Chris O'Grady

Club career

Leicester City

Born in Nottingham, Nottinghamshire, O'Grady originally caught the eye of former Leicester City boss Micky Adams as he was prolific in front of goal for the under 18s and reserves. O'Grady was handed his debut when coming off the bench in Leicester's 2–0 victory over Grimsby Town in April 2003, but failed to break through into the first team the following season.

He made 11 appearances during a loan spell at Notts County in late 2004, gaining some much needed league experience, and ended the 2004–05 campaign on a high, winning a place on the bench in City's final game of the season against Plymouth Argyle.

After scoring from the penalty spot against Inter Milan in pre-season, O'Grady had a successful spell on loan at Rushden & Diamonds at the end of 2005, before returning to Leicester to compete for a place in the first team line-up. He grabbed his first Championship goal at Luton Town in March 2006, a late strike which earned City a 2–1 away win.

In his first start for Leicester City, he scored the first goal in a 2–0 win over Macclesfield Town in the League Cup first round. His second start saw Leicester win 1–0 at home to Southend United.

Rotherham United

On 18 January 2007, O'Grady signed for Rotherham United on a two-and-a-half-year deal for £65,000. His first goal for Rotherham was a penalty against Huddersfield Town in February 2007. O'Grady altogether scored four goals in his first season with Rotherham.

Oldham Athletic

O'Grady transferred to Oldham Athletic for an undisclosed fee on 28 May 2008, making his debut in the following season on 9 August in a 4–3 win over Millwall. After ten appearances for the Latics without a goal, he was loaned out to Bury.

O'Grady signed on loan for Bradford City on 2 January 2009 on a month's loan. His debut for Bradford came the following day when he was a second-half substitute for Michael Boulding in a 0–0 draw with Shrewsbury Town. O'Grady played just two games with Bradford, before he returned to Oldham and immediately joining another League One side Stockport County on loan until the end of the 2008–09 season. His debut for the Hatters came on 4 February, coming on at half-time in a 1–0 loss to Milton Keynes Dons. O'Grady's first goal for Stockport was in his seventh game to give the side a 1–1 draw with Leicester City on 3 March 2009.

Rochdale

O'Grady signed for Rochdale on loan on 21 August 2009 and impressed, scoring 12 league goals in 21 games. On 14 January 2010 O'Grady signed a two-and-a-half-year contract with Rochdale for an undisclosed fee.

On 23 January 2010 he scored his first hat-trick, against Cheltenham. In the same season he helped Rochdale gain promotion from League Two.

Sheffield Wednesday

On 14 July 2011 Rochdale confirmed that a bid by Sheffield Wednesday for O'Grady had been rejected. On 9 August 2011 Wednesday confirmed the signing of O'Grady from Rochdale for an undisclosed fee, believed to be around £350,000, with the striker putting pen to paper on a three-year contract at Hillsborough. Chris scored his first goal for the Owls in a 2–2 draw against fierce rivals Sheffield United. His next goal came away at Morecambe in the FA Cup. His third, a spectacular headed lob, came against local rivals and promotion candidates Huddersfield Town. He was considered the work horse of the Wednesday frontline by many an Owls fan. Despite having not scored many goals for the club, he cemented himself as first-choice forward alongside Gary Madine. O'Grady also formed a solid partnership with fellow frontman Ryan Lowe, when Madine was either suspended or out injured.

On 26 February 2012, O'Grady scored once again against derby rivals Sheffield United with a header from a Lewis Buxton cross in a 1–0 win for the Owls at Hillsborough.

At the start of the 2012–13 season, O'Grady scored three goals in two games, the first two against one of his previous clubs Oldham Athletic in the League Cup, and then, in the first league game, he scored a stunner against Derby County. He received the ball from Lewis Buxton, turned and smashed a shot with his left foot into the top left corner.

Loan at Barnsley

On January transfer deadline day in 2013, O'Grady joined Wednesday's South Yorkshire rivals Barnsley on loan for the remainder of the season.

