Joseph Elliott Bunney (born 26 September 1993) 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

left-back In the sport of association football, a defender is an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield player whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Defenders fall into four main categ ...

forward Forward is a relative direction, the opposite of backward. Forward may also refer to: People *Forward (surname) Sports * Forward (association football) * Forward (basketball), including: ** Point forward ** Power forward (basketball) ** Smal ...

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 ...

. He has previously played professionally in 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 ...

for

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 ...

Northampton Town Northampton Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in the town of Northampton, England. The team competes in EFL League One, League One, the third level of the English football league system. Founded in 1897, the c ...

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 ...

Hartlepool United Hartlepool United Football Club is a professional association football club based in Hartlepool, County Durham, England. The team competes in the National League, the fifth level of the English football league system. They were founded in 190 ...

and

Grimsby Town Grimsby Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in Cleethorpes, North East Lincolnshire, England, that competes in , the fourth level of the English football league system. Nicknamed "the Mariners", the club was f ...

as well as at Non-league level for

Lancaster City Lancaster City Football Club is an English semi-professional non-League football club based in the northern city of Lancaster, Lancashire. They currently compete in and play at Giant Axe. They are full members of the Lancashire County Foot ...

, Kendal Town,

Stockport County Stockport County Football Club is a professional association football club based in Stockport, Greater Manchester, England. The team competes in EFL League One, the third tier of the English football league system. Formed in 1883 as Heaton ...

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 ...

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 ...

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 ...

, Warrington Rylands,

Macclesfield Macclesfield () is a market town and civil parish in the unitary authority of Cheshire East, Cheshire, England. It is sited on the River Bollin and the edge of the Cheshire Plain, with Macclesfield Forest to its east; the town lies south of Ma ...

Ashton United Ashton United Football Club is a football club in Ashton-under-Lyne, Greater Manchester, England. They are currently members of and play at Hurst Cross. Having been founded as Hurst in 1892, they folded in 1892, before being reformed in 1909. ...

and Marine.

Club career

Early career

Born in

Gorton Gorton is an area of Manchester in Greater Manchester, England. It is to the southeast of Manchester city centre. The population at the United Kingdom Census 2011, 2011 census was 36,055. Neighbouring areas include Levenshulme and Openshaw. A ...

Manchester Manchester () is a city and the metropolitan borough of Greater Manchester, England. It had an estimated population of in . Greater Manchester is the third-most populous metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, with a population of 2.92&nbs ...

, Bunney worked his way through

's youth system and broke into their first team during the 2011–12 season as the club competed in the

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 ...

Division One North, whilst studying sports science at

Myerscough College Myerscough College (pronounced as ''Myers-coe'') is a Higher and Further Education college near Bilsborrow on the Fylde in Lancashire, England. Origins Myerscough College was founded on 15 March 1894 as the ''Lancashire County Institute of ...

Preston, Lancashire Preston () is a city on the north bank of the River Ribble in Lancashire, England. The city is the administrative centre of the county of Lancashire and the wider City of Preston, Lancashire, City of Preston local government district. Preston ...

Rochdale

Bunney made his debut as a professional at

on 27 April 2013 as a substitute in a 1–0 victory against

Plymouth Plymouth ( ) is a port city status in the United Kingdom, city and unitary authority in Devon, South West England. It is located on Devon's south coast between the rivers River Plym, Plym and River Tamar, Tamar, about southwest of Exeter and ...

, on the final day of the 2012–13 season with Bunney scoring the winning goal with a header after a cross from another débutante, Scott Tanser. On 1 July 2014, Bunney signed a new two-year contract at Rochdale.

Northampton Town

On 16 January 2018, Bunney signed for

for an undisclosed fee. On 25 June 2018, Bunney signed for

Blackpool Blackpool is a seaside town in Lancashire, England. It is located on the Irish Sea coast of the Fylde peninsula, approximately north of Liverpool and west of Preston, Lancashire, Preston. It is the main settlement in the Borough of Blackpool ...

on loan. On 31 January 2019, Bunney's loan at

was cut short and then loaned out to his former club

until the end of the season. He was one of 3 transfer-listed by Northampton at the end of the 2018–19 season; a further 8 were released.

Bolton Wanderers

On 2 September 2019, Bunney signed for

on a free transfer from Northampton Town on a contract until the end of the season. The following weekend he was involved in a road traffic collision on the

M55 motorway The M55 is a motorway in Lancashire, England, which can also be referred to as the Preston Northern Bypass. It connects the seaside resort of Blackpool to the M6 motorway, M6 at Preston, Lancashire, Preston. It is 12.2 miles (19.6 km) in ...

that left him with broken ribs and a broken collarbone. On 26 June it was announced Bunney would be one of 14 senior players released at the end of his contract on 30 June.theboltonnews "Bolton announce retained list with 14 players out of contract"
/ref>

Matlock and Hartlepool

On 19 October 2020, Bunney signed for

. He played two matches for the club, registering an assist in both games. A month later he signed for

on 30 November. He left on 26 January 2021 as he wanted to return to playing in the

English 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 ...

