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39 year old ex-Prem player turned non league journeyman joins 24th club of career

39 year old ex-Prem and EFL player Leroy Lita turned non league journeyman joins the 24th club of his career which started back in 1999.

He signed for Coalville Town in January, but is now on the move again with the 7th tier side releasing a statement confirming his exit from the club due to interest from another team.

And now after days of waiting to find out who he was going to, it turns out to be Barwell, who play in the same division, the Southern League Premier Central.

He was a product of the Chelsea youth system, however, he failed to make a first-team appearance for the club; so in 2002, he moved to Bristol City and later represented Reading, where his form helped him earn a place with the England under-21 side.

He later played for Middlesbrough, Swansea City, Barnsley, Yeovil Town, in Greece for AO Chania and in Thailand for Sisaket, with loan spells at Charlton Athletic, Norwich City, Birmingham City, Sheffield Wednesday, Brighton & Hove Albion and Notts County.

He then moved into non league football and has been with the likes of Margate, Salisbury, Chelmsford City, Nuneaton Borough, Stratford Town, Hednesford Town, Ilkeston Town, Coalville Town and now Barwell.

Barwell sat down for a quick chat with Lita to hear what he had to say about joining Barwell:

“Yeah obviously I knew Jimmy well, worked with him before and like the way he plays football and manages his players, I feel he helps me to get the best out of me at the latter stages of my career so to work under him again is a delight.”

Leroy knew of Barwell before joining the club, having played against us on a few occasions at previous non-league sides. We asked what he liked about the club when joining:

“I’ve played against Barwell on a few occasions and they have some really impressive players so to get to work with them is a real joy. Behind the scenes as well they have some great people running the club who are very kind and supportive so that’s always a good thing to see and be a part of. At my age, I’m just trying to play and enjoy my football and I felt like at my last club I wasn’t going to get the opportunity to play as much as I’d like so a move to come here was good for my desire to just play as much football as possible.”

With a wealth of experience to his name, Leroy arrives at Barwell as a senior figure in the dressing room for a rather young Barwell side, we spoke to him about using his premier league and EFL experience to help out:

“Definitely I’m here to help out as much as I can, they’re a great set of players who know what they’re doing even with their young ages so a little push is all it’s going to take to get the best out of them on the pitch as the team look to finish the campaign as well as possible”

We look forward to seeing Leroy in action again this weekend as we host Royston Town on Non-League Day!

HIS PLAYING CAREER:

2002–2005 – Bristol City – 100 games, 38 goals
2005–2009 – Reading – 100 games, 32 goals
2008 → Charlton Athletic (loan) – 8 games, 3 goals
2008–2009 → Norwich City (loan) – 16 games, 7 goals
2009–2011 – Middlesbrough – 82 games, 20 goals
2011–2014 – Swansea City – 21 games, 2 goals
2012 → Birmingham City (loan) – 10 games, 3 goals
2013 → Sheffield Wednesday (loan) – 17 games, 6 goals
2013 → Brighton & Hove Albion (loan) – 5 games, 1 goal
2014–2015 – Barnsley – 24 games, 2 goals
2015 → Notts County (loan) – 6 games, 0 goals
2015–2016 – AO Chania – 15 games, 3 goals
2016 – Yeovil Town – 8 games, 1 goals
2017 – Sisaket – 21 games, 5 goals
2018 – Margate – 4 games, 0 goals
2019 – Salisbury – 6 games, 2 goals
2019 – 2020 – Chelmsford City – 14 games, 2 goals
2020–2022 – Nuneaton Borough – 33 games, 8 goals
2022 – Stratford Town – 11 games, 3 goals
2022–2023 – Hednesford Town – 34 games, 18 goals
2023 – Ilkeston Town – 18 games, 16 goals
2023–2024 – Nuneaton Borough – 29 games, 12 goals
2024 – Coalville Town

Twitter users reacted as the 39 year old ex-Prem player turned non league journeyman joins the 24th club of his career…

@filbertway89: Get the statue built! End of an era

@james1918w: More clubs than Tiger Woods!

@tomhwilliams23: Leroy Lita has yet ANOTHER club in non league. That will be his 10th club since dropping into non league in 2018, In fairness, he’s still prolific at 39 years of age. He bagged 16 goals in 18 games for Ilkeston last season 🙌

@will_stanser: He trying to beat Jefferson Louis record 👀

Jermaine Gordon: Sad state of affairs when ppl you have never laced up a pair boots can then question integrity of a man or woman to go elsewhere and provide a better life for himself or his family. I Hope the same ppl that get that promotion at work with better pay turn it down and stay loyal to themselves jokers. Ain’t no loyalty in the game of football I’m afraid 5 knee ops, 3 hernias at no time was my bills being played nor food put in my mouth from the club I was playing neither. Lifes to short

Adam Cone: awful player. Pure mercenary for the pounds. Knocked off the ball by young guns just coming through that weigh about 10 stone wet through.

Colin Blake: More clubs than my local golf centre

Sam Robbo: More clubs than birthdays this fella 😂

Derek Robinson: Legs have gone and a huge resource on the budget but was a great player in his hay day had a few bust ups with mana during his time but who doesn’t

Andy Heafield: Sorry but what was the point of that apart from another shirt in his collection.

Ryan Welburn: This guy could start a tracksuit company with how many club tracksuits he has accumulated

Sam Killip: To be honest, a former premier league player, I bet he was the highest earner for the team. It’s a shame he’s home, as the experience would’ve been pretty good I imagine, but if that was his plan to come and go quickly like that, I question the original decision

Stewart Barnes: How is that man still playing 😆

@FcIlkeston_New: Good luck Leroy, excellent in a spell here ⚽️

Callum Falconer: He’s been there like 2 months 😂

Lewis Ball: What’s the wages for a player like him at this level 😂

Antony Boot: IMO good riddance..

@NMFCJC08: Always on the move i swear

Ian Wells: Loves a new tracksuit 😂😂

Mark Davison: Great loyalty 😀

Ryan Bigpoppa Brown:
Fair play to him
Premier league player still playing in the lower levels of English football
Gotta commend him for that

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