Greig Spence

Greig Spence
Personal information
Date of birth (1992-07-06) 6 July 1992
Place of birth Dunfermline, Scotland
Playing position Striker
Club information
Current team
 Alloa Athletic
Youth career
Rangers
Alloa Athletic
2009–2011 Celtic
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
2008–2009 Alloa Athletic 19 (4)
2011–2012 Celtic 0 (0)
2011–2012 → Hamilton Academical (loan) 29 (5)
2012–2014 Raith Rovers 59 (20)
2014–2015 Alloa Athletic 28 (4)
2015–2016 Cowdenbeath 36 (17)
2016–2017 Alloa Athletic 36 (16)
2017–2018 Raith Rovers 32 (11)
2018– Alloa Athletic 2 (0)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 23:10, 11 August 2018 (UTC)

Greig Spence (born 6 July 1992) is a Scottish professional footballer who plays as a striker for Alloa Athletic.

Born in Dunfermline, he started his career at Alloa Athletic, breaking into their first-team at the age of 16. He was then signed by Scottish Premier League club Celtic in 2009. He was loaned to First Division club Hamilton Academical for the 2011–12 season. In July 2012, he signed a one-year contract with Raith Rovers. In June 2014, he returned to Alloa before signing for Cowdenbeath the following season, before once again resigning for Alloa in 2016. After a year with Alloa, Spence moved back to Raith for his second spell, spending a further year in Kirkcaldy. Spence signed on for his fourth spell with Alloa in June 2018.

Career

Youth

Spence played for Rangers youth team as a schoolboy.[1] He then moved on to Alloa Athletic where he broke into the first-team at the age of 16.[2]

Alloa Athletic (first spell)

His first start came against Queens Park on 16 February, he scored Alloa's equaliser in a 2–1 win.[3] On 4 May, Spence scored Alloa's equaliser against Ayr United, drawing the match ensured that Alloa would not be relegated.[4] After the match manager Allan Maitland praised Spence for how well he took his goal.[5] Overall, Spence scored four goals in nineteen appearances for Second Division Alloa during the 2008–09 season.[6] Spence only played three times for Alloa during the 2009–10 season as he left the club in August.[7] His only goal came in a 3–2 defeat against Ross County in the Scottish Challenge Cup.[8]

Celtic & Hamilton loan

Scottish Premier League club Celtic signed Spence in August 2009 for a six-figure fee.[1][9] Spence missed the first half of the 2010–11 season through injury but came back to score in the 2011 Scottish Youth Cup Final.[10][11] On 16 July 2011, Spence scored for Celtic's development squad in a 2–1 loss to Partick Thistle.[12]

In August 2011, Spence moved on loan to Scottish First Division side Hamilton Academical. He scored his first goal for Hamilton in a 2–1 Scottish Challenge Cup quarter-final win over Morton on 4 September.[13] Two weeks later he scored in Hamilton's 2–2 draw against Raith Rovers.[14] On 3 November, he scored a 'superb' header in Hamilton's 3–2 loss against Ayr United.[15] On 13 January, Spence scored the winner in Hamilton's 1–0 victory over Partick Thistle.[16] The next week he scored in Hamilton's 2–2 draw with Ayr United.[17] On 24 March, Spence scored the first goal in Hamilton's 3–0 win over Queen of the South.[18]

Raith Rovers, Alloa & Cowdenbeath

Spence announced on his Twitter account in May 2012 that he was leaving Celtic,[19] subsequently training with Raith Rovers in an attempt to win a permanent contract.[20] He signed for the club on 18 July 2012.[21] He was part of the Raith Rovers team that won 1–0 against Rangers in the 2014 Scottish Challenge Cup Final.[22]

On 24 June 2014, Spence signed for Alloa Athletic for a second time.[23] He scored a hat-trick on his first appearance on 26 July 2014, in a Challenge Cup match against Arbroath as Alloa won 4–1.[24] On 3 December 2014, Spence scored twice as Alloa came from 2–0 behind to defeat Rangers 3–2 in the semi-final of the Challenge Cup, the club's first ever win against Rangers.[25] After one season with The Wasps, Spence signed for Scottish League One side Cowdenbeath. Although Cowdenbeath were relegated to Scottish League Two Spence had a particularly successful season with the club, finishing third top scorer in the league with 17 goals, as well as being nominated for PFA Scotland's League One player of the year award[26] and being included in the PFA Scotland League One team of the year.[27]

In May 2016, Spence returned for his third spell with Alloa Athletic.[28] In February 2017, Spence scored the SPFL's 8000th goal (across all four divisions, but not including play-offs), in a 2–0 win at Queen's Park.[29][30]

Spence returned to the east of Scotland in June 2017, signing with his former club Raith Rovers, now in Scottish League One.[31] After the club failed to win promotion back to the Scottish Championship, Spence was released by the club in May 2018.[32] Spence resigned for Alloa for his fourth spell in June 2018.[33]

Career statistics

As of 4 June 2018[7][34]
Club Season League Scottish Cup League Cup Other Total
AppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoals
Alloa Athletic 2008–09 184001000194
2009–10 1[35]000101131
Total 19[6]4002011225
Celtic 2009–10 0000000000
2010–11 0000000000
2011–12 0000000000
Total 0000000000
Hamilton Academical (loan) 2011–12 295200031346
Raith Rovers 2012–13 32114231214115
2013–14 2794011523712
Total 59208242737827
Alloa Athletic 2014–15 2841022573613
Cowdenbeath 2015–16 36173110314319
Alloa Athletic 2016–17 35162163334623
Raith Rovers 2017–18 32111041614313
Alloa Athletic 2018–19 0000000000
Career Total 238771741982817303106

Honours

Raith Rovers

References

  1. 1 2 "Alloa hitkid Greig Spence on verge of dream move to Celtic". Daily Record. Media Scotland. 12 August 2009. Retrieved 12 September 2011.
  2. ↑ "Spence, 16, has debut to remember". Press and Journal. DC Thomson. 16 February 2009. Retrieved 24 March 2012.
  3. ↑ "Dream Day Out Is Still Playing on Our Minds". Daily Record. Media Scotland. 16 February 2009. Retrieved 24 March 2012.
  4. ↑ "Division 2: Ayr United 1 Alloa Athletic 1". Daily Record. Media Scotland. 4 May 2009. Retrieved 24 March 2012.
  5. ↑ "Jellema pulls out all the stops". Press and Journal. DC Thomson. 4 May 2009. Retrieved 24 March 2012.
  6. 1 2 "Greig Spence". Scottish Football League. Archived from the original on 30 August 2012. Retrieved 12 September 2011.
  7. 1 2 Greig Spence at Soccerbase
  8. ↑ "Ross County 3–2 Alloa Athletic". BBC Sport. 25 July 2009. Retrieved 24 March 2012.
  9. ↑ "Celtic sign Alloa striker Spence". BBC Sport. 15 August 2009. Retrieved 11 September 2011.
  10. ↑ "Greig Spence". Celtic FC. Archived from the original on 22 April 2012. Retrieved 12 September 2011.
  11. ↑ "Celtic U19 2–1 Rangers U19 (aet)". BBC Sport. 27 April 2011. Retrieved 12 September 2011.
  12. ↑ "Celtic XI go down to Partick Thistle". Celtic FC. 16 July 2011. Archived from the original on 19 July 2011. Retrieved 11 September 2011.
  13. ↑ McGilvray, Andrew (8 September 2011). "On loan Accies star Spence hopes to get in more goals". Hamilton Advertiser. Media Scotland. Retrieved 12 September 2011.
  14. ↑ "Hamilton 2–2 Raith Rovers". BBC Sport. 17 September 2011. Retrieved 24 March 2012.
  15. ↑ "Striker Greig Spence says boss Billy Reid was right to blast them". Hamilton Advertiser. Media Scotland. 3 November 2011. Retrieved 24 March 2012.
  16. ↑ "Hamilton Accies 1–0 Partick Thistle". BBC Sport. 13 January 2012. Retrieved 24 March 2012.
  17. ↑ "Ayr United 2–2 Hamilton Academical". BBC Sport. 21 January 2012. Retrieved 24 March 2012.
  18. ↑ "Hamilton Accies 3–0 Queen of the South". BBC Sport. 24 March 2012. Retrieved 24 March 2012.
  19. ↑ "Twitter - Greig Spence". @greigspence. Twitter.
  20. ↑ "Raith Rovers v Ross County: new boss Murray keen to get up and running". The Courier. DC Thomson. 10 July 2012. Retrieved 14 July 2012.
  21. ↑ "Rovers Make Important Addition to Squad". Raith Rovers FC. 18 July 2012. Retrieved 18 July 2012.
  22. 1 2 "Ramsden Cup: Raith Rovers 1-0 Rangers (aet)". BBC Sport. 6 April 2014.
  23. ↑ "Greig Spence signs". Alloa Athletic FC. 24 June 2014. Retrieved 24 June 2014.
  24. ↑ "Arbroath 1–4 Alloa". BBC Sport. 26 July 2014. Retrieved 26 July 2014.
  25. ↑ Moffat, Colin (3 December 2014). "Alloa 3–2 Rangers". BBC Sport. Retrieved 3 December 2014.
  26. ↑ "Rangers pair & Hibs duo vie for Scottish Championship award". BBC Sport. 21 April 2016. Retrieved 30 May 2016.
  27. ↑ "Only two Celtic players in Scottish Premiership team of season". BBC Sport. 29 April 2016. Retrieved 30 May 2016.
  28. ↑ "Spence returns to Alloa". Scottish Professional Football League. 31 May 2016. Retrieved 31 May 2016.
  29. ↑ "Four for Livi, Spence nets landmark goal". SPFL. 18 February 2017. Retrieved 10 April 2017.
  30. ↑ "Weekend in numbers". SPFL. 20 February 2017. Retrieved 10 April 2017.
  31. ↑ "Triple Signing Coup for Smith". Raith Rovers FC. 9 June 2017. Retrieved 9 June 2017.
  32. ↑ "RRFC retained/released list". Raith Rovers FC. 15 May 2018. Retrieved 15 May 2018.
  33. ↑ "Manager adds to squad". Alloa Athletic FC. 4 June 2018. Retrieved 4 June 2018.
  34. ↑ Greig Spence at Soccerbase
  35. ↑ Rollin, Glenda & Rollin, Jack, eds. (2010). Sky Sports Football Yearbook 2010–2011. Headline. p. 675. ISBN 978-0-7553-6107-6.
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