Grimsby Town

On 1 February 2021, Bunney joined League Two side

on a contract until the end of the 2020–21 season. Bunney had already played for Matlock and Hartlepool in the 2020–2021 season, usually meaning he wouldn't be able to sign for a third team as players can only play for two teams in one season – however

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 ...

changed the rules for that season to allow players to play for three teams, to alleviate the effects of the coronavirus pandemic on football. On 18 March 2021, it was announced by manager

Paul Hurst Paul Michael Hurst (born 25 September 1974) is an English football manager and former player. As a player, he was a left back from 1993 to 2008, notably playing his entire career at Rotherham United, bar a brief loan spell with Burton Albion i ...

that Bunney had played his final game for the club after he was taken to hospital hours after a game against

Carlisle United Carlisle United Football Club ( , ) is a professional association football club based in Carlisle, Cumbria, England. The team currently compete in the National League, the fifth level of the English football league system. They have played their ...

, and would effectively be leaving the club because of an unreported medical condition.

Return to Non-League

On 25 August 2021, Bunney signed a contract for

National League National League often refers to: *National League (baseball), one of the two baseball leagues constituting Major League Baseball in the United States and Canada *National League (division), the fifth division of the English football (soccer) system ...

side

. On 8 October 2021, it was announced Bunney had signed for Warrington Rylands. On 2 June 2022, Bunney joined

Scunthorpe United Scunthorpe United Football Club is a professional association football club based in Scunthorpe, North Lincolnshire, England. The team competes in the National League, the fifth tier of the English football league system. The club was formed in ...

on trial and played in a 3–2 pre-season defeat against

Middlesbrough Middlesbrough ( ), colloquially known as Boro, is a port town in the Borough of Middlesbrough, North Yorkshire, England. Lying to the south of the River Tees, Middlesbrough forms part of the Teesside Built up area, built-up area and the Tees Va ...

. Bunney signed with

ahead of the 2022–23 season. In December 2022, Bunney joined

on a three month loan. In February 2023, he signed for Marine on loan until 1 April. His loan spell was later extended until the end of the season, and he scored the winning penalty in the Liverpool Senior Cup final against Runcorn Linnets. On 2 July 2023, Bunney signed for

. In November 2023, he joined

Workington Workington is a coastal town and civil parish in the Cumberland district of Cumbria, England. The town is at the mouth of the River Derwent on the west coast, south-west of Carlisle and north-east of Whitehaven. At the 2021 census the ...

on a one-month loan deal.

Career statistics

Club

;Notes

Personal life

Bunney is in a relationship with

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 ...

and

Manchester United Manchester United Football Club, commonly referred to as Man United (often stylised as Man Utd) or simply United, is a professional association football, football club based in Old Trafford (area), Old Trafford, Greater Manchester, Engl ...

footballer

Ella Toone Ella Ann Toone (born 2 September 1999) is an English professional footballer who plays as an attacking midfielder for Women's Super League club Manchester United W.F.C., Manchester United and the England women's national football team, England ...

Legal Issues

In 2024, Bunney claimed that actor Ryan Prescott and partner, actress Amy Lythgoe, were

squatting Squatting is the action of occupying an abandoned or unoccupied area of land or a building (usually residential) that the squatter does not own, rent or otherwise have lawful permission to use. The United Nations estimated in 2003 that there wer ...

in a property belonging to him, after their tenancy agreement had come to an end. This left Bunney’s grandfather, who was planning to move into the property, homeless. Prescott ‘strongly denied’ these claims, and along with Lythgoe, filed a £60,000 libel and defamation case against Bunney at the High Court.

Honours

Marine *

Liverpool Senior Cup The Liverpool County Football Association Senior Cup, commonly known as the Liverpool Senior Cup, is a Football (soccer), football knockout tournament involving teams from the city of Liverpool, England and surrounding areas. It is the County cu ...

: 2022–23 Macclesfield * Northern Premier League Division One West:

2022–23 The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen ...

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Bunney, Joe 1993 births Living people English men's footballers Footballers from Manchester Men's association football fullbacks Men's association football forwards Men's association football utility players Lancaster City F.C. players Kendal Town F.C. players Stockport County F.C. players Northwich Victoria F.C. players Rochdale A.F.C. players Northampton Town F.C. players Bolton Wanderers F.C. players Hartlepool United F.C. players Grimsby Town F.C. players Altrincham F.C. players Warrington Rylands 1906 F.C. players Macclesfield F.C. players Ashton United F.C. players Marine A.F.C. players Stalybridge Celtic F.C. players Workington A.F.C. players English Football League players Northern Premier League players National League (English football) players 21st-century English sportsmen