Wes Harding

Wesley Nathan Hylton Harding (born 20 October 1996) is an English professional footballer who plays as a defender, either at right back or centre back, for Championship club Birmingham City. He made his senior debut in the EFL Cup in August 2017, having previously played in the National League North for Alfreton Town.

Wes Harding
Harding during his league debut for Birmingham City, March 2018
Personal information
Full name Wesley Nathan Hylton Harding[1]
Date of birth (1996-10-20) 20 October 1996[2]
Place of birth Leicester, England
Height 5 ft 11 in (1.81 m)[3]
Playing position(s) Defender
Club information
Current team
 Birmingham City
Number 2
Youth career
200?–2013 Aston Villa
2013–2015 Birmingham City
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
2015– Birmingham City 51[lower-alpha 1] (0)
2016 → Alfreton Town (loan) 3 (0)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 09:23, 23 July 2020 (UTC)

Life and career

Early life and career

Harding was born in Leicester[4] and attended Beauchamp College, in Oadby, Leicestershire.[2] He represented Leicestershire and Rutland at athletics.[2] He joined Birmingham City's Academy from Aston Villa at the age of 16[5] and took up a scholarship with the club in July 2013.[6] Interviewed soon afterwards, the player assessed his strengths as speed and heading, and felt he needed to improve his technical ability.[2] He was a member of the Birmingham team that eliminated Liverpool's youngsters from the 2014–15 FA Youth Cup,[7] going on to lose in the quarter-finals to Leicester City's youngsters.[8] He was a regular in the development squad over the season, and scored the opening goal for the team that won the 2015 Birmingham Senior Cup final.[9] Harding signed his first professional contract, of two years, in May 2015.[5] At the time, academy coach Steve Spooner summarised him as "a 24/7 professional footballer ... strong, aggressive, tenacious and much improved with the ball".[5]

Harding was included in the first team's pre-season training camp in Spain.[10] During the 2015–16 season, he was used at right back as well as his preferred centre-half position,[4] and he was a member of the Birmingham reserve team that lost the 2016 Birmingham Senior Cup final to National League North champions Solihull Moors.[11] He was one of three youngsters – the others were Dom Bernard and Josh Dacres-Cogley – who began their 2016 pre-season training with the first team.[12] On 9 August, Harding joined National League North club Alfreton Town on a month's youth loan.[13] He went straight into the starting eleven for the following day's match against Gainsborough Trinity; playing at right back, he played 90 minutes and produced what Alfreton's website dubbed a solid performance in a 4–0 win.[14] He kept his place for the next two fixtures, but then suffered a torn knee meniscus.[15] Once he regained fitness, he finished the season with more appearances than any other player for Birmingham's under-23 team, which he often captained.[16]

First-team football with Birmingham

The club took up the one-year option on Harding's contract for the 2017–18 season,[17] and he was involved in first-team pre-season fixtures.[16] He was given a squad number,[18] and was an unused substitute for the opening match, away to Ipswich Town in the Championship on 5 August 2017.[19] Harding made his senior debut three days later, replacing Emilio Nsue after 58 minutes of the EFL Cup first round match at home to Crawley Town of League Two. The score was 4–0 when he entered the match; it ended 5–1.[20] He also appeared in the next round, replacing the injured Nsue after 23 minutes of the 2–1 defeat to AFC Bournemouth and producing a performance that pleased manager Harry Redknapp.[21][22] In February 2018, having made no appearances in the matchday squad since August,[23] Harding signed a new contract to run until June 2020.[24]

New manager Garry Monk gave Harding his first Football League appearance, a start at right back in Birmingham's 3–0 home victory over Hull City on 17 March 2018 that was their first win in six weeks.[25] He was booked early in the match for a forceful tackle on the highly rated Harry Wilson, then, according to the Birmingham Mail, "shut him down in the second half and made some excellent defensive contributions to help out team-mates. There were a couple of bright moments going forward too."[26] Monk said he selected Harding ahead of more experienced players such as Carl Jenkinson or Marc Roberts because his pace and tenacity would better counteract the threat from Hull's wingers.[27] He continued in the starting eleven as Birmingham escaped relegation on the final day of the season, with a 3–1 win at home to Fulham. Defensively, he allowed Ryan Sessegnon, the Championship Player of the Year, little scope to influence the game,[28][29] and he made a run and cross from which Lukas Jutkiewicz scored the opening goal.[30] Harding's performance in that match earned him a place in the EFL Team of the Week,[28] and his overall performance earned him the club's Young Player of the Season award.[31]

Career statistics
As of end of 2019–20 season
Appearances and goals by club, season and competition
Club Season League FA Cup EFL Cup Other Total
DivisionAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoals
Birmingham City 2016–17[23] Championship000000—00
2017–18[21] Championship900020—110
2018–19[32][33] Championship27[lower-alpha 1]01010—290
2019–20[34] Championship1503010—190
Total 51[lower-alpha 1]04040—590
Alfreton Town (loan) 2016–17[23] National League North3000—0030
Career total 540404000620
  1. Soccerbase counts the match at Brentford on 2 October 2018, in which Harding was an unused substitute, among his appearances.[32][33]

