Joshua James Gillies (born 12 June 1990) is an English footballer who plays as a winger for

Blyth Spartans Blyth Spartans Association Football Club is an association football club based in Blyth, Northumberland. They are currently members of and play at Croft Park. They were founded in September 1899 by Fred Stoker, who was the club's first secre ...

. Gillies played 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

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 ...

Career

Gillies began his career with non-league Sunderland Nissan and

Newcastle Blue Star Newcastle Blue Star F.C. is a association football, football club based in Newcastle upon Tyne, England. It was established in 1930 and joined the Wearside League in 1973. In 1978, the club won the FA Vase. They won promotion to the Northern Prem ...

. In 2009, he moved to

under Mick Tait, but failed to hold down a first-team place and was allowed to join

Whitley Bay Whitley Bay is a seaside town in the North Tyneside borough in Tyne and Wear, England. It was formerly governed as part of Northumberland and has been part of Tyne and Wear since 1974. It is part of the wider Tyneside built-up area, being around ...

in March 2010. At Whitley Bay Gilles scored in the final of the

FA Vase The Football Association Challenge Vase, also known as the Isuzu FA Vase for sponsorship reasons, is an annual football competition run by and named after The Football Association (The FA), for teams playing in Steps 5 and 6 of the English Nation ...

as they beat

Wroxham Wroxham is a village and civil parish in the English county of Norfolk. The civil parish of Wroxham has an area of 6.21 square kilometres, and in 2001, had a population of 1,532 in 666 households. A reduced population of 1,502 in 653 household ...

6–1 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 ...

Gateshead

Gilles joined

Conference Premier 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 Leagues and step 1 of the National Le ...

side

Gateshead Gateshead () is a town in the Gateshead Metropolitan Borough of Tyne and Wear, England. It is on the River Tyne's southern bank. The town's attractions include the twenty metre tall Angel of the North sculpture on the town's southern outskirts, ...

in June 2010. He top-scored for Gateshead in 2012–13 and established himself as one of the best players in non-league football, and was rewarded with a call up to the England C team.

Carlisle United

He signed for

in June 2013. He made his

debut in a 5–1 defeat against

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. ...

on 3 August 2013. On 28 November 2013, Gillies joined

Cambridge United Cambridge United Football Club is a professional association football club based in the city of Cambridge, England. They currently compete in EFL League Two, the fourth tier of the English football league system. Nicknamed the U’s, the club h ...

on loan until January. He made his debut for Cambridge two days later in a 1–0 victory over Salisbury City in the

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 ...

. He scored his first goal for Cambridge on 10 December 2013 in a 3–0 victory over

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 ...

. After the expiration of his loan, Gillies rejoined Cambridge on 24 January 2014 on loan for the remainder of the season. Gillies left Carlisle on 4 May 2015, following the expiry of his contract.

Later career

On 12 June 2015, Gillies re-signed for Conference Premier side

on a permanent deal. After a year, he signed for

Darlington Darlington is a market town in the Borough of Darlington, County Durham, England. It lies on the River Skerne, west of Middlesbrough and south of Durham. Darlington had a population of 107,800 at the 2021 Census, making it a "large town" ...

of the

National League 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 League (English footb ...

, where he was a regular in the team for two seasons. In 2018, he moved on to

South Shields South Shields () is a coastal town in South Tyneside, Tyne and Wear, England; it is on the south bank of the mouth of the River Tyne. The town was once known in Roman Britain, Roman times as ''Arbeia'' and as ''Caer Urfa'' by the Early Middle Ag ...

of 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 ...

. In July 2021 he returned to Blyth Spartans.

International career

Gillies was selected and called up to the

England C The England national football C team (previously known as the England National Game XI and the England Semi-Pro national team) are the football teams that represent England at non-League level. Formed in 1979 as the England Non-League team, it f ...

team in 2012. He made his international debut on 12 September against Belgium, and also featured against

Turkey Turkey, officially the Republic of Türkiye, is a country mainly located in Anatolia in West Asia, with a relatively small part called East Thrace in Southeast Europe. It borders the Black Sea to the north; Georgia (country), Georgia, Armen ...

on 5 February 2013.

Career statistics

:A. The "League" column constitutes appearances and goals (including those as a substitute) 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 ...

Football Conference The National League of English Football Clubs is a professional Association football, football league in England that consists of 72 teams, divided equally between the National League (division), National League North and National League South ...

and Northern League. :B. The "Other" column constitutes appearances and goals (including those as a substitute) in the

Football League Trophy The English Football League Trophy, officially known as the Vertu Trophy for sponsorship reasons, is an annual English football knockout competition open to all clubs in EFL League One and EFL League Two and U-21 teams from the Premier Le ...

Northumberland Senior Cup The Northumberland Senior Cup, officially named the Techflow Marine Senior Cup, is an annual football competition held between the clubs of the Northumberland Football Association which was first played in 1884. It is the senior county cup for ...

and Northern League Cup.

Honours

Cambridge United *

: 2013–14

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Gillies, Josh 1990 births Living people English men's footballers England men's semi-pro international footballers Men's association football midfielders Sunderland Nissan F.C. players Newcastle Blue Star F.C. players Blyth Spartans A.F.C. players Whitley Bay F.C. players Gateshead F.C. players Carlisle United F.C. players Cambridge United F.C. players FC Halifax Town players Darlington F.C. players South Shields F.C. players Northern Football League players Northern Premier League players National League (English football) players English Football League players Footballers from Sunderland 21st-century English sportsmen