Kallum Higginbotham

Kallum Michael Higginbotham (born 15 June 1989) is an English footballer who plays as a winger for Tranent in the Lowland League.

Higginbotham started his football career as a youth player at Salford City and then in Oldham Athletic's reserve squad.

He scored his first home goal for the club with an overhead kick against Kilmarnock after 3 minutes, the game finished 1–1 after Killie scored a 90th-minute equalizer.

Having failed to break into the first team at Boundary Park, Higginbotham joined League One side Rochdale in 2007.

He was later loaned to Accrington Stanley, having fallen out of favour.

Higginbotham wore the number 18 shirt for the 2007–08 season.

His debut came for Rochdale in a friendly against Rossendale United, in which he scored the winning goal.

During the 2007–08 season, Higginbotham became a regular in the first-team at Spotland, finding himself in favour over out-of-sorts winger Ben Muirhead.

His first league goal came on 5 December when he scored against Accrington Stanley in a 2–1 win for Rochdale.

The 2008–09 season saw Higginbotham displaced by the emergence of Will Buckley and he spent two spells on loan to Accrington Stanley, firstly moving on 16 October 2008, for one month and then returning for another two months on 23 January 2009.

At the end of the season he was placed on the transfer list.

In Rochdale's promotion season he scored the league's Goal of the Year with a beautiful volley from the halfway line at Accrington Stanley in a 4–2 victory.

He joined Scottish First Division side Falkirk in June 2010, where he enjoyed two successful seasons with the club.

In June 2010, he signed for Scottish First Division club Falkirk on a two-year deal.

After a season where he did not find his best form, Higginbotham later formed a fruitful striking partnership with Moroccan striker Farid El Alagui.

Higginbotham left Falkirk in 2012 and joined Huddersfield Town, where he spent the majority of his time on loan at Barnsley, Carlisle and Motherwell.

In January 2012, Higginbotham was awarded man of the match in the 2011–12 League Cup semi-final against Celtic, which turned out to be last game for the club.

On 31 January 2012, just as the transfer window closed, Higginbotham headed back to England to join Football League One side Huddersfield Town on a two-and-a-half-year deal, despite interest from both Rangers and Celtic as well as Championship clubs Crystal Palace and Ipswich Town.

He made his debut in the 1–1 draw against Milton Keynes Dons at the Galpharm Stadium on 4 February 2012, where he assisted Huddersfield's goal with a tantalising cross.

On 22 March, after being isolated by new Town boss Simon Grayson, Higginbotham went up a division to join Barnsley on loan for the remainder of the season.

He was recalled on 26 April with Grayson saying he has a part to play in their current play-off campaign and the remainder of the season after getting form whilst on loan at Barnsley Higginbotham started in the League One play-off final as Huddersfield won promotion to the Championship beating Sheffield United 8–7 on penalties following a 0–0 draw.

On 20 September 2012, Higginbotham joined Carlisle United on a 3-month loan deal.

That loan was cancelled by the Cumbrian side on 7 December.

Higginbotham failed to establish himself at Huddersfield and subsequently joined newly promoted Scottish Premiership side Partick Thistle in 2013.

On 9 January 2013, after still not getting a chance to stake his claim at Huddersfield, Higginbotham returned to Scotland to join Scottish Premier League side Motherwell on loan for the season.

His only goal whilst with the Well was an impressive scissor-kick in a 4–1 win over Hibernian.

After returning to Huddersfield Town, Higginbotham failed to establish himself in the first team, and was subsequently released from his contract.

He signed for Scottish Premiership side Partick Thistle on a two-year deal on 8 August 2013.

Two days later he made his Partick Thistle debut in a 3–1 victory over Ross County where he had two goals controversially disallowed for offside.

He made his home debut for Thistle in a 1–1 draw against Hearts.

Higginbotham scored his first goal for the Jags on 31 August 2013, in a 2–1 comeback win away to St Mirren.

On 15 February 2014, Higginbotham scored two goals against his former club Motherwell at Fir Park as Thistle lost 4–3 despite having led 3–2 with 4 minutes left to play.

Higginbotham then scored a free kick in a 1–1 draw with Ross county.

Higginbotham scored at the time his 6th goal of the season in a 3–1 home win against Hibernian sealing the win with a stoppage time goal to make it 3–1 thistle.

After spending a season with Kilmarnock, Higginbotham moved to newly promoted Scottish Championship side Dunfermline Athletic in 2016 where he spent three seasons.

Higginbotham also had three seasons at Kelty Hearts until he left the club to join Tranent.

Born in Salford, Greater Manchester, Higginbotham started his career at Salford City before joining Oldham Athletic at 18 years of age.

Despite a half-decent scoring record in the reserves at Oldham he never made it into the first team at Boundary Park.

His most notable moment while at the Latics was his hat-trick in the Lancs Youth Cup final, against his later employers Rochdale.

Higginbotham was released by Oldham one year into his youth trainee contract, and joined Rochdale to complete the last year, hoping to persuade manager Keith Hill to offer him a professional contract.