Dave Kitson

David Barry Kitson (born 21 January 1980) is an English former professional footballer who played as a forward. He is national team manager and international ambassador for Nauru and works as a coach for Reading Blue Coat School and The Dave Kitson Academy.

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

Kitson began his career with non-league Hitchin Town and Arlesey Town before he joined Cambridge United in 2001 and became one of the brightest prospects in the Third Division, which led to him being signed by Reading in 2003 for a fee of £150,000.

He 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. After two seasons in the top flight Reading were relegated and Kitson signed for Stoke City for a club record fee of £5.5 million.

He had loan spells with Reading and Middlesbrough before joining Portsmouth. He spent two seasons at Fratton Park but agreed to cancel his contract with Portsmouth in August 2012 with the club in danger of being liquidated, and subsequently joined Sheffield United on a short term deal, before signing a two-year contract at Oxford United in June 2013.

Early life
Born in Hitchin, Hertfordshire, Kitson spent the early part of his football career in non-league with Hitchin Town and Arlesey Town and worked for Sainsbury's as a shelf stacker.

Cambridge United
Kitson joined Cambridge United, then in Division Two, in 2001 after being recommended by agent Barry Silkman to U's manager John Beck.

He made his debut in 3–2 victory away over Stoke City on 17 March 2001. On the final day of the same season, Kitson notched his first goal for the club in a 1–1 draw at Swansea City.

The following season saw the club relegated from League One but Kitson scored 10 goals, finishing as the club's second-top goalscorer, one behind Tom Youngs.

It was in the 2002–03 campaign that Kitson really found his feet. He 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. After 11 goals in 19 appearances at the start of the 2003–04 season, Kitson left Cambridge to join second-tier outfit Reading. His return of 47 goals in 123 appearances in all competitions ensured Kitson's place among the club's all-time legends.

Reading


Kitson was sold to Reading on 26 December 2003, for a fee of £150,000.

At Reading, he scored five goals in 10 starts in his first season. In the 2005–06 season, despite injury he went on to record an impressive goals-to-game ratio, and continued to do so as Reading won the Championship title with a record 106 points.

Following promotion with Reading, Kitson scored the club's first Premier League goal in their 3–2 home win against Middlesbrough on the opening day of the 2006–07 season, but was then badly injured later in the same match. The injury kept him out of the game until Reading's FA Cup victory over Birmingham City on 27 January 2007.

On 27 March 2007, he committed his future to Reading, signing a new deal until June 2010.

At the start of 2007–08, he was sent off less than a minute after coming on as a substitute for Reading against Manchester United, for a challenge on Patrice Evra.

Stoke City
On 18 July 2008, Kitson moved in a £5.5m move from Reading to Stoke City, breaking Stoke's record transfer fee.

Speculation soon arose as to whether 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.

As a result, he failed to score any goals in any of the 18 competitive games he played for Stoke City in the 2008–09 season.

Chairman Peter Coates and Pulis denied any rumour that he might be leaving the Britannia Stadium. He rejoined Reading on loan until the end of the 2008–09 season on 10 March 2009.



Kitson later revealed that he made the "wrong decision" in joining Stoke, adding that he and his family were happy at Reading and that "I threw all of that away for what I thought was going to be a new challenge... I hold my hands up – it was my fault. I made the decision to go to Stoke, I didn't have to, no-one forced me to go, and it was a bad decision."

Addressing his lack of goals for Stoke, he said "I'd been bought for a lot of money but I wasn't sure I was being utilised in the way I thought I was going to be... You do have some days at training when you go back in and wonder what you're doing there."

However, Reading failed to gain promotion, meaning that Kitson returned to Stoke. Kitson stated that he would "start his Stoke career again".

His first competitive goal for Stoke came in a 1–0 League Cup win at Leyton Orient on 26 August 2009.

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

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

He returned to Stoke on 1 January 2010. He scored in the FA Cup against Manchester City and Bolton Wanderers.

Portsmouth
Kitson joined Portsmouth with Liam Lawrence on deadline day as part of a deal which saw Marc Wilson join Stoke City. Kitson made his Portsmouth debut on 11 September 2010 in a 0–0 draw with Ipswich at Fratton Park. He scored his first goal for the club in a 4–1 defeat at Crystal Palace on 14 September 2010 and a further 2 goals in a 6–1 win over Leicester at Fratton Park on 24 September 2010. In his first season, Kitson made 39 appearances and scored 8 goals.

In his second season, Kitson was frequently left out of the squad, before Steve Cotterill left the club to become manager of Nottingham Forest. Kitson experienced a dip in form and was dropped to the bench by Cotterill's successor Michael Appleton. Kitson registered his first Portsmouth goal since October 2011 at Doncaster Rovers with a 90th minute equaliser, before Márkó Futács scored in stoppage time to secure a 4-3 win, which kept Portsmouth in the division for at least one more week and confirmed Doncaster's relegation. Kitson left the club in August 2012.