Honours

Individual

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References
  1. "Club list of registered players: As at 19th May 2018: Birmingham City" (PDF). English Football League. p. 5. Retrieved 16 June 2018.
  2. "Blue kid on the block – Wes Harding". Birmingham City F.C. 14 August 2013. Archived from the original on 24 August 2013.
  3. "Wes Harding". Birmingham City F.C. Retrieved 9 August 2017.
  4. "Wes Harding on a First Team future". Birmingham City F.C. 7 April 2016. Retrieved 5 August 2017.
  5. Lewis, Peter (6 May 2015). "Youngsters sign first pro deals". Birmingham City F.C. Retrieved 5 August 2017.
  6. "List of Players Registered as Scholars in Accordance with Rule C.3 Between 01/07/2013 and 31/07/2013" (PDF). The Football Association. p. 44. Retrieved 30 July 2017.
  7. Kelly, Andy (30 January 2015). "Liverpool lose out to Birmingham in rollercoaster FA Youth Cup clash". Liverpool Echo. Retrieved 5 August 2017.
  8. "FA Youth Cup Report: Leicester City 2 Birmingham City 1". Leicester City F.C. 25 February 2015. Retrieved 5 August 2017.
  9. Lewis, Peter (30 April 2015). "Blues win the Senior Cup". Birmingham City F.C. Retrieved 5 August 2017.
  10. Dick, Brian (5 July 2015). "Birmingham City quartet among squad on plane to Marbella". Birmingham Mail. Retrieved 5 August 2017.
  11. Dick, Brian (5 May 2016). "Birmingham Senior Cup final: Birmingham City U21s 1 Solihull Moors 2". Birmingham Mail. Retrieved 5 August 2017.
  12. Dick, Brian (1 July 2016). "Birmingham City comment: Absentees, photographer's cases and the calm before the storm as Blues return to pre-season training". Birmingham Mail. Retrieved 5 August 2017.
  13. "Wes Harding makes Alfreton Town switch". Birmingham City F.C. 9 August 2016. Retrieved 5 August 2017.
  14. "Reds record first win in style". Alfreton Town F.C. 9 August 2016. Retrieved 5 August 2017.
  15. Dick, Brian (13 September 2016). "Update on fitness of Birmingham City youngsters Kyle McFarlane and Wes Harding". Birmingham Mail. Retrieved 5 August 2017.
  16. Turner, Luke (29 July 2017). "Wes Harding scouting report: How the young Birmingham City defender got on against Swansea". Birmingham Mail. Retrieved 5 August 2017.
  17. "New deals for Blues youngsters". Birmingham City F.C. 4 July 2017. Retrieved 5 August 2017.
  18. "Blues squad numbers confirmed for the 2017/18 season". Birmingham City F.C. 2 August 2017. Retrieved 5 August 2017.
  19. "Ipswich Town 1–0 Birmingham City". BBC Sport. 5 August 2017. Retrieved 8 August 2017.
  20. "Birmingham City 5–1 Crawley Town". BBC Sport. 8 August 2017. Retrieved 8 August 2017.
  21. "Games played by Wes Harding in 2017/2018". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 7 May 2018.
  22. Dicken, Alex (23 August 2017). "Birmingham City boss Harry Redknapp on Isaac Vassell's injury worry". Birmingham Mail. Retrieved 12 February 2018.
  23. "W. Harding: Summary". Soccerway. Perform Group. Retrieved 21 July 2019.
  24. Chapman, Joseph (12 February 2018). "Birmingham City defender Wes Harding agrees new two-year contract". Birmingham Mail. Retrieved 12 February 2018.
  25. "Birmingham City 3–0 Hull City". BBC Sport. 17 March 2018. Retrieved 18 March 2018.
  26. Dick, Brian (17 March 2018). "Well done Wes Harding and the other big Birmingham City talking points". Birmingham Mail. Retrieved 18 March 2018.
  27. Dick, Brian (18 March 2018). "Every word from Garry Monk's press conference after Birmingham City beat Hull City". Birmingham Mail. Retrieved 12 May 2018.
    Suart, Paul (27 March 2018). "Wes hopes Blues boss will tell him to come right back!". Birmingham Mail. p. 47. Retrieved 12 May 2018 – via Infotrac Newsstand. Harding's inclusion against Hull was not fortuitous or triggered by availability issues elsewhere in the squad. Monk simply preferred the youngster over former England international Carl Jenkinson and Marc Roberts.
  28. "Team of the Week: final weekend". English Football League. 7 May 2018. Retrieved 12 May 2018.
  29. Dick, Brian (7 May 2018). "An end to the Blunder Years – what Garry Monk's work so far must mean for Birmingham City". Birmingham Mail. Retrieved 12 May 2018.
  30. "Birmingham City 3–1 Fulham". Fulham F.C. 6 May 2018. Retrieved 12 May 2018.
    Murphy, Matt (6 May 2018). "Fulham fall short of automatic promotion as Birmingham win to beat the drop". The Independent. London. Retrieved 12 May 2018.
  31. Dick, Brian (8 May 2018). "Jacques Maghoma and Mark 'Squid' Carter take centre stage at Birmingham City awards ceremony". Birmingham Mail. Retrieved 12 May 2018.
  32. "Games played by Wes Harding in 2018/2019". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 21 July 2019.
  33. "Report: Brentford 1 Blues 1". Birmingham City F.C. 2 October 2018. Retrieved 23 July 2019.
  34. "Games played by Wes Harding in 2019/2020". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 23 July 2020.
  • Profile at Birmingham City F.C. website
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