Lewis Edward Buxton (born 10 December 1983) 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 played as a
defender.
Buxton began his career with
Portsmouth
Portsmouth ( ) is a port city status in the United Kingdom, city and unitary authority in Hampshire, England. Most of Portsmouth is located on Portsea Island, off the south coast of England in the Solent, making Portsmouth the only city in En ...
where he progressed through the youth ranks at the club. He gained
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 ...
experience with loan spells at
Exeter City
Exeter City Football Club is a professional association football club based in Exeter, Devon, England. The team play in , the third level of the English football league system. Known as "the Grecians", the origin of their nickname is subject to ...
and
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. ...
. He joined
Stoke City
Stoke City Football Club is a professional association football club based in Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, England. The team competes in the , the second level of the English football league system.
Founded as Stoke Ramblers in 1863, the cl ...
in January 2005 in order to find first team football. His time at the
Britannia Stadium
The bet365 Stadium is an all-seater football stadium in Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, England and the home of EFL Championship club Stoke City. The stadium was previously called the Britannia Stadium but was renamed on 1 June 2016 when the cl ...
was hampered by injury and he left for
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 ...
in October 2008. With the Owls, Buxton established himself as a regular member of the team and spent seven years, making 207 appearances.
Career
Portsmouth
A promising young defender, after working his way up through the
Portsmouth
Portsmouth ( ) is a port city status in the United Kingdom, city and unitary authority in Hampshire, England. Most of Portsmouth is located on Portsea Island, off the south coast of England in the Solent, making Portsmouth the only city in En ...
youth ranks, Buxton made his first team debut at the beginning of the 2001–02 season, aged 17, in a 1–0 win at Stockport County. He was soon a regular in
Graham Rix
Graham Cyril Rix (born 23 October 1957) is an English former professional football player who later became a coach and manager.
Rix played for Arsenal for thirteen years, then Brentford (on loan), Caen, Le Havre, Dundee and Chelsea. He also w ...
's squad.
However, following
Harry Redknapp
Henry James Redknapp (born 2 March 1947) is an English former association football, football manager (association football), manager and player. He has previously managed AFC Bournemouth, West Ham United F.C., West Ham United, Portsmouth F.C., ...
's appointment as manager at the club, and the subsequent influx of new players, Buxton found games harder to come by. He was loaned out to
Exeter City
Exeter City Football Club is a professional association football club based in Exeter, Devon, England. The team play in , the third level of the English football league system. Known as "the Grecians", the origin of their nickname is subject to ...
for October 2002, but upon his return to Fratton Park still found the competition too great. In January he was loaned to
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. ...
for the remainder of the season. He played 18 games whilst at Bournemouth, and helped them achieve promotion.
He returned to Portsmouth for the 2003–04 season, but by October he was again not in the first team picture, and so returned to Bournemouth for the season, this time playing 28 games for the Cherries. It was a similar story during the 2004–05 season when Buxton failed to break into the team on a regular basis.
Stoke City
After turning down several loan offers he decided to call time on his Portsmouth career and transferred to
Football League Championship
The English Football League Championship, known simply as the Championship and for sponsorship purposes as Sky Betting & Gaming, Sky Bet Championship, is a professional association football league in England and Wales. Contested by 24 clubs, i ...
club
Stoke City
Stoke City Football Club is a professional association football club based in Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, England. The team competes in the , the second level of the English football league system.
Founded as Stoke Ramblers in 1863, the cl ...
in January 2005. He scored his first senior goal in Stoke's 3–1 defeat to
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 September 2005.
He was sidelined for the first 2 months of the season due to a back injury, but he made his first start of the season in Stoke City's 1–0 win at
Ipswich Town
Ipswich Town Football Club is a professional football club based in Ipswich, Suffolk, England. The club currently competes in the EFL Championship, the second tier of English football.
