Lloyd Magnus Owusu (born 12 December 1976) is a retired 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 last played for Hakoah Sydney City East in the NSW State League Division One,
Sydney, Australia
Sydney is the capital city of the state of New South Wales and the most populous city in Australia. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about 80 km (50 mi) from the Pacific Ocean ...
. After a move from non-League
Slough Town, his career took off at
Brentford
Brentford is a suburban town in West (London sub region), West London, England and part of the London Borough of Hounslow. It lies at the confluence of the River Brent and the River Thames, Thames, west of Charing Cross.
Its economy has dive ...
, where he scored 48 goals in 163 league games between 1998 and 2002. He then 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 ...
, and two years later transferred to
Reading
Reading is the process of taking in the sense or meaning of symbols, often specifically those of a written language, by means of Visual perception, sight or Somatosensory system, touch.
For educators and researchers, reading is a multifacete ...
following a short loan spell. He returned to Brentford in 2005, and two years later signed with
Yeovil Town. In 2008, he moved to
Cheltenham Town
Cheltenham Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in the town of Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, England. The team competes in EFL League Two, the fourth level of the English football league system.
Founded in 1887, ...
, and also had a loan spell at
Brighton & Hove Albion
Brighton & Hove Albion Football Club, commonly referred to as Brighton, is a professional football club based in Brighton and Hove, East Sussex, England. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football. Their home gr ...
the following year.
In 2009, he moved Australia to play for
Adelaide United, but left the club in December 2010. Following this he spent a brief period with
Luton Town
Luton Town Football Club is a professional association football, football club from Luton, Bedfordshire, England. The club currently competes in EFL League One, the third level of the English football league system. Nicknamed "The Hatters", L ...
back in England, before heading to Cyprus to play for
AEP Paphos. He then returned to England having spells at
Barnet and a loan spell at
Hayes & Yeading United. In February 2012, he made a nostalgic return to his first club
Slough Town to try to help them achieve promotion from the
Southern Football League Division One Central.
Born in England, he represented Ghana at international level.
Playing career
Brentford
Owusu started his career at non-league side
Slough Town before being signed by then–
Brentford
Brentford is a suburban town in West (London sub region), West London, England and part of the London Borough of Hounslow. It lies at the confluence of the River Brent and the River Thames, Thames, west of Charing Cross.
Its economy has dive ...
manager
Ron Noades in 1998. Owusu was an instant success, scoring 25 goals in all competitions, leading the
Third Division scoring charts.
He was less successful in the
1999–2000 campaign, scoring 14 goals in all competitions.
During the
2000–01 season, he scored 12 goals in 34 games. He returned to form with a bang in
2001–02, scoring 22 goals – one of these came against
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 ...
in a 3–1 win on March, winning him a Goal of the Month award. His excellent form helped ''the Bees'' to reach the
Second Division play-off final at the
Millennium Stadium
The Millennium Stadium (), known since 2016 as the Principality Stadium () for sponsorship reasons, is the national stadium of Wales. Located in Cardiff, it has a retractable roof and is the home of the Wales national rugby union team; it has ...
, where they lost 2–0 to
Stoke City.
Sheffield Wednesday
Out of contact Owusu was targeted by
Oldham Athletic
Oldham Athletic Association Football Club is a professional association football club in Oldham, Greater Manchester, England. As of the 2025–26 EFL League Two, 2025–26 season, the team competes in EFL League Two, the fourth level of the Eng ...
and
Crystal Palace, but instead signed to
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 ...
side
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 a three-year deal. Lloyd became an instant Wednesday hero when after sixty seconds into his debut as a substitute in a fierce
derby match against
Sheffield United, he placed a header past ''Blades'' keeper
Paddy Kenny for the opening goal of a 2–0 win. However, he did not really break into the first team, starting the majority of his 33 appearances from the bench in the
2002–03 season, finishing the season with a disappointing total of four goals.
He continued to be used sparingly in the
2003–04 season, and was signed on loan by
Steve Coppell's
Reading
Reading is the process of taking in the sense or meaning of symbols, often specifically those of a written language, by means of Visual perception, sight or Somatosensory system, touch.
For educators and researchers, reading is a multifacete ...
in December 2003. He enjoyed his time at the
Madejski Stadium
The Madejski Stadium (), currently known as the Select Car Leasing Stadium for sponsorship reasons, is a football stadium in Reading, Berkshire, England. It is the home of Reading Football Club, who play in EFL League One. It also provides the ...
, and was eager to join ''the Royals'' permanently so as to secure regular first team football. He got his wish as the loan move became permanent in the summer of 2004, Reading paying ''the Owls'' an undisclosed fee.
In the
2004–05 season, Owusu finished with an impressive record of six goals in fourteen league starts, though once again he was mostly a substitute player.
Brentford
Brentford manager
Martin Allen signed Owusu on a free transfer in the summer of 2005, handing Owusu a two-year contract he stressed that Owusu was signed not due to his popularity at the club but on footballing ability alone. He scored fourteen goals in 42 games in all competitions in
2005–06.
