Robert Earnshaw
Robert Earnshaw is a Welsh former international footballer who played as a forward. He is the only player to have scored a hat-trick in the Premier League, all three divisions of the English Football League, the League Cup, the FA Cup, and for his country in an international match.
Born in Zambia and raised in South Wales, Earnshaw joined Cardiff City as a Youth Training Scheme trainee in 1997, and turned professional a year later. After making his debut at the age of sixteen, he spent a brief spell on loan with Greenock Morton before establishing himself in the first team. His prolific goalscoring saw him break several club records as he helped the club win promotion to the First Division in 2003. Scoring over 30 times in the First Division following promotion, he joined Premier League club West Bromwich Albion for £3.5 million in August 2004.
He played for several English clubs before later in his career playing in Israel, Canada, and the United States. After leaving Cardiff City in 2004, Earnshaw's transfer fees totalled £12,650,000. He made his international debut for Wales in 2002 and scored 16 goals in 59 games for the national side, making him its eighth-highest all-time goalscorer.
Early life
One of five children, Earnshaw was born on the outskirts of the Zambian mining town of Mufulira on 6 April 1981 to Rita and English-born father David Earnshaw. His mother was a professional footballer in Zambia and later became a boxer and his father was a manager of a gold mine. His uncle Fidelis was also a professional footballer who played for Nkana and two of his cousins, Kalusha and Joel Bwalya, represented Zambia at international level. Kalusha later went on to become president of the Football Association of Zambia.When Earnshaw was five, his family moved to Malawi where his father took charge of a coal mine and his youngest son began attending St. Andrews School in Lilongwe. The school was a six-hour drive from the family home and Earnshaw was forced to fly to the school each Monday with his brother David and three sisters, Sharon, Joanne and Diane, and live there through the week before flying home each Friday. He went on to attend Viphya School where he was taught the Chewa language, already being able to speak Bemba and English.
The family's stay was to be a short one again; in 1990, Earnshaw's father contracted typhoid fever and died in May of that year. Following the death of her husband, Rita decided to move the family to Bedwas, a small Welsh town near Caerphilly where her sister lived, in 1991. Earnshaw later commented: "It was the first time I had been away from Zambia. It was much colder as well, just every little thing was different, everyone spoke English over here and although I could speak a little bit I had to learn. But when you're a kid you just get on with it." While living in Bedwas he became friends with David Pipe who lived nearby.
It was in Wales that he began playing football, kicking a ball around with friends between and after classes at Cardinal Newman RC School, Pontypridd, the school he moved on to after a spell at St. Helen's Primary. He grew up supporting Manchester United and also excelled at gymnastics and basketball. Cardinal Newman was a rugby union-playing school so Earnshaw's first organised football match came at the age of 11 with local youth side Llanbradach. After a year, he joined GE Wales where he gained reputation as a prolific goalscorer, netting 80 times in a single season.
Club career
Cardiff City
Earnshaw's youth team, GE Wales, played their home matches in Treforest on a pitch nearby to the youth team base of Cardiff City. In 1997, Earnshaw scored a hat-trick during a youth match that was being watched by Gavin Tait, then a youth team coach for Cardiff, who invited Earnshaw and some of his teammates to training and, on 1 August, he signed a one-year YTS contract at Ninian Park. He had also previously been watched by scouts from Manchester United. He progressed through Cardiff's youth development programme, scoring over 47 goals for the club's youth side during a single season including a hat-trick in a Welsh Youth Cup final victory over Llanelli, before being handed his debut in an FAW Invitation Cup match against Wrexham on 27 October 1997 at the age of sixteen. He made his professional debut on 6 September 1997 as a substitute in place of Scott Partridge during a 2–0 defeat to Millwall in the Football League Trophy. He made his league debut four months later, again as a substitute in place of Wayne O'Sullivan during a 0–0 draw with Brighton & Hove Albion on 28 March 1998, and made four further league appearances during the 1997–98 season without scoring.Four days prior to the start of the following season, Earnshaw signed his first full-time professional contract in August 1998 and was handed a start in the first game of the season in an away match against Hartlepool United. With Cardiff losing 1–0, Earnshaw scored a bicycle kick from ten yards out following a cross by John Williams to earn his side a point. However, after appearing in three further matches during the opening month of the season, he spent time away from Cardiff to attend trials with Middlesbrough under Bryan Robson and Fulham under Kevin Keegan. He returned to Cardiff but struggled to break into the side under manager Frank Burrows with Earnshaw later stating that he believed Burrows thought he would not "make the grade." After making a single appearance at the start of the 1999–2000 season, Earnshaw was loaned to Scottish side Greenock Morton in January 2000 by Burrows to gain experience and "toughen up", living above a local pub. Earnshaw later admitted that the experience at Morton helped him, commenting "It made me realise that I needed to work hard at my game so I could show Cardiff City that I could become a good player." During his loan spell, he played three games in the Scottish Football League First Division, scoring twice, and one Scottish Cup tie against Rangers. Originally signing on an initial three-month loan deal, he was recalled by Cardiff manager Billy Ayre after just one month when he replaced Burrows in charge and made five appearances in the final three months of the season, scoring once in a 2–1 defeat to Bournemouth.
