Pawel Tadeusz Howard Abbott (born 5 May 1982) is a former professional footballer who played as a striker. Born in England, he represented Poland at under-21 level.

Club career Early career Abbott was born in York, North Yorkshire, to a Polish mother and an English father as the younger of two children. He first played football for Beagle Boys in York before the team changed its name to York RI. He had the chance to play for Doncaster Rovers but declined the offer and moved to Poland, where he became a youth player at ŁKS Łódź, before moving back to England to join Preston North End at the age of 19.

He did not have the best time at Preston making only 25 appearances in three years and having two loan spells at Bury.

Huddersfield Town In early 2004, Abbott was signed on loan by Huddersfield Town as a makeshift replacement for Jon Stead who had just been sold to Premier League side Blackburn Rovers. He scored on his debut after coming off the bench against Bristol Rovers, going on to score four times in six games on loan. He was then bought for a fee of around £125,000. He would score only once more that season, but in 2004–05 became the first Town striker in six years to hit more than 20 goals as he struck 27 times in all competitions.

The following season was less successful for Abbott. After an initial run of scoring in the season, including in six consecutive games in August and September, he suffered something of a goal-drought over the remainder of the campaign, being relegated to being a bit-part player from the bench following this loss of form. He scored a total of 14 times in 2005–06.

In July 2006, Abbott rejected a move to Milton Keynes Dons as part of a deal or no deal with their defender Dean Lewington. He said that he wanted to fight for a first-team place against Gary Taylor-Fletcher, Andy Booth, John McAliskey and new signing Luke Beckett. In his penultimate game for Huddersfield on 30 December 2006 he scored two goals (including a last minute winner) against the club he would ironically go on to join in a matter of days; Swansea City. In his final game for Huddersfield he was sent off against Doncaster Rovers on 1 January 2007.

Swansea City In January 2007, Abbott was sold to Swansea City for £150,000. He made his debut as a late substitute against Gillingham on 23 January 2007. Abbott was signed by Kenny Jackett, however shortly after he joined the club Jackett was replaced by Roberto Martínez. After 18 league appearances (9 starts) for the Swans he scored just once against Rotherham United, which was Martínez's first game in charge.

Darlington After just six months with Swansea, Abbott joined Darlington for £100,000. Here Abbott found some of his best form scoring 17 from in 31 appearances. However, he was prone to injuries during his two seasons there and was sold to Oldham Athletic.

Oldham Athletic On 26 June 2009, Abbott signed for League One team Oldham Athletic on a two-year deal. He scored his first two goals for the club on 15 August 2009, wrapping up a 2–1 victory for Oldham against Leyton Orient. Abbott finished the season as Oldham's top scorer with 13 goals.

Charlton Athletic On 30 July 2010, Abbott signed for Charlton Athletic for a fee of £20,000. Abbott netted twice against Shrewsbury Town in the League Cup to register his first goals for the club. He went on to score against MK Dons in the Football League Trophy and Swindon in the league, ending his season tally on four goals.

Ruch Chorzów On 28 February 2011, Abbott joined Polish side Ruch Chorzów on a free transfer, after playing 25 matches for Charlton scoring four goals.Paweł Abbott nowym piłkarzem Ruchu! 28 February 2011, ruchchorzow.com.pl

On 30 July 2011, he scored his first goal for Ruch Chorzów, giving his team a 2–1 victory over GKS Bełchatów on the first day match of the 2011–12 season.Szalona radość Pawła Abbotta! 30 July 2011, ruchchorzow.com.pl

International career Abbott was eligible to represent both England and Poland at International level, and chose to represent Poland due to his mother. He made one appearance for the Poland national under-21 team, where he also scored his first international goal.

Career statistics

+ Appearances and goals by club, season and competitionClubSeasonLeagueNational cupLeague cupOtherTotalDivisionAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsŁKS Łódź1999–2000Ekstraklasa801120—1112000–01II liga001000—10Total802120—121Preston North End2000–01First Division00000000002002–03First Division1631000—1732003–04First Division923010—132Total255401000305Bury (loan)2002–03Third Division176002010206Huddersfield Town (loan)2003–04Third Division6400000064Huddersfield Town2003–04Third Division71000020912004–05League One442611101047272005–06League One361230223044142006–07League One185001010205Total1114841427012651Swansea City2006–07League One181100000191Darlington2007–08League Two2492010002792008–09League Two188000000188Total42172010004517Oldham Athletic2009–10League One39130010104113Charlton Athletic2010–11League One171301241254Ruch Chorzów2010–11Ekstraklasa7010——802011–12Ekstraklasa29673——369Total36683——449Zawisza Bydgoszcz2012–13I liga271520——29152013–14Ekstraklasa4011——51Total311531——3416Arka Gdynia2014–15I liga15210——1622015–16I liga251220——27122016–17Ekstraklasa11032——142Total511452——5716Stomil Olsztyn2017–18I liga10000——100Career total405126338124131463139

Honours Huddersfield Town Football League Third Division play-offs: 2004

Zawisza Bydgoszcz I liga: 2012–13 Polish Cup: 2013–14

Arka Gdynia I liga: 2015–16 Polish Cup: 2016–17

References

External links