Kieran Ricardo Agard (born 10 October 1989) 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

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 ...

Early life

Agard was born in

Newham The London Borough of Newham () is a London boroughs, London borough created in 1965 by the London Government Act 1963. It covers an area previously administered by the Essex county boroughs of County Borough of West Ham, West Ham and County ...

in London. He attended

Lister Community School Lister Community School is a co-educational secondary school located at St Mary's Road, Plaistow, Newham, London. The school uses vertical tutoring to integrate the community of students across the range of ages and year groups. It is one of a ...

Club career

Everton

Agard started in the

Arsenal academy The Arsenal Academy was a military academy in Columbia, South Carolina, originally established in 1842 as an independent school by the state of South Carolina. In 1845, the academy became a component of the South Carolina Military Academy (now ...

before moving to Everton's academy in the 2005–06 season. He played for the club's under-18 team, before moving into the

reserve team In sports, a reserve team is a team composed of players who are under contract to a club but who do not regularly play in matches for the club's primary team. Reserve teams usually include players who are part of the larger first-team squad but ...

, becoming the reserve team player of the year in 2008–09. His

first team First team may refer to: Sports * First team (association football), the colloquial name given to the most senior team fielded by a football club * The First Team, the first players known to have played the sport of basketball * First Team All-A ...

debut came in a 4–0 away win at

Hull City Hull City Association Football Club is a professional association football club based in Kingston upon Hull, East Riding of Yorkshire, England. They compete in the , the second level of the English football league system. They play their home ...

in a League Cup match in September 2009. He made his

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 ...

debut against Chelsea, coming on as a substitute for

Louis Saha Louis Laurent Saha (born 8 August 1978) is a French former professional footballer who played as a striker. Saha was capped 20 times for the France national team and scored four goals. Louis Saha was a former scholar at the Clairefontaine foo ...

in stoppage time. At the end of the 2010–11 season, he was released by Everton along with goalkeeper

Iain Turner Iain Ross Turner (born 26 January 1984) is a Scottish former professional footballer, who played as a goalkeeper and who works as goalkeeping coach at Tranmere Rovers. He represented the Scotland under-21 team, the Scotland B team and been sel ...

and

Hope Akpan Hope Ini Ita Akpan (born 14 August 1991) is a former professional Association football, footballer who played as a midfielder. He came through the youth ranks at Everton F.C., Everton, making his first-team debut in 2009. He later played for H ...

after their contracts with the club expired. On 6 January 2011, he joined

Peterborough United Peterborough United Football Club is a professional association football club based in Peterborough, Cambridgeshire, England. The team compete in League One, the third level of the English football league system. Peterborough United formed in ...

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 ...

until the end of the

2010–11 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number, numeral, and glyph. It is the first and smallest positive integer of the infinite sequence of natural numbers. This fundamental property has led to its unique uses in other fields, ranging from science to sp ...

season, but after playing just once, in the

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual Single-elimination tournament, knockout association football, football competition in domestic Football in England, English football. First played during ...

, a change of management left Agard surplus to requirements and the loan was cut short. On 31 January 2011 Agard joined

Scottish Premier League The Scottish Premier League (SPL) was the Scottish football league system, top-level league competition for professional Association football, football clubs in Scotland. The league was founded in 1998, when it broke away from the Scottish Foo ...

club

Kilmarnock Kilmarnock ( ; ; , ), meaning "the church of Mernóc", is a town and former burgh in East Ayrshire situated in southwest Scotland. The town has served as the administrative centre of East Ayrshire Council since 1996 and is the region's main ...

, also on loan. and made his debut in the Scottish Premier League as Kilmarnock lose to

Hibernian Hibernian may refer to: * Of Hibernia, Latin name for Ireland; hence ** Irish (disambiguation) Hibernian, Hibernians or The Hibernian may refer to: Sports clubs * Hibernian F.C., a Scottish football club, founded 1875 * Hibernian W.F.C., a Sc ...

2–1 on 12 February 2011 before scoring his first goal in Scotland against Hearts in a 2–2 draw on 30 April 2011.

Yeovil Town

Agard, following his release from Everton, signed a one-year deal with

Yeovil Town Yeovil Town may refer to: * Yeovil, a town in Somerset, England, with a council named Yeovil Town * Yeovil Town F.C., an English football team based in Yeovil, Somerset * Yeovil Town W.F.C., an English women's football team affiliated with Yeovil T ...

on 22 June 2011. The club's management was first alerted to Agard's availability after asking fans to suggest signings on Twitter, to which Agard became known as football's first "twansfer". He scored his first two goals for the Glovers in a 3–2 defeat to

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 ...

on 17 September 2011. He then went on to score against Bury 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. ...

, also winning two penalties for his team. He also scored a winner against Wycombe Wanderers, but was sent off against

Colchester United Colchester United Football Club is a professional association football club based in the city of Colchester, Essex, England. The team competes in , the fourth level of the English football league system. Founded in 1937, the club spent its ea ...

a week later. His next goal was in the 3 – 2 win over Chesterfield at

Huish Park Huish Park is a Association football, football stadium located in Yeovil, Somerset, England. The stadium has been home to Yeovil Town F.C. since its completion in 1990, following their relocation from Huish Athletic Ground, Huish. Huish Park has ...

