Dave Kitson hangs up his boots

Dave Kitson 34 has decided to hang his boots up and retire from playing football.

Kits as he is known started out in non-league football in 1998 playing for his local team Hitchin and Arlesey Town. In 2001 at the age of 21 he joined Cambridge United who was at the time in the third division.

Reading who were in England`s second tier of football took notice of the young player who scored 40 goals for Cambridge and paid £150,000 for his services in 2003.

His career really took off with the Royals where he hit 54 goals helping them to top flight status before a big money move of £5.5 million took him to Stoke City in 2008.

However Kits struggled to recapture the form that had put him in the shop window at his previous clubs. A two year stay and two loan moves to Reading and Middlesborough saw the big man move to the South coast with Portsmouth.

The prolific scoring record that had followed him during his earlier career had suddenly diminished with just 12 goals in two years.

A one year stay with Sheffield United added a further 11 goals back in England`s third tier. Last season saw Kits played in the Skybet league 2 for Oxford United where must was expected of one of the divisions marquee signings. Not much glory can be said in his final season with just 4 goals and finishing the campaign with one of the division`s worst disciplinary records.

But no one can deny that his clever play was a joy to watch even though he played a deeper role than U`s fans would have liked.

We wish him well in his future exploits.