Sheffield United


On 31 August 2012, Kitson joined Sheffield United on a short-term deal. He made his debut on 15 September 2012, coming on as a second-half substitute in the 1–1 draw with Bury. His first goal for the Blades came in a 1–1 draw against Notts County at Bramall Lane on 29 September 2012.

On 16 November 2012 Kitson extended his contract until the end of the season, stating that "It wouldn't have sat comfortably with me to leave a job half done after integrating myself into a great squad... I still would like to go to America but we will revisit that at a later date because the aim is to have a good crack at winning promotion here."

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.

Oxford United
On 27 June 2013, Kitson joined League Two club Oxford United, signing a two year contract. He scored four league goals in his only season at the club. On 22 July 2014 Kitson announced his decision to retire from playing professional football.

Return to Arlesey Town
On 15 December 2014, Kitson was appointed as a player and assistant manager to new boss Nick Ironton at Arlesey Town, the club he played for between 2000 and 2001. Kitson departed the club in February 2015 following Ironton's departure.

Management
On 14 March 2024, Kitson was announced as Nauru's first ever national team manager and international ambassador. He was tasked with assembling a team to play in Nauru's first competitive game.

In June 2024, Kitson invited Reading-based XL FC, a football club that helps men lose weight, to visit Nauru to play the national team in their first ever game, as part of his plans to leave a legacy of a healthier lifestyle on the island.

Coaching
In October 2023, Kitson launched The Dave Kitson Academy, offering one-to-one and group coaching sessions for players of all abilities. He has coached players from academies at his former clubs Reading and Cambridge United.

Kitson's former Reading team-mate James Harper joined the academy's coaching team in January 2024.

With Kitson on board as a coach and assistant manager, Reading Blue Coat School's 1st XI won a national cup competition for the first time in the school's 378-year history, beating Cranleigh School 2-1 after extra-time in the ISFA Under 18s Shield at Burnham FC on 19 March 2024.

In May 2024, David Hillier, who won the league title with Arsenal in 1991, joined Kitson's coaching team.

Within eight months of launching The Dave Kitson Academy, Josh Hardy, one of the first players Kitson coached, won a scholarship to US college Connors State, which has a track record of producing professional athletes.

In July 2024, Lilly Morris, a 12-year-old who Kitson coaches, joined Reading FC Women’s Under 13s.

Other roles in football
In April 2021, Kitson was announced as chairman of Arlesey Town. On 19 February 2024, Kitson announced that he had resigned as Arlesey chairman, due to his commitments with The Dave Kitson Academy, his Berkshire-based football academy. He expressed an interest in becoming a director of a football club in Berkshire.

Kitson also gives talks to football clubs, schools, businesses and other organisations about his career and other topics including resilience and mental health. In April 2024, he delivered one of his talks to the Under 21s and Under 18s at his former club Cambridge United.

Media work
Kitson has worked as a Talksport pundit and a Premier League pundit for Stadium Astro in Malaysia. He writes a weekly column in the Reading Chronicle.

Personal life
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 best selling books, but the author's identity has never been revealed.

Kitson was a volunteer coach for Grenfell Athletic, the team set up to support victims of the Grenfell Tower fire in 2017.

In October 2023, Kitson joined fans of his former club Reading in a march from the town centre to the club's Select Car Leasing Stadium, in protest against the club's owner Dai Yongge. While being interviewed as a guest on The Price Of Football Podcast in May 2024, he talked about the "stupidity" of the way Reading FC has been run in the post Sir John Madejski era of the club.

Kitson signed as a player for Reading Sunday League side Caversham United to support Sunday League Day on 24 March 2024 and raise money for Prostate Cancer UK. In his first competitive game for 10 years, Kitson scored twice on his Caversham United debut in a 2–2 draw against Reading Sunday League Division 2 rivals Rose & Thistle - including a stoppage time equaliser.

In May 2024, Kitson set up a networking group to support businesses, charities and community groups in the Reading area.

In his weekly column in the Reading Chronicle, Kitson revealed that one of his ambitions is to create a football-related television series and that he had been in talks with former Soccer AM producer James Long, with a view to trying to get the series made. Kitson said: "I genuinely believe that we could put together something really special that shows football in a whole new light."

Kitson is a supporter of Talking Royals - a podcast that supports Reading FC fans who are facing mental health challenges.

Honours
Cambridge United
 * Football League Trophy runner-up: 2001–02

Reading
 * Football League Championship: 2005–06

Individual
 * PFA Team of the Year: 2002–03 Third Division
 * Reading Player of the Season: 2004–05