He missed most of the
2006–07 season with injury, and had to undergo multiple operations. Owusu finally made his comeback for Brentford against
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 ...
in a 1–0 defeat at
Griffin Park
Griffin Park was a association football, football ground in Brentford in the London Borough of Hounslow, England. It was the home ground of Brentford F.C. from its opening in September 1904 to August 2020. The ground was in a predominantly resi ...
on 17 March 2007, nearly scoring with his first touch. His comeback was to prove short-lived though, as he was released two months later.
Yeovil Town
In July 2007 he signed a one-year contract with
Russell Slade's
Yeovil Town. Top-scorer in his first season at the club, he announced he was happy to continue 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 ...
despite interest from other clubs.
Cheltenham Town
However, in September 2008, Owusu joined
League One side
Cheltenham Town
Cheltenham Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in the town of Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, England. The team competes in EFL League Two, the fourth level of the English football league system.
Founded in 1887, ...
for free, on a one-year deal. In March 2009, Cheltenham allowed to Owusu to join
Brighton & Hove Albion
Brighton & Hove Albion Football Club, commonly referred to as Brighton, is a professional football club based in Brighton and Hove, East Sussex, England. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football. Their home gr ...
on loan until the end of the
season
A season is a division of the year based on changes in weather, ecology, and the number of daylight hours in a given region. On Earth, seasons are the result of the axial parallelism of Earth's axial tilt, tilted orbit around the Sun. In temperat ...
after the club were forced to cut costs. Owusu scored seven goals in fourteen league appearances for Brighton, ensuring they avoided relegation from League One and as a result he was named as the League One Player of the Month for April 2009. Seventeen Brighton players were out of contact at the season's end, however Owusu was one of only three of these players to be offered a new contract. He did not accept the offer.
Adelaide United
In June 2009, Owusu signed for Australian
A-League
A-League Men, also known as the Isuzu UTE A-League for sponsorship reasons, is a professional soccer league in Australia and New Zealand and the highest level of the Australian soccer league system. Established in 2004 as the A-League by the ...
side
Adelaide United on a two-year deal. His new career at the Australian club was dealt a blow when his pre-season conditioning was hampered by the contraction of
swine flu and
pneumonia
Pneumonia is an Inflammation, inflammatory condition of the lung primarily affecting the small air sacs known as Pulmonary alveolus, alveoli. Symptoms typically include some combination of Cough#Classification, productive or dry cough, ches ...
. He made his debut for the Australian club on 21 August 2009, as a 58th-minute substitute for
Daniel Mullen. He scored his first goal for Adelaide in a 3–3 draw to
North Queensland
North Queensland or the Northern Region is the northern part of the Australian state of Queensland that lies just south of Far North Queensland. Queensland is a massive state, larger than many countries, and its Tropical North Queensland, trop ...
at Hindmarsh Stadium the following week.
After a poor season and being dropped to the youth team, Owusu went for a one-week trial for
Chinese Super League
The Chinese Football Super League (), commonly known as the Chinese Super League or the CSL (), also known as the China Resources Beverage Chinese Football Super League for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Ch ...
club
Guangzhou Evergrande. Owusu failed to make an impact at Adelaide and had his contract terminated by mutual consent at the end of December 2010. He quickly returned to England to join
League Two club
Port Vale on trial. Port Vale wished to sign him in early January 2011, but came up against registration issues with Adelaide. New manager
Jim Gannon then said that he would not be signing Owusu.
Luton
Owusu was linked with League Two side
Gillingham in mid-January 2011, but he instead opted to sign for
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
Luton Town
Luton Town Football Club is a professional association football, football club from Luton, Bedfordshire, England. The club currently competes in EFL League One, the third level of the English football league system. Nicknamed "The Hatters", L ...
on 18 January, signing a contract until May 2011. He made his debut and scored his first goal for the club that evening in a 5–0 victory against
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 ...
. On 2 June 2011, Owusu was released by Luton. He had made 15 appearances, scoring 7 goals.
He began the
2011–12 season training with
Micky Adams
Michael Richard Adams (born 8 November 1961) is an English former professional association football, footballer and football Manager (association football), manager. As a player, he was a Full-back (football), full back, and made a total of 43 ...
' Port Vale. However, he again left the UK, this time settling with
AEP Paphos in the
Cypriot Second Division
The Cypriot Second Division () is the second highest association football, football division of the Cypriot football league system.
Administered by the Cyprus Football Association, it is contested by 16 teams, with the top three teams being Prom ...
.
Barnet
On 12 September 2011, Owusu returned to England and signed for League Two side
Barnet on a short-term deal. He made his debut the following day coming on as sub for
Charlie Taylor in the 2–0 home win over
Plymouth Argyle.
On 4 November 2011, Owusu joined Conference Premier side
Hayes & Yeading United on a one-month loan deal. On 15 December 2011, soon after he returned from this loan spell, it was reported that he had left Barnet at the expiry of his contract.
White City Woodville
On 23 March 2012, Owusu returned to Australia to join
FFSA Premier League side
White City Woodville.
