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Bobby Convey

Robert Francis Convey (born 27 May 1983 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States) is a professional footballer who currently plays on the left wing for Reading F.C. in the Championship. He attended the William Penn Charter School in Philadelphia. Convey is partially blind in his left eye due to optic nerve damage.

US soccer

Convey was a member of the initial class of the Bradenton Academy that also included current national team members Landon Donovan, Oguchi Onyewu and DaMarcus Beasley. Together they helped lead the Under-17 Squad to a fourth-place finish in the 1999 U-17 World Cup in New Zealand.

Convey became famous when he was drafted in 2000 by D.C. United of Major League Soccer. That year he became the youngest player ever signed by Major League Soccer. Convey was originally slotted to play the majority of the season with the Project-40 squad, however, as United faltered he was called upon to step in and perform almost immediately. He played 22 games for United in 2000, starting 18 of those. Convey entered his first game in United's 4-0 loss to Los Angeles Galaxy in the home opener at Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Stadium on 25 March 2000 and was awarded his first start in United's 2-1 loss at the Columbus Crew on 3 May 2000. It was not until 4 July 2000 against the Colorado Rapids that Convey served up Raul Diaz Arce at the far post for a header past a helpless David Kramer. The teen also was impressive against English Premier League side Newcastle United, when the Magpies visited D.C. during a pre-season training stint in the US. Convey's two assists and high work rate during that friendly were enough to draw the attention of Newcastle's famed manager Bobby Robson.

In four and a half seasons in MLS, Convey finished with eight goals and 16 assists.

English football

Convey looked set to move to Tottenham Hotspur of the English Premiership in the summer of 2003, when the London club agreed to a $3 million move with MLS, but the transfer stalled when his work permit application was denied due to his lack of appearances with the senior national team. Then, on 22 July 2004, after five seasons with D.C. United, Convey signed a three-year contract with Reading,who were then playing in the English Football League Championship, on the highest transfer fee paid by Reading up to that date.

Convey made his début for his new club in a 1-0 loss away to West Ham United, coming on as a substitute. He made his first start a few days later during a 1-0 Reading victory over Sheffield United on 14 August 2004. However, the start of his career in England lacked distinction, as Convey made only seven starts and 15 substitute appearances during the 2004–05 season.

Convey entered the 2005–06 season in much better form, with a starting place in the team, and he helped the Royals win the League Championship title setting a new English record of 106 points in 46 games to gain promotion to the English Premier League for the 2006–07 season. Convey's first goals for the club came during a 5-0 victory over Millwall. Four Four Two, a football magazine in England, named him the tenth best player in The Football League.

Convey's first season in the Premier League started with Reading's 3-2 win over Middlesbrough on 19 August 2006. However, Convey missed much of the remainder of the season following a training ground injury in October 2006 and subsequent knee operations.

He returned from injury on 28 July 2007, playing the first half in a pre-season friendly match against Brighton, appearing "comfortable and in good shape," according to the team's match report. He returned to competitive football for Reading in the club's 1-0 victory over Everton on 18 August 2007.

International career

Convey received his first cap for the senior United States team on 25 October 2000 against Mexico, becoming the third youngest player in US history to do so. Convey captained the Under-20 team at the 2003 FIFA World Youth Championship in the United Arab Emirates. He was named to the 23-man squad for the 2006 FIFA World Cup in Germany, wearing number 15. He played in all three games as the United States exited in the first round.

Honours

Reading

Coca-Cola Championship: 2006

Career statistics

|- |2000||rowspan="5"|D.C. United||rowspan="5"|Major League Soccer||22||0|||||||||||| |- |2001||12||1|||||||||||| |- |2002||26||5|||||||||||| |- |2003||19||2|||||||||||| |- |2004||10||0|||||||||||| |- |2004-05||rowspan="5"|Reading||rowspan="2"|Championship||18||0||2||0||2||0||22||0 |- |2005-06||45||7||colspan="2"|-||colspan="2"|-||45||7 |- |2006-07||rowspan="2"|Premier League||9||0||3||0||colspan="2"|-||12||0 |- |2007-08||20||0||2||0||2||0||24||0 |- |2008-09||Championship||||||||||||||||89||8||||||||||||92||7||7||0||4||0||103||7181||15|||||||||||| |}