. He finished the season with 29 appearances in the league, and 6 goals. On 8 May 2012, Agard was released from Yeovil Town after just one year at the club.

Rotherham United

On 27 July 2012 Agard joined then League Two club

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 scored his first goal for the club on 27 October 2012 in a 1–0 win against

Plymouth Argyle Plymouth Argyle Football Club is a professional association football club based in the city of Plymouth, Devon, England. The team currently competes in EFL League One, the third level of the English football league system. The club has played ...

. In December, he scored in successive games against

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 ...

and

Port Vale Port Vale Football Club are a professional football club based in Burslem, Stoke-on-Trent, England, which compete in , the third tier of the English football league system. Vale are named after the valley of ports on the Trent and Mersey Canal ...

. In April 2013, Agard scored in three successive wins against

Fleetwood Town Fleetwood Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in Fleetwood, Lancashire, England. The team competes in EFL League Two, the fourth level of the English football league system. Established in 1997, the current Flee ...

Bradford City Bradford City Association Football Club is an English professional football club in Bradford, West Yorkshire. The club competes in , the third tier of English football, and is managed by Graham Alexander. The club was founded in 1903 and ...

and Plymouth Argyle, contributing greatly to the clubs' automatic promotion to

League One League One or League 1 may refer to: Association football * EFL League One, the third tier of football in England. * China League One, the second tier of football in China * K League 1, the top-tier football in South Korea * Lao League 1 * Lea ...

later that month. He scored his first goal of the 2013–14 season on 17 August 2013, in a 2–1 win against

Crawley Town Crawley Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in the town of Crawley, West Sussex, England. The team currently competes in , the fourth level of the English football league system. Founded in 1896 as Crawley Foo ...

, before scoring in successive wins against

Notts County Notts County Football Club is a professional association football, football club in Nottingham, England, which competes in EFL League Two, the fourth tier of Football in England, English football, following promotion and relegation, promotion ...

and

Sheffield United Sheffield United Football Club is a professional football club based in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England. The club competes in the Championship, the second tier of English football. They are nicknamed "the Blades" due to Sheffield's history ...

. Agard's first ever cup goal came on 8 October, in a 3–0 victory away to

York City York City Football Club is a professional association football club based in the city of York, North Yorkshire, England. The team competes in the National League, the fifth level of the English football league system, as of the 2024–25 seas ...

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 ...

. On 18 April, he scored a hat-trick against

Wolverhampton Wanderers Wolverhampton Wanderers Football Club ( ), commonly referred to as Wolves, is a professional association football, football club based in Wolverhampton, England. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football league s ...

in a 6–4 defeat. During May 2014, Agard won the League 1 player of the month award for April, after a run of scoring 5 goals in 6 games. During the 2013–14 season, Agard scored 26 goals in all competitions, with Agard finishing the 3rd top scorer in League 1 behind

Sam Baldock Samuel Edward Thomas Baldock (born 15 March 1989) is an English former professional footballer who last played as a striker for Oxford United. He also played for Milton Keynes Dons, West Ham United, Bristol City, Brighton & Hove Albion, Read ...

and

Britt Assombalonga Britt Curtis Assombalonga (born 6 December 1992) is a Congolese professional Association football, footballer who played as a Forward (association football), forward for DR Congo national football team. He has played in the English Football Lea ...

with 21 of his 26 goals coming in League 1, his goals helped Rotherham reach the League 1 playoff final. Agard played in the final, and after a 2–2 draw,

Rotherham Rotherham ( ) is a market town in South Yorkshire, England. It lies at the confluence of the River Rother, South Yorkshire, River Rother, from which the town gets its name, and the River Don, Yorkshire, River Don. It is the largest settlement ...

earned promotion after beating

4–3 on penalties (with Agard scoring Rotherham's first penalty) to earn a second successive promotion. At the end of the 2013–14 season, Agard was out of contract, however on 9 July 2014,

exercised an option in Agard's contract to extend it for another year. Agard turned down

's offer to extend his contract beyond the year option that was exercised by the club. On 9 August 2014, Agard started for

in their opening fixture of

The Championship The English Football League Championship, known simply as the Championship and for sponsorship purposes as Sky Bet Championship, is a professional association football league in England and Wales. Contested by 24 clubs, it is the highest divis ...

season in a 1–0 defeat against

Derby County Derby County Football Club () is a professional association football club in Derby, England. They compete in the EFL Championship, the second level of the English football league system. One of the 12 founder members of the English Football ...

. On 15 August,

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 ...

had a bid accepted for Agard, however, after holding talks with Leeds and unable to agree personal terms, the move fell through.

