G.O.A.T. - Crawley Town

Matthew Stephen 'Matt' Tubbs was born on the 15th of July 1984 in Salisbury, Wiltshire.

He played for Bournemouth as a schoolboy before joining Bolton Wanderers where he regularly played for their reserve team. .Following this he played for Salisbury City and Bournemouth before, on the 1st of July 2010, he signed a two-year deal with Conference Premier club Crawley Town for a club record fee, officially undisclosed but later confirmed to be £55,000.
In the FA Cup tie against Swindon Town on the 27th of November 2010, Matt scored Crawley's equaliser in the 1–1 draw. In January 2011 he scored the only goal in Crawley's 1–0 win over Torquay United in the fourth round of the FA Cup, which meant Crawley facing Manchester United in the fifth round where Matt played in their 1–0 defeat to Manchester United on 19 February 2011.
He was named in the Conference Team of the Year for the 2010–11 season after Crawley won the title taking them to League Two. His first season at the club had seen him score 40 goals in 48 appearances with a total of 49 goals in 65 appearances.
During his 2nd season with Crawley, now in League Two, his goal scoring exploits led to other clubs becoming interest in signing him, and he was the top scorer in League Two until his move.

 

For everyone involved with The Reds, that season was a very special one. Matt had played a starring role and, under the stewardship of manager Steve Evans, had blossomed into a brilliantly all-rounded forward. Of course, there were still flaws in his game but considering he had initially been accustomed to non - league conditions, he had made the jump to Football League life with relative ease.
 

Inevitably on the 30th of January 2012, Matt Tubbs signed for League One club Bournemouth for a fee believed to be in the region of £800,000 on a three-and-a-half year contract. This was a little bit of a shock as he had only moved up one division and Bournemouth’s ambitions were not on the same level as Crawley's who were backed by wealthy owners. However the temptation of signing for his boyhood team had obviously meant too much. Bournemouth had known that and took advantage He later joined Rotherham on loan and then on the 6th of  January 2014, he made a one-month loan return to Crawley Town and that loan was extended until the end of the 2013-14 season.
On the 25th of January he scored in a 2–2 draw against his former loan-club Rotherham United and then netted in the next three fixtures, as the club extended their unbeaten run to six matches. During this loan spell he scored a further 8 goals in 18 appearances.