Imre Varadi (born 8 July 1959) 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 lea ...

, known as a

journeyman A journeyman is a worker, skilled in a given building trade or craft, who has successfully completed an official apprenticeship qualification. Journeymen are considered competent and authorized to work in that field as a fully qualified employee ...

forward who appeared for 16 clubs at all levels of professional

football in England Association football, Football is the most popular sport in England. Widely regarded as the birthplace of modern football, the first official rules of the game were established in England in 1863. The country is home to the world's first footba ...

Playing career

Varadi was born in

Paddington Paddington is an area in the City of Westminster, in central London, England. A medieval parish then a metropolitan borough of the County of London, it was integrated with Westminster and Greater London in 1965. Paddington station, designed b ...

, London, to a Hungarian father and Italian mother. He started out in

non-League football Non-League football describes association football, football leagues played outside the top leagues of a country. Usually, it describes leagues which are not fully professional. The term is primarily used for football in England, where it is ...

with

Letchworth Letchworth Garden City, commonly known as Letchworth, is a town in the North Hertfordshire district of Hertfordshire, England. It is noted for being the first garden city. The population at the time of the 2021 census was 33,990. Letchworth ...

before joining Sheffield United in 1978, shortly before his nineteenth birthday. Varadi went on to become a nomadic

, who rarely spent more than two years with any club and never made 100 league appearances in the colours of any team he played for. From Sheffield United, he moved on to Everton,

Newcastle United Newcastle United Football Club is a professional association football club based in Newcastle upon Tyne, Tyne and Wear, England. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football league system, English football. Since th ...

Sheffield Wednesday Sheffield Wednesday Football Club is a professional association football club based in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England. They compete in the EFL Championship, the second level of the English football league system. Formed in 1867 as an off ...

West Bromwich Albion West Bromwich Albion Football Club (), commonly known as West Brom or The Albion, is a professional association football club based in West Bromwich, West Midlands, England. They compete in the EFL Championship, the second level of the Englis ...

Manchester City Manchester City Football Club is a professional association football, football club based in Manchester, England, that competes in the Premier League, the English football league system, top flight of Football in England, English footbal ...

, Swansea Town,

again,

Leeds United Leeds United Football Club is a professional football club based in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. The team compete in the Premier League, the top tier of the English football league system. Leeds United have won the League Championship th ...

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 ...

Oxford United Oxford United Football Club () is a professional association football, football club based in Oxford, England. The club compete in the EFL Championship, the second tier of English football league system, English football. Founded as Headingto ...

Rotherham United Rotherham United Football Club, nicknamed The Millers, is a professional association football club based in Rotherham, South Yorkshire, England. The team plays in EFL League One, the third tier of English football, after suffering relegation fr ...

Mansfield Town Mansfield Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in the town of Mansfield, Nottinghamshire, England. The team competes in , the third level of the English football league system. The club was formed in 1897 as Mans ...

, Boston United, Scunthorpe United and finally had a spell as

player-manager A player–coach (also playing coach, captain–coach, or player–manager) is a member of a sports team who simultaneously holds both playing and coaching duties. Player–coaches may be head coaches or assistant coaches, and they may make chang ...

Matlock Town Matlock Town Football Club is a association football, football club based in Matlock, Derbyshire, Matlock, Derbyshire, England. Nicknamed 'the Gladiators', they are currently members of the and play at Causeway Lane. History The club was esta ...

. He was part of the Leeds United side that won the old First Division in 1992 but only played in three matches which was not enough games to earn a winner's medal. He was also part of the Sheffield Wednesday side that won promotion to the First Division in 1984, after 14 years away. He was sold to West Bromwich Albion a year later and was their top scorer with nine league goals in 1985–86, but was unable to prevent them from being relegated in bottom place with just four wins in the league. He was then sold to Manchester City, and was unable to prevent their relegation the following season, although he did help them reach the quarter-finals of the FA Cup in his second campaign there. He was nicknamed "Imre Banana" by the City fans, following the inflatable banana craze which the club's fans helped start that season. He scored 26 league goals in two seasons at

Maine Road Maine Road was a football stadium in Moss Side, Manchester, England, that was home to Manchester City from 1923 to 2003. It hosted FA Cup semi-finals, the Charity Shield, a League Cup final and England matches. Maine Road's highest attenda ...

. He left

to sign for

for a second time in the summer of 1988, and spent two seasons there, but after 18 months he was sold to their

Yorkshire Yorkshire ( ) is an area of Northern England which was History of Yorkshire, historically a county. Despite no longer being used for administration, Yorkshire retains a strong regional identity. The county was named after its county town, the ...

rivals

in February 1990. He spent three years at

Elland Road Elland Road, or Elland Road Stadium, is a football stadium in Beeston, Leeds, West Yorkshire, England, which has been the Home (sports), home of Leeds United F.C., Leeds United since the club's formation in 1919. The stadium is the List of foot ...

, helping them win promotion to the First Division on his arrival, but rarely played for Leeds in the First Division due to the arrival of new players in the midfield and forward positions. He did not make enough appearances in 1991–92 to earn a league title medal. He had loan spells at

and

before finally exiting

and dropping down two divisions to sign for

in the summer of 1993. He spent two seasons at Millmoor, scoring 25 Division Two goals, before brief spells at

and Scunthorpe United. He called time on his professional career in 1995 when he became player-manager of non-league

, before joining

Guiseley Guiseley ( ) is an area in the metropolitan borough of the City of Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. Historic counties of England, Historically part of the West Riding of Yorkshire, it is situated south of Otley and Menston and is now a north-west ...

. In the spring of 1997, Varadi signed with the South Jersey Barons of the USISL D-3 Pro League in the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

. He only played in two league games before returning home to England with his manager Matt Driver citing "personal reasons." He scored his lone goal of his brief stint with the Barons against the

New Hampshire Phantoms The Seacoast United Phantoms (formerly the New Hampshire Phantoms) are an American association football, soccer team based in Epping, New Hampshire. The team was originally based in Manchester, New Hampshire, before moving to Portsmouth, New Ha ...

on 3 May 1997 in the club's first-ever home game at Carey Stadium in

Ocean City, New Jersey Ocean City is a City (New Jersey), city in Cape May County, New Jersey, Cape May County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. It is the principal city of the Ocean City metropolitan statistical area, which encompasses all of Cape May County, and is ...

. He broke his retirement for one game for

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 ...

in 1998.

Post-retirement

He became a fully licensed

FIFA The Fédération Internationale de Football Association (), more commonly known by its acronym FIFA ( ), is the international self-regulatory governing body of association football, beach soccer, and futsal. It was founded on 21 May 1904 to o ...

Agent in March 2004 and provides commentary on games for both PA Sport (for the Football Live project) and BBC Radio Sheffield.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Varadi, Imre Living people 1959 births Footballers from the City of Westminster People from Paddington English men's footballers Men's association football forwards Letchworth F.C. players Sheffield United F.C. players Everton F.C. players Newcastle United F.C. players Sheffield Wednesday F.C. players West Bromwich Albion F.C. players Manchester City F.C. players Leeds United F.C. players Luton Town F.C. players Oxford United F.C. players Rotherham United F.C. players Mansfield Town F.C. players Scunthorpe United F.C. players Boston United F.C. players Matlock Town F.C. players Guiseley A.F.C. players Stalybridge Celtic F.C. players English Football League players Premier League players English football managers Matlock Town F.C. managers English people of Hungarian descent English people of Italian descent Italian British sportspeople Sportspeople of Italian descent English football agents