Hakoah Sydney City East
On 15 November 2012, it was announced that Owusu would be signing a one-year deal to join
Indonesian Super League side
Pelita Bandung Raya as assistant manager and player. However, this transfer fell through. Upon returning to Australia, he signed for
Hakoah Sydney City East FC
Maccabi Hakoah Sydney City East FC, commonly known as Maccabi Hakoah, is an Australian semi-professional soccer club based in Sydney, New South Wales. The club was formed in 1939 as Sydney Hakoah by members of Sydney's Jewish community. They pla ...
in the
NSW State League Division One. Here, he helped the club to a
Round of 32
A single-elimination knockout, or sudden-death tournament is a type of elimination tournament where the loser of a match-up is immediately eliminated from the tournament. Each winner will play another in the next round, until the final match-up, w ...
position in the inaugural
FFA Cup
The Australia Cup (currently known as the Hahn Australia Cup for sponsorship reasons) is the national soccer knockout cup competition in Australia. This annual competition is organised by Football Australia (known as Football Federation Austra ...
where they lost to
Palm Beach SC from
Queensland
Queensland ( , commonly abbreviated as Qld) is a States and territories of Australia, state in northeastern Australia, and is the second-largest and third-most populous state in Australia. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Austr ...
. In his only season for Hakoah, Owusu would go on to score 18 goals in 23 league appearances for the club, helping them win promotion to the
National Premier Leagues NSW 2
The Football NSW League is an Australian soccer league based in New South Wales
New South Wales (commonly abbreviated as NSW) is a States and territories of Australia, state on the Eastern states of Australia, east coast of :Australia. It b ...
.
International career
Owusu earned his first cap for
Ghana
Ghana, officially the Republic of Ghana, is a country in West Africa. It is situated along the Gulf of Guinea and the Atlantic Ocean to the south, and shares borders with Côte d’Ivoire to the west, Burkina Faso to the north, and Togo to t ...
in 2005, and was hopeful of playing in the
2006 FIFA World Cup
The 2006 FIFA World Cup was the 18th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial international Association football, football world championship tournament. It was held from 9 June to 9 July 2006 in Germany, which had won the right to FIFA World Cup hosts ...
, the first World Cup which his country had qualified for. However, on 26 April, in a rare appearance for Ghana, Owusu tore his groin in a half during a friendly match against
VfB Stuttgart
Verein für Bewegungsspiele Stuttgart 1893 e. V. (), commonly known as VfB Stuttgart (), is a German professional sports club based in Stuttgart, Baden-Württemberg. The club's Association football, football team is currently part of Germany's f ...
. As a result, he was out injured for the World Cup, and so was not selected in the Ghana squad.
In January 2015, he announced his retirement aged 38 after a career spanning 17 years.
Coaching career
Following the announcement of his retirement as a player, Lloyd Owusu joined th
International Football School Australia located in
Kariong, New South Wales
Kariong () is a List of Central Coast suburbs, locality of the Central Coast (New South Wales), Central Coast region of New South Wales, Australia west of Gosford, New South Wales, Gosford along the Central Coast Highway. It is part of the Loc ...
After his professional career, he has become General Duties Master at
Cranbrook School in
Sydney, Australia
Sydney is the capital city of the state of New South Wales and the most populous city in Australia. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about 80 km (50 mi) from the Pacific Ocean ...
.
Personal life
Owusu is now General Duties Master and Head Coach of 1st X1 at the prestigious Cranbrook School in Bellevue Hill, Sydney, Australia, where he is a very well-liked figure among the community. He is cousins with professional footballers
Derek Asamoah and
Ansah Owusu. He has since sought citizenship in Australia.
Honours
Brentford
*
Football League Third Division
The Football League Third Division was the third tier of the English football league system in 1920–21 Football League, 1920–21 and again from 1958–59 Football League, 1958 until 1991–92 Football League, 1992. When the FA Premier League ...
:
1998–99
*
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 ...
runner-up:
2000–01
Individual
*
Brentford Hall of Fame
References
External links
*
Lloyd Owusu Interview
{{DEFAULTSORT:Owusu, Lloyd
1976 births
Living people
Footballers from Slough
Ghanaian men's footballers
Ghana men's international footballers
English men's footballers
English people of Ghanaian descent
Sportspeople of Ghanaian descent
Men's association football forwards
English Football League players
Slough Town F.C. players
Brentford F.C. players
Sheffield Wednesday F.C. players
Reading F.C. players
Yeovil Town F.C. players
Cheltenham Town F.C. players
Brighton & Hove Albion F.C. players
Adelaide United FC players
Luton Town F.C. players
Barnet F.C. players
Hayes & Yeading United F.C. players
Black British sportsmen
A-League Men players
National Premier Leagues players
National League (English football) players
Southern Football League players
FK Beograd (Australia) players
Expatriate men's footballers in Cyprus
Expatriate men's soccer players in Australia
Ghanaian expatriate sportspeople in Cyprus
Ghanaian expatriate sportspeople in Australia
English expatriate sportspeople in Cyprus
English expatriate sportspeople in Australia
Naturalised soccer players of Australia