Biography
Michael Reddy joined the Tigers on a month’s loan in September and October 2001, adding depth to Brian Little’s striking options as he began building a new squad to challenge for promotion using chairman Adam Pearson’s newly injected resources. Reddy competed with Gary Alexander and Lawrie Dudfield for a first team spot and spent his four weeks at the club mostly coming off the bench. His goalscoring record was remarkable though, coming on late in games to score against Mansfield, Halifax (a brace) and Torquay (a late winner) – he failed to score in the one game he started for the Tigers at Shrewsbury. Pearson and Little inquired about Reddy’s longer term availability but neither the player nor his parent club Sunderland were keen on a permanent move and his short but bright spell at Hull City drew to a rapid close.
Michael Reddy was born at Graiguenamanagh, a barely pronounceable historic town on the Barrow River 20 miles east of Kilkenny in South East Ireland. Reddy played for Irish League side Kilkenny Town as a teenager and scored twice on his first team debut in 1998, a week before his 18th birthday. Reddy joined Premier League side Sunderland in August 1999 for a £30,000 fee and impressed manager Peter Reid enough to give him a string of substitute appearances during the first half of the 1999/00 season – Reddy rewarded that faith by scoring his debut senior goal in a November 1999 1-1 draw at Middlesbrough. After two starts for Sunderland in the League Cup during the early weeks of the 2000/01 season, Reddy joined Swindon Town on loan for the second half of the season and scored 4 goals in his first six appearances, ending the season with 5 goals from 20 appearances for the Robins. His loan spell at Hull City provided Reddy with his only first team action in 2001/02 season but his progress continued as Reid put a £5m price tag on the player’s head and he attracted attention from Ireland’s international selectors. Over the next three seasons Reddy had further loan spells at Barnsley, York City and Sheffield Wednesday (twice) but he was unable to maintain momentum due to persistent hamstring injuries – as a consequence he was unable to break back into Sunderland’s first team squad.
In 2004 a ruptured knee ligament injury suffered during training drew a close to Michael’s time at Sunderland and in July 2004 he transferred to League Two side Grimsby Town. Injuries continued to affect Reddy during his three years at Blundell Park though his best season came in 2005/06 season when he scored 14 times in 51 appearances as the Mariners reached the play-off final only to lose to Cheltenham Town at Cardiff’s Millennium Stadium. Reddy was now struggling with a persistent hip injury and after managing only 11 appearances in the 2006/07 season he left Grimsby. After a short and unsuccessful spell at a side in Greenland he retired from playing football in 2007 after a second hip operation. His time at Grimsby yielded 23 goals from 106 appearances, taking his career total over eight years to 188 appearances and 41 goals.
After football Reddy trained as a football coach and spent time living in the Falkland Islands, the birth place of his wife. He later returned to England, studied Sport Science at Manchester University and worked in the sports marketing industry.
Reddy won eight caps for the Ireland Under-21 side between April 2000 and June 2001, scoring three goals against Ghana (May 2000), Portugal (October 2000) and Cyprus (March 2001). He was called up to the senior squad for a friendly international against Finland in November 2000 but was an unused substitute and never won a senior cap.
Details
Nationality: Ireland
Date/Place of Birth: 24 March 1980, Graiguenamanagh
Hull City First Game: 22 September 2001, Swansea City H (League Division 3), 21 years, 182 days old
Hull City Final Game: 13 October 2001, Torquay United H (League Division 3), 21 years, 203 days old
Clubs
Kilkenny City (1997-1999), Sunderland (1999-2004), Swindon Town (2001, loan), Hull City (2001, loan), Barnsley (2002, loan), York City (2002-2003, loan), Sheffield Wednesday (2003, loan), Sheffield Wednesday (2003, loan), Grimsby Town (2004-2007)
Hull City Record
Career: 5 apps, 4 goals
Michael Reddy| Season | LGE App | LGE Gls | FAC App | FAC Gls | FLC App | FLC Gls | EUR App | EUR Gls | OTH App | OTH Gls |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2001/02 | 1 (4) | 4 | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |