Andy Welsh

Andy Welsh

Personal information
Full name	Andrew Peter David Welsh
Position(s)	Midfielder
Team information
Current team	Toronto FC
Number	7

Andrew Peter David "Andy" Welsh (born November 24, 1983 in Manchester, England) is a left-footed Scottish/English football player who currently plays for Canadian MLS club, Toronto FC.

Welsh made his professional début for Stockport County in October 2001, going on to make 85 appearances in his three years at the club. He also made six appearances on loan at Macclesfield Town during this period.

After impressing in a three-day trial with Sunderland in November 2004, Welsh signed for the club, who paid an initial fee of £15,000 for his services, although this fee may have risen to as much as £35,000, depending on the amount of appearances he made. Upon signing for Sunderland he was allocated the vacant number 11 shirt, and made his club début in the 3-2 defeat to Preston North End on New Years Day in 2005, replacing Marcus Stewart in the 68th minute.

Welsh made his first start for Sunderland a week later on January 8 2005, scoring a free kick in a 2-1 victory against Crystal Palace. Welsh went on to make 8 appearances that season, scoring again, against QPR at Loftus Road on April 2.

After Sunderland's promotion to the Premier League, Welsh retained the number 11 shirt, starting the season in place of injured defender George McCartney. However, Welsh was controversially sent off in only the second game of the season against Liverpool at Anfield on August 20 2005, although the decision was later overturned on appeal.

Welsh found himself out of the Sunderland team after Christmas, and many thought he had played his last game for the club after he was loaned to Football League Championship club Leicester on March 1 2006. Welsh went on to make 10 appearances for the Foxes, scoring 1 goal.

Four days after playing his last game for Leicester, Welsh was back at Sunderland, playing in the club's last two games, against Fulham and Aston Villa, under new caretaker manager Kevin Ball. Following the transfer of popular midfielder Julio Arca to Middlesbrough in the summer, Welsh was expected to start the season as first choice winger, however, new chairman/manager Niall Quinn decided to strip Welsh of his regular number 11 shirt, instead allocating him the number 17 jersey.

Welsh picked up an injury during a pre-season win against Shelbourne, prompting Quinn and new manager Roy Keane to sign Swedish winger Tobias Hysen and Celtic midfielder Ross Wallace to fill the left-midfield role. Welsh subsequently re-joined Leicester on loan when he regained fitness, although he managed only 4 league starts for the Foxes, and returned to Sunderland in the New Year. Coincidentally, Sunderland's next game was against Leicester at the Walkers Stadium, where Welsh was named as an unused substitute.

After failing to break back into Sunderland's first team, it was announced in March 2007, that Welsh would be heading to Canada for a medical before signing a contract with Toronto FC, after the clubs agreed a deal to end his contract at Sunderland.

On May 16, 2007, Welsh scored the first goal of his career with Toronto FC (and the first of his MLS career) in a 1-0 home victory over defending MLS champions, Houston Dynamo. Fans subsequently voted him "Man of the Match" on the club's official website.

See also

• List of current MLS players

External links

• Andy Welsh at Soccerbase