DREW TALBOT

Full Name: Andrew Talbot

Born: 19 July 1986

Came from: Chesterfield   Went to: Chesterfield

First game: 31 January 2015   Last game: 14 March 2015

Appearances: 9 (9/0)   Goals: 0

Talbot became manager John Sheridan's fifth acquisition of the January 2015 transfer window and his 16th signing since the close of the previous campaign, but the loan until the end of the season came as no great surprise - Sheridan had signed him when he took charge at Chesterfield in 2009 and Argyle had shown great interest in the versatile player earlier that year.

Born in Barnsley, Talbot progressed through Sheffield Wednesday's youth ranks to earn his first team debut as a substitute in October 2004, thanks to manager Paul Sturrock, with his first appearance in the starting line-up coming a month later. Still only 18, he scored 4 goals in 25 games for Wednesday that season, including a goal in the final few seconds of the League One play-off final in front of nearly 60,000 at the Millennium Stadium.

After such a promising start, luck deserted the striker the following season; a back injury ruled him out of the first team for the whole of the 2005-06 campaign. Another eight appearances, mostly as substitute, came in the Championship in the autumn of 2006 (lining up alongside Graham Coughlan) before a loan move to Scunthorpe United in January 2007. One goal and three appearances later, the loan arrangement was cut short to allow him to sign for Luton Town for a reported £250,000.

Still playing up front, Talbot scored five goals in 63 games for Luton over the following two years. His first goal for the Hatters came in his home league debut in February 2007, against his former club, Sheffield Wednesday, but his efforts over the following months were not enough to prevent Luton's drop to League One. A virtuoso display against Liverpool in the FA Cup for Luton in January 2008 earned him the nickname 'Ginger Maradona', which was quickly followed by interest from Italian club Brescia, but Talbot turned down a move to the Serie B side on transfer deadline day. Also in that window came an unsuccessful bid for Talbot and his strike partner, Calvin Andrew, from Paul Sturrock at Home Park.

A knee injury in March 2008 left Talbot on the sidelines until the following November, when he returned to play only eight more games for Luton. In the January 2009 transfer window he was allowed to leave Kenilworth Road to join Chesterfield on loan for the remainder of the season, an arrangement that was made permanent in the summer by the new Spireites boss, John Sheridan. It was whilst with Chesterfield that Sheridan converted the striker to a right-back or right-winger.

Talbot was a regular for the League Two club over the following two seasons and helped them to promotion as champions in 2011, earning himself a new contract that May. He continued as a regular in Chesterfield's 2011-12 League One campaign, but the season ended with relegation back to the fourth tier, although he did help the Spireites win the Johnstone's Paint Trophy at Wembley Stadium in March 2012. He continued to hold down a regular place back in League Two, earning himself yet another two year contract in May 2013, and once again helped his side to win the League Two title in 2013-14.

Before his loan to Argyle, Talbot amassed 19 goals in 231 appearances over six years for Chesterfield, although he played for much of their promotion-winning 2013-14 season with an underlying injury that required surgery and a long absence from the game. His first game for the Spireites in over eight months came in January 2015, just three days before his arrival at Home Park. Initially playing as a right wing-back, he quickly made a favourable impression but it was after a switch to centre-midfield that he won man-of-the-match plaudits. In mid-March, just when it seemed that Talbot might have a key role to play in the Pilgrims' play-off push, the disappointing news came that he had been recalled by Chesterfield with only a half of his expected loan spell completed.

Talbot was released by Chesterfield in May 2016, and a month later signed a two-year contract at Portsmouth, reuniting with former Chesterfield manager Paul Cook. However, but he made only 14 appearances before leaving the club by mutual agreement in December 2017.

Later that month he returned to Chesterfield, where he played until the end of his final contract in June 2019. In his total of 10 seasons with the Spireites, he made 299 appearances and scored 19 goals. A month later, he announced his retirement from football.