Luke Rodgers

Luke John Rodgers (born 1 January 1982) is an English former professional footballer who played as a striker.

He played in England's Football League, starting at Shrewsbury Town in 1999.

Rodgers spent six years with the Shropshire side and made over 200 appearances as they were relegated and then promoted back to the English Football League.

He first established himself as a goal-scorer during the 2000–01 season, as he bagged seven goals in 27 games (half of which were as a substitute).

Three of his goals came against Rochdale in a 7–1 romp at Spotland on 24 February.

The 2001–02 season showed Rodgers' potential, as he hit 22 goals in 41 games, this time never being used as a substitute.

In 2002–03 he hit twenty goals in 47 games.

Rodgers also played in the club's giant-killing over Premier League Everton in the FA Cup, but despite this Shrewsbury suffered relegation out of the English Football League having finished bottom of the Third Division.

At the end of the season the club insisted that Rodgers was 'not for sale'; this was proved to be true when First Division Crewe Alexandra had a £200,000 bid for Rodgers rejected by manager Jimmy Quinn.

Hull City also had a £200,000 bid of their own rejected, as Quinn persuaded Rodgers to remain in Shropshire.

Earlier in the season there was also unconfirmed speculation that Southampton had offered as much as £600,000 for the player.

Despite being limited to 26 league starts in 2003–04, he still bagged fifteen goals in his 41 games.

He also scored both goals past Barnet in the play-off semi-final aggregate victory that took Shrewsbury into the play-off final with Aldershot Town at the Britannia Stadium.

The final itself went to a penalty shoot-out, and though Rodgers missed his penalty, Town won the match as all three Aldershot penalty-takers missed theirs.

In 2004–05, his final season with the "Shrews", he managed just eight goals in forty games.

However, he had long become a fan favourite at Gay Meadow as he scored 67 goals in 204 appearances for the Shropshire side in all competitions, also managing four club hat-tricks.

Rodgers turned down Shrewsbury's offer of a one-year contract, and was initially linked with a move to SPL high-flyers Hibernian.

In the summer of 2005, he moved to Crewe Alexandra, where he stayed until a January 2007 switch to Port Vale.

Two years later he moved on to Yeovil Town following a short loan spell.

Instead he moved to Championship club Crewe Alexandra on a two-year contract for a tribunal-decided fee in July 2005.

Shrewsbury received £100,000 from the tribunal with two add-ons of £20,000 based on appearances; however, due to his brief spell at Crewe, Shrewsbury only received the first of these.

Crewe went on to suffer relegation in 2005–06, and though Rodgers was limited to six goals in his 26 games, he was forced to come off the bench in half of these games.

Despite being popular with supporters, he was never a favourite of Dario Gradi, and was third-choice behind free-scoring Luke Varney and Nicky Maynard at the start of the 2006–07 season.

Rodgers asked for a transfer to a club that would provide him with regular football, and in January 2007, after just 39 appearances and 9 goals, he moved to local rivals Port Vale for a £30,000 fee.

This came after he chose to sign for Vale ahead of Paul Sturrock's Swindon Town, who had also agreed a fee with Crewe; as well as Chester City; and an unnamed League Two club who offered £40,000 for the striker.

He got injured after just three appearances for the "Valiants" and only played a total of eight games before the end of the season, though still managed to score three goals.

His first goal for the club came against Crewe in a 3–0 win at Vale Park.

During the 2007–08 season, Rodgers was the club's top scorer with twelve goals in 41 games, but famously missed two penalties in Vale's defeat to Southern Football League minnows Chasetown in the Second Round of the FA Cup.

Unhappy on the club's bench, in November 2008 there was talk of Rodgers moving to Yeovil Town, yet the move stalled as the two clubs had difficulties reaching a transfer fee.

However, a loan deal was made which would take Rodgers to Yeovil until the January transfer window, when the club would have the option of purchasing him for £30,000 fee, with a 10% sell-on clause (an offer Yeovil boss Russell Slade described as "the final throw of the dice").

Despite all this, when January came he was released from his contract by mutual consent, having had a disagreement with manager Dean Glover.

Glover claimed the decision was motivated by a desire to free up the wage bill.

His permanent spell at Yeovil was brief, he soon transferred to Notts County in summer 2009, whom he helped fire to promotion in his first season.

He completed a move to Major League Soccer with New York Red Bulls in January 2011.

In March 2012, he was released by the Red Bulls after his work visa renewal was denied, and transferred to Norwegian club Lillestrøm.

He returned to the English league with Portsmouth in August 2012, before joining Shrewsbury Town on loan two months later in a deal which became permanent the following January.

He signed with Swedish club Hammarby IF in July 2013, and stayed until the end of the calendar year.

He signed with Forest Green Rovers in February 2014, and joined Sutton Coldfield Town the following year.

He joined Solihull Moors in December 2016, and then Hednesford Town and Highgate United in 2017.

Rodgers joined Shrewsbury Town at the age of 17.