Matthew Upson

Matthew James Upson (born 18 April 1979) is an English former professional footballer who played as a centre back.

Upson signed professional forms in April 1996, and made his sole Football League appearance for the team as an 88th-minute substitute against Rotherham United in August 1996.

Upson started his career with Bedfordshire club Luton Town before he joined Premier League club Arsenal for a fee of £2 million in May 1997.

Upson struggled to force his way into the first team at Highbury making 57 appearances in 6 seasons and also spent time out on loan at Nottingham Forest, Crystal Palace and Reading.

He joined Arsenal in May 1997 in a £2 million deal.

However, faced with the longevity of Arsenal's existing centre backs, Tony Adams, Steve Bould and Martin Keown, and struck by injury problems of his own, Upson rarely had a chance to break into the first team.

He played only five matches in the 1997–98 Premier League season as Arsenal won the title, so did not qualify for a winners' medal.

After spending a year out of the game recovering from an anterior cruciate ligament injury sustained in 1999, Upson made a handful of first-team appearance for Arsenal, in between loan spells at Nottingham Forest in 2000 and Crystal Palace in 2001.

In 2001–02, his final full season at Arsenal, Upson made 22 appearances.

These included 14 in the league, which earned him a Premier League winners' medal, but a broken leg in February 2002 ruled him out for the rest of the season and Arsenal's FA Cup-winning run as they won the Double.

After recovering from the injury, Upson joined Reading in September 2002 on a three-month loan.

It was for Reading that he scored his first professional career goal, in a 3–1 loss away to Cambridge United in the League Cup.

Upson joined Birmingham City in 2003 where he enjoyed regular first team football.

With Arsenal's newly established centre-back pairing of Sol Campbell and Kolo Touré keeping him out of the team, he was bought by Birmingham City in January 2003.

Birmingham City completed the signing of Upson from Arsenal in January 2003, for what BBC Sport thought to be an initial fee of £1 million, potentially rising to £3 million depending on appearances.

However following Birmingham's relegation in 2006 he went on to join West Ham United for £7.5 million in January 2007.

He suffered a leg injury whilst preparing for the local derby against Aston Villa in April 2006 and subsequently missed the rest of the season as Birmingham City were relegated to the Championship.

Upson remained with the club while he worked on regaining his fitness, and returned to action in December in the 3–0 victory over Plymouth Argyle, scoring the second of the three goals.

On 18 January 2007, Birmingham rejected West Ham United's bid for Upson of £4 million, and turned down an improved bid of £6 million a few days later.

An offer of £6 million, with the potential to rise to £7.5 million depending on appearances, was accepted on the last day of the transfer window, and Upson agreed a four-and-a-half-year contract with West Ham.

Birmingham City's manager Steve Bruce later claimed that he did not want to sell Upson, but was forced to do so by the club's managing director Karren Brady.

Upson suffered a calf injury less than 30 minutes into his West Ham United debut, a 1–0 defeat against Aston Villa.

He then lasted just 11 minutes of his comeback match before coming off injured against Tottenham Hotspur in a 4–3 loss at Upton Park in March 2007.

Upson completed his first full match for West Ham in the 2–0 home defeat to Manchester City in August 2007.

One week later he made his first appearance as West Ham captain in the 1–0 away win against former club Birmingham City.

On 29 December, Upson scored for the first time in West Ham colours when he headed in the winning goal against Premier League champions Manchester United.

In July 2008, Upson's squad number of 6 was retired by the club in memory of Bobby Moore, after which he took the number 15 shirt.

He was made captain in 2009 following the departure of Lucas Neill.

In August 2009, following the departure of Lucas Neill, Upson was appointed captain of West Ham.

He captained West Ham through a difficult 2009–10 campaign in which he scored a goal in the opening match against Wolverhampton Wanderers and two more against Stoke City and Portsmouth.

Upson played for England at full international level including at the 2010 World Cup.

At the end of the 2010–11 season West Ham were relegated to the Championship and Upson left after his contract had expired.

Upson signed a two-year contract with Stoke City in August 2011.

Following West Ham's relegation from the Premier League in May 2011, new manager Sam Allardyce confirmed that Upson would leave the club when his contract expired.

Upson joined Stoke City on a two-year contract on 9 August 2011.

He said that playing in the UEFA Europa League was one of the main reasons he decided to join Stoke.

Upson made his debut for Stoke in a 1–0 victory over FC Thun in the Europa League, and scored his first goal for the club in the second leg in a 4–1 victory at the Britannia Stadium.

After a loan spell with Brighton & Hove Albion in the 2012–13 season, he signed a one-year contract with the club in 2013.

Upson was born in Eye, Suffolk, and attended Diss High School in Norfolk.

Originally at the Ipswich Town Centre of Excellence, he joined Luton Town as a trainee after Ipswich youth coach Terry Westley moved there.