Barnsley

After a successful loan spell at Barnsley, O'Grady joined them on a permanent basis on 19 June 2013 from Sheffield Wednesday on a two-year contract for an undisclosed fee, rumoured to be around £300,000.

Brighton & Hove Albion

Following Barnsley's relegation from the Championship at the end of the 2013–14 season, O'Grady transferred to Brighton & Hove Albion on 18 July 2014, signing a three-year contract for an undisclosed six figure fee believed to be £500,000. He scored his first goal for Brighton in an FA Cup tie against Brentford 3 January 2015.

Loan spells

On 27 November 2014 O'Grady went on loan to Sheffield United until the end of January 2015. He scored once for Sheffield United; his goal coming in a 1–1 draw with Walsall. On 29 December, Brighton & Hove recalled O'Grady from his loan spell at United due to a striker shortage.

On 1 September 2015, O'Grady joined Nottingham Forest on loan for the remainder of the season.

O'Grady joined Burton Albion in July 2016 on loan for the 2016–17 season. He scored his first goal for Burton in a 2–1 win over former club Rotherham United on 29 December 2016.

Chesterfield

In June 2017, O'Grady signed a two-year contract with EFL League Two side Chesterfield. Upon signing O'Grady told the club website, "It's the type of club and the type of project that is just perfect for me. The objective is to get the club back to where it belongs - in League One...I had other offers but Chesterfield were the first to come in for me and it just felt right." At the end of Chesterfield's dismal league 2 campaign in 2017/18, O'Grady was ironically voted player of the season by disgruntled fans before the club decided to not award the 'honour' at all.

Oldham Athletic

On 30 July 2018, O'Grady rejoined League Two club Oldham Athletic on a one-year deal.

Bolton Wanderers

On 2 September 2019, O'Grady signed a contract until the end of the season with League One side Bolton Wanderers, following the termination of his contract at Oldham Athletic. Due to injury, his debut didn't come until 19 October, when he came on as a late substitute in a 1–3 defeat against Rochdale with his first start coming three days later, when he played the full 90 minutes in Bolton's first win of the season, a 2–0 away win against Bristol Rovers. His first goals came on 29 October when he scored twice in a 3–1 win against Manchester City U21 in the EFL Trophy, with his first league goal coming in Bolton's next match, as he opened the scoring against Fleetwood Town, Bolton winning 2–1, their third win in a row. On 26 June it was announced O'Grady would be one of 14 senior players released at the end of his contract on 30 June.

Ilkeston Town

On 24 May 2022, he signed for Ilkeston Town.

Grantham Town

On 11 February 2023, he joined Grantham Town.

Shirebrook Town

In August 2024, O'Grady joined United Counties League Premier Division side Shirebrook Town.

Mickleover

On 28 January 2025, O'Grady signed for Northern Premier League Premier Division side Mickleover.

He made his debut for Mickleover on the same day during a 3–1 against Ashton United in a rearranged fixture during which he also scored his only goal for the club.

His last start for the club was a 6–1 defeat against Macclesfield on 10 February 2025, and his last game for Mickleover was as a second-half substitute during a 6–0 loss against Worksop Town.

O'Grady then left the club on 18 March upon the expiration of his contract.

International career

O'Grady was capped by England at youth international level.

Career statistics

;Notes

Honours

;Rochdale

• Football League Two promotion: 2009–10

;Sheffield Wednesday:

• Football League One promotion: 2011–12

Individual

• Barnsley Player of the Year: 2013–14

References

References

1. (2010). "The PFA Footballers' Who's Who 2010–11". Mainstream Publishing.
2. (11 March 2006). "Luton 1–2 Leicester".
3. (22 August 2006). "Leicester 2–0 Macclesfield".
4. (18 January 2007). "Rotherham snap up Foxes striker".
5. (28 May 2008 }}{{Dead link). "Millers' O'Grady makes Latics switch".
6. (9 August 2008). "Oldham 4–3 Millwall".
7. (17 October 2008). "O'Grady Seals Shakers Switch".
8. (2 January 2009). "Bradford sign O'Grady from Oldham".
9. (3 January 2009). "Bradford 0–0 Shrewsbury".
10. "Chris O'Grady".
11. (2 February 2009). "Hatters Land O'Grady".
12. (4 February 2009). "Stockport 0–1 MK Dons".
13. (3 March 2009). "Leicester 1–1 Stockport".
14. "O'Grady signs".
15. (14 July 2011). "Owls Fail with Striker Bid".
16. (9 August 2011). "O'Grady Deal Done".
17. (10 August 2011). "Owls clinch striker deal".
18. (1 April 2013). "Barnsley 2-0 Leicester".
19. (19 June 2013). "O'Grady signs for Barnsley". www.swfc.co.uk.
20. (18 July 2014). "O'Grady signs for Albion".
21. (3 January 2015). "Brentford 0–2 Brighton".
22. (27 November 2014). "Chris O'Grady: Sheffield United bring in Brighton striker".
23. (20 December 2014). "Sheff Utd 1–1 Walsall".
24. (30 December 2014). "Sheffield United: Blades hope to re-sign O'Grady after Seagulls recall".
25. "O'Grady joins Forest".
26. "Chris O'Grady: Burton Albion sign Brighton striker on loan". BBC Sport.
27. (29 December 2016). "Rotherham 1–2 Burton".
28. "Chris O'Grady: Chesterfield sign striker on two-year deal after Brighton exit". BBC Sport.
29. (25 June 2018). "Record wage earner agrees to leave the Proact".
30. (30 July 2018). "Chris O'Grady and Sam Surridge: Oldham Athletic sign strikers". BBC Sport.
31. (2 September 2019). "O'Grady signs for Wanderers". Bolton Wanderers.
32. "Bolton Wanderers 1-3 Rochdale". BBC Sport.
33. "Bristol Rovers 0-2 Bolton Wanderers: Keith Hill's Trotters earn first win of season". BBC Sport.
34. "Report: Bolton Wanderers 3-1 Manchester City U21s".
35. "Bolton Wanderers 2-1 Fleetwood Town". BBC Sport.
36. [https://www.theboltonnews.co.uk/sport/18544042.bolton-announce-retained-list-14-players-contract/ theboltonnews "Bolton announce retained list with 14 players out of contract"]
37. (24 May 2022). "Former Leicester City, Brighton & Hove Albion, Nottingham Forest, Chesterfield and Bolton Wanderers striker joins Ilkeston Town". Derbyshire Times.
38. [https://twitter.com/granthamtownfc/status/1624407157885091842 @granthamtownfc 𝙉𝙀𝙒 𝙎𝙏𝙍𝙄𝙆𝙀𝙍 A hugely experienced 6ft 1" striker, who has played and scored goals for Leicester, Rotherham, Rochdale, Sheffield Wednesday, Forest and many more! Welcome to #thegingerbreads Chris O'Grady!]
39. (3 August 2024). "O'Grady signs on the dotted line at the WH Davis Stadium...... Former Sheffield Wednesday striker Chris O'Grady puts pen to paper down at Langwith Road ahead of today's FA Cup fixture v Deeping Rangers.".
40. Scherer, Peter. (28 January 2025). "Experienced Striker Signs For Sports".
41. Scherer, Peter. (29 January 2025). "Second Half Recovery Just Not Enough".
42. (10 February 2025). "Report: Mickelover (H)".
43. Scherer, Peter. (10 March 2025). "Sports Hit for Six by Rampant Worksop".
44. Scherer, Peter. (18 March 2025). "Player Movements".
45. {{soccerbase season. 34857. 2016
46. {{soccerbase season. 34857. 2017
47. {{soccerbase season. 34857. 2018
48. {{soccerbase season. 34857. 2019
49. [https://jobs4football.com/player/chris-ogrady/ jobs4football: "Christopher James O'Grady"]
50. [https://www.footballwebpages.co.uk/grantham-town/appearances/christopher-ogrady/947692 Football Webpages: "Grantham Town – Appearances – Christopher O'Grady"]
51. "Christopher James O'Grady Player Stats".
52. "Barnsley Player of the Season".