Matthew Rhys Gillam (born 4 October 1998) is an English footballer who plays for

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 ...

side Glossop North End.

Career

Early life

Gillam was born in Bexley, Kent but moved with his family to

Congleton Congleton is a market town and civil parish in Cheshire East, Cheshire, England. It is on the River Dane, south of Manchester and north of Stoke on Trent. At the 2021 census, the parish had a population of 28,497 and the built-up area ha ...

Cheshire Cheshire ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in North West England. It is bordered by Merseyside to the north-west, Greater Manchester to the north-east, Derbyshire to the east, Staffordshire to the south-east, and Shrop ...

, when he was only a few months old. He first started playing for a local junior side, where he was quickly scouted by Port Vale and signed up for their Academy system. At the age of 12 he was spotted by

Manchester City Manchester City Football Club is a professional association football, football club based in Manchester, England, that competes in the Premier League, the English football league system, top flight of Football in England, English footbal ...

scouts and spent three months there before joining the Stoke City Academy. He was not offered a scholarship by Stoke, so he subsequently moved to

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 ...

where they did offer him one.

Rochdale

He signed his first professional contract with Rochdale during the summer of 2016, after the youngster came through the youth ranks at the Crown Oil Arena. His first appearance for the club came on 9 November 2016 in the

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 ...

, with a 2-1 win over

Hartlepool Hartlepool ( ) is a seaside resort, seaside and port town in County Durham, England. It is governed by a unitary authority borough Borough of Hartlepool, named after the town. The borough is part of the devolved Tees Valley area with an estimat ...

. He marked the occasion with a debut goal. At the end of the 2017-2018 season, Gillam's contract was due to expire in the summer. On 25 May 2018, the 19 year old signed a new two-year deal with

. In February 2019, following a week long trial, Gillam signed a short term loan contract with Cork City until July.

Non-league

On 14 August 2020, following on from his release from Rochdale, he signed for National League North side

Guiseley Guiseley ( ) is an area in the metropolitan borough of the City of Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. Historic counties of England, Historically part of the West Riding of Yorkshire, it is situated south of Otley and Menston and is now a north-west ...

following a recommendation from his former Rochdale teammate, Brad Wade. The season was curtailed due to COVID-19 and Gillam only went on to make nine appearances for the club. On 28 August 2021, he dropped down a division to sign for

Premier Division side Atherton Collieries, where he would contribute seven goals and four assists over 33 competitive appearances, before signing for Glossop North End on 6 June 2022.

Career statistics

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Gillam, Matty English men's footballers 1997 births Living people Rochdale A.F.C. players Stalybridge Celtic F.C. players Cork City F.C. players Guiseley A.F.C. players Atherton Collieries A.F.C. players English Football League players National League (English football) players Northern Premier League players League of Ireland players Men's association football forwards Footballers from the London Borough of Bexley People from Bexley 21st-century English sportsmen