British Players in Singapore

There have been many British players who have turned out for Singaporean teams over the years, not just Jermaine Pennant. With plenty of time on my hands and still no local football I have decided to look into some of the stories behind the British players who have played in the Singapore.

Jason Ainsley – Jurong and Balestier Khalsa

Stockton born midfielder Jason Ainsley was a lower league journeyman who played one season in the football league for Hartlepool in 1994 scoring one goal. In the late 90’s, after a short spell in Australia, he was signed by Jurong’s Scottish manager Jimmy Pearson. In 1999 Ainsley, who captained the team as well as being top scorer, finding the net 19 times, almost led Jurong to victory in the Singapore Cup final. The following year he joined Balestier Khalsa and again was top scorer, albeit with only 4 goals in a team that only managed 12 all season and finished bottom of the league. For more than a decade Jason Ainsley has been manager of Spennymoor Town in the National League North. He has managed the club in over 600 games, won four promotions, five league titles and 3 cups including a memorable Wembley victory in the 2013 FA Vase. In the past he has hinted that he would be open to returning to Singapore to take up a coaching position here but I can’t see him leaving a club where the fans have nicknamed him God.

Thomas Beattie – Hougang United and Warriors

Attacking midfielder Beattie was part the Warriors team that won the S-League in 2014. The Yorkshire born player spent time in North America before being brought to Singapore by fellow Brit Alex Weaver who managed Hougang at the time. His first season of S. League football saw him contribute two goals from midfield in 23 league matches. When Weaver moved to Warriors he took Beattie with him and he was integral in the rebirth of the club. The next season started well for Beattie with him winning the community shield with Warriors as well as playing in the opening games of the Asian Champions League. However disaster struck for Beattie in a game against Geylang when he sustained a life threatening head injury which resulted in a brain haemorrhage, facial reconstruction surgery and the end of his career. Beattie recovered from the injury and remained in Singapore. He has gone on to become a successful entrepreneur, model and football pundit.

Brian Bothwell – Geylang United

Scottish born Brian Bothwell is best known for his time in Brunei where he was part of the team that won the Malaysia Cup in 1999. He became a bit of a celebrity in the country, even having his marriage screened live on TV in Brunei and seemed set to remain in Brunei for the long-term. However, following rule changes effecting foreign players in Malaysia the striker made the move to Geylang United where he scored 17 times in his first season. However, Bothwell found infamy when he was one of four players arrested for match fixing. He went on to coach youth teams in Singapore.

Michael Currie – Marine Castle

Michael Currie is well remembered in Singapore despite only spending one season with Marine Castle. Currie joined Marine Castle in 1999 on loan from QPR and the pacey winger left a lasting impression with fans. The way that he ran at defences was terrifying, but goals, although they did come, were not frequent and he was unable to stop Marine Castle from finishing bottom of the league. However, the future looked bright for Currie, making the first team on his return to QPR, but a serious injury meant he never truly reached his potential. Currie could reportedly run 100m in less than 11 seconds and much of his game was built around this blistering pace which he never quite regained after breaking his metatarsal. Currie went on to play for several English non-league teams including 2 stints at Hayes and time with Maidenhead United, Hampton and Staines Town.

Tom English – Marine Castle

The son of a former Coventry striker Tom English played for the Arsenal youth team before signing for Harwich & Parkeston of the Jewson Premier League. English had trials with QPR and Ipswich and played in an FA Premier Reserve League match. In 2001, Tom signed for Marine Castle and was the team’s top scorer with 15 goals in the league. The lanky 18 year old carried the team at times but was unable to help them finish higher than 11th in the 12 team league. Tom returned to England and was set for more trails with professional teams before suffering a life threatening injury, falling from a balcony while on holiday in Tenerife. After recovering English played for several non-league teams in England before retiring from the game in 2011. He now works as a postman.

Craig Fagan – DPMM

There haven’t been many players who have played in both the English and Singaporean premier league, one of the lesser known ones is former Hull City favourite Craig Fagan. Pacey winger Fagan, who made more than 150 appearances for Hull and played 4 seasons in the English premier league made the switch to Steve Kean’s DPMM in February 2015. Expectations were high, however disaster struck in Fagan’s third game in the S-League when he suffered a career ending achilles tendon injury. Fagan is now a UEFA A Licenced coach who joined the academy team at Hull before taking over as U23 coach at Southend last year.

