Michael Symes

It was his only goal in his first eight games and he was dropped for Macclesfield's 3–0 defeat against Peterborough on 23 February when he came on as a substitute in the 44th minute.

Michael Symes (born 31 October 1983) is an English former professional footballer who played as a striker.

He started his career as a trainee with Everton, playing in attack with future England international Wayne Rooney.

He moved to Bradford City after he failed to break into the Everton side but after two injury-ravaged seasons with Bradford he moved to Shrewsbury Town, following a short loan spell.

Symes started his career as a trainee at his boyhood heroes, Everton, with whom he reached the final of the 2002 FA Youth Cup, playing up-front with Wayne Rooney.

Symes scored 31 goals from 51 games at youth level for Everton, including 5 goals in 9 games for the reserves, however injuries over the next season and a half restricted his progress to the Everton first team.

In March 2004, he joined Crewe Alexandra on loan for the rest of the 2003–04 season making his debut as a substitute against Nottingham Forest on 27 March.

He played four games during his loan spell, starting once against Coventry City when he scored his first senior goal in a 3–1 win.

Crewe manager Dario Gradi decided not to offer a contract to Symes, who instead spent a period on trial at Bradford City, which included an 8–1 pre-season friendly win over Farsley Celtic.

He signed for the League One side in July 2004 with fellow former Everton trainee Steven Schumacher, with whom he lived during his spell at Bradford.

Symes made his Bradford debut in a 2–1 defeat at Hartlepool United on the opening day of the 2004–05 season.

Three days later he missed a late penalty which would have secured Bradford victory over Peterborough United in a game in which Symes was also booked.

Symes was dropped from the first team after Bradford signed Dele Adebola.

When Bradford were allowed special dispensation to sign Neil Roberts, Bradford tried to give Symes a loan transfer to Darlington but the deal was blocked by the Football League.

The following month, Symes scored his first goals for Bradford when he came off the bench at half-time to score twice in a 3–1 victory over Sheffield Wednesday on 23 October 2004.

They were the only goals he scored that season from just 15 games.

Before the following season started, Symes was loaned out to Macclesfield Town for six months, but in July he suffered an ankle injury keeping him out until September.

He never played for Macclesfield meaning his action in 2005 was limited to just 35 minutes on New Year's Day.

Instead he joined Stockport County in another loan deal in January 2006, where he made his one and only appearance in a 1–1 draw with Torquay United on 31 January 2006.

He returned to Bradford and played another three games, scoring in a 1–1 draw with Brentford on 8 April 2006.

However his season again ended early when he pulled his hamstring during the draw with Brentford.

Symes later admitted "it never happened" for him at City and that his confidence was shattered by manager Colin Todd.

At the start of the 2006–07 season, Symes was kept on at Bradford but started the season on loan at Shrewsbury Town.

He made his Town debut as a late substitute in the opening game of the season in a 2–2 draw with Mansfield Town.

He scored in his second appearance, when he again came on as substitute, as Shrewsbury defeated Boston United 5–0.

He started his first game in the League Cup against Birmingham City as Shrewsbury lost 1–0.

His move from Bradford was made permanent by the end of the August transfer window.

He had started just six games in two seasons with Bradford.

He scored the second brace of his career to give Shrewsbury a 2–1 victory over Hereford United in the Football League Trophy first round, a competition in which Shrewsbury eventually reached the southern section semi-final stage.

In January 2007, his contract was extended further, lasting until summer 2009.

He scored 13 goals in his first season at Shrewsbury, but was also given the first red card of his career in a game against Mansfield Town, as they missed out on promotion when they lost 3–1 to Bristol Rovers in the play-off final at Wembley Stadium.

Symes was not a regular in the Shrewsbury side at the start of the 2007–08 season, making 12 starts and nine substitute appearances as he scored just three goals.

In January 2008, he rejoined Macclesfield Town with defender Neil Ashton on loan until the end of the season.

Despite his exit, Shrewsbury manager Gary Peters said the pair could both return to Shrewsbury at the end of the season.

He played his first Macclesfield game in a 1–0 defeat to Peterborough on 12 January, and scored his first goal as Macclesfield drew 1–1 with Milton Keynes Dons on 29 January.

He spent three seasons with Shrewsbury, then joined Accrington Stanley in July 2009 after a loan period the previous season.

His most successful campaign in terms of goals was with Accrington, which resulted in a summer move to newly promoted AFC Bournemouth in 2010.

After two years there, he moved on to Leyton Orient, then Burton Albion, initially on a temporary deal, before being released in 2014.

He played two matches for Southport in 2015.

Symes was born in Great Yarmouth, East Anglia, but moved to Liverpool as a young child, he attended St John's Junior School before moving on to Holy Rosary / Maricourt High School.