Joseph Widdowson (born 28 March 1989) 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 ...

who plays as a defender. He began his career with

Premier League The Premier League is a professional association football league in England and the highest level of the English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Football Lea ...

side

West Ham United West Ham United Football Club is a professional Association football, football club based in Stratford, London, Stratford, East London, England. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football league system, English f ...

, spending time on loan with

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 ...

. He later signed a permanent contract with

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 ...

which was the start of an extensive

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 ...

career with

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 ...

, Dagenham & Redbridge and

Leyton Orient Leyton Orient Football Club, commonly referred to as Orient, is a professional association football club based in Leyton, Waltham Forest, London, England. The team compete in EFL League One, the third level of the English football league system. ...

. His final season was in the

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 ...

with Barnet.

Career

West Ham United

Widdowson began his career as a trainee at

in July 2007. He joined

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

side

in February 2008 on a one-month loan, where he made three league appearances. He made his non-competitive debut for West Ham on 17 July 2008 against Hampton & Richmond Borough completing 90 minutes in a 2–4 victory. This match was then followed with a full 90 minutes on 24 July 2008 in the 2008 MLS All-Star Game in Toronto in which Widdowson was handed the difficult task of marking

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 ...

legend

David Beckham Sir David Robert Joseph Beckham ( ; born 2 May 1975) is an English former professional footballer, the president and co-owner of Inter Miami CF and co-owner of Salford City. Primarily a right winger and known for his range of passing, cross ...

. Widdowson impressed many spectators during the game with the way he handled the task set in such a controlled manner, and ended the game swapping shirts with the

Los Angeles Galaxy The Los Angeles Galaxy are an American professional Association football, soccer club based in the Greater Los Angeles area. The club competes in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Western Conference (MLS), Western Conference. The Gal ...

star.

Grimsby Town

On 2 January 2009 Widdowson joined Grimsby Town on an initial one-month loan. Widdowson made his debut for Grimsby on 17 January 2009 in a 1–0 away victory against

Wycombe Wanderers Wycombe Wanderers Football Club () is a professional association football club based in the town of High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire, England. The team competes in League One, the third level of the English football league system. Founded in 188 ...

. He scored his first league goal, against

, in a 3–0 home win for the Mariners on 24 January 2009. The goal was good enough to win 2nd place in the club's goal of the season awards. Grimsby manager Mike Newell managed to extend Widdowson's loan until the end of the season, and he remained as the club's first choice left back, despite regular starter Tom Newey returning from injury. Newey was then loaned out to

, and Widdowson became an integral part of the Grimsby side that managed too stave off relegation from the Football League. He was given his first red card for the club on 25 April 2009 after being controversially dismissed in the 87th minute of play for a second bookable offence in the club's relegation crunch tie with

AFC Bournemouth AFC Bournemouth ( ) is a professional association football club based in Kings Park, Boscombe, a suburb of Bournemouth, Dorset, England. The club compete in the Premier League, the top tier of English football league system, English football. ...

. On 18 May 2009, the Mariners announced Widdowson had signed a three-year contract with the club.

Rochdale

On 22 June 2010 Widdowson signed for

ahead of the club's first campaign in League One. In May 2012, Widdowson was released from Rochdale after being told his contract would not be renewed.

Northampton Town

On 5 July 2012 Widdowson joined

on a two-year contract.

Bury

On 6 August 2014, Widdowson signed for Bury just days prior to the start of the new season, having impressed on a short-term trial.

Morecambe

On 29 August 2014, Widdowson signed for

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 ...

on a two-month loan.

Dagenham & Redbridge

On 27 November 2014, Widdowson joined Dagenham & Redbridge on loan until 4 January 2015. In January 2015, his loan with Dagenham ended and he returned to Bury having made three appearances for the side. Later in the month he signed for Dagenham & Redbridge on a six-month contract until the end of the season after his short-term deal with Bury came to an end.

Leyton Orient

On 1 July 2017, Widdowson signed for

on a two-year contract. In May 2019, after winning promotion to League Two with the O's, his contract was renewed until 2021. Widdowson was released at the end of the 2020-21 season after 137 appearances for the O's.

Barnet

Widdowson signed a two-year contract with Barnet in July 2021. He scored three times in ten games for the Bees. After opening the scoring away at

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 ...

in October 2021, he was stretchered off after a foul by Macauley Southam-Hales that saw the latter sent off. Widdowson spent the rest of the season out injured and departed the Bees following the conclusion of the season.

Career statistics

Honours

Leyton Orient *

: 2018–19 *

FA Trophy The Football Association Challenge Trophy, also known as the Isuzu FA Trophy for sponsorship reasons, is a men's football knockout cup competition run by and named after The Football Association (the FA) and competed by mainly National League ...

runner-up: 2018–19

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Widdowson, Joe 1989 births Living people Footballers from the London Borough of Newham People from Forest Gate English men's footballers Men's association football defenders West Ham United F.C. players Rotherham United F.C. players Grimsby Town F.C. players Rochdale A.F.C. players Northampton Town F.C. players Bury F.C. players Morecambe F.C. players Dagenham & Redbridge F.C. players Leyton Orient F.C. players Barnet F.C. players English Football League players Black British sportsmen National League (English football) players 21st-century English sportsmen