25 Facts About Dave Kitson

Dave Kitson made 420 appearances in the Premier League and Football League, including 145 for Reading.

Dave Kitson enjoyed great success with Reading, forming a formidable strike partnership with Kevin Doyle as Reading won the Championship title with a record 106 points and gained promotion to the Premier League for the first time in 2006.

Dave Kitson had loan spells with Reading and Middlesbrough before joining Portsmouth.

Dave Kitson spent two seasons at Fratton Park but his contract with Portsmouth was cancelled in August 2012 with the club in danger of being liquidated, and he subsequently joined Sheffield United on a short term deal, before signing a two-year contract at Oxford United in June 2013.

Dave Kitson scored 25 goals in a prolific campaign which saw him hot on the heels of David Crown's club record of 27 goals in a season.

Speculation soon arose as to whether Dave Kitson was settled at Stoke, as he struggled to adapt to the side's style of play after being played out of position by manager Tony Pulis.

However, Reading failed to gain promotion, meaning that Dave Kitson returned to Stoke.

Dave Kitson stated that he would "start his Stoke career again".

Dave Kitson scored his first league goal for Stoke on 29 August 2009, which proved to be the winning goal against Sunderland and then scored again with a goal against Bolton Wanderers.

However Dave Kitson lost his place to James Beattie and joined Middlesbrough on a two-month loan.

Dave Kitson scored his first goals for Middlesbrough when he scored a brace against Peterborough United on 28 November 2009.

Dave Kitson scored in the FA Cup against Manchester City and Bolton Wanderers.

Dave Kitson joined Portsmouth with Liam Lawrence on deadline day as part of a deal which saw Marc Wilson join Stoke City.

Dave Kitson experienced a dip in form and was dropped to the bench by Cotterill's successor Michael Appleton.

On 31 August 2012, Dave Kitson joined Sheffield United on a short-term deal.

Dave Kitson played regularly for the remainder of the season, making 37 appearances in total and scoring 11 goals, but with the Blades failing to gain promotion he was released when his contract expired in June 2013.

On 27 June 2013, Dave Kitson joined League Two club Oxford United, signing a two-year contract.

Dave Kitson scored four league goals in his only season at the club.

On 22 July 2014 Dave Kitson announced his decision to retire from playing professional football.

In December 2014, Dave Kitson returned to Arlesey Town, but left in February 2015.

Dave Kitson was born in Hitchin, Hertfordshire and worked for Sainsbury's as a shelf stacker prior to becoming a professional footballer.

In 2008, Dave Kitson was arrested and subsequently banned from driving for 18 months after failing to provide a breath test.

Dave Kitson has been written about as being a 'leading contender' as the former Premier League player behind The Secret Footballer series of Guardian columns and books.

Dave Kitson caused controversy in December 2018 when, during a TalkSport interview, he said that "players make themselves a target" following racist abuse of Raheem Sterling.

In May 2020, Dave Kitson came in for criticism following his announcement that he wanted to become chief executive of the Professional Footballers' Association, with the chairman of Kick It Out questioning his anti-racism credentials and three black players attacking the former Reading striker for his comments about Sterling.