Bristol City

On 21 August 2014, Agard signed for League One side

Bristol City Bristol City Football Club is a professional football club based in Bristol, England. The team compete in the , the second level of the English football league system. Founded in 1894, the club competed in the Southern League and Western L ...

for an undisclosed fee, thought to be in the region of £750,000. With Bristol City Agard won the

2015 2015 was designated by the United Nations as: * International Year of Light * International Year of Soil __TOC__ Events January * January 1 – Lithuania officially adopts the euro as its currency, replacing the litas, and becomes ...

and

titles.

Milton Keynes Dons

On 11 August 2016, Agard joined

side

Milton Keynes Dons Milton Keynes Dons Football Club, usually abbreviated to MK Dons, is a professional association football club based in Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire, England. The team competes in EFL League Two, the fourth level of the English football leag ...

for an undisclosed, club-record transfer fee. On 13 August 2016, Agard made his debut for the club, scoring twice in a 2–2 home draw with

Millwall Millwall is a district on the western and southern side of the Isle of Dogs, in east London, England, in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. It lies to the immediate south of Canary Wharf and Poplar, north of Greenwich and Deptford, east of ...

. On 30 December 2016, Agard score twice in a 3–2 home league win against

Swindon Town Swindon Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in Swindon, Wiltshire, England. The team, known as the "Robins", currently compete in , the fourth level of the English football league system. Founded as Swindon A ...

. Following relegation from League One with the club at the end of the 2017–18 season, Agard played a key role in the club's following successful 2018–19 season in League Two, finishing top scorer with 22 goals in all competitions as the team secured a third-place finish and promotion back to League One. He signed a new contract with the club in June 2019. During the first few months of the 2020–21 season, through a combination of injury and a lack of first team opportunities, Agard found himself out of favour with new manager Russell Martin. He eventually made his first appearance of the campaign on 8 December 2020 in a 6–0

EFL Trophy The English Football League Trophy, officially known as the Vertu Motors, Vertu Trophy for sponsorship reasons, is an annual English association football, football knockout competition open to all clubs in EFL League One and EFL League Two and ...

Round of 32 home win over Norwich City U21, scoring two goals in the match. On 6 May 2021, the club announced Agard was one of four players to be released at the end of the

2020–21 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 ...

season, bringing to an end his almost five-year association with the club in which he scored 50 times in 166 appearances, making him MK Dons' third highest all-time goalscorer upon his departure.

Plymouth Argyle

On 10 September 2021, Agard joined League One club

on a short-term deal until January 2022. Agard left the club in January after the expiration of his contract.

Doncaster Rovers

On 12 January 2022, Agard joined

club

Doncaster Rovers Doncaster Rovers Football Club is a professional association football club based in Doncaster, South Yorkshire, England. The team currently competes in EFL League One, the third level of the English football league system after winning the 202 ...

on a free transfer, signing an 18-month deal.

International career

Born in England, Agard is also eligible to play for

Jamaica Jamaica is an island country in the Caribbean Sea and the West Indies. At , it is the third-largest island—after Cuba and Hispaniola—of the Greater Antilles and the Caribbean. Jamaica lies about south of Cuba, west of Hispaniola (the is ...

, St. Vincent & Grenadines and

Dominica Dominica, officially the Commonwealth of Dominica, is an island country in the Caribbean. It is part of the Windward Islands chain in the Lesser Antilles archipelago in the Caribbean Sea. The capital, Roseau, is located on the western side of t ...

due to his heritage.

Career statistics

Honours

Club

Rotherham United *

Football League One play-offs The EFL League One play-offs are a series of play-off matches contested by the association football teams finishing from third to sixth in the EFL League One table and are part of the English Football League play-offs. , the play-offs comprise tw ...

2014 The year 2014 was marked by the surge of the Western African Ebola epidemic, West African Ebola epidemic, which began in 2013, becoming the List of Ebola outbreaks, most widespread outbreak of the Ebola, Ebola virus in human history, resul ...

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 ...

runner-up:

2012–13 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number, numeral, and glyph. It is the first and smallest positive integer of the infinite sequence of natural numbers. This fundamental property has led to its unique uses in other fields, ranging from science to sp ...

Bristol City *

Football 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 ...

: 2014–15 *

: 2014–15 Milton Keynes Dons *

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 ...

third-place promotion: 2018–19

Individual

* Everton U21 Player of the Season: 2008–09 *

Football League One Player of the Month The EFL League One Player of the Month is an association football award that recognises the player adjudged the best for each month of the season in EFL League One, the English football league system, third tier of English football. Originally nam ...

: April 2014 *

Players' Player of the Year: 2018–19

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Agard, Kieran 1989 births Living people Footballers from the London Borough of Newham English men's footballers Men's association football forwards Premier League players Arsenal F.C. players Everton F.C. players Peterborough United F.C. players Kilmarnock F.C. players Yeovil Town F.C. players Rotherham United F.C. players Bristol City F.C. players Milton Keynes Dons F.C. players Plymouth Argyle F.C. players Doncaster Rovers F.C. players English Football League players Scottish Premier League players Black British sportsmen English people of Dominica descent English people of Jamaican descent Sportspeople of Jamaican descent 21st-century English sportsmen