Michael Higdon (born 2 September 1983) is an English former professional

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugb ...

who played as a forward. He began his career with

Crewe Alexandra Crewe Alexandra Football Club is an English professional association football club based in the town of Crewe, Cheshire, that competes in League Two, the fourth tier of the English football league system. Nicknamed 'The Railwaymen' because of ...

where he came through the youth team before making the break into their first eleven in 2003. In 2007, he joined Scottish side

Falkirk Falkirk ( gd, An Eaglais Bhreac, sco, Fawkirk) is a large town in the Central Lowlands of Scotland, historically within the county of Stirlingshire. It lies in the Forth Valley, northwest of Edinburgh and northeast of Glasgow. Falkirk had ...

and then St Mirren in 2009 and

Motherwell Motherwell ( sco, Mitherwall, gd, Tobar na Màthar) is a town and former burgh in North Lanarkshire, Scotland, United Kingdom, south east of Glasgow. It has a population of around 32,120. Historically in the parish of Dalziel and part of Lana ...

in 2011. After being a regular goal scorer in the Scottish Leagues, Higdon then moved to Dutch side

NEC Nijmegen NEC Nijmegen (''Nijmegen Eendracht Combinatie''), commonly known as NEC (), is a professional Dutch association football club based in Nijmegen. The club currently competes in the Eredivisie, the top tier of Dutch football, following promotion f ...

where he spent one season before signing for

Sheffield United Sheffield United Football Club is a professional football club in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England, which compete in the . They are nicknamed "the Blades" due to Sheffield's history of cutlery production. The team have played home games at ...

Career

Crewe Alexandra

Higdon was born in

Liverpool Liverpool is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the List of English districts by population, 10th largest English district by population and its E ...

. progressed from the

youth team into their first team in 2003. He was originally used as a midfielder, but due to his height and physical presence, he was converted into a striker by manager Dario Gradi. Higdon's most famous moment for Crewe came against

Coventry City Coventry City Football Club is a professional association football club based in Coventry, West Midlands, England. The team currently compete in the Championship, the second tier of the English football league system. The club is nicknamed t ...

in the last game of the 2004–05 season, where Crewe had to win to have a chance of staying up. They went 1–0 down but Higdon scored the equaliser to set up

Steve Jones Steve or Steven Jones may refer to: Arts and entertainment *Steve Jones (English presenter) (born 1945), English musician, disk jockey, television presenter, and voice-over artist * Steve Jones (musician) (born 1955), English rock and roll guita ...

to score the winner which kept Crewe Alexandra in the Championship.

Falkirk

Higdon joined

Scottish Premier League The Scottish Premier League (SPL) was the top level league competition for professional football clubs in Scotland. The league was founded in 1998, when it broke away from the Scottish Football League (SFL). It was abolished in 2013, when t ...

club

in June 2007 on a free transfer. He had been offered a contract by Crewe, but chose to turn the offer down as he felt he was unlikely to get into the team ahead of

Luke Varney Luke Ivan Varney (born 28 September 1982) is a former English professional footballer who played as a striker. Across his career he had spells with 11 different teams. He began his career with non-League club Quorn, a club in his home county ...

and

Nicky Maynard Nicholas David Maynard (born 11 December 1986) is an English professional footballer who plays as a striker for Macclesfield. He began his career at Crewe Alexandra, following over a decade in the club's Academy, and scored on his senior debut ...

. He scored twice on his Falkirk debut against Gretna. In the final SPL game of 2008–09 for Falkirk, Higdon scored the winning goal to save Falkirk from

relegation In sports leagues, promotion and relegation is a process where teams are transferred between multiple divisions based on their performance for the completed season. Leagues that use promotion and relegation systems are often called open league ...

and thus relegating

Inverness Caledonian Thistle Inverness Caledonian Thistle Football Club, commonly known as Caley Thistle, is a professional football club based in Inverness, Scotland. The team currently competes in the Scottish Championship, the second tier of the Scottish Professional Fo ...

