Shane Supple

Shane Supple

Personal information
Date of birth	(1987-05-04) 4 May 1987
Place of birth	Dublin, Ireland
Height	6 ft 1 in (1.85 m)
Playing position	Goalkeeper
Club information
Current team	Bohemians
Number	30
Youth career
	Ipswich Town
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
2005–2009	Ipswich Town	34	(0)
2008	→ Falkirk (loan)	4	(0)
2009	→ Oldham Athletic (loan)	5	(0)
2015-2016	Crumlin United
2016-	Bohemians	9	(0)
National team
2008	Republic of Ireland U21	1	(0)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only.

Shane Supple (born 4 May 1987) is an Irish association football player who plays as a goalkeeper for the League of Ireland club Bohemian F.C..

In 2015, he made a return to competitive football, after initially retiring in 2009, by signing for non-league Crumlin United, before returning to top-flight football in 2016 when he signed for Bohemians^[1]

Prior to his initial retirement, he spent his career mainly with Ipswich Town, having been a graduate of Ipswich's youth system. He also played for Falkirk and Oldham Athletic and was capped once by the Republic of Ireland U21 side.

Football career

Ipswich Town

In the 2004–05 season, he was part of the FA Youth Cup-winning Ipswich team. On 13 August 2005 he made his first appearance for the Ipswich first team, when an injury to first-choice goalkeeper Lewis Price forced Supple to play for an hour of the match against Leicester City; Supple kept a clean sheet. He retained the number one spot for Ipswich Town, and in the summer of 2006, Charlton made a number of bids for the Republic of Ireland player, but Ipswich manager Jim Magilton rejected all them. Leeds also showed interest but Ipswich informed the public that no bid had been made. He mainly featured among the Ipswich substitutes during the 2006–07 season with Lewis Price being first-choice keeper.

In the summer of 2007, Price was sold to Derby County, and Scottish international Neil Alexander was signed after having been released by Cardiff City at the end of the 2006–07 season. Alexander was the first-choice goalkeeper in the 2007–08 season, consigning Supple once again to the bench. In 2008, Alexander left Ipswich, in a move to Rangers for an undisclosed fee. Stephen Bywater was immediately brought in on loan from Derby County, while Supple was allowed to move to Falkirk on loan. Ahead of the 2008–09 season, Ipswich signed former player, Richard Wright from West Ham United. The former Arsenal, Everton and Southampton was made first-choice keeper.

On 26 February 2009 Supple was linked with a loan move to Grimsby Town, but this was put on hold by Ipswich in order for the club to find a replacement for the departing keeper. Subsequently, the move fell through.

Falkirk

On 31 January 2008, Supple, along with team-mate Billy Clarke joined Scottish Premier League club Falkirk on loan.^[2] Supple was signed due to the injury to Falkirk's first choice goalkeeper Tim Krul, where he made four appearances for the Bairns.

Oldham Athletic

Supple was loaned out to League One side Oldham Athletic on 18 March 2009,^[3] following Ipswich Town's signing of Polish goalkeeper, Bartosz Białkowski until the end of the season.^[4]

Shane Supple during the 2006–07 season

Retirement from soccer

Supple played his last professional game in the League Cup against Shrewsbury Town on 11 August 2009.^[5] Nine days later, Ipswich Town announced that they had agreed to cancel Supple's contract at the request of the player, allowing him to pursue a career outside professional soccer. He said that he had "fallen out of love with the game" and wished to pursue a different career path.^[6] His desire to play Gaelic football with the Dublin county team was a major motivating factor.^[7]

Criticism of Ipswich Town players after retirement

After retiring from the game, Supple criticised players at the club during his tenure for trying to avoid promotion and for not caring if Ipswich won or lost games stating that: "At the time, some of the more senior professionals didn't really care a whole lot whether we won or lost on a Saturday. I was thinking 'this isn't what I thought it was, I thought everyone was supposed to be fighting for the cause'. I kept at it but still wasn't really enjoying it," Supple added; "At the time we were pushing for promotion, it was the 2004/05 season, the year Wigan went up. We were up there and the lads were worried about if they'd get another contract if we did get promoted, and that if we were in the play-offs their holidays were going to be eaten into for a couple of weeks. It was around that time I started thinking about it."

He also had positives to say about incoming manager Roy Keane and some of the squad at the time of his arrival a few years later: "That army camp was probably the most enjoyable time over there! We were split into four teams and I managed to be put into a team with Jon Walters and Gareth McAuley, which I was delighted about, they were decent guys, decent professionals."

He remarked on his former teammates that: "Some of the lads that were standouts at our age group and below haven't done a lot, obviously there was Dean Bowditch who was the big talk of the time.Connor Wickham obviously came through quickly but was probably sold a bit too early. Billy Clarke was younger than me and is at Bradford now, and apparently Jordan Rhodes is doing alright elsewhere! "

Supple did have high praise for Tommy Smith, who along with Luke Hyam is the only member of the current squad to have played alongside him."Tommy was a couple of years younger than me and I trained with him an awful lot. He was very raw when he came over [from New Zealand]."He's a solid lad, a big lad. He wouldn't be a ball-playing defender I suppose, and to be honest I wouldn't have thought he'd be there this long."He's done remarkably well I think to still be there and fair play to him. He was very young when I was there obviously. He's matured since then on the pitch."It's always good to see Tommy, whenever I go over to the club he always comes over and has a chat with me. He wouldn't have been the one I thought would've been there that long."Luke Hyam was coming through as well so I know Lukey a little bit, and again he wouldn't have been a standout player back then.

^{[8] [9]}

Return to football

Supple returned playing football when he signed for junior club Crumlin United in 2015. On 15 June 2016 it was announced that he had signed with League of Ireland side Bohemians, marking his return to top-flight football.^[10] Supple made his first team debut on 9th July 2016 in a mid-season friendly at home to Portsmouth. He made his league debut for Bohemians in a 1-0 defeat to Derry City at Dalymount Park.

Honours

Ipswich Town

• FA Youth Cup: 2004–05

Crumlin United

• Leinster Senior League Major Sunday Division

Bohemians

• Leinster Senior Cup (1): 2015-2016

Gaelic football career

Supple plays Gaelic football, also as a goalkeeper, for St Brigid's.^[11]

In 2010 he became a member of the Dublin senior football panel, being substitute goalkeeper for their NFL game against Mayo in March,^[12] although he did not play any part in the game.

Supple excelled in his first full season with his home club St Brigids, acting as vice-captain in their superb run to the final of the Dublin Senior Football Championship in 2010. Supple was nominated for a Blue Star for his excellent performances for St Brigids during the season.

In November 2011 Brigids won the Dublin Senior Football Championship.

References

External links

• Shane Supple player profile at itfc.co.uk
• Shane Supple career statistics at Soccerbase