The following season proved to be a breakout year for Earnshaw as he established himself in the first team, scoring 25 goals in all competitions including hat-tricks in a league match against Torquay United and a third round FA Cup tie against Bristol Rovers. His form saw him receive Cardiff's Young Player of the Year award and saw him named in the Football League Third Division PFA Team of the Year. In the 2002–03 season, Earnshaw scored on the opening day of the season in a 2–1 victory over Oldham Athletic but was used largely as a substitute in the opening month after manager Lennie Lawrence opted to play Andy Campbell after Earnshaw failed to score in pre-season. However, on 11 September 2002 he was handed a start against Boston United in the League Cup and scored a hat-trick. He went on to enjoy a prolific season, scoring two further hat-tricks in matches against Queens Park Rangers and Tranmere Rovers and also scored six braces, as Cardiff won promotion to the First Division after defeating Queens Park Rangers in the 2003 Football League Second Division play-off final at the Millennium Stadium. He finished the season with 35 goals in all competitions, despite scoring only once in his last eleven matches, breaking a club record for most goals scored in a single season which was previously held by Hughie Ferguson's tally of 32 during the 1926–27 season. His 31 goals in league matches also broke a 56-year-old club record previously held by Stan Richards.
At the end of the season, Earnshaw was named Young Welsh Footballer of the Year, and was named in the PFA Division Two Team of the Year. Following the club's promotion, Earnshaw continued his form and scored over 30 goals during his first season in the First Division, including a four-goal haul during a 5–0 victory over Gillingham and a hat-trick against Leyton Orient in the League Cup.
His continued goalscoring form attracted attention from numerous clubs, including Scottish side Celtic and Premier League clubs Fulham, Charlton Athletic and Aston Villa. Cardiff chairman Sam Hammam had strongly resisted any potential approaches for Earnshaw and at one point claimed that "They would hang me in the city centre" if he was sold.
West Bromwich Albion
However, at the start of the following season, Earnshaw was transferred from Cardiff to West Bromwich Albion for £3 million, a fee that could have reached a maximum of £3.62 million with performance-related add-ons. His agent Mel Eves was fined 30,000 Swiss francs by FIFA in July 2007 over his role in the transfer. Eves was found guilty of acting for both his client and the buying club in the deal.Earnshaw made his Albion début in a 3–0 defeat at Liverpool on 11 September 2004, coming on as a second-half substitute. He scored his first goals for Albion in his seventh appearance, netting twice in a 2–2 draw at Southampton on 6 November 2004 and scores in the club's following two matches against Middlesbrough and Arsenal. His first and only Premier League hat-trick came against Charlton Athletic on 19 March 2005 after coming on as a substitute with 30 minutes remaining, scoring the first Premier League hat-trick scored by a West Bromwich Albion player. The hat-trick also meant the Earnshaw became the only player to have scored hat-tricks in all four professional divisions in England, the FA Cup, League Cup and in an international fixture. Although goals such as these helped the club retain their Premiership status, manager Bryan Robson preferred to use him from the bench as an impact player rather than as a starter. Nevertheless, Earnshaw finished as Albion's top goalscorer for that season with 14 goals, earning him the Ronnie Allen trophy.
He remained in the squad for 2005–06, although West Brom signed several additional forwards including Diomansy Kamara and Nathan Ellington as competition for places became more significant. In December 2005, Earnshaw submitted two transfer requests, but both were rejected. However, in January 2006 manager Bryan Robson said that Earnshaw would be allowed to leave, assuming there was a fair transfer fee on offer. Following his departure, Earnshaw criticised Robson over his treatment at the club and the lack of first team opportunities given to him. Robson rejected Earnshaw's claims and commented "the percentages when I used Earnshaw compared to the points we collected just don't stack up."