Samuel Stephen Mantom (born 20 February 1992) 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 for Rushall Olympic where he holds the role of player-coach.

Club career

West Bromwich Albion

Mantom began his career as a youth player for Walsall's

academy An academy (Attic Greek: Ἀκαδήμεια; Koine Greek Ἀκαδημία) is an institution of tertiary education. The name traces back to Plato's school of philosophy, founded approximately 386 BC at Akademia, a sanctuary of Athena, the go ...

before being spotted by

West Bromwich Albion West Bromwich Albion Football Club (), commonly known as West Brom or The Albion, is a professional association football club based in West Bromwich, West Midlands, England. They compete in the EFL Championship, the second level of the Englis ...

. The Baggies reportedly paid £20,000 to bring him to

The Hawthorns The Hawthorns is an All-seater stadium, all-seater association football, football stadium in West Bromwich, West Midlands, England, with a capacity of 26,688. It has been the home of EFL Championship, Championship club West Bromwich Albion F.C. ...

. After regularly appearing for the Baggies' reserve side, Mantom was handed a professional deal by the club. He joined Icelandic side

Haukar Knattspyrnufélagið Haukar (, ) is an Icelandic multi-sport club from Hafnarfjörður with divisions in Association football, Football, Haukar Handball, Handball, Basketball, Haukar RC, Rugby union, Karate, Skiing & Chess. Club history The clu ...

on 14 May 2010. Mantom made seven appearances for the newly promoted

Úrvalsdeild The Besta deild karla () is a professional association football league in Iceland and the highest level of the Icelandic football league system. The competition was founded in 1912 as the Icelandic Championship. Because of the harsh winters in I ...

side, scoring twice. He made his debut for West Brom in the

Football League Cup The English Football League Cup, often referred to as the League Cup and currently known as the Carabao Cup for sponsorship reasons, is an annual Single-elimination tournament, knockout competition in men's domestic football in England. Orga ...

game against

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. ...

Brisbane Road BetWright Stadium, traditionally known as Brisbane Road and originally known as Osborne Road, is a football stadium in Leyton, East London, England. It has been the home ground of Leyton Orient since 1937, before which it was the home of amat ...

on 24 August 2010, which ended in a 2–0 win for the Baggies. On 23 November 2010 he joined

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 ...

on a month–long emergency loan. Mantom made his debut on the same day in a 1–0 defeat against

Hartlepool United Hartlepool United Football Club is a professional association football club based in Hartlepool, County Durham, England. The team competes in the National League, the fifth level of the English football league system. They were founded in 190 ...

. On 17 February 2011 he joined

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 ...

on a month–long emergency loan. On 19 February 2011, Mantom made his debut for the Latics in a 1–0 defeat against

Bristol Rovers Bristol Rovers FC is a men's professional football club in Bristol. The team competes in , the fourth tier of the English football league system. The club is affiliated to Bristol Rovers W.F.C., whose team play in the FA Women's National Leag ...

. Mantom made four goalless appearances before returning to his parent club.

Walsall

On 6 March 2012, Mantom signed for

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 ...

side

Walsall Walsall (, or ; locally ) is a market town and administrative centre of the Metropolitan Borough of Walsall, in the West Midlands (county), West Midlands, England. Historic counties of England, Historically part of Staffordshire, it is located ...

on loan. Mantom scored on his debut for the Saddlers on the same day in a 3–2 victory over

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 ...

. On 17 March 2012, Mantom scored his second goal for the club in a 2–1 defeat against Yeovil Town. Mantom netted the winning goal in a 3–2 win against Chestefield on 7 April 2012 as the Saddlers narrowly avoided relegation. Mantom returned to Walsall on loan on 9 November 2012. He scored his first goal of his second loan spell in a 2–1 defeat against Leyton Orient on 29 December 2012. On 11 January 2013, Mantom made his loan move to

permanent, joining on a free transfer after West Brom agreed to cancel his contract with the club. Mantom signed an 18-month contract with the Saddlers. Mantom scored his second goal of the season in a 3–1 victory over

Bournemouth Bournemouth ( ) is a coastal resort town in the Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole unitary authority area, in the ceremonial county of Dorset, England. At the 2021 census, the built-up area had a population of 196,455, making it the largest ...

on 19 January 2013. Despite a strong second half of the season that lifted Walsall into play-off contention, the Saddlers eventually finished ninth in League One. Mantom scored his first goal of the 2013–14 season on 21 September 2013 in a 1–1 draw against

