Full name Raphael Joseph Meade Position Forward Years Team Height 1.78 m | Role Footballer Name Raphael Meade | |
Date of birth (1962-11-22) 22 November 1962 (age 53) | ||
Playing position | ||
Antigas glorias raphael meade
Raphael Joseph Meade (born 22 November 1962) is an English former footballer who played as a striker. Meade started his career with English club Arsenal, then featured for Portuguese unit Sporting CP, Spanish team Real Betis on loan and Scottish outfit Dundee United. Meade also played thereafter for Luton Town, Denmark's Odense BK and sides Ipswich Town and Plymouth Argyle of England. Meade then left Odense to sign up with Brighton & Hove Albion, wherein he was loaned out to Hong Kong club Sea Bee. At the close of his spell with Brighton, Meade signed for Crawley Town, where he brought an end to his playing days.
Contents
Career
Born in Islington, Meade started his career at Arsenal as a schoolboy in 1977, and turning professional in June 1980. He was the leading scorer for Arsenal's reserve side in the London Combination for both the 1980–81 and 1981–82 seasons. Meade made his first-team debut against Manchester City on 17 October 1981. He went on to total 16 league appearances that season with eight coming as substitute, scoring four goals in all.
However, a cartilage injury ruled him out of most of the 1982–83 season, but on his return he scored twice against Brighton & Hove Albion in February 1983. He followed that up with a hat-trick against Watford and then a brace against Tottenham Hotspur in a 4-2 win for Arsenal at White Hart Lane in December of that year. However, the signings of Paul Mariner and Charlie Nicholas meant Meade had been pushed down the pecking order at Arsenal, and he made only eight appearances in 1984–85. In total he made 51 appearances and scored 16 goals in all for Arsenal.
He was sold to Sporting Clube de Portugal in the summer of 1985. Whilst in his debut season at the Lions, Meade scored against Athletic Bilbao in the third round of the UEFA Cup. In all, he helped the club get to the quarterfinals of the 1985-86 Cup. He went on, in the 1987-88 footballing season, to be loaned out to Spanish side Real Betis. Meade in August 1988 then left Sporting CP to move to Dundee United for 150,000 pounds. At Dundee he suffered a spate of injuries of which limited his playing time. In all, he was capped 22 times by Dundee, scoring 7 goals altogether. As such, Meade after a period of eight months with the club, left Dundee to eventually link up with that of Luton Town F.C. for £250,000 in March 1989. Thereafter his stay at the hatters, Meade linked up with Danish outfit Odense BK of whom loaned him in January 1990 to Ipswich Town whom he stayed with til the end of that season. He was then again loaned out in the following season to Plymouth Argyle. In 1991, Meade left Odense to feature for Brighton & Hove, netting twelve times for the seagulls in his first only season with the club. With such being so, he journeyed in the following season on loan to Hong Kong team Sea Bee then played for Crawley Town F.C. prior to the end of his playing days.
Personal life
He was the subject of some controversy with a Dundee based magazine releasing an issue of which contained an allegedly racist image of the player. This proved to be a highly unpopular scenario for the publication, with the said image being highly criticised and decried at the time.
Meade is also the father of fellow footballer and former Arsenal winger Jernade Meade.