Billy Clifford
From TheChels.info - The Chelsea Football Club Wiki
| Billy Clifford | |
| |
| Full Name | Billy Clifford |
| Date of Birth | 18 October 1992 |
| Place of Birth | Chippenham, England |
| Position | Attacking Midfielder |
| Chelsea career | 1999 - 2014 |
| Debut | n/a |
| Games (goals) | n/a |
| Other clubs | Colchester United (loan) Yeovil Town (loan) Royal Antwerp (loan) |
Billy Clifford (born 18 October 1992 in Chippenham, England) is an attacking midfielder who formerly played for Chelsea.
Contents |
Pre-Chelsea career
Billy joined Chelsea as an Under-8.
Chelsea career
Billy spent most of his time as a first-year scholar at right-back, where he was able to give good balance to the team when using the club’s then-utilised diamond midfield formation. With the transition back to 4-3-3, his attacking instincts continued to develop from that position. The second half of the season saw further development and more appearances for Steve Holland’s reserves, after making a surprisingly early leap to the next level.
He played a key part in the club's FA Youth Cup success, starting every match en route to lifting the trophy, and was rewarded for his progress with a professional contract in July 2010.
Billy spent 2010-11 playing and training across all three squads at Chelsea, featuring for the youth team in the FA Youth Cup, whilst being a regular in the Reserve team and training with Carlo Ancelotti's first team squad. He was an important part of the club's run to the FA Youth Cup Semi Finals but missed the double-header tie with Manchester United after suffering a season-ending knee injury.
He went on the pre-season tour of Asia with Andre Villas-Boas' first-team squad in July 2011 and impressed in his outings. Moving back to the reserve squad once the season started, Billy moved back into midfield (where he had played for much of his junior career) on a regular basis and led the team in assists over the course of the season, proving a reliable and consistent presence in a team which struggled for form and was regularly altered for circumstance.
The first half of the 2012-13 season was once again spent playing for the Under-21s, but in the January transfer window he finally secured a loan move, joining Colchester United until the end of the season. His arrival, alongside fellow blue Sam Walker, saw the Essex side perform a sensational turnaround from being bottom of the table and going nine games without taking so much as a point to securing survival on the final day of the season.
He stepped up to Championship football at the start of the 2013-14 season with newly-promoted Yeovil Town, but with their squad augmented by as many as six loanees in a league allowing no more than five to feature in a matchday squad, he found himself the odd man out. A return to Chelsea soon followed, before injury prevented him from playing much in the final two months of 2013.
On January 29th 2014 he joined Belgian side Royal Antwerp - managed by Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink - on a half-season loan. He only featured four times though and in a bid to take the next step in his career he negotiated his release from Chelsea in July 2014.
International
Billy is yet to represent England at any level. He has been on standby duty for the England Under-18 and Under-19 teams, and was called up to Brian Eastick's FIFA Under-20 World Cup squad in Colombia but was forced to withdraw when Chelsea asked him to travel with the first team on a pre-season tour.
Career statistics
Youth, Reserve and Under-21 Football
| Season | Under-18 | European | Under-21 | Total | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | |
| 2008-09 | 6 | 0 | - | - | 0 | 0 | 6 | 0 |
| 2009-10 | 26 | 1 | - | - | 5 | 0 | 31 | 1 |
| 2010-11 | 10 | 4 | - | - | 13 | 2 | 23 | 6 |
| 2011-12 | 0 | 0 | - | - | 21 | 1 | 21 | 1 |
| 2012-13 | 0 | 0 | - | - | 14 | 3 | 14 | 3 |
| 2013-14 | 0 | 0 | - | - | 5 | 0 | 5 | 0 |
| Total | 42 | 5 | - | - | 58 | 6 | 100 | 11 |
Senior Club Football
| Season | Club | League | FA Cup | League Cup | Europe | Other | Total | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | ||
| 2012-13 | Colchester United (loan) | 18 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 18 | 1 |
| 2013-14 | Yeovil Town (loan) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| 2013-14 | Royal Antwerp (loan) | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 0 |
| Total | 22 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 23 | 1 | |
(Statistics accurate as of the end of the 2013-14 season)
Career honours
Post-Chelsea career
Billy currently plays for Boreham Wood.