Daniel Hammond – Young Lions, Woodands Wellington, Balestier Khalsa, Singapore Armed Forces, Geylang United

From the age of 9 central defender Daniel Hammond worked his way through the youth systems at Norwich and Cambridge. He represented the England Schoolboys team in 2000/01, playing alongside the likes of Wayne Rooney, James Milner and Ross Turnbull, before becoming a regular feature in Cambridge’s youth and reserve sides. However, he was never offered a professional contract and instead dropped down to pay for Kings Lyn. Hammond made the move to Singapore in 2008 and joined Young Lions where he helped them to reach the semi-finals in both the League and Singapore Cup. In 2009 Hammond played 28 games for Woodlands Wellington scoring 8 times before making the move to a Balestier Khalsa side that had been struggling for some time. Hammond captained the team and alongside Aussie Paul Cunningham formed half of the ‘Twin Towers’ defensive partnership. Balestier finished a respectable 8th that season with Rivaldo (not that one) soring more than half their goals. Off the back of a successful season with Balestier, Hammond earned a move to SAFFC but he was unable to break the Bennett-Mamadou partnership so was realeased in July 2011 when he joined Geylang United, his 5thclub in Singapore. The highlight of Hammond’s time with Geylang was the goal he scored against the club that had let him go earlier in the season in his final game for the club. https://www.facebook.com/geylanginternationalfc/videos/10151064763145377/. Hammond re-joined Woodlands Wellington for the 2012 season but couldn’t stop them from finishing bottom of the league that year and was realeased at the end of the season. Hammond still lives in Singapore and is a personal trainer at Core Collective.

Adam Mitter – Hougang United

Shrewsbury born defender Mitter has played for 15 different clubs in 9 countries, England, Scotland, Sweden, Australia, the Philippines, India, Singapore, Canada and Indonesia. His single stint in Singapore was a disappointing 6 months in 2018 with Hougang United. Mitter was 25 when he made the move to Singapore but he had already played in Scotland, Sweden , the Philippines and India. The no-nonsense centre back, a product of Blackpool’s and Hibernians youth teams was full of praise for his new team saying that “Philippe Aw and his coaching staff are probably the best whom I’ve worked under”. However, halfway through the season and with Hougang far adrift at the bottom of the league Mitter left the club and returned to the Philippines. Since then he has played in the first season of the Canadian Premier league and now turns out for Persiraja in the Indonesian top tier.

Adam Mitter has played in 9 countries, including 6 months in Singapore.

Kevin McCann – Warriors

Glaswegian Kevin McCann partnered fellow Brit Thomas Beattie in midfield during Warrior’s 2014 S-League triumph, becoming the first Scottish payer to lift the trophy in a team managed by Alex Weaver. McCann began his career at Hibs where he won the Scottish League Cup and also earnt call ups to the Scotland U20 and U21 teams. The defensive midfielder complimented Beattie’s more attacking style but also contributed some vital goals including a 35 yard free kick against title rivals DPMM. He played every game during Warriors championship season but was not selected for Warrior’s Champions League squad next season. A disappointing season followed with Warriors finishing 5th out of 10 teams and after making 42 appearances for Warriors McCann returned to Scotland playing for Falkirk and Albion Rovers before dropping down to play in the Lowland League. McCann is now a financial advisor.

Brian Mclean - DPMM

Brian Mclean had two spells in the S-league. He was part of Steve Kean’s 2015 DPMM team that lifted the S-league title. Before signing for the wasps in February 2015, the defender played for Motherwell, Falkirk, Dundee United and Ross County, clocking up almost 150 appearances in the top-tier of Scottish football. Mclean represented Scotland at youth level but his single senior international cap was for Northern Ireland in 2006. Mclean would have probably gone on to play more times for Northern Ireland if not for a delay in processing his paperwork for his switch of international allegiance. He spent two seasons in Brunei during his first spell, winning the league and then following it up with a 3rd place finish and playing 61 times and scoring an impressive 8 times. Following the change in the rules on foreign players McClean returned to Scotland on a short term deal to help Neil Lennon’s injury hit Hibs as they pushed for promotion back to the Scottish Premier league. But Mclean was not ready to settle down and headed to Iceland to win the league with IBV before returning to DPMM playing 28 times and scoring 3 more goals. Mclean’s last game in Singaporean football was losing out to Albirex in the 2018 cup final. Mclean is currently playing back in Scotland with Greenock Morton but don’t rule out another return to Brunei for a player who has often spoken of his fondness for the country.

