Andrew Mark Oakes (born 11 January 1977) is an English former

football goalkeeper The goalkeeper (sometimes written as goal-keeper, abbreviated as GK, keeper, keeps, or goalie) is a position in association football. It is the most specialised position in the sport. The goalkeeper's main role is to stop the opposing team from ...

. He spent his early years at

Macclesfield Town Macclesfield Town Football Club was an association football club based in Macclesfield, Cheshire, England. Initially known as Macclesfield F.C., the club was formed in 1874 and from 1891 played home games at Moss Rose. It competed in the short ...

and

Winsford United Winsford United Football Club are a football club based in Winsford, Cheshire, England. The club was founded in 1883, they're nicknamed ''The Blues'' and their home ground is ''Barton Stadium''. Their all-time top scorer is Perry Plowman with 25 ...

, before playing for

Hull City Hull City Association Football Club is a professional association football club based in Kingston upon Hull, East Riding of Yorkshire, England. They compete in the , the second level of the English football league system. They play their home ...

in 1998–99. He was then signed by

Premier League The Premier League is a professional association football league in England and the highest level of the English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Football Lea ...

side

Derby County Derby County Football Club () is a professional association football club in Derby, England. They compete in the EFL Championship, the second level of the English football league system. One of the 12 founder members of the English Football ...

for £465,000. He spent six years at

Pride Park Pride Park is a business park on the southern outskirts of the city centre of Derby, England. It covers 80 hectares of contaminated former industrial land between the River Derwent and railway lines, and was developed between the 1990s and ear ...

as a backup keeper and also spent brief spells on

loan In finance, a loan is the tender of money by one party to another with an agreement to pay it back. The recipient, or borrower, incurs a debt and is usually required to pay interest for the use of the money. The document evidencing the deb ...

Port Vale Port Vale Football Club are a professional football club based in Burslem, Stoke-on-Trent, England, which compete in , the third tier of the English football league system. Vale are named after the valley of ports on the Trent and Mersey Canal ...

and

Bolton Wanderers Bolton Wanderers Football Club ( ) is a professional association football, football club based in Horwich, Metropolitan Borough of Bolton, Greater Manchester, England, which competes in EFL League One, League One, the third level of the Englis ...

. He signed with

Walsall Walsall (, or ; locally ) is a market town and administrative centre of the Metropolitan Borough of Walsall, in the West Midlands (county), West Midlands, England. Historic counties of England, Historically part of Staffordshire, it is located ...

in March 2005 before moving on to

Swansea City Swansea City Association Football Club ( ; ) is a Welsh professional football club based in Swansea, Wales. It competes in the EFL Championship, the second tier of the English football league system. Swansea have played their home matches at ...

in August 2006. He signed with

Darlington Darlington is a market town in the Borough of Darlington, County Durham, England. It lies on the River Skerne, west of Middlesbrough and south of Durham. Darlington had a population of 107,800 at the 2021 Census, making it a "large town" ...

in May 2007 before leaving the game two years later.

Career

Oakes started his career with Barnton, but joined

in the 1996–97 season as cover for regular goalkeeper Ryan Price as the club battled towards

promotion Promotion may refer to: Marketing * Promotion (marketing), one of the four marketing mix elements, comprising any type of marketing communication used to inform or persuade target audiences of the relative merits of a product, service, brand or i ...

into the

Football League The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional association football, football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, it is the oldest football league in Association football around the world, the w ...

. Oakes played once for the "Silkmen", in a 2–0

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual Single-elimination tournament, knockout association football, football competition in domestic Football in England, English football. First played during ...

defeat to

Rochdale Rochdale ( ) is a town in Greater Manchester, England, and the administrative centre of the Metropolitan Borough of Rochdale. In the United Kingdom 2021 Census, 2021 Census, the town had a population of 111,261, compared to 223,773 for the wid ...

, where he reportedly played with a

broken finger A broken finger or finger fracture is a common type of bone fracture, affecting a finger. Symptoms may include pain, swelling, tenderness, bruising, deformity and reduced ability to move the finger. Although most finger fractures are easy to trea ...

. After the season finished he moved on to

Northern Premier League The Northern Premier League is an English Association football, football league that was founded in 1968. Together with the Isthmian League and the Southern Football League, Southern League it forms levels seven and eight of the English footba ...

side

. In December 1998, he returned to the Football League when he signed with Third Division club

, who were then managed by

Warren Joyce Warren Garton Joyce (born 20 January 1965) is an English football manager and former player, who is currently the lead coach of Nottingham Forest's U21 squad. As a player, he played in The Football League for Bolton Wanderers, Preston North End ...

. He played twenty games of the 1998–99 season, and his performances at

Boothferry Park Boothferry Park was a Association football, football stadium in Kingston upon Hull, Hull, England, which was home to Hull City A.F.C. from 1946 until 2002, when they moved to the MKM Stadium, KC Stadium (now the MKM Stadium). In later years, ...

earned him a £465,000 move to

side

in June 1999. He immediately went out on

with

but returned to

within three weeks having failed to make an appearance for

Brian Horton Brian "Nobby" Horton (born 4 February 1949) is an English former footballer and manager. He spent 16 years as a professional player and 22 years as a manager, making 689 appearances and managing 1,098 matches. In addition to this, he spent four ...