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 netted his second goal of the season on 22 October 2013 as the Saddlers beat

Swindon Swindon () is a town in Wiltshire, England. At the time of the 2021 Census the population of the built-up area was 183,638, making it the largest settlement in the county. Located at the northeastern edge of the South West England region, Swi ...

at the County Ground. Mantom signed a new two–and–a–half–year deal with the club on 15 November 2013. He then scored the only goal of the game in a 1–0 victory over former club Oldham on 14 January 2014 . He netted his fourth goal of the season on 22 February 2014 against

Crawley Crawley () is a town and Borough status in the United Kingdom, borough in West Sussex, England. It is south of London, north of Brighton and Hove, and north-east of the county town of Chichester. Crawley covers an area of and had a populat ...

as the Saddlers slipped to a 2–1 defeat. Mantom scored his fifth goal of the season and was sent off for the first time in his professional career in his next game as Walsall lost 2–1 at

Preston North End Preston North End Football Club, commonly referred to as Preston, North End or PNE, is a professional association football club in Preston, Lancashire, England. They currently play in the EFL Championship, the second level of the English footbal ...

on 1 March 2014. Mantom was rewarded for an impressive campaign at the end of the season by being named the Saddlers'

Player of the Year Several sports leagues honour their best player with an award called Player of the Year. In the United States, this type of award is usually called a Most Valuable Player award. Association football In association football, this award is held on b ...

. Mantom suffered a knee injury during pre–season training and was sidelined for several of the opening weeks of the 2014–15 season. He eventually made his first appearance of the season as a late substitute in Walsall's 1–0 defeat against

on 21 October 2014. However, a recurrence of Mantom's original injury saw him undergo knee surgery in January 2015.

Scunthorpe United

In June 2016, he signed for League One side

Scunthorpe United Scunthorpe United Football Club is a professional association football club based in Scunthorpe, North Lincolnshire, England. The team competes in the National League, the fifth tier of the English football league system. The club was formed in ...

on a free transfer signing a three-year contract, after turning down a new deal at Walsall. He scored his first goal for Scunthorpe against Chesterfield on 22 October 2016.

Southend United

In June 2018, Mantom signed for League One side

Southend United Southend United Football Club is a professional association football club based in Southend-on-Sea, Essex, England, which competes in the National League, the fifth level of English football. The team are known as "The Shrimpers", a reference ...

for an undisclosed fee.

Rushall Olympic

Mantom signed for Southern League Premier Division Central side Rushall Olympic on 16 October 2020.

Hemel Hempstead

Mantom signed for

National League South The National League South, officially Vanarama National League South, is a professional Association football league in England. National League South is the second division of the National League (English football), National Leagues and step ...

side Hemel Hempstead Town on 27 November 2020.

Rushall Olympic return

In June 2022, Mantom returned to Rushall Olympic. In December 2024, following the sacking of manager Adam Stevens, Mantom became player-coach on an interim basis. Following the permanent appointment of interim manager Richard Sneekes, he stayed on in the role on a permanent basis.

International career

Mantom is a former England under-17 international.

Career statistics

Honours

Walsall *

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: 2014–15 Rushall * Southern League Premier Central play-offs:

2022–23 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 ...

Staffordshire Senior Cup The Staffordshire Senior Challenge Cup is a football cup tournament based in the county of Staffordshire in England first competed for in 1877–78 (then under Sheffield Rules. Organised by the Staffordshire Football Association, it is competed ...

: 2022–23, 2023–24 *

Walsall Senior Cup The Walsall and District Football Association Senior Cup is an English football competition for clubs in and around Walsall, with the final in modern times taking place at Walsall's Bescot Stadium. The Cup was founded in 1878 and was originally ...

: 2022–23, 2023–24 Individual *

Supporters' Player of the Year: 2013–14 * Rushall Olympic Supporters' Player of the Year: 2022–23 * Rushall Olympic Players' Player of the Year: 2022–23

References

External links

*
WBA profileSam: I will miss Iceland
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mantom, Sam 1992 births Living people Footballers from Stourbridge English men's footballers Men's association football midfielders Tranmere Rovers F.C. players West Bromwich Albion F.C. players Oldham Athletic A.F.C. players Walsall F.C. players Scunthorpe United F.C. players Southend United F.C. players Rushall Olympic F.C. players English Football League players 21st-century English sportsmen