Christopher Stringer (born 2 June 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, rugby ...

who played for

Sheffield Wednesday Sheffield Wednesday Football Club is a professional association football club based in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England. The team competes in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. Formed in 1867 as an offshoot ...

as a goalkeeper. He made his senior debut for the club at the age of seventeen in 2000 and made twelve appearances in all competitions before being forced to retire from football at the age of 20.

Career

Born in

Grimsby Grimsby or Great Grimsby is a port town and the administrative centre of North East Lincolnshire, Lincolnshire, England. Grimsby adjoins the town of Cleethorpes directly to the south-east forming a conurbation. Grimsby is north-east of Linco ...

, Stringer began his career in the youth system at

after joining the club at the age of eleven. He made his senior debut against

Wolverhampton Wanderers Wolverhampton Wanderers Football Club (), commonly known as Wolves, is a professional association football, football club based in Wolverhampton, England, which compete in the . The club has played at Molineux Stadium since moving from Dudley Ro ...

on 13 August 2000, the opening day of the 2000–01 season, as a substitute at the age of seventeen after starting goalkeeper

Kevin Pressman Kevin Paul Pressman (born 6 November 1967) is an English football coach and former professional goalkeeper, who is the current goalkeeping coach for Grantham Town. As a player he made over 500 appearances in both the Premier League and Footb ...

was sent off after just 13 seconds. The sending off was the fastest red card in English football history, beating the previous record by six seconds. He conceded once during the remainder of the match as it ended in a 1–1 draw. Wednesday signed

Paul Musselwhite Paul Stephen Musselwhite (born 22 December 1968) is an English former professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper and is the goalkeeping coach at club Scunthorpe United. He made 692 appearances in the league and 815 appearances in all co ...

to cover for the suspended Pressman but he was ineligible for their following match against

Blackburn Rovers Blackburn Rovers Football Club is a professional football club, based in Blackburn, Lancashire, England, which competes in the , the second tier of the English football league system. They have played home matches at Ewood Park since 1890. T ...

as he was not registered to play in time, handing Stringer his first senior start. He made five further appearances during the season and was handed a contract extension with manager

Paul Jewell Paul Jewell (born 28 September 1964) is an English football manager and former player, who was most recently director of football at Swindon Town. Jewell began his playing career with Liverpool, continued at Wigan Athletic and concluded in a t ...

describing him as "enthusiastic, and has never let us down". He made five appearances over the following three seasons as persistent injuries restricted his playing time. Stringer was one of thirteen players released by Wednesday in May 2004 as manager Chris Turner looked to reduce the club's wage bill. At the age of 20, after struggling with injuries and having not played a competitive match for over a year, he announced his retirement from professional football. Operations on his calf muscles had resulted in him developing blood clots and doctors had advised him against further attempts at playing. He stated, "I would carry on playing ..but my health is more important and I have to get on with my life."

Career statistics

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Stringer, Chris English men's footballers Sheffield Wednesday F.C. players 1983 births Living people Men's association football goalkeepers English Football League players Footballers from Grimsby 21st-century English sportsmen