Gavin McCann

Gavin McCann
Personal information
Full name	Gavin Peter McCann
Date of birth	10 January 1978 (1978-01-10) (age 31)
Place of birth	Blackpool, England
Height	5 ft 11 in (1.80 m)
Playing position	Midfielder
Club information
Current club	Bolton Wanderers
Number	19
Senior career1
Years	Club	App (Gls)*
1995–1998 1998–2003 2003–2007 2007–	Everton Sunderland Aston Villa Bolton Wanderers	011 (0) 116 (8) 110 (3) 069 (1)
National team2
2001	England	001 (0)
1 Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 16:50, 3 October 2009 (UTC). 2 National team caps and goals correct as of 28 August, 2006. * Appearances (Goals)

Gavin Peter McCann (born 10 January 1978 in Blackpool, Lancashire) is an English footballer who plays as a midfielder. He currently plays for Bolton Wanderers. He has one England cap to his name, playing against Spain at Villa Park in 2001.

Club career

McCann played junior football for Y.M.C.A juniors in Lytham St Annes. He signed for Everton where he was a product of their academy. In 1998 he moved to Sunderland where he was a member of the side which won the Division One title and promotion to the Premiership with 105 points in 1999.

He signed for Aston Villa in 2003, where he had numerous injury setbacks. He scored one goal in the 2006-07 season in a 3–1 home loss to Manchester City. He became a cult player with the Holte End faithful because of his hard tackling and non-stop running.^{[citation needed]} He was no longer guaranteed first team football, so decided to leave Villa Park,^{[citation needed]} and in June 2007, he signed a five year contract with Bolton Wanderers.

McCann scored his first goal for Bolton in their 1–0 UEFA Cup group win over Red Star Belgrade in December 2007^[1] and followed this up with a goal in a 1–1 draw with Sporting Clube de Portugal at the Reebok Stadium three months later in the knockout stage of the cup.^[2] He scored his first league goal for Bolton in a 1–0 victory over Middlesbrough at the Riverside Stadium on 19 April 2008.^[3]

In November 2008 he received high acclaim from the Bolton manager Gary Megson who stated that the midfielder was playing some of the best football of his career since moving to the Reebok Stadium. ^[4].

International career

McCann has played once for the England national team, in a friendly against Spain at Villa Park in 2001.

Coaching

In February 2008, McCann launched his own football academy in Lytham St Annes, the first one on the Fylde coast. The Milligan-McCann Academy is aimed at 8 to 12 year olds and runs at King Edward VII and Queen Mary School. McCann teamed up with former Blackpool players, Jamie Milligan, who has been at Fleetwood Town since 2004 and John Hills who also signed for Fleetwood Town in August 2008, both of whom were born in Blackpool and grew up with McCann, to create the academy.^[5] In October 2008 the academy landed a major sponsorship deal with Northern Care, with coaching sessions continuing at King Edward VII & Queen Mary School each weekend as well as week-long summer courses. The academy has also received a grant to encourage children to play "park football".^[6]

Personal life

McCann lives in Lytham St Annes^[6] with his wife Lisa and daughter Ruby.^[7]

Chants

Supporters of both Sunderland and Aston Villa had a chant for McCann to The Addams Family TV series theme song. The closing line for the most recent version was "he tackles and harassed, he's better than Zidane".^{[citation needed]}

He is known by Bolton supporters as the Badger due to the hairstyle which he sported in the 2007-08 season.^{[citation needed]}

References

External links

• Gavin McCann career stats at Soccerbase