George Boyd

Club

_Retired Soccer

Position

Midfielder

Nationality

Scotland

Date of birth

1985-10-02

Birthplace

Chatham, England

Height

1.85

Weight

78

George Jan Boyd (born 2 October 1985) is a professional footballer who plays as a midfielder.
Boyd started his career in the Charlton Athletic youth system, joining Stevenage Borough of the Conference National in 2001 and making his first-team debut in 2002. Boyd spent five seasons at Stevenage, scoring over thirty goals from midfield in all competitions. He left in January 2007 to join League Two side Peterborough United for a fee of £260,000, and won two successive promotions in the 2007–08 and 2008–09 seasons. In March 2010, Boyd joined Nottingham Forest on loan until the end of the 2009–10 season. On return to his parent club in July 2010, Boyd signed a new three-year contract at Peterborough. In February 2013, Boyd joined Hull City on loan for the remainder of the 2012–13 season, and he helped the club earn promotion back to the Premier League during his time there. Shortly after the end of the season, he signed for the club on a permanent basis.

He also played for the England National Game XI team, who represent England at non-League level, from 2005 to 2006, earning six caps and scoring one goal. Boyd was born and raised in England, and also qualified to play for Scotland through his maternal grandfather. After playing for the Scotland B team in 2009, he earned his first cap at senior level in 2013.

On 1 September 2014, Burnley signed Boyd on a three-year deal. On 18 October Boyd scored his first Premier League goal in a losing effort against West Ham United F.C. in a 3–1 defeat for the clarets. On 2 December Boyd scored his second league goal of the season in a 1–1 draw with Newcastle. On 28 December Boyd scored the opening goal for Burnley in a 2–2 draw over Manchester City. On 1 January 2015 Boyd scored the equaliser in the 86th minute in a 3–3 draw over Newcastle. On 14 March Boyd scored the winner against Manchester City in the 61st minute.

Boyd is generally deployed as a winger, and has been used on the left-wing throughout the majority of his career. He has described himself as a winger, but has stated that he prefers to play "in the hole" because the position allows him to get more time on the ball. He has expressed his willingness to "play anywhere" to help the team, believing his versatility across the midfield and attacking areas to be one of his main strong-points. He said "I have played on both sides of the park and will always try my best to do a good job regardless of where the manager plays me". Under former Peterborough Un