Biography
Goal-poacher extraordinaire Matty Fryatt signed for the Tigers at the beginning of the January 2011 transfer window for a £1.2 million fee, forming a new strike partnership with fellow signing Aaron McLean. Matty immediately delivered goals to Nigel Pearson’s Tigers side, coming off the bench to make his debut at Portsmouth and within a month of his arrival he had poached a hattrick against Scunthorpe in a 5-1 victory at a rain-sodden Glanford Park. He ended his first half-season at Hull City with nine goals and in the 2011/12 season he continued his form, featuring in every League game and scored 16 goals for Pearson and his successor Nick Barmby including an April 2012 hattrick against Barnsley.
At the start of the 2012/13 season Fryatt suffered a nasty achilles injury that saw him sidelined for seven months, practically the entire season. The Tigers were elevated to the Premier League for the 2013/14 season and after a brief loan spell at Championship side Sheffield Wednesday in October and November 2013 that yielded four goals in 9 appearances, Matty returned to the City fold in early 2014 to spearhead the march to the FA Cup Final, netting four goals including a vital equaliser in the Wembley semi-final against Sheffield United. Matty’s last significant contribution for the Tigers was a late-season game against Manchester United at Old Trafford where he came off the bench and scored a 25 yard screamer. His final game in black and amber was starting the May 2014 FA Cup Final against Arsenal.
Born in Nuneaton, Matthew Charles “Matty” Fryatt progressed through the youth team ranks at League Division 1 side Walsall and made his senior debut at 17 years old in September 2003 in a League Cup tie against Premier League Bolton Wanderers. In December 2003 he commenced a two month loan spell at League Division 3 side Carlisle United where he made 10 appearances and scored his first senior goal in a January 2004 defeat of Boston United. Returning to a Walsall side struggling at the foot of the second tier table, Matty assisted the first team that slipped to relegation to the newly monikored League 1. Fryatt was a first team regular for the Saddlers in the 2004/05 season and despite losing a month of football to injury over the festive period, he ended the season with 15 goals including a first senior career hattrick in January 2005 against Huddersfield Town. Matty’s form continued into the 2005/06 season as Walsall again struggled at the foot of the table and by the end of December 2005 Fryatt had scored 30 goals in 78 senior appearances for the Saddlers.
In January 2006 he moved to Championship side Leicester City where the goals continued to flow despite the Foxes’ descent to the third tier in 2008 – indeed this catalysed Fryatt into action and in the 2008/09 season Leicester City powered to the League 1 title fuelled by Fryatt’s 27 League goals. He remained at Leicester for another season and a half and when he left the Foxes in January 2011 he had scored 62 goals in 189 appearances for the club.
Following his release from City in June 2014 Fryatt moved to Nottingham Forest where he spent the remaining four years of his career, however further injuries denied Fryatt any kind of consistent first team place and in February 2018 he announced his retirement from the professional ranks having scored six goals in 26 appearances for Forest, the last of which had come nearly three years previously in March 2015. He scouted players for Cardiff after his playing days ended before being appointed a youth team coach at his first club Walsall in July 2018. He left that post after two years and worked for the media team at Leicester City while undertaking scouting missions for Cardiff City.
Fryatt was capped five times at under-19 level by England in July 2005, scoring four goals in the 2005 European U19 Championship played in Northern Ireland including a hattrick against Serbia & Montenegro.
Details
Nationality: England
Date/Place of Birth: 5 March 1986, Nuneaton
Hull City First Game: 3 January 2011, Portsmouth A (Championship), 24 years, 304 days old
Hull City Final Game: 17 May 2014, Arsenal N (FA Cup Final), 28 years, 73 days old
Clubs
Walsall (2002-2006), Carlisle United (2003-2004, loan), Leicester City (2006-2011), Hull City (2011-2014), Sheffield Wednesday (2013, loan), Nottingham Forest (2014-2018)
Hull City Record
Career: 94 apps, 31 goals
Matty Fryatt| Season | LGE App | LGE Gls | FAC App | FAC Gls | FLC App | FLC Gls | EUR App | EUR Gls | OTH App | OTH Gls |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2010/11 | 21 (1) | 9 | 1 (0) | 0 | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| 2011/12 | 39 (7) | 16 | 1 (0) | 0 | 1 (0) | 0 | – | – | – | – |
| 2012/13 | 2 (2) | 0 | – | – | 1 (0) | 0 | – | – | – | – |
| 2013/14 | 0 (10) | 2 | 4 (2) | 4 | 2 (0) | 0 | – | – | – | – |