Joe Colbeck

Philip Joseph Colbeck (born 29 November 1986) is an English former footballer who played as a right winger.

Born in Bradford, England, he joined his hometown club, Bradford City, as a youth team player in 2002, making his debut two years later.

He played more than 100 league games for Bradford during five years in the first team.

Bradford City youth team coach Jon Pepper brought him to the club in 2002, and having rising through the junior ranks at City, Colbeck had barely featured for the reserves when he made his senior debut in a League Cup defeat to Notts County on 25 August 2004 at Valley Parade.

It was his only first-team game during the season.

Colbeck broke into the team on a more regular basis and made 11 appearances, including five starts, during the latter half of the 2005–06 season, and was one of six junior players to earn a one-year contract at the League One club.

It was another 17 months before his next appearance for City when he was a late substitute on 7 January 2006 in a 1–0 defeat to Chesterfield.

His first full season in the first team was during 2006–07, although he was kept out of the team during the early part of the season by winger Jermaine Johnson.

After eight straight games as substitute, Colbeck made his first start of the season in a West Yorkshire derby against Huddersfield Town on 7 October 2006.

Colbeck nearly left Bradford in 2007 when he was made available for transfer and played six games on loan for Darlington.

However, he returned following his loan spell and went on to win Bradford City's player of the season award during the 2007–08 campaign.

He continued to play more games in the side but as City struggled, Colbeck was sent off during a vital game against Oldham Athletic in April 2007.

He was suspended following the red card but returned to the side after his suspension, and was involved in the 3–0 defeat to Chesterfield which confirmed Bradford's relegation from League One.

Colbeck started the new season in League Two as a substitute, but won a place in the side, and scored his first senior goal against Lincoln City more than three years after his debut.

However, after a mistake cost defeat to Milton Keynes Dons, he was told he could join another club on loan.

On 24 October 2007, Colbeck went on a month-long loan to Darlington to take the place of injured Julian Joachim.

Colbeck scored in both his second and third games before the loan was extended for a second month.

The loan deal was cut short when he returned to Bradford City in December 2007 after he had made six appearances for Darlington, but Darlington manager Dave Penney was disappointed to see Colbeck leave saying, "Joe was fantastic for us. He scored a couple of goals and had a real effect on us so we're sorry to see him go."

He immediately went back into the Bradford side, and added his second goal for the club in a 2–0 win over Accrington Stanley on New Year's Day.

Darlington made a bid to sign Colbeck on a permanent basis during January 2008, but City chairman Julian Rhodes turned down the bid, and Colbeck was a regular player for the rest of the 2007–08 season.

The run of games included the third goal in a 3–1 win against former side Darlington at the Darlington Arena.

On 19 April 2008, he scored his sixth goal for the club, but first in a home game, when his last minute goal gave Bradford a 2–1 win over Grimsby Town.

Three days later, Colbeck was announced as the club's player of the season, even though he had started just 26 league games, 23 of which came in City's 26 games since Colbeck returned on loan from Darlington.

Colbeck was surprised to win the award, saying: "If you'd said at the beginning of the season that I would win this award, I'd have thought you were mad. I wasn't even a regular in the team."

However, in the following league game, Colbeck was sent off for the second time in his career, for a foul on Dean Lewington, as City lost 2–1 to Milton Keynes Dons, which meant he missed the final game of the season through suspension.

Colbeck had been playing since January with a groin injury, which hampered his preparations for the 2008–09 season and prevented him from playing in Bradford's first three pre-season friendly matches.

His suspension also kept him out of Bradford's first two games of the season, but he returned for a 2–0 victory against Macclesfield Town.

He provided a cross for Peter Thorne to open the scoring after ten minutes.

Colbeck helped City to go top of the league six matches into the season, and although he scored his first goal of the season in the seventh game, City lost 3–1 to AFC Bournemouth.

He added a second in a 2–2 home draw with Gillingham, before he broke a bone in his foot the following week against Grimsby Town.

Colbeck was unable to play for nearly three months.

He returned from injury in January by playing in two reserve games, leading up to his first-team return on 24 January as a late second-half substitute for Omar Daley in a 3–3 draw with Luton Town.

Colbeck broke back into the starting eleven the following month, once again for Daley, who was ruled out for the season with his own knee injury.

He was a regular in the team for the rest of the season, playing a further 16 games but he struggled for form and was unable to add to his two goals.

City missed out on promotion and as a result had to cut their wage budget.

However, Colbeck, whose contract had expired, was offered a new three-year deal on improved terms.

He turned down a new deal a year later and joined Oldham Athletic on transfer deadline day in September 2009 to rejoin manager Dave Penney, for whom he played at Darlington.

When Penney was sacked after less than a year in charge, Colbeck also soon left and joined Hereford United before spending several years with Grimsby Town and moving to Harrogate Town.

Joe has been training as a CrossFit athlete for the last 10 year but still struggles to lift more than ginger comrade, Jason Taylor.

Colbeck was born in Bradford and attended Pudsey Tyersal School.