David Stockdale

York City

Born in Leeds, West Yorkshire, Stockdale played for the Huddersfield Town youth system before joining the York City youth system in 2000 and was promoted from the under-16 team to the under-19 team for a match against Bradford City in October 2001. He was offered a scholarship by the club in February 2002 to become a first-year trainee for the 2002–03 season. By March 2003 he had established himself as the York first team's number two goalkeeper, having ousted John Collinson. He made his debut for York as a 17-year-old when coming on as a 46th-minute substitute for Michael Ingham in the last match of 2002–03, which the team lost 2–0 at Oxford United on 3 May 2003.

Stockdale's first appearance of 2004–05 came as a 20th-minute substitute for Chris Porter in a 1–0 defeat to Accrington Stanley on 31 August 2004. After playing 19 successive matches from August to December, he was dropped by caretaker manager Viv Busby. Despite this, he stated his determination at earning a new contract with York. After discussing his future at York with manager Billy McEwan he was offered a one-year professional contract in April 2005. He stalled on this contract offer and McEwan criticised him, saying "He's a young apprentice getting his first professional contract and the last thing in his mind should be money. That should be of secondary importance and he should be grateful York City are offering him a contract". He was ruled out of most of York's pre-season schedule after breaking a bone in his foot in July. Contract talks between Stockdale and York progressed and on 9 August he signed on for the club.

Stockdale made a loan move to Northern Premier League Premier Division club Wakefield-Emley in September and made his debut in a 1–0 victory over Gateshead. After making seven appearances for Wakefield-Emley he returned to York in October and was rewarded with a place on the bench for the team's match against Canvey Island. Having lost his place on the bench to teenager Arran Reid he signed for Conference North club Worksop Town on 1 March 2006, after McEwan questioned his commitment to the club. He made his debut in a 1–1 draw with Vauxhall Motors on 14 March and the loan was extended for a second month in April. Stockdale made six appearances for Worksop. He was released by York at the end of 2005–06, after being publicly criticised by McEwan about his weight.

Darlington

Stockdale joined League Two club Darlington on a one-year contract on 1 August 2006 after impressing in a period on trial in pre-season. He made eight appearances in 2006–07 and when first-choice goalkeeper, Andy Oakes, was sent off in the opening match of 2007–08, Stockdale took over and became manager Dave Penney's preferred choice in goal. Stockdale was rewarded with a new contract in November 2007 and went on to make over 40 appearances for Darlington in 2007–08.

Fulham

In April 2008, he was linked with Premier League clubs Birmingham City and Newcastle United after these clubs were scouting him, but Darlington later accepted a bid, reported to be £350,000 rising to £600,000, from Fulham. Despite this, he played for Darlington in the play-offs, where they eventually lost 5–4 in a penalty shoot-out to Rochdale in the semi-final after the matches had ended 3–3 on aggregate. He completed his move to Fulham on 4 June 2008, on a two-year contract, for an undisclosed fee. He returned to League Two after joining Rotherham United on a one-month loan on 21 November. He made his debut a day later in a 2–0 defeat to Bradford City, and in his next match, a 1–1 draw away at Exeter City, Stockdale saved a Ben Watson penalty and made a late save from a Ryan Harley header. The loan deal was extended for a further month until 17 January.

On 2 March 2009, Stockdale joined League One club Leicester City on a one-month loan as cover for first choice keepers David Martin and Paul Henderson after previous loanee Mark Bunn was recalled by parent club Blackburn Rovers. He made his debut in Leicester's 1–1 draw with Stockport County the following day. He later picked up a shoulder injury, which led to Leicester signing Tony Warner on loan. Stockdale extended his loan at Leicester until the end of 2008–09 on 6 April. He played for Leicester as their promotion to the Championship as League One champions was confirmed after a 2–0 victory over Southend United, after which he said he would be interested in joining the club for the following season.

Stockdale made his debut for Fulham on 13 September 2009, playing in a 2–1 victory against Everton at home. Stockdale was Fulham's number two goalkeeper for the team's UEFA Europa League, he suffered an injury and was ruled out of the match against FC Basel. On 29 December, he signed an extension to his contract, keeping him at Fulham until June 2013. On 22 January 2010, he joined Championship club Plymouth Argyle on a one-month loan until 18 February, after impressing in a behind closed doors friendly between the two clubs. He made 21 appearances for the club as they were relegated to League One.

Due to Mark Schwarzer being injured in pre-season and being linked with a move to Arsenal, Stockdale was the first choice goalkeeper at Fulham at the start of the season. He started the season by keeping a clean sheet at Bolton Wanderers and he followed this up by saving a penalty kick at Craven Cottage against Manchester United in a 2–2 draw on 22 August. He continued his run in the team in January due to Schwarzer's participation in the AFC Asian Cup, starting with West Bromwich Albion where he kept a clean sheet. He went on to appear in five further matches during January. Stockdale played 10 matches under manager Mark Hughes during 2010–11 with seven of these coming in the Premier League.

In June 2011, new Fulham manager Martin Jol said he wanted to loan Stockdale out to get a regular run of matches, but had no intention of selling the player. With Fulham signing Hungarian goalkeeper Csaba Somogyi to help facilitate a loan move, Stockdale revealed after interest from Swansea City that he would be willing to join the club and also was willing to drop down to the Championship to get regular football with Leeds United also interested in signing the player. Swansea manager Brendan Rodgers made signing Stockdale his priority, although his club had a £2 million bid rejected on 11 July. The following day, Stockdale revealed that he would "love to help my hometown club back to where they belong" if a move to Leeds became an option for him. Stockdale revealed "complications" halted his move to Leeds.

On 26 July 2011, Stockdale signed a new four-year contract with Fulham and subsequently went out on a one-year loan to Championship club Ipswich Town. Having made 18 appearances for Ipswich he was re-called by Fulham on 14 December, due to Mark Schwarzer's injury.

On 22 November 2012, Stockdale moved to Hull City on loan until 2 January 2013. He made his debut on 24 November 2012 in the 0–1 loss at home to Burnley. After making five appearances for Hull he was recalled by Fulham on 19 December 2012. Stockdale returned to Hull on loan for the remainder of 2012–13 on 18 January 2013, and made 19 appearances as the team earned promotion to the Premier League as Championship runners-up.

Brighton & Hove Albion

Stockdale signed for Championship club Brighton & Hove Albion on a three-year contract for an undisclosed fee on 28 July 2014. In a match against former club Fulham on 2 January 2017, Stockdale saved a Stefan Johansen penalty in a 2–1 win. He made 45 appearances in 2016–17 as Brighton earned promotion to the Premier League as Championship runners-up, and was named in the PFA Championship Team of the Year.

Birmingham City

Stockdale chose to reject Brighton's offer of a new contract, and instead signed a three-year deal with Birmingham City of the Championship. He went straight into the starting eleven for the opening fixture of the 2017–18 season, which Birmingham lost 1–0 away to Ipswich Town.

International career

He was named in the England C squad (non-League under-23s) in October 2004 for a friendly against Italy, and he came on as a substitute for Nikki Bull in the 1–0 victory on 10 November. He was included in the 25-man squad for England for the match against Denmark in February 2011 after impressing manager Fabio Capello with his calmness standing in for Schwarzer at Fulham. Stockdale was also called up for the UEFA Euro 2012 qualifier with Switzerland, however he withdrew from the squad and was replaced by Robert Green.

Personal life

Stockdale married his fiancée Kate on 3 June 2011, missing out on a place in the England squad for the Euro 2012 qualifier with Switzerland the following day.

Career statistics

Honours

Hull City

Brighton & Hove Albion

Individual