St Mirren

Higdon joined St Mirren on 24 June 2009 and scored his first goal for St Mirren against Ayr United in the Co-Operative Insurance Cup . On 12 December 2009, he scored a spectacular long-range strike against his former club,

, much to the delight of the home fans. Higdon found his scoring boots in the 2010–11 season, scoring his first hat-trick in a 3–1 win over

Hamilton Academical Hamilton Academical Football Club, often known as Hamilton Accies, or The Accies, is a Scottish football club from Hamilton, South Lanarkshire who currently compete in the Scottish Championship, having been relegated from the 2020–21 Scotti ...

on 2 April 2011. In the 2010–11 season, Higdon notched a total of 15 goals in 33 appearances for St Mirren.

Motherwell

On 3 June 2011, Higdon left St Mirren to sign for fellow SPL side

. He made his debut appearance for Motherwell on 23 July, against

Fir Park Fir Park Stadium is a football stadium situated in Motherwell, North Lanarkshire, Scotland. The stadium plays host to the home matches of Scottish Premiership club Motherwell and was the temporary home of Gretna for the 2007–08 SPL season. M ...

. Higdon scored his first goal for Motherwell in a 4–0

League Cup In several sports, most prominently association football, a league cup or secondary cup generally signifies a cup competition for which entry is restricted only to teams in a particular league. The first national association football tournament t ...

win over

Clyde Clyde may refer to: People * Clyde (given name) * Clyde (surname) Places For townships see also Clyde Township Australia * Clyde, New South Wales * Clyde, Victoria * Clyde River, New South Wales Canada * Clyde, Alberta * Clyde, Ontario, a tow ...

at Broadwood, and his first league goals in a 4–2 win over

Dunfermline Athletic Dunfermline Athletic Football Club is a Scottish football club based in the city of Dunfermline, Fife. Founded in 1885, the club currently play in Scottish League One after being relegated from the 2021–22 Scottish Championship. Dunfermline ...

. On 22 February 2012, Higdon scored his first Motherwell hat-trick in a 4–3 win over Hibernian at Fir Park, which included a stunning overhead kick. Higdon got his first goal of the 2012–13 season at Fir Park in an SPL game where he opened the scoring in a 1–1 draw against former club St Mirren with a well placed goal into the corner with his weak foot. Higdon scored frequently during the 2012–13 season, becoming the top Motherwell goalscorer in a season since the Second World War. He ended the season with 26 league goals, including a club record two

hat-trick A hat-trick or hat trick is the achievement of a generally positive feat three times in a match, or another achievement based on the number three. Origin The term first appeared in 1858 in cricket, to describe H. H. Stephenson taking three w ...

s, to finish as the league's top scorer. He was voted PFA Scotland Players' Player of the Year for the 2012–13 season. On 27 June 2013, Higdon indicated through his agent that he would not return to Motherwell for pre-season training.

NEC Nijmegen

On 8 July 2013, Higdon signed a two-year contract with

. NEC technical director, Carlos Aalbers, cited his target-man qualities and his ability "to score goals at the highest level" as reasons for the signing. Higdon made his competitive debut for NEC on the opening day of the league season, in a 4–1 home loss to

Groningen Groningen (; gos, Grunn or ) is the capital city and main municipality of Groningen (province), Groningen province in the Netherlands. The ''capital of the north'', Groningen is the largest place as well as the economic and cultural centre of t ...

. Higdon scored his first goal for NEC, which came from the penalty spot in a 2–2 home draw against RKC Waalwijk. Higdon netted a second equaliser for NEC in a 3–2 home defeat to Vitesse on 29 September. Higdon scored in a 4–3 defeat at

Go Ahead Eagles Go Ahead Eagles () are a Dutch professional football club from the city of Deventer. They play in the Eredivisie, the top tier of Dutch football, having achieved promotion from the second tier Eerste Divisie in the 2020-21 season. The club's ho ...

on 5 October. Higdon hit a double in 2–1 home win over SC Heerenveen on 25 October, and then fired in an early winner in 1–0 defeat of

FC Eindhoven FC Eindhoven is a Dutch football club based in Eindhoven, North Brabant. They currently play in the Eerste Divisie (second tier of Dutch football), and are one of two professional clubs which are based in the city of Eindhoven, the other one be ...

in the

KNVB Cup The KNVB Beker (; en, KNVB Cup), branded as the TOTO KNVB Beker for sponsorship reasons, is a competition in the Netherlands organized by the Royal Dutch Football Association (KNVB) since 1898. It was based on the format of the English FA Cup. Ou ...

