Scott Laird

Scott Benjamin Laird (born 15 May 1988) is an English professional footballer who plays as a left back and midfielder for Southern League Premier Division South club Weston-super-Mare.

He is also the club's assistant manager.

Laird began his football career as a trainee at Plymouth Argyle, progressing through the club's centre of excellence.

He spent eight years at Plymouth, making one first-team appearance for the club.

Laird attracted interest from Rangers in 2003, with the SPL club enquiring about the player after his performances for Scotland in the Victory Shield.

No move materialised, and he continued to progress through the youth system at Home Park.

In 2006, he was loaned out to Tiverton Town, scoring four goals in 20 games during his time there.

He signed an academy scholarship with the club aged 16, before being offered a two-year professional contract at the age of 17 by manager Tony Pulis in February 2006, which he signed.

During his time as an apprentice, Laird lived in a hotel "just for apprentices" with Luke Summerfield, Reuben Reid, and Chris Zebroski, and described the experience as a "great way to grow into football".

The following season, Laird joined Tiverton Town of the Southern Football League on an initial one-month loan on 8 September 2006.

He made his debut for the club in Tiverton's 2–1 victory against Wealdstone a day after signing.

He was later loaned to Torquay United in September 2007, making two appearances for the team.

Another loan spell followed, this time to Stevenage Borough of the Conference Premier in late 2007.

The loan agreement was extended for a further five months, and Laird scored his first goal for the club in a 4–1 defeat at Hemel Hempstead Town on 5 April 2007.

Two days later, he scored twice in Tiverton's 3–1 home win against Cirencester Town, scoring both of his goals in the space of four minutes to give Tiverton a two-goal lead.

Laird played 21 games for Tiverton during the loan spell, of which 17 were in the league, as he scored four times from a central midfield role.

Laird returned to Plymouth ahead of the 2007–08 season, and was subsequently handed his Plymouth debut in a 2–1 victory over Wycombe Wanderers in the League Cup on 14 August 2007, playing the whole match, where he provided the assist for Plymouth's second goal.

He did not appear for Plymouth again and was loaned out to nearby Conference Premier club Torquay United a month later.

Laird made his Torquay debut in a 5–2 victory against Kidderminster Harriers at Aggborough on 22 September 2007.

Although his loan at Torquay was extended on 16 November 2007, he did not make any more first-team appearances for the club, playing just twice for Torquay during the two-month loan spell.

A month after returning to his parent club, Laird was loaned out to another Conference Premier team in the form of Stevenage Borough on 31 December 2007.

He made his Stevenage debut a day later in a 2–1 win over Rushden & Diamonds.

After playing regularly during the loan agreement, he signed for Stevenage on a permanent basis in February 2008.

During his five years with Stevenage, where he played 245 times in all competitions, Laird helped the club earn back-to-back promotions from the Conference Premier to League One.

Laird impressed under manager Peter Taylor and signed on a permanent basis on 1 February 2008, for an undisclosed fee.

He played regularly at left-back during the second half of the 2007–08 season, scoring his first goal for Stevenage in a 4–1 victory away at Histon on 4 March 2008, a 35-yard strike into the top right hand corner of the goal.

He was named the club's Player of the Year for the 2009–10 season.

He was selected for the England C team in April 2009, earning one cap.

Laird was born in Taunton, Somerset, and grew up in Bridgwater.

He supported Rangers and Ipswich Town as a boy, and singled out Brian Laudrup as a player he always aspired to play like.

Laird played football at East Bridgwater School aged nine, which was a satellite centre for Plymouth Argyle.

At the age of 14, Laird progressed to Plymouth Argyle's centre of excellence in Ivybridge.

He made the one hour journey from his Bridgwater home to train with the club every Tuesday and Thursday.

During this time, he played as a left-sided centre-back.

He left Stevenage when his contract expired in 2012, and signed for Preston North End.

He spent three years at Preston, culminating in promotion to the Championship during the 2014–15 season.

Laird joined League One club Scunthorpe United in June 2015, spending the 2016–17 season on loan at Walsall.

In June 2017, he signed for Forest Green Rovers, rejoining Walsall on loan in January 2019 for the remainder of the 2018–19 season.

He left Forest Green in May 2019 and signed for Weston-super-Mare in a player-assistant manager role a month later.

Laird also represented Scotland at youth level, captaining the under-16 team all the way up to under-20 level.