Michael Harding Northampton Town, League Two Born in the US, according to the club. Jacob Ballinger is an 18 year old Buckinghamshire born defender. Has been a member of the Northampton Town Academy since 2011. Michael Harding is an 18 year old American born striker who joined our Academy as an under 16 player. Another proud night for @NTFC_Academy pic.twitter.com/hpUj3Y2ezR— Northampton Town (@ntfc) December 3, 2019 Club bio: https://www.ntfc.co.uk/teams/first-team/defender/michael-harding/ Biography DATE OF BIRTH 01/01/1901 [sic] SIGNED 02/12/2019 COUNTRY England On the bench for the 1st team in a Leasing.com Trophy match: CONFIRMED: Keith Curle has made 8 changes to his team for tonight’s @LeasingcomTrphy Trophy tie at Portsmouth. @NTFC_Academy products Shaun McWilliams and Scott Pollock start while current academy players Michael Harding and Jacob Ballinger are on the bench. Ryan Watson captains pic.twitter.com/oAMbFZL6nR— Northampton Town (@ntfc) December 3, 2019
https://www.ntfc.co.uk/news/2018/july/new_apprenctices/ Michael Harding (front row, right) The club worked hard to secure the signing of Michael, who comes from Leicester. He is new to the Northampton Town Academy and is a creative, attacking player.
Makes his first team debut: 69' Cobblers changes. Jay Williams replaces Joe Martin who leaves the field having possibly picked up a knock and @NTFC_Academy product Michael Harding is on for his senior debut replacing Harry Smith #PFC 2-1 #NTFC— Northampton Town (@ntfc) December 3, 2019
📸A senior debut for @NTFC_Academy striker Michael Harding pic.twitter.com/nAuAtsm6s1— Northampton Town (@ntfc) December 3, 2019
Scored for the U18s: Northampton Town's youth team welcomed Leyton Orient to Moulton College on Saturday in the EFL Youth Alliance. Ethan Johnston (pictured) netted a hat-trick in an 8-2 win for the Cobblers with Caleb Chukwuemeka (2), Michael Harding, Ewan Clarke and Haydn Price from the penalty spot also on target. https://www.ntfc.co.uk/news/2019/december2/youth_141219/
Heading to nearby Kettering Town (sixth tier) on loan: https://www.ntfc.co.uk/news/2019/december2/harding_work_experience/
And, yes, you're right! He isn't, or wasn't, the first (or second) Yank at Northampton Town! https://www.bigsoccer.com/threads/neal-kitson-to-northampton-town.1889047/
The chronologically first player (again, AFAIK) was obscure enough that when I saw his name on one of the spreadsheets I myself put together, I still wondered to myself who the hell it was. I think I came across him in some sort of TM or internet search years ago and then immediately forgot all about it.
In addition to Harding, I have Seb Morris, Neal Kitson, Paul Rachubka, Gboly Ariyibi, and possibly Beckett Hollenbach, plus a few trialists, and maybe some others in my old spreadsheets I haven't looked at in years. The loanees are the guys who tripped me up...
Here's Kettering Town's announcement. http://www.ketteringtownfc.com/news/breaking-news-new-signing-7 Not sure where in the US he was born. Joined Northampton in fall 2017 and was with a club called Carib SSFC in Leicester for at least about two years (quite possibly longer) before Northampton. I've seen a handful of clips of his play with Northampton U18 and he's stocky but seemed to have decent speed and ball skills for that level. His last two goals before this loan were fairly difficult: bicycle kick from about 8 yards out and then a curler banked off the right post from just inside the 18-yard-box.
Whoops, I forgot Rachubka which is dumb, because he's seemingly played for every single League One and League Two club over the course of his career. I was thinking of Paul Conway.
Nice. He even mentions it on his LinkedIn page! To keep this going, I'll just note that my YA "archives" list Jason Dozzell, an English '67 of some notoriety, as there in 97/98. With that said, I have no recollection of why he's in there; it may be incorrect, but it's unlikely that I made it up. Heck, I even mentioned him as having an American parent in another thread years ago though I have no idea how I thought that.
Has moved to St. Ives Town FC somewhere around the 7th tier in England: http://stivestownfc.co.uk/centre-forward-joins-the-ives/
As I was going to St. Ives, I met a man with seven wives, Each wife had seven sacks, Each sack had seven cats, Each cat seven kits would yield, In November, Harding moved To Beaconsfield. https://southern-football-league.co.uk/news/129787/New-Attacker-for-Beaconsfield
And his latest move is to FC Barwell, in, I think, the 7th tier of English footie. Starting in FA Cup qualifying: Today’s lineup for our FA Cup First Round Qualifying!1. Andrew Wycherley2 Jacob Pemberton 3. Melis Bushaj4. Dominic Brown-Hill5. Kyle Rowley6. Herve Pepe Ngoma 7. Beck Ray Enoru 8. Maxwell Brogan 9. Michael Harding 10. Brady Hickey (c)11. Tiago Nassunculo pic.twitter.com/p5w4JXM6wR— Barwell FC (@BarwellFC1992) September 6, 2022