on 29 October. Higdon would then go on a run of scoring eight goals in 11 league games, beginning with goals in 1–1 draws with Vitesse (away) on 26 January and Go Ahead Eagles (at home) on 2 February. and then scoring the third in 3–1 victory at RKC Waalwijk on 15 February. During his run of eight goals in 11 league games, he next hit four in four league games; 3–3 draw at

PEC Zwolle PEC Zwolle is a Dutch association football, football club based in Zwolle, Netherlands. They play in the Eerste Divisie, the second tier of Dutch football league system, Dutch football, following relegation from the Eredivisie in the 2021–22 Ere ...

(1 March), 3–1 defeat at Roda JC (8 March), and home ties with

FC Utrecht Football Club Utrecht () is a Dutch professional football club based in Utrecht. The club competes in the Eredivisie, the top tier of Dutch football, and plays its home matches at the Stadion Galgenwaard. The club was formed in 1970 as a merg ...

(16 March) and Heerenveen (22 March) that both finished 2–2. And his final goal during this run came in 2–1 home defeat to

Heracles Almelo Heracles Almelo is a Dutch professional football club based in Almelo, founded in 1903. The club has won the Dutch national title twice, in 1927 and 1941. Heracles won the Eerste Divisie title during the 2004–05 season, gaining promotion to ...

(29 March), despite Higdon opening the scoring.

Sheffield United

On 4 August 2014, Higdon returned to play in England, joining

for an undisclosed fee on a two-year deal with the option of a third year. On 9 August 2014, Higdon scored on his début against

Bristol City Bristol City Football Club is a professional football club based in Bristol, England, which compete in the , the second tier of English football. They have played their home games at Ashton Gate since moving from St John's Lane in 1904. The ...

. Higdon netted his second goal for the Blades in a 1–0 win at Leyton Orient to send them through to the fourth round of the League Cup. On 28 October 2014, Higdon netted a late brace in a 2–1 away victory over

Milton Keynes Dons Milton Keynes Dons Football Club (), usually abbreviated to MK Dons, is a professional association football club based in Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire, England. The team competes in , the third tier of the English football league system. The ...

, which sent United to the last eight of the

in the fifth round. In early November, Higdon was ruled out for a month after he pulled his

hamstring In human anatomy, a hamstring () is any one of the three posterior thigh muscles in between the hip and the knee (from medial to lateral: semimembranosus, semitendinosus and biceps femoris). The hamstrings are susceptible to injury. In quadrupe ...

during training. On 1 February 2016, the club cancelled the striker's contract after Higdon left by mutual consent.

Oldham Athletic (loan)

On 23 September 2015, Higdon joined

Oldham Athletic Oldham Athletic Association Football Club is a professional football club in Oldham, Greater Manchester, England, which competes in the National League, the fifth tier of the English football league system. The history of Oldham Athletic be ...

on a three-month loan deal. He played 13 games, scoring five goals, before returning to

upon the completion of his loan.

Honours

Crewe Alexandra Youth Academy * Milk Cup: Junior Section Winner 1998 St Mirren *

Renfrewshire Cup The Renfrewshire Cup was an annual association football competition between teams in the historic county of Renfrewshire in the west central Lowlands of Scotland. The final was generally a Renfrewshire derby contested between the two largest team ...

: 2010 Individual * Scottish Premier League Golden Boot:

2012–13 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1. I ...

* PFA Scotland Players' Player of the Year:

References

External links

*
Michael Higdon
at ''

Voetbal International ''Voetbal International'' (VI) is a Dutch football magazine. It is the oldest Dutch football magazine that is still running. History and Profile ''Voetbal International'' was established in 1965. VI was one of the founding members of ESM but le ...

'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Higdon, Michael 1983 births Living people Footballers from Liverpool English footballers Association football forwards Crewe Alexandra F.C. players Falkirk F.C. players St Mirren F.C. players Motherwell F.C. players NEC Nijmegen players Sheffield United F.C. players Oldham Athletic A.F.C. players Tranmere Rovers F.C. players Scottish Premier League players English Football League players Eredivisie players English expatriate footballers Expatriate footballers in the Netherlands Scottish league football top scorers