AS THE Premier League turns 30 tonight, have you ever wondered which Weymouth and Dorchester Town players have experience in England’s top flight?
Well, you’re in luck as we’ve trawled through the nitty gritty statistics, player records and any other scraps we could find to compile a 23-strong list.
Dorchester Town
Danny Ings
FIRST on the list is Danny Ings, the striker having spent time on loan at the Avenue Stadium while on loan from Bournemouth in 2010.
Ings made nine appearances, scoring four goals, for the Magpies and has since enjoyed the Premier League at Burnley, Liverpool, Southampton and current club Aston Villa.
READ MORE: Jordan Ngalo signs for Dorchester Town
He currently has 170 Premier League appearances, 62 goals and 19 assists to his name.
Tom Soares
DORCHESTER’S most recent member of the Premier League club enters this list having spent the entire 2021/22 season with the Magpies.
Soares played for Stoke City and Crystal Palace in England’s top flight, moving from the Eagles to the Potters for £1.71m in 2008.
Soares has 29 Premier League appearances, no goals and two assists.
Nick Crittenden
HAVING risen through the youth ranks at Chelsea, Nick Crittenden made two Premier League appearances in the 1997/98 season for the Blues.
Crittenden came on as a substitute on both occasions, in a 1-0 loss to Blackburn and then more famously for Gianfranco Zola, who had just bagged a hat-trick in a 4-0 thrashing of Derby.
Crittenden went on to play more than 250 games for Dorchester and also 68 for Weymouth in a distinguished career, although he failed to score or assist a Premier League goal.
Neil Finn
HISTORY was made when Neil Finn made what proved to be his one and only Premier League appearance for West Ham United.
Finn was only 17 at the time and his debut came as a result of senior goalkeepers Ludek Miklosko and Les Sealey’s respective suspension and injury.
West Ham were not permitted to bring in another keeper, so Finn got his maiden appearance and became the youngest player in Premier League history.
Although that distinction now belongs to Liverpool’s Harvey Elliott, Finn remains the youngest Premier League goalkeeper ever.
He then went out on loan to Dorchester in the 1997/98 season.
Jon Gittens
CENTRE-BACK Jon Gittens has 13 Premier League appearances for Middlesbrough, all the way back in the Premier League’s inaugural 1992/93 season.
To get his shot with Boro, he first impressed in the previous campaign helping the Teesiders win promotion while on loan from Southampton.
Gittens then ended his career with Dorchester in 2001 before moving into coaching with Fareham at the end of the year.
Very sadly, he died aged 55 and has a pitch at St George’s Park named in his memory.
Ian Selley
MIDFIELDER Ian Selley played 41 Premier League games for Arsenal between 1992 and 1997.
He was with the Gunners for the 1997/98 campaign but failed to make an appearance.
Selley managed to accumulate eight yellow cards during his time in North London, also making three assists.
Dorchester came calling in the 2009/10 season and he chalked up 15 games and a goal for the Magpies.
Dani Rodrigues
PORTUGUESE winger Dani Rodrigues is another player with just a handful of Premier League appearances.
He took to the field twice for Southampton in the 1999/2000 campaign, failing to score or assist.
Rodrigues played for a host of clubs after leaving the Saints, joining Dorchester for four games in 2007 where he also missed out on a goal involvement.
Matty Holmes
PERHAPS one of Dorchester’s most famous players ever, classy midfielder Matty Holmes enjoyed a long Premier League career.
He played 58 times for West Ham between 1993 and 1995, scoring four times, adding a further nine games and a goal for Blackburn in the 1995/96 season.
Holmes has 11 Premier League assists and finished his playing career with Dorchester between 2000 and 2004, chalking up 170 appearances and netting 19 times. He also had a brief loan spell with rivals Weymouth.
David Wright
DEFENDER David Wright made it into the Premier League with Wigan Athletic in the noughties.
He featured 14 times for the Latics between 2005 and 2007, keeping two clean sheets.
Wright had previously played nine times for Dorchester Town in the 1999/2000 campaign, eight in the league and once in the FA Cup.
Anyone else?
KIEFFER Moore, who scored seven goals in 13 games for Dorchester in 2013, will surely make his Premier League debut with promoted side Bournemouth this season.
Jonah Ayunga, Alan Knight and Richard Martin all came very close to the Premier League, as did Nathan Craig.
Weymouth
Steve Claridge
ONE of Weymouth’s most famous players, Steve Claridge accumulated 11 goals in 49 Premier League appearances for Leicester.
He was with the Foxes between 1996 and 1998 and also claimed five assists before re-joining Weymouth where he built his total appearances for the Terras over the 150 mark, with more than 50 goals.
