Cureton signs up with Blues
Blues’ supporters have helped fund the shock signing of former Premier League star Jamie Cureton.
The 42-year-old joins from Evo-Stik South rivals Farnborough after the Hampshire side slashed their wage bill, with his wages part-funded by Blues’ Supporters’ Club’s 12th Man Appeal where fans contribute to signing specific players.
The mercurial striker made his debut in New Year’s Day’s 3-0 home loss against Royston Town, putting the ball in the net only to see the effort ruled out for offside.
With only two other members of the Stortford squad – player coach Mark Hughes and another recent recruit from the 12th Man Appeal Josh Simpson – within 20-years of Cureton, his signing should provide some much needed experience for Kevin Watson’s side,
The lack of experience in Blues’ squad was emphasised and Farnborough arrived at the ProKit UK Stadium in November, with Cureton having scored his first Premiership goal before any of the Stortford team that day where born. Cureton hit the bar late in that game as Jordan Westcott salvaged a late point for Blues.
Cureton began his professional career with Norwich City, before moving on to Bristol Rovers. In 1993, he turned down an offer from Manchester United to stay at Carrow Road.
The Bristol-born striker achieved significant status with the Norwich fans when he dyed his hair yellow and green for a derby game against Ipswich Town in 1996 and subsequently scoring in the same fixture
His time at Rovers saw an impressive 72 goals in 174 games, and a move to Reading proved equally successful with 50 goals in 108 appearances – and spell that impressed a group of fans so much they paid to have a newly discovered star named after him.
Spells at Korean side Busan Ipark, Queens Park Rangers, Swindon and Colchester United (where won the Golden Boot in the Championship with 24 goals) followed before returning to Norwich in 2007. His three years back at Carrow Road saw only sporadic appearances, punctuated by loan spells at Barnsley and Shrewsbury Town.
He left Norwich in the summer of 2010 to join Exeter City,and also had spells at Leyton Orient and Cheltenham Town before competing his Football League career in 2014/15 season at Dagenham & Redbridge where he won the club’s player-of-the-year award.
In total he scored 278 goals in the top four divisions of the English game, and as well as three spells at Farnborough has also played at St Albans City and Eastleigh.
