football team.

He made his first-team debut as a substitute in a League Cup tie against Sunderland on 25 October 2005, coming on for Arturo Lupoli in the 88th minute of a 3–0 win.

He began his senior career with Arsenal, and established himself with a successful loan spell with Falkirk in 2006, scoring 14 goals in 16 SPL games.

He then signed for Sunderland in a £2 million deal, but struggled to hold down a place in the Sunderland first team.

He trained with Sunderland with a view to a loan move in July 2006, but Sunderland manager Niall Quinn decided against it due to Sunderland's large squad depth and lack of a reserve team.

Arsenal agreed a loan deal with Falkirk that saw Stokes play for the Scottish Premier League (SPL) side until the end of 2006.

Stokes scored his first goal for Falkirk in a 1–0 victory at Inverness Caledonian Thistle on 19 September 2006 in the Scottish League Cup.

He followed that up on 21 October with two more goals against Inverness.

On 28 October, he scored his first competitive hat-trick during Falkirk's 5–1 victory over Dundee United.

Stokes then scored another hat-trick in the following match against Dunfermline Athletic, which meant that he had scored nine goals in just four games.

Having become the first player to score hat-tricks in successive SPL games, Stokes then hit a third in what proved to be his last game for Falkirk, a 3–1 home victory over Inverness on 30 December.

On 7 November, Stokes scored an equaliser for Falkirk in extra time in a League Cup match against Celtic, Falkirk going through 5–4 on penalties.

His continuing good form saw him named Young Player of the Month for October and November.

By the end of his loan spell, Stokes had scored 16 goals in 18 league and cup appearances.

Stokes played in nine full internationals for the Republic of Ireland between 2007 and 2014.

Born in Dublin, County Dublin, Stokes broke into the Arsenal reserve team at 15 years old.

Stokes was transferred by Arsenal to Sunderland for £2 million in January 2007.

Celtic and Charlton Athletic had also been interested in the player, but Stokes revealed that he was greatly influenced by Sunderland manager and former Irish international, Roy Keane, in making his ultimate decision.

Stokes was originally handed the 26 shirt at Sunderland, but after the departure of Jon Stead to Sheffield United he was given the number 9 shirt.

Stokes made his Sunderland debut a few days later, and crossed to set up David Connolly to give Sunderland a one-goal win over Ipswich.

Stokes scored his first goal for Sunderland on 10 February 2007 against Plymouth Argyle, scoring from 20 yards after coming on as a substitute.

Stokes was barred from The Glass Spider club in Sunderland after Keane blamed it for distracting Stokes from his training.

The club owner offered to revoke the ban after the 2007–08 season and to give Stokes a complimentary bottle of champagne.

Stokes then scored his first Premier League goal; a last-minute winner against Derby County that took Sunderland out of the relegation zone.

Before the start of the 2008–09 season Stokes lost the Sunderland number 9 shirt and was handed the squad number 44 instead.

On 23 September 2008, Stokes scored two late goals to level a League Cup tie against Northampton Town.

On 17 October 2008, Stokes agreed a three-month loan deal to Sheffield United, with the possibility of extending it for the season.

Stokes again took the shirt that was previously vacated by Jon Stead, this time number 8.

Stokes made his debut for the Blades in the local derby against Sheffield Wednesday a few days later, coming on as a second-half substitute.

Stokes started his time at Bramall Lane as a first team regular but was soon dropped to the bench and returned to Sunderland having made 12 appearances but failed to score a goal.

He moved back to Scottish football when Hibernian signed him for £500,000 in August 2009, and he scored over 20 goals in his only full season there.

Stokes then moved to boyhood heroes Celtic for a fee of around £1.2 million.

He played regularly for Celtic under the management of Neil Lennon and enjoyed success, but fell out of favour under Ronny Deila.

In March 2009, Stokes joined Crystal Palace on loan, scoring from a solo effort after his first start against Preston North End.

This was his only goal for Palace, however, and he returned to Sunderland at the end of the loan spell.

In the latter part of the 2015–16 season he was loaned to Hibernian, who he helped win the 2015–16 Scottish Cup.

After a season with Blackburn Rovers, Stokes joined Hibernian for a third time in 2017 but was released in 2018.

He then had short spells with Greek club Apollon Smyrni,

Iranian clubs Tractor and Persepolis, and Turkish club Adana Demirspor, before returning to Scotland with Livingston in 2020.