Charlie Oatway

Charlie Oatway
Charlie Oatway (2011)
Personnel
Surname	Anthony Philip David Terry Frank Donald Stanley Gerry Gordon Stephen James Oatway
birthday	November 28, 1973
place of birth	Hammersmith ,  England
position	midfield
Men's
Years	station	Games (goals) 1
1993-1994	FC Yeading	? (?)
1994-1995	Cardiff City	32 (0)
1995-1997	Torquay United	67 (1)
1997-1999	Brentford FC	57 (0)
1998	→  Lincoln City  (loan)	3 (0)
1999-2007	Brighton & Hove Albion	224 (8)
2007-2009	Havant & Waterlooville
1 Only league games are given.

Anthony Philip David Terry Frank Donald Stanley Gerry Gordon Stephen James "Charlie" Oatway (born November 28, 1973 in Hammersmith ) is a former English football player . His professional career spanned thirteen years between 1994 and 2007, which he spent at a total of five professional clubs. Since his retirement from professional football in August 2007, he has acted in personal union as a player and cotrainer for the lower-class club Havant & Waterlooville .

Career as a professional footballer

After his initial position at FC Yeading Oatway moved in 1994 to the third highest English division for the Welsh club Cardiff City . There he had to accept relegation to the fourth division and only a short time later he joined the league rivals Torquay United in December 1995 . There, however, the sporting successes also failed and so Oatway marked the bottom of the table in the fourth division called “ Third Division ” with his new club . However, the descent into the fifth division did not materialize because the champions of the Nationwide Conference lacked the economic conditions for participation in the professional league and so Oatway played another year in the coastal town of Torquay. He finished the 1996/97 season in 21st place in the table (with 24 clubs) and finally moved to Brentford FC .

Although he was again active in the third division, he found no sporting luck there either. The team, which had played in the previous season for promotion to the second division, found themselves with Oatway again in the relegation battle and Oatway was also loaned to Lincoln City from October to November 1998 . A special feature, however, was the fact that Oatway in Brentford, as in Cardiff and Torquay, played under coach Eddie May . Oatway relegated to the fourth division with Brentford FC and moved to Brighton & Hove Albion just one season later .

In Brighton, Oatway's career took a positive turn. Already in his second season he won the fourth division championship in 2001 and only one year later he was promoted to the first division (the second highest division in England). There the team could not hold up and immediately rose again from the third division, but only another year later Oatway was able to manage his second promotion to the second division. His last game for the "Seagulls" he completed on December 26, 2005 in the 1-0 win against Queens Park Rangers . A serious ankle injury finally prevented the continuation of his professional career and on August 3, 2007 Oatway announced the end of his active career in Brighton.

Away from football

Oatway's full name is "Anthony Philip David Terry Frank Donald Stanley Gerry Gordon Stephen James Oatway". Hiding behind this unusually high number of first names is the fact that his parents were designated supporters of the Queens Park Rangers and subsequently endowed their son with the names of the full first team of QPR from 1973. When the parents opened the name to the aunt of the newborn, she said that the baby "looked like a real Charlie" and this nickname finally caught on.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ "Brighton's Oatway forced to quit" (BBC Sport)
2. ^ "The most unusual footballer names ever" (Guardian Unlimited)
3. ^ "Charlie Oatway Naming" (BBC Sport)

Web links

• Charlie Oatway in the soccerbase.com database