Ipswich Town were founded in 1878 but did not turn ...
as a centre-half. However, he required an operation on his back, which kept him out for the remainder of the
2006–07 season. He since recovered and was ready for pre-season training, prior to the start of the
2007–08 season. He made his comeback as a substitute for
Stephen Wright in the 33rd minute of Stoke's 2–1 win over
Charlton Athletic
Charlton Athletic Football Club is a professional association football club based in Charlton, south-east London, England. The team compete in the EFL Championship, the second level of the English football league system.
Their home ground is ...
on 18 August 2007. Buxton only appeared fleetingly in the 2007–08 season.
Sheffield Wednesday
On 17 October 2008 Buxton moved 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 an initial one-month loan deal. This was made a full deal on 26 January 2009 after Buxton expressed his desire to leave Stoke and move to Wednesday. He signed a -year contract. On 31 January 2009, Buxton scored his first goal for Wednesday against
Birmingham City
Birmingham City Football Club is a professional football club based in Birmingham, England. Formed in 1875 as Small Heath Alliance, it was renamed Small Heath in 1888, Birmingham in 1905, and Birmingham City in 1943. The team compete in the ...
. He has played in many different positions at Hillsborough. These are Right Back, Left Back, Centre Back, Right Wing and Centre Midfield. He achieved promotion to the
Championship
In sport, a championship is a competition in which the aim is to decide which individual or team is the champion.
Championship systems
Various forms of competition can be referred to by the term championship.
Title match system
In this sys ...
with Wednesday in May 2012.
In 2012–13, Buxton was voted player of the year by the
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 ...
supporters. This was following a consistency across over 40 games in a regularly changed Wednesday defensive unit. Buxton was released by Wednesday at the end of the 2014–15 season.
Rotherham United
In June 2015 Buxton signed for
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 ...
on a one-year contract with the option of a further year. After Rotherham had succeeded in surviving from relegation in the Championship, finishing one place above the drop in 21st, the club decided to opt in not keeping Buxton for a further season, and instead let his contract run out, releasing him.
Bolton Wanderers
On 5 August 2016, following a successful trial with
Charlton Athletic
Charlton Athletic Football Club is a professional association football club based in Charlton, south-east London, England. The team compete in the EFL Championship, the second level of the English football league system.
Their home ground is ...
, Buxton turned down a one-year contract signing in favour of a one-year contract to join
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 ...
. On 11 May 2017 the club confirmed that Buxton would be leaving at the end of his contract on 30 June. Buxton retired from playing football after leaving the Trotters.
Post retirement
After retiring Buxton co-founded Human Experience Coaching, working with players in the
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 ...
,
Championship
In sport, a championship is a competition in which the aim is to decide which individual or team is the champion.
Championship systems
Various forms of competition can be referred to by the term championship.
Title match system
In this sys ...
, and
Major League Soccer
Major League Soccer (MLS) is a professional Association football, soccer league in North America and the highest level of the United States soccer league system. It comprises 30 teams, with 27 in the United States and 3 in Canada, and is sanc ...
and also wrote a book named ''The Athlete's Bible''.
Career statistics
Source:
:A. The "Other" column constitutes appearances and goals in the
Football League play-offs
The English Football League (EFL) play-offs are a series of play-offs, play-off matches contested by four association football teams finishing immediately below the automatic Promotion and relegation, promotion places in the second, third and four ...
and
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 ...
.
Honours
;Bournemouth:
*
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:
2002–03
;Stoke City:
*
EFL 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 divi ...
runner-up:
2007–08
; Sheffield Wednesday:
*
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 ...
runner-up:
2011–12
* Player of the Year 2012–13
; Bolton Wanderers
*
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 ...
runner-up:
2016–17
References
External links
*
*
(Note: the soccerbase records are shared over two different pages)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Buxton, Lewis
1983 births
Living people
Sportspeople from Newport, Isle of Wight
English men's footballers
Footballers from the Isle of Wight
Men's association football defenders
Portsmouth F.C. players
Exeter City F.C. players
AFC Bournemouth players
Stoke City F.C. players
Sheffield Wednesday F.C. players
Rotherham United F.C. players
Bolton Wanderers F.C. players
English Football League players
21st-century English sportsmen