Matt Bound
POPULAR defender Matt Bound had a piledriver of a free-kick on him but was more famous for his stint with Southampton.
He played four times in the Premier League across the 1992/93 and 1993/94 seasons and would go on to play 81 times, scoring 16 goals, for Weymouth between 2004 and 2006.
Mark Travers
CURRENT Bournemouth keeper Mark Travers excelled on his Premier League debut in 2019, producing an inspired display to keep Spurs at bay for a 1-0 win.
He has since claimed the number one spot at Vitality Stadium and looks set to add to his tally with the Cherries in the new season.
Irish stopper Travers played 23 times for Weymouth in the 2017/18 season, famously scoring at Bishop’s Stortford.
Shaun Teale
SHAUN Teale is only the second player so far on this list to chalk up a century of Premier League games.
He played 105 times in the top flight, scoring twice and making three assists, for Aston Villa between the Premier League’s first and third seasons.
Prior to moving to Villa, Teale appeared 100 times for Weymouth and scored four goals.
Andy Townsend
THE third Premier League centurion on this list is the famed Andy Townsend.
Not only did Townsend play 215 times in the top flight, he scored 13 times and produced 30 assists during spells with Chelsea, Aston Villa and Middlesbrough.
Weymouth featured early in his career, where he played 40 times and scored 16 goals.
Sam Surridge
ONE of the more modern Premier League players to have played for Weymouth is striker Sam Surridge.
All six of his top flight appearances came for Bournemouth between 2018 and 2020 but he will have a chance to add to that tally with promoted side Nottingham Forest.
He played seven times at Weymouth in the 2015/16 season, scoring once while on loan from the Cherries.
Paolo Vernazza
PLAYMAKER Paolo Vernazza enjoyed five Premier League appearances at Arsenal between 1997 and 2001.
He scored for the Gunners in a 2-1 win over Coventry in 2000 and seven years later wound up at Weymouth where he scored once in 27 games.
Trevor Challis
QPR defender Trevor Challis notched 13 Premier League matches for the Hoops in the 1995/96 season.
He would later make nearly 150 appearances for Bristol Rovers and spent three years at Weymouth from 2005, earning 60 games in the Terras jersey.
Challis was also a member of the side that won the 2005/2006 Conference South title at Weymouth.
Dean Holdsworth
RIGHTLY going down as a Premier League legend, striker Dean Holdsworth racked up an impressive 228 matches in the top flight.
Holdsworth made his name with Wimbledon before joining Bolton, scoring 63 goals and assisting 16 in the Premier League.
However, he only played four times for Weymouth in 2006, without scoring.
Neil Webb
AMONG Weymouth’s big-name players of yesteryear, Neil Webb played in the Premier League’s maiden year.
He started at Manchester United, playing once, before sealing a move to Nottingham Forest, where he added a further nine appearances.
Webb later signed for Weymouth as player-coach but resigned for personal reasons after playing eight times, complete with two goals.
Lee Philpott
COMING under the Leicester bracket – like other players on this list – is Lee Philpott.
Midfielder Philpott earned a move to the Foxes and played 23 games in the 1994/95 Premier League campaign, without scoring or assisting.
However, between 2003 and 2004 he played 75 times for the Terras, scoring five goals.
Stephen Cooke
PERHAPS one of the players to slightly fly under the radar is Stephen Cooke.
Cooke was with Aston Villa from 2000 to 2005 yet only secured three appearances, all in the 2002/03 season.
The midfielder went on to play four matches in the Weymouth colours in 2009.
John McGrath
PRECEDING Cooke at Villa was John McGrath, who also played a handful of matches for the Villains.
Irish midfielder McGrath recorded three Premier League appearances, all coming in the 2000/01 campaign.
McGrath enjoyed a brief yet successful stint at Weymouth, scoring three times in 13 games in 2006.
Rob Wolleaston
IT DOES not matter if it’s only one game, you’re still a Premier League player.
Rob Wolleaston is probably not a household name with Weymouth fans, or Chelsea fans for that matter, but he did play once for the Blues in the Premier League.
That sole appearance came in 1999/2000 and he then played for Weymouth in the 2010/11 campaign, scoring a respectable six goals in 35 matches.
Anyone else?
JAIDON Anthony, Christian Saydee and Will Dennis have all played for Weymouth in the past five years and could make their Premier League debut with Bournemouth.
The likes of Adam Legzdins, Bondz N'Gala and Mark Peters also came particularly close to becoming a Premier League player.
*Reckon we’ve missed somebody? Contact sport@dorsetecho.co.uk to put a player’s name forward!
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