James William Shea (born 16 June 1991) is an English 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 ...

who plays as a

goalkeeper In many team sports that involve scoring goal (sport), goals, the goalkeeper (sometimes termed goaltender, netminder, GK, goalie, or keeper) is a designated player charged with directly preventing the opposing team from scoring by blocking or i ...

for club

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 ...

Career

Arsenal

Born in

Islington Islington ( ) is an inner-city area of north London, England, within the wider London Borough of Islington. It is a mainly residential district of Inner London, extending from Islington's #Islington High Street, High Street to Highbury Fields ...

, Greater London, Shea joined Arsenal's youth team in August 2007. In 2009, he won both the Premier Academy League and FA Youth Cup. Shea joined League One club

Southampton Southampton is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and unitary authority in Hampshire, England. It is located approximately southwest of London, west of Portsmouth, and southeast of Salisbury. Southampton had a population of 253, ...

on a month-long

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 ...

in February 2011 to act as cover for the injured

Bartosz Białkowski Bartosz Marek Białkowski (; born 6 July 1987) is a Polish former professional Association football, footballer who played as a Goalkeeper (football), goalkeeper. He began his career playing in his native Poland, before moving to Southampton F. ...

. However, he was recalled after eight days by Arsenal without making an appearance. Shea was sent out on loan to League Two club Dagenham & Redbridge for the 2011–12 season. He made his debut as a substitute for Chris Lewington in the match against Macclesfield Town at Moss Rose. Despite getting a yellow card for wasting time, he helped his team to win their first league match of the season by scoreline of 1–0. He was recalled from his loan by Arsenal on 5 December 2011. On 18 September 2012, he was on the bench because of injuries to Wojciech Szczęsny and

Łukasz Fabiański Łukasz Marek Fabiański (born 18 April 1985) is a Polish professional association football, footballer who plays as a Goalkeeper (association football), goalkeeper for club West Ham United F.C., West Ham United. He will become a free agent on ...

for a

UEFA Champions League The UEFA Champions League (UCL) is an annual club association football competition organised by the UEFA, Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) that is contested by List of top-division football clubs in UEFA countries, top-divisio ...

match against

Montpellier HSC Montpellier Hérault Sport Club (; ), commonly referred to as Montpellier HSC, is a French professional association football, football club based in the city of Montpellier in Occitania (administrative region), Occitanie. The original club was ...

. On 30 June 2013, he was released along with nine other young players at Arsenal.

Non-League

After a short spell with

Needham Market Needham Market is a small town in the Mid Suffolk district of Suffolk, England, set in the Gipping Valley. Nearby villages include Barking, Suffolk, Barking, Darmsden, Badley and Creeting St Mary. The town is located just east of the A14 road ( ...

of Division One North, in October 2013 Shea signed for

Isthmian League The Isthmian League () is a regional Association football, football league covering Greater London, East of England, East and South East England, featuring mostly semi-professional clubs. Founded in 1905 by amateur clubs in the London area, th ...

Premier Division club Harrow Borough, where he played 36 matches, with 32 of these in the league.

AFC Wimbledon

Shea joined League Two club

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 ...

on a free transfer on 4 July 2014. Shea was Wimbledon's regular goalkeeper during the 2014–15 season and at the start of the 2015–16 season, but was replaced by loan signings when he was injured, and was not able to regain his place. He was on the substitutes' bench for all of the matches of the League Two play-offs of 2016 where Wimbledon reached the final and eventually won 2–0 against Plymouth Argyle at

Wembley Stadium Wembley Stadium, currently branded as Wembley Stadium connected by EE Limited, EE for sponsorship reasons, is an association football stadium in Wembley, London. It opened in 2007 on the site of the Wembley Stadium (1923), original Wembley Sta ...

thus securing the club's promotion to League One.

Luton Town

On 3 July 2017, Shea joined

on a one-year contract. He played for the club throughout their journey up the leagues, culminating with a Premier League debut on 19 May 2024. On 24 May 2024, the club said it had exercised an option to extend his contract.

International experience

In August 2010, Shea trained with the

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

squad at Arsenal's London Colney training ground because of an injury to David Stockdale.

Career statistics

Honours

Arsenal * Premier Academy League: 2008–09 * FA Youth Cup: 2008–09 AFC Wimbledon * Football League Two play-offs:

2016 2016 was designated as: * International Year of Pulses by the sixty-eighth session of the United Nations General Assembly. * International Year of Global Understanding (IYGU) by the International Council for Science (ICSU), the Internationa ...

Luton Town * EFL Championship play-offs:

2023 Catastrophic natural disasters in 2023 included the Lists of 21st-century earthquakes, 5th-deadliest earthquake of the 21st century 2023 Turkey–Syria earthquakes, striking Turkey and Syria, leaving up to 62,000 people dead; Cyclone Freddy ...

EFL League One The English Football League One, known as Sky Bet League One for sponsorship reasons, or simply League One, is a professional association football league in England. EFL League One is the second-highest division of the English Football League an ...

: 2018–19 *

EFL League Two The English Football League Two, simply known as League Two and for sponsorship purposes as Sky Betting & Gaming, Sky Bet League Two, is a professional association football league in England. EFL League Two is the fourth division of the English ...

runner-up: 2017–18 Individual * Harrow Borough Player of the Year: 2013–14 * EFL League One Golden Glove: 2018–19

References

External links

Profile
at the Luton Town F.C. website {{DEFAULTSORT:Shea, James 1991 births Living people Footballers from the London Borough of Islington People from Islington (district) English men's footballers Men's association football goalkeepers Arsenal F.C. players Southampton F.C. players Dagenham & Redbridge F.C. players Needham Market F.C. players Harrow Borough F.C. players AFC Wimbledon players Luton Town F.C. players English Football League players Isthmian League players Premier League players English people of Irish descent 21st-century English sportsmen