's "Valiants". He was the understudy to

Mart Poom Mart Poom (born 3 February 1972) is an Estonian football coach and former professional player who is regarded as one of the greatest Estonian footballers of all time. He is the goalkeeping coach of the Estonia national team. Poom played as a g ...

before becoming the first-choice keeper in 2001–02, playing 22 games. He had lost his first-team place when

manager Management (or managing) is the administration of organizations, whether businesses, nonprofit organizations, or a government bodies through business administration, nonprofit management, or the political science sub-field of public administra ...

Jim Smith resigned in October 2001. He won back his place when

Colin Todd Colin Todd (born 12 December 1948) is an English football manager and former player. He was most recently the manager of Esbjerg fB. As a player, he made more than 600 appearances in the Football League, playing as a defender for Sunderland, ...

was sacked and replaced by John Gregory in January. The "Rams" were

relegated Promotion and relegation is used by sports leagues as a process where teams can move up and down among divisions in a league system, based on their performance over a season. Leagues that use promotion and relegation systems are sometimes call ...

at the end of the season, finishing ten points behind 17th place

Sunderland Sunderland () is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England. It is a port at the mouth of the River Wear on the North Sea, approximately south-east of Newcastle upon Tyne. It is the most p ...

. Teenager

Lee Grant Lee Grant (born Lyova Haskell Rosenthal; October 31, during the mid-1920s) is an American actress, documentarian, and director. In a career spanning over seven decades, she won an Academy Award, two Primetime Emmy Awards, and a Directors Guil ...

was favoured more in 2002–03, and Oakes was restricted to seven

First Division 1st Division or First Division may refer to: Military Airborne divisions *1st Parachute Division (Germany) *1st Airborne Division (United Kingdom) * 1st Airmobile Division (Ukraine) * 1st Guards Airborne Division Armoured divisions *1st Armoure ...

appearances. He played ten games in 2003–04, as Grant continued to be favoured by new boss

George Burley George Elder Burley (born 3 June 1956) is a Scottish former football player and manager. He had a professional career spanning 21 years as a player, making 628 league appearances and earning 11 Scotland caps. His most successful spell came whi ...

. Grant was dropped in 2004–05, only for 20-year-old Lee Camp to claim the first-team jersey. Oakes joined

on loan at the start of the 2004–05 season as back-up to

Jussi Jääskeläinen Jussi Albert Jääskeläinen (; born 19 April 1975) is a Finnish professional football coach and a former Association football, footballer who played as a Goalkeeper (association football), goalkeeper. He is currently working as a goalkeeping c ...

, but only made the one appearance. He moved on to

Paul Merson Paul Charles Merson (born 20 March 1968) is an English former professional footballer, manager, commentator and sports television pundit for Sky Sports. Originally a forward, Merson found success as an attacking midfielder and playmaker late ...

on a free transfer in March 2005, and featured in the last nine games of the campaign. He played 30 games in 2005–06, having missed September to December. With the "Saddlers" suffering relegation, he was released from the

Bescot Stadium Bescot Stadium, currently known as the Pallet-Track Bescot Stadium for sponsorship reasons, is a football stadium in the area of Bescot, Walsall, West Midlands, England, and is the current home ground of Walsall Football Club and Aston Vill ...

in May 2006. He signed with

Kenny Jackett Kenneth Francis Jackett (born 5 January 1962) is an English football manager and former player who played for Watford. He was most recently director of football at club Gillingham. A skilful left-footed player, able to play in defence or midf ...

in August 2006. Playing six games of the 2006–07 season, with only one appearances coming at the

Liberty Stadium The Swansea.com Stadium (; formerly Liberty Stadium) is an all-seated multi-use sports stadium and conferencing venue located in the Landore area of Swansea, Wales, hosting both rugby union and football. The stadium opened in 2005 and was name ...

, he was not offered a new

contract A contract is an agreement that specifies certain legally enforceable rights and obligations pertaining to two or more parties. A contract typically involves consent to transfer of goods, services, money, or promise to transfer any of thos ...

in the summer by new boss

Roberto Martínez Roberto Martínez Montoliu (; born 13 July 1973) is a Spanish professional football manager and former player who is currently the head coach of the Portugal national team. Martínez played as a defensive midfielder and began his career at Re ...

. Oakes signed with

in May 2007. He made 18 appearances for

Dave Penney David Mark Penney (born 17 August 1964) is an English football manager and former player. Born in Wakefield, West Riding of Yorkshire, Penney entered professional football at the relatively late age of 21. He had been working as a bricklayer an ...

's "Quakers", before retiring from the game in 2009.

Career statistics

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Oakes, Andy 1977 births Living people Footballers from Northwich English men's footballers Men's association football goalkeepers Barnton F.C. players Macclesfield Town F.C. players Winsford United F.C. players Hull City A.F.C. players Derby County F.C. players Port Vale F.C. players Bolton Wanderers F.C. players Walsall F.C. players Swansea City A.F.C. players Darlington F.C. players Northern Premier League players English Football League players Premier League players