Chris Iwelumo has left Stoke to sign for Brighton and Hove Albion on a free transfer until the end of the season. Big Chris has been Stoke's top scorer for the last two seasons although he has struggled to find a place in the side this season. We wish him well for the future
Chris Iwelumo has left the Britannia Stadium and signed a deal with Second Division promotion chasers Brighton and Hove Albion until the end of the season. He moves on a free transfer although Stoke will be entitled to extra payments should the Seagulls, currently fifth in Division Two, make the play offs or gain promotion. Stoke have also got a sell on clause inserted in as part of the deal.
Big Chris hasn't had the best of times during 2003-04 with his first team opportunities restricted following the summer signings of Ade Akinbiyi, Gifton Noel-Williams and Carl Asaba. Iwelumo has managed just just four starts (and seven from the bench) while scoring the one goal against Rochdale in the Carling Cup back in August.
Iwelumo originally joined Stoke from Danish side FC Aarhus for £25,000 in February 2000, although he had to wait until the 2001-02 season for his breakthrough as a first team regular following the sale of Peter Thorne to Cardiff City. He was never going to be a direct replacement for Thorney in terms of how many goals he was likely to get, but Chris still caught quite a few of us off guard that season, stepping up his own game and finished our promotion season as leading scorer with 12 goals from 29 starts.
Highlights along the way included his wonderfully composed rounding of Mark Goodlad (click here) to snatch a late equaliser in the Potteries derby at Vale Park (right), another well taken goal in the autumn 3-2 home win against top of the table Brentford (click here) and a looping header against his new club Brighton (click here). His role in our Play Off final win over Brentford can't go overlooked either - flicking on the opening goal for Deon Burton, while his headed lay offs to Burton and Arnar Gunnlaugsson linked everything together that afternoon - we certainly looked poorer when he was substituted at the start of the second half.
After making the step up to the First Division last season Chris took a while to adjust. He came on as a substitute at home to Palace and away at Wimbledon - scoring crucial goals to earn Stoke 1-1 draws. He then hit an impressive purple patch at Christmas with a brace of goals in a 3-2 win over Sheffield Wednesday (click here) before setting up both goals in a 2-1 victory over Preston four days later (here). A stunning volley against Wigan in the FA Cup was nearly repeated a week later at Leicester City, before Big Chris rounded off the month with another brace of goals against AFC Bournemouth to seal a fifth round tie against Chelsea. At the time Chris Iwelumo really was in some of his best form of his Stoke career so it was a shame when injury set in shortly afterwards. He eventually finished top scorer for Stoke with seven goals despite starting only 19 matches.
His future at Stoke has been in doubt for much of this current season with reports linking him to both Tranmere Rovers and Barnsley around the time of the January transfer deadline. With the likes of Akinbiyi, Noel-Williams and Asaba in the Stoke forward-line these days Tony Pulis has stepped up the quality of the squad a notch and it's no surprise the likes of Iwelumo and Marc Goodfellow have found it so hard to break into the first team, having to move on elsewhere to further their careers.
We wish Big Chris well for the future and thank him for his efforts in a Stoke shirt. He was never a player to storm up the goalscoring charts or take the Division by storm, but throughout his time with us he's always made steady progress in the right direction, right now though it seems best for all concerned that we both went our separate ways. We've moved on by strengthening the squad this season and so must Chris Iwelumo.
Chris is very much in that Wayne Allison / Iffy Onoura / Dave Regis mould - similar players who've made a name in the lower leagues and done well for themselves. At 25 there's no reason why Chris can't carve out a good career for himself in the next five or ten years. He's been on good form for the reserves this season and with eight goals in the Pontins League he's clearly champing at the bit for first team football. There's no reason why he won't do a good job in a useful looking Brighton side.
Chris Iwelumo has left the Britannia Stadium and signed a deal with Second Division promotion chasers Brighton and Hove Albion until the end of the season. He moves on a free transfer although Stoke will be entitled to extra payments should the Seagulls, currently fifth in Division Two, make the play offs or gain promotion. Stoke have also got a sell on clause inserted in as part of the deal.
Big Chris hasn't had the best of times during 2003-04 with his first team opportunities restricted following the summer signings of Ade Akinbiyi, Gifton Noel-Williams and Carl Asaba. Iwelumo has managed just just four starts (and seven from the bench) while scoring the one goal against Rochdale in the Carling Cup back in August.
Iwelumo originally joined Stoke from Danish side FC Aarhus for £25,000 in February 2000, although he had to wait until the 2001-02 season for his breakthrough as a first team regular following the sale of Peter Thorne to Cardiff City. He was never going to be a direct replacement for Thorney in terms of how many goals he was likely to get, but Chris still caught quite a few of us off guard that season, stepping up his own game and finished our promotion season as leading scorer with 12 goals from 29 starts.
Highlights along the way included his wonderfully composed rounding of Mark Goodlad (click here) to snatch a late equaliser in the Potteries derby at Vale Park (right), another well taken goal in the autumn 3-2 home win against top of the table Brentford (click here) and a looping header against his new club Brighton (click here). His role in our Play Off final win over Brentford can't go overlooked either - flicking on the opening goal for Deon Burton, while his headed lay offs to Burton and Arnar Gunnlaugsson linked everything together that afternoon - we certainly looked poorer when he was substituted at the start of the second half.
After making the step up to the First Division last season Chris took a while to adjust. He came on as a substitute at home to Palace and away at Wimbledon - scoring crucial goals to earn Stoke 1-1 draws. He then hit an impressive purple patch at Christmas with a brace of goals in a 3-2 win over Sheffield Wednesday (click here) before setting up both goals in a 2-1 victory over Preston four days later (here). A stunning volley against Wigan in the FA Cup was nearly repeated a week later at Leicester City, before Big Chris rounded off the month with another brace of goals against AFC Bournemouth to seal a fifth round tie against Chelsea. At the time Chris Iwelumo really was in some of his best form of his Stoke career so it was a shame when injury set in shortly afterwards. He eventually finished top scorer for Stoke with seven goals despite starting only 19 matches.
His future at Stoke has been in doubt for much of this current season with reports linking him to both Tranmere Rovers and Barnsley around the time of the January transfer deadline. With the likes of Akinbiyi, Noel-Williams and Asaba in the Stoke forward-line these days Tony Pulis has stepped up the quality of the squad a notch and it's no surprise the likes of Iwelumo and Marc Goodfellow have found it so hard to break into the first team, having to move on elsewhere to further their careers.
We wish Big Chris well for the future and thank him for his efforts in a Stoke shirt. He was never a player to storm up the goalscoring charts or take the Division by storm, but throughout his time with us he's always made steady progress in the right direction, right now though it seems best for all concerned that we both went our separate ways. We've moved on by strengthening the squad this season and so must Chris Iwelumo.
Chris is very much in that Wayne Allison / Iffy Onoura / Dave Regis mould - similar players who've made a name in the lower leagues and done well for themselves. At 25 there's no reason why Chris can't carve out a good career for himself in the next five or ten years. He's been on good form for the reserves this season and with eight goals in the Pontins League he's clearly champing at the bit for first team football. There's no reason why he won't do a good job in a useful looking Brighton side.
