James Meredith

James Gregory Meredith (born 5 April 1988) is an Australian former soccer player who played as a left back.

He played for English Football League clubs Chesterfield, Shrewsbury Town, Bradford City and Millwall and for A-League Men clubs Perth Glory and Macarthur FC.

Meredith started his career with the Derby County youth system in 2004, signing a professional contract in 2006.

He was loaned out to Cambridge United and Chesterfield before moving to Sligo Rovers.

He was offered a trial by the club and he joined their youth system on a two-year contract in 2004.

He progressed through the youth team and he signed a two-year professional contract with Derby on 19 July 2006.

He joined Conference National club Cambridge United on a one-month loan on 19 October 2006 and he made his debut in a 3–0 defeat to Oxford United.

He finished the loan with two appearances.

Meredith was in a relationship with glamour model Maria Fowler after meeting her through social networking website Myspace, although the two broke up in 2007.

Meredith was spotted playing soccer in Melbourne at the age of 16 by a Derby County scout.

He had a trial with Conference National club York City in January 2007, playing in a reserve-team match against Rotherham United.

He joined League One team Chesterfield on a one-month loan on 19 February 2007, making one appearance as a left midfielder in a 2–0 defeat to Tranmere Rovers on 2 March.

Following the expiry of the loan, Chesterfield opted against extending it.

Meredith joined League of Ireland Premier Division club Sligo Rovers on a contract until the end of the 2007 season on 31 July 2007.

He made his debut in a 2–0 defeat at Galway United on 24 August 2007 and he finished his time at the club with four appearances.

He returned to England with Shrewsbury Town, but after making only three appearances for them, joined A.F.C. Telford United on loan for most of the 2008–09 season.

Meredith signed for League Two team Shrewsbury Town on 14 January 2008 on a one-and-a-half-year contract after training with the club, which included a clause that after making five appearances the contract could be renegotiated.

He made his debut on 23 February 2008 in the 2–1 home defeat to Hereford United, finishing the 2007–08 season with three appearances, with his final match coming against Rochdale on the last day of the season.

He was told that he did not figure in new manager Paul Simpson's immediate plans in July 2008, being left behind as the club travelled to Spain on a pre-season training camp.

Meredith joined Conference North club A.F.C. Telford United on 16 October 2008 on a one-month loan, saying "I don't see it as a step down but as a step up, because I've become stagnant at Shrewsbury".

Meredith signed a further one-month extension with Telford in November 2008 and he scored the only goal in a 1–0 victory over Gateshead.

The loan was again extended for a further month in December 2008, keeping him at the club until early January 2009.

Telford were looking to extend his loan for the remainder of 2008–09, but a contractual hitch held this up.

He eventually extended the loan on 8 January.

Meredith played for Telford in both legs of the semi-final defeat to York City in the FA Trophy.

He was handed a red card against Barrow in the semi-final of the Conference League Cup in March, which meant he would miss the Final because of a two-match suspension.

He was substituted after breaking his nose in a 3–0 victory over Burscough in April.

Meredith joined York City in 2009, playing in their victories in the 2012 FA Trophy Final and 2012 Conference Premier play-off final, the latter seeing the club promoted to League Two.

He played for Telford in the 2009 Conference North play-off Final on 8 May, which was lost 1–0 to Gateshead, meaning the team missed out on promotion to the Conference Premier.

He finished the season with 46 appearances and one goal for Telford.

He was offered a permanent contract by Telford after the end of the season, but he opted to join Conference Premier team York City on 22 May 2009.

He made his debut in a 2–1 defeat to Oxford United on 8 August 2009.

Meredith signed for Bradford City in 2012, winning promotion to League One in his first season with victory in the 2013 League Two play-off final.

Meredith made two appearances for the Australian national team, both in 2015.

Meredith moved to Millwall in the Championship in 2017 before leaving two years later.

He was a member of the Australian squad for the 2018 FIFA World Cup.

Meredith was born in Albury, New South Wales.

His father, Greg Pollard, was a squash player who ranked as highly as third in the world while playing in England.

Meredith attended Scotch College in Melbourne, Victoria and grew up supporting South Melbourne FC and Manchester United F.C.

In 2019, he returned to Australia to play in the A-League for Perth Glory and then Macarthur, where he retired and moved into coaching in 2022.