Gareth Jonathan Seddon (born 23 May 1980) is an English

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 lea ...

who played as a striker. He played 80 games in

the Football League The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, it is the oldest football league in the world, and was the top-level football league in England from ...

for Bury.

Career

Early career

Seddon was a fitness instructor in the RAF when he came close to joining

Reading Reading is the process of taking in the sense or meaning of symbols, often specifically those of a written language, by means of Visual perception, sight or Somatosensory system, touch. For educators and researchers, reading is a multifacete ...

in 2001. When he failed to win a deal with the Berkshire club Gareth still chose to quit the forces in order to begin a football career at Bury. While at Bury he scored the club's 6000th goal. He was Bury's leading scorer in the 2001–02 season with eight goals but made just a handful of appearances in the next season, and joined

Northwich Victoria Northwich is a market town and civil parish in the Cheshire West and Chester borough of Cheshire, England. It lies on the Cheshire Plain, at the confluence of the rivers River Weaver, Weaver and River Dane, Dane, east of Chester, south of Warr ...

on loan in January 2003. After three seasons at Bury, in the last of which he again finished as leading scorer, he rejected a new deal and instead joined

Rushden & Diamonds Rushden & Diamonds Football Club was an association football club based in Irthlingborough, Northamptonshire, England. Nicknamed "The Diamonds", the club played at Nene Park. The club's main rivals were county neighbours Kettering Town F.C., Ket ...

on a Bosman free transfer in 2004. However Seddon was plagued by the onset of

reactive arthritis Reactive arthritis, previously known as Reiter's syndrome, is a form of inflammatory arthritis that develops in response to an infection in another part of the body (cross-reactivity). Coming into contact with bacteria and developing an infect ...

, a condition brought on by the rigours of full-time training. He never gained fitness to play for his new team and doctors advised him to retire from the professional game. During his time out of the game he also taught football part-time at

St Theodore's RC High School Blessed Trinity Roman Catholic College is coeducational Roman Catholic secondary school located in Burnley, Lancashire, England. History The school opened in 2006 as part of ambitious plan to replace all of the district's 11 to 16 schools, fund ...

Burnley Burnley () is a town and the administrative centre of the wider Borough of Burnley in Lancashire, England, with a 2021 population of 78,266. It is north of Manchester and east of Preston, at the confluence of the River Calder and River B ...

, a school which he himself had attended. In 2005, he returned to football and completed an entire season with

North West Counties League The North West Counties Football League is a football league in the North West of England. Since 2019–20, the league has covered the Isle of Man, Cheshire, Greater Manchester, Lancashire, Merseyside, Cumbria, northern Staffordshire, northern ...

side

Padiham Padiham ( ) is a market town and civil parishes in England, civil parish on the River Calder, Lancashire, River Calder, in the Borough of Burnley in Lancashire, England, Lancashire, England. It is located north west of Burnley, and north ea ...

. This extended break from the professional game allowed Seddon to recuperate and by March 2006 the illness had left his system. He joined up with his former Bury manager

Andy Preece Andrew Preece (born 27 March 1967) is an English football manager and former professional footballer who is the manager of Chorley.Worcester City Worcester City Football Club is an English Association football, football club based in Worcester, England, Worcester, Worcestershire. The club play in the Southern Football League Premier Division Central, the seventh tier of English football. ...

and played one match for the team on a non-contract basis in April 2006, scoring in a 3–2 win against

Stalybridge Celtic Stalybridge Celtic Football Club is an English football club based in Stalybridge, Greater Manchester. They are currently members of the and play at Bower Fold. The team traditionally plays in a blue and white strip. In 1921, Stalybridge Celti ...

. He was set to sign for the Midlands team and agreed personal terms but baulked at the distance he would have to commute from his

Accrington Accrington is a town in the Hyndburn borough of Lancashire, England. It lies about east of Blackburn, west of Burnley, east of Preston, north of Manchester and is situated on the culverted River Hyndburn. Commonly abbreviated by locals to ...

home.

Hyde United

Despite interest from several fully professional

Conference National The National League, officially known as Vanarama National League for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in England. The National League is the first division of the National League (English football), National Le ...

clubs such as

Morecambe Morecambe ( ) is a seaside town and civil parish in the City of Lancaster district of Lancashire, England, on Morecambe Bay, part of the Irish Sea. In 2011 the parish had a population of 34,768. Name The first use of the name was by John Whit ...

, Seddon chose to continue his recuperation at part-time level and joined

Hyde United Hyde United Football Club is a semi-professional football club in Hyde, Greater Manchester, England, formed in 1919. The team's strip is red shirts and black shorts and their home ground is the 4,250 capacity Ewen Fields. Hyde United's record ...

in the summer of 2006. Seddon has gained a reputation for scoring spectacular goals and on 1 January 2007 scored 5 goals in a 7–3

local derby A sports rivalry is intense competition between athletic teams or athletes, affecting participants, management, and supporters all to varying degrees. One of the first known sports rivalries occurred in the Roman Empire between the Blues and th ...

win away at

. This achievement won him the ''Hyde United Magic Moment of the Season'' award along with the ''Fans' and Players' Player of the Season'' titles during his first year with the club. During the summer of 2007 Gareth was called up to the England National Game squad for the Four Nations Tournament. He won his first cap against the Republic of Ireland, then scored twice in a 3–0 win over Wales. Seddon scored 62 goals in 87 appearances for Hyde over the two seasons, winning the

Conference North The National League North, officially known as Vanarama National League North for sponsorship reasons, is a professional Association football league in England. National League North is the second division of the National Leagues and step 2 o ...

golden boot in both.