Mclean in action for DPMM

Max Nicholson – Geylang United and Woodlands

Max Nicholson was another of the British players involved in the match fixing scandal in the late 90’s when he was the victim of an attempted assault. He began his career as a trainee with Doncaster Rovers and also played for Hereford United, Torquay United and then Scunthorpe United playing in excess of 150 league games in England. The skilful left sided midfielder was capable of scoring some great goals (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cfm7OdmO0f4 and always looked to get forward as much as possible. He left England and signed for Geylang in the 1998 season before he joined his former Scunthorpe team-mate and close friend Stuart Young and fellow Englishman Christian Sansam at Woodlands in 1999. Nicholson spent 2 seasons with Woodlands before joining up with Young again at Wollongong Wolves in Australia where forming part of the squad that was to win the league. Nicholson is now a car salesman

Liam Shotton – Hougang United, Tiong Bahru,

After playing for a number of English non-league teams striker Liam Shotton joined fellow Englishmen Thomas Beattie and coach Alex Weaver when he signed for Hougang United in 2013. The tall striker scored in his first game, a pre-season friendly against Warriors (https://youtu.be/-zC8ShjJY8w?t=64 ) but went on to score only 5 times in total. However, the connections that Shotton made during his season with Hougang have gone on to serve him well. He went on to co-found a technology company with Beattie and also teamed up with strike partner Robert Eziakor to find success at Tiong Bahru in the semi-professional NFL in Singapore. Shotton was part of the Tiong Bahru team managed by Eziakor which won the double in 2019 and he also won player of the year and topped the clubs scoring charts. As well as continuing to play semi-professionally, Shotton is a coach for Coerver coaching.

Zak Whitbread – Geylang (Youth Team)

Bit of a dodgy one this (for a few reasons) but I’m adding him to the list. Injury prone centre back Whitbread played for Millwall, Norwich, Leicester, Derby and Shrewsbury appearing in the premier league with Norwich in 2011. American born (told you it was dodgy) Whitbread spent 5 years living in Singapore when his father, Barry Whitbread, managed the national team and during that time played for Geylang United Youth team. At 15 Whitbread returned to the UK to join the youth team at Liverpool.

Jason White – Sengkang Marine

Striker Jason White joined Sengkang Marine after being released by Cheltenham Town. White was a proven goal scorer in the English lower leagues for teams such as Scunthorpe and Rotherham finding the net around 80 times before his move to Singapore. White continued to show an eye for goal in his single season playing for Marine, scoring 14 times for the club and helpng them finish a respectable 8th in the 12 team league. Sengkang Marine did not complete in the S-league in the following season so White returned to England and ended his career with Grantham Town.

Mark Williams – Woodlands Wellington

Former Brentford and Barnet winger Williams spent one season in the Singapore Premier League, turning out for Woodlands Wellington in 2005. He sustained a career ending back injury while playing in Singapore and, after a short stint as a personal trainer, is now a furniture designer.

Stuart Young – Woodlands Wellington and Home United

Striker Stuart Young spent three successful seasons in Singapore, playing for Woodlands Wellington and Home United. Young started his career at Arsenal in 1990 before moving to his home town team Hull City. He went on to play for Northampton Town, Scarborough, Scunthorpe and Blyth Spartans, finding the net 20 ties during his time in England. In 1996 Young Joined Woodlands Wellington for the first ever season of the S-League scoring 9 goals in 21 games but he is best remembered for his season with Home United. Young scored 22 goals during the 1998 season for the protectors earning him the title of the league’s top scorer that year, the only British player to ever receive this accolade. After leaving Singapore Young continued to bang the goals in and had a successful spell in Australia with Wollongong Wolves and a less successful time with Perth Glory. Young captained Wollongong Wolves to two league titles, the Oceania Champions league and an appearance in the Club World Cup and is the team’s highest ever league scorer with 60 goals. He moved to Perth Glory for the first A-League season but Steve McMahon, who managed Glory at the time, was reluctant to play the striker, leaving him on the bench for most of the season. In 2017 Young returned to play in an exhibition game to mark 22 years since the formation of Woodlands Wellington. Jacob Young, Stuart’s son, is currently playing professionally in Germany maybe we’ll see him follow in his father’s footsteps and play in Singapore one day.

To keep up to date with football in Singapore, you can follow me on twitter @kevindunkerley