Luke Holden (born 24 November 1988), also known as Luke Holden-Moakes, is an English

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

midfielder In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in t ...

Career

Holden started out with

Liverpool Liverpool is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. It is situated on the eastern side of the River Mersey, Mersey Estuary, near the Irish Sea, north-west of London. With a population ...

youth, aged 6 but was released by the club at the age of 12. He joined Everton's youth teams for eighteen months before moving to

Tranmere Rovers Tranmere Rovers Football Club are a professional association football club based in Birkenhead, Merseyside, England. The team competes in , the fourth level of the English football league system. Founded in 1884 as Belmont Football Club, they ...

as a trainee. Whilst at Tranmere he scored both the late goals that put Bury out of the

FA Youth Cup The Football Association Youth Challenge Cup is an English football competition run by The Football Association for under-18 sides. Only those players between the age of 15 and 18 on 31 August of the current season are eligible to take part. It ...

in 2006. After being released in 2007, Holden signed for

Welsh Premier League The Cymru Premier, known as the JD Cymru Premier for sponsorship reasons, is the national football league of Wales. It has both professional and semi-professional status clubs and is at the top of the Welsh football league system. It was found ...

side

The New Saints The New Saints of Oswestry Town & Llansantffraid Football Club, commonly known as The New Saints () or TNS FC, are an English professional football club that play in the , but are based completely within England, in Oswestry, Shropshire. They a ...

for the 2007–08 season, making 22 league starts scoring six goals as the team finished in second place. He left The New Saints at the end of the season, following manager

Ken McKenna Kenneth McKenna (born 2 July 1960) is an English former professional footballer and manager who last worked as assistant manager of National League side AFC Fylde. Playing career McKenna started his senior playing career with Poulton Victoria ...

Northern Premier League Premier Division The Northern Premier League is an English football league that was founded in 1968. Together with the Isthmian League and the Southern League it forms levels seven and eight of the English football league system. Geographically, the league c ...

side

Cammell Laird Cammell Laird is a British shipbuilding company. It was formed from the merger of Laird Brothers of Birkenhead and Johnson Cammell & Co of Sheffield at the turn of the twentieth century. The company also built railway rolling stock until 1929, ...

. A short spell at

Bradford Park Avenue Bradford (Park Avenue) Association Football Club, sometimes abbreviated as BPA AFC, is an association football club based in Bradford, West Yorkshire, England. The team currently competes in , at the eighth tier of the English football league ...

came before joining

Rhyl Rhyl (; , ) is a seaside town and community in Denbighshire in Wales. The town lies on the coast of North Wales, at the mouth of the River Clwyd. To the west is Kinmel Bay and Towyn, to the east Prestatyn, and to the south-east Rhuddlan ...

in January 2009. He had an unfortunate time with injuries but still scored four goals in nine league starts and later played in both legs of Rhyl's Champions League qualifying matches against

FK Partizan Fudbalski klub Partizan ( sr-Cyrl, Фудбалски клуб Партизан, ; ), often referred to in English as Partizan Belgrade, is a Serbian professional Football club (association football), football club based in Belgrade. It forms ...

in July 2009. A move 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 ...

side

Coventry City Coventry City Football Club is an English professional football club based in Coventry, West Midlands. The club plays in the EFL Championship, the second tier of English football. The club is nicknamed The Sky Blues after the sky blue colou ...

broke down after Holden was unable to agree personal terms and, on 1 September 2009, Holden instead signed for

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 ...

team

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 a three-month

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 ...

deal. He made just one appearance for Charlton, during a 2–1 defeat to

Southampton Southampton is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and unitary authority in Hampshire, England. It is located approximately southwest of London, west of Portsmouth, and southeast of Salisbury. Southampton had a population of 253, ...

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 ...

, before returning to Rhyl in January 2010. Having been recommended to the club by former player

Neil Roberts Neil Roberts may refer to: *Neil Roberts (actor) (born 1964), English actor * Neil Roberts (anarchist) (1960–1982), activist who killed himself when he bombed the New Zealand police database * Neil Roberts (Australian footballer) (born 1933), Aus ...