Kettering Town

In July 2008 he joined

side

Kettering Town Kettering Town Football Club is a football club based in Burton Latimer, Northamptonshire, England. They are currently members of the and play at Latimer Park. Kettering were the first club to wear sponsorship on their shirts in 1976, and have ...

on a two-year contract for an undisclosed fee. Seddon was leading scorer with 21 goals in his first season.

Fleetwood Town

In September 2009, Seddon signed for

outfit

Fleetwood Town Fleetwood Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in Fleetwood, Lancashire, England. The team competes in EFL League Two, the fourth level of the English football league system. Established in 1997, the current Flee ...

becoming a regular first team player and helping the club gain promotion to the

in 2010. After promotion Seddon was key in helping the club gain a play-off spot in their first season in the top-flight non-league league where they lost to play-off winners

AFC Wimbledon AFC Wimbledon is an English professional association football club based in Wimbledon, London, Wimbledon, London Borough of Merton, London. The team competes in , the third tier of the English football league system. The club was founded in ...

in the semi-finals. In 2011–12 Seddon became one of Fleetwood's top scorers, being a super-sub after scoring several goals from coming on as a substitute. During his time at Fleetwood Seddon played with now England international

Jamie Vardy Jamie Richard Vardy ( Gill; born 11 January 1987) is an English professional footballer who plays as a striker for and captains club Leicester City. He will become a free agent on 1 July 2025. After being released by Sheffield Wednesday at ...

. He was released by the club in May 2012.

FC Halifax Town

In the summer of 2012, Seddon signed for

side F.C. Halifax Town, opting to turn part-time and focus on his

modelling A model is an informative representation of an object, person, or system. The term originally denoted the plans of a building in late 16th-century English, and derived via French and Italian ultimately from Latin , . Models can be divided into ...

career instead of going full-time with

Luton Town Luton Town Football Club is a professional association football, football club from Luton, Bedfordshire, England. The club currently competes in EFL League One, the third level of the English football league system. Nicknamed "The Hatters", L ...

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 ...

. In a game against

Bradford Park Avenue Bradford (Park Avenue) Association Football Club, sometimes abbreviated as BPA AFC, is an association football club based in Bradford, West Yorkshire, England. The team currently competes in , at the eighth tier of the English football league ...

, Seddon scored in the club's 1–1 draw in the West Yorkshire derby, however he was also awarded a red card for an off the ball incident. In the First Round of the FA Trophy Seddon set a new record the fastest hat-trick in an FA Competition, recorded at 2 minutes and 37 seconds. The hat-trick included a fine solo run past the

Altrincham Altrincham ( , locally ) is a market town in Trafford, Greater Manchester, England, south of the River Mersey. It is southwest of Manchester, southwest of Sale, Greater Manchester, Sale and east of Warrington. At the 2021 United Kingdom ce ...

defence. Seddon scored his second hat-trick for the club away to

Droylsden Droylsden is a town in Tameside, Greater Manchester, England, east of Manchester and west of Ashton-under-Lyne, with a population at the 2011 Census of 22,689. Within the boundaries of the historic county of Lancashire, in the mid-19th cen ...

in February 2013 in a 6–0 victory. Halifax sealed promotion, with a 1-0 win against Brackley in the playoff final.

Chester

In May 2013 he moved to

Chester Chester is a cathedral city in Cheshire, England, on the River Dee, Wales, River Dee, close to the England–Wales border. With a built-up area population of 92,760 in 2021, it is the most populous settlement in the borough of Cheshire West an ...

Salford City

In the summer of 2014 he moved to Salford City. In his first league match for the club he scored a hat-trick . In October 2015 Seddon appeared in the

BBC One BBC One is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's oldest and flagship channel, and is known for broadcasting mainstream programming, which includes BBC News television b ...

series ''Class of '92: Out of Their League''.

Ramsbottom United

After his departure from Salford City, Seddon signed for Ramsbottom United in June 2016. He made his competitive debut for Ramsbottom on the opening day of the season, at home in a 3–1 win against

Goole Goole is a port town and civil parish on the River Ouse, Yorkshire, River Ouse in the East Riding of Yorkshire, England. The town's Historic counties of England, historic county is the West Riding of Yorkshire. At the 2021 United Kingdom censu ...

on 13 August 2016. Seddon scored his first goal for the club the following game, in a 2–1 away defeat to Kendal Town 3 days later.

Post-playing career

Since retiring as a player Seddon has begun working as football agent.

References

External links

*
Career stats
at Hydefc.co.uk
Gareth Seddon
at KetteringTownFC.co.uk * {{DEFAULTSORT:Seddon, Gareth 1980 births Living people Footballers from Burnley Men's association football forwards English men's footballers England men's semi-pro international footballers English Football League players National League (English football) players Northern Premier League players Bury F.C. players Northwich Victoria F.C. players Rushden & Diamonds F.C. players Worcester City F.C. players Hyde United F.C. players Fleetwood Town F.C. players FC Halifax Town players Kettering Town F.C. players Chester F.C. players Padiham F.C. players Salford City F.C. players Ramsbottom United F.C. players English male models 21st-century English sportsmen