, Holden joined

Conference National 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 League (English football), National Le ...

side

Wrexham Wrexham ( ; ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, city in the North East Wales, north-east of Wales. It lies between the Cambrian Mountains, Welsh mountains and the lower River Dee, Wales, Dee Valley, near the England–Wales border, borde ...

on trial before signing on a 93-day emergency loan deal with the club on 1 February 2010, making his debut the following day in a 2–1 victory over

Mansfield Town Mansfield Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in the town of Mansfield, Nottinghamshire, England. The team competes in , the third level of the English football league system. The club was formed in 1897 as Mans ...

. However, at the end of the season, Holden was not offered a permanent deal with the club. In July 2010, Holden joined Conference North side

Droylsden Droylsden is a town in Tameside, Greater Manchester, England, east of Manchester and west of Ashton-under-Lyne, with a population at the 2011 Census of 22,689. Within the boundaries of the historic county of Lancashire, in the mid-19th cen ...

, and stayed until transferring to

Chester Chester is a cathedral city in Cheshire, England, on the River Dee, Wales, River Dee, close to the England–Wales border. With a built-up area population of 92,760 in 2021, it is the most populous settlement in the borough of Cheshire West an ...

in November 2011 where he earned Man of the Match on his first start. In January 2012 he rejoined one of his former teams, The New Saints, on non-contract terms. He made one Welsh Premier League appearance for the club against Neath, before a few days later being released by the club. His next move was to

Formby Formby is a town and Civil parishes in England, civil parish in the Metropolitan Borough of Sefton, Merseyside, England. Historic counties of England, Historically in Lancashire, three manors are recorded in the Domesday Book of 1086 under ...

where he played just two games before moving in late March to

Gainsborough Trinity Gainsborough Trinity Football Club is a Association football, football club based in Gainsborough, Lincolnshire, Gainsborough, Lincolnshire, England. Established in 1873, the club became members of the English Football League, Football League i ...

. Holden was not amongst those players retained at the end of the 2011–12 season and thus left the club. After trials for

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 ...

in the summer of 2012 he rejoined Formby early in the 2012/13 season. He then joined Warrington Town in September, making his debut on 29 September against Clitheroe. Within the first month at the club, he was sent-off twice in three games. His only goal for the club came on 20 October when he scored a penalty in a 7–2 victory over Goole. In November he joined

Colwyn Bay Colwyn Bay () is a town, Community (Wales), community and seaside resort in Conwy County Borough on the north coast of Wales overlooking the Irish Sea. It lies within the historic counties of Wales, historic county boundaries of Denbighshire (h ...

, but in January 2014 moved to

team

Connah's Quay Nomads Connah's Quay Nomads Football Club () is a Welsh professional association football, football club based in Connah's Quay, Flintshire. They play in the . The club was founded in 1946 as Connah's Quay Juniors and adopted the Connah's Quay Nomads ...

In 2017 he played a couple of matches for

Litherland REMYCA Litherland REMYCA Football Club is a football club based in Litherland, Merseyside, England. They are currently members of the and play at Litherland Sports Park. History The club was established in 1959 as St Thomas Football Club and were ini ...

. In August 2019 he joined

Skelmersdale United Skelmersdale United Football Club is a football club from Skelmersdale, Lancashire. They are currently members of the Liverpool County Premier League and play at The Community Ground, Burscough. The club is a member of both the Liverpool Count ...

. In December 2020 he joined

Prestatyn Town Prestatyn Town Football Club () is a Welsh professional football club based in Prestatyn, Denbighshire. They play in the . History Early years Records show that football has been played in Prestatyn since the early 1890s with games being playe ...

References

External links

*
Welsh Premier profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Holden, Luke 1988 births Living people Footballers from Liverpool English men's footballers Men's association football midfielders Tranmere Rovers F.C. players The New Saints F.C. players Cammell Laird 1907 F.C. players Bradford (Park Avenue) A.F.C. players Rhyl F.C. players Charlton Athletic F.C. players Wrexham A.F.C. players Droylsden F.C. players Cymru Premier players National League (English football) players Formby F.C. players Gainsborough Trinity F.C. players Warrington Town F.C. players Northern Premier League players Colwyn Bay F.C. players Chester F.C. players Connah's Quay Nomads F.C. players Marine A.F.C. players Prestatyn Town F.C. players Skelmersdale United F.C. players Litherland REMYCA F.C. players 21st-century English sportsmen