Sam: Lloyd Ekow (Lloyd)

2010-2012 (Leeds Player Details) (Player Details)

Midfield

Born: Leeds: 27-09-1984

Debut: Nil

5’8” 10st 0lb (2010)

Sam was an initial reverse image of Paul Reaney, whereas former Leeds great was born in London and came to Leeds at a very early age, Sam was exactly the opposite as he was born in Leeds and went to London at a very early age. He was initially played youth football for Jets FC and after he had scored twenty-three goals in twenty-five games, including five "hat-tricks", from midfield, his ability was noted by the Charlton Athletic scouts and he was taken into the club's School of Excellence in 1995. he seemed destined for a football career at the Valley, but his association with Charlton was broken as his family moved to Senegal. He maintained his football progress and enrolled at the Dakar Academy, where he also excelled at athletics and volleyball. In 1998, Sam was asked to attend a trial with the Italian side Empoli, with his older brother Andrew. However, neither was successful and, when Lloyd’s family returned to London in 1998, he was offered trials at both Wimbledon and his dream-team Arsenal, but instead re-joined the Charlton Academy. He became a professional in July 2003 at the age of 18. He was initiated into the Charlton squad when, after the Charlton youth team beat Leeds United, his and Osei Sankofa's impressive form for the youth side saw them called up to the first team squad against Arsenal, but they did not participate in the game. It was to be much later before he reached that stage. He did gain first team experience, but it was with Leyton Orient. He joined Orient on 17th January 2004 and went straight into the squad and debuted as an eighty-fifth minute substitute in the home game with Mansfield Town. There were four minutes more a fortnight later at Cheltenham Town, but on 7th February 2004 he got his run-on debut and eighty minutes playing time in the home game with Oxford United. He had made five starts and five substitute appearance by the time he left Brisbane Road on 14th April 2004 and returned to the Valley. Sam made appearances for England at Under-Eighteen and Under-Twenty levels. He scored once for the national team, against Russia in a match at his home stadium, The Valley, in 2005. Coming off the substitutes' bench for the final fifteen minutes, Sam had been on the field just two minutes when he scored a wonderful goal to wrap up a 2-0 win for his country. He finally made his Charlton EPL debut on in the last game of the 2004-05 season as an eighty-sixth minute substitute in the home game with Iain Dowie's Crystal Palace, on 15th May 2005, which condemned Palace to relegation and his fourteen minutes was well remembered by the future Charlton coach. He was called up for his run-on debut in the League Cup tie with Hartlepool United at the Valley on 20th September 2005, in which he played the entire game. He was getting valuable experience with the Reserves and was rewarded when he was given a fifty-ninth minute substitute role in the EPL home game with Blackburn Rovers on 29th April 2006 and then came on at half time at Old Trafford in the final game of the season against Manchester United on 7th May 2006. It had been a frustrating campaign for Sam but new head coach Iain Dowie wasted little time in securing the future of the gifted winger, who signed a four-year contract which kept him at the club until June 2010. "I'm delighted to sign this new deal,” said Sam, "As my old contract was up at the end of this season I've been in negotiations since Christmas, but it's great to get it done. I thought the change of manager might bring about some complications but it hasn't and I think the fact that the new coach has given me a new deal after only a few weeks in the job shows a lot of faith in me." "I think everyone knows how disappointing last season was for me,” Sam continued. "After making my Premiership debut against Palace, the following year was meant to be my breakthrough year but I missed such a big chunk of the season with my foot injury that I couldn't really make my mark. I actually thought I would have played more games after the Hartlepool game, though. I thought I showed in that game that I can compete and affect the game at that level but it didn't happen for me and then I got the injury.” It was beginning to look like a season to forget when the new year came and went with Sam still confined to the treatment room, but there was still time for the Leeds-born box of tricks to serve up a reminder of his abilities before the campaign was out. By the end of April his troublesome foot had finally healed and he was back in the first team squad for the last two games of the season against Blackburn Rovers and Manchester United. In the latter game Sam played the whole of the second half and was one of very few plus points of another forgettable afternoon for the Addicks at Old Trafford. "It was nice for me to play in those two games before the end of the season,” Sam revealed. "There was a lot of disappointment prior to that so to come back and do quite well in the final week of the season was a big boost.” Now, stabilised by his new deal and free of injury, Sam was poised ahead of what he believed would be his most active season in a Charlton shirt to date. "I'm looking forward to it,” said Sam. "I came back to pre-season two weeks early to really work on my fitness and it's up to me to attack it. "There is always competition for places but the opportunity is there for me. I have really enjoyed working with the new gaffer, even though it's only been a few days, and I like his ideas. "I like the way training has gone so far. It's all very fresh and I can't wait to start the pre-season games.” Though Dowie had only had the pleasure of Sam's company for a matter of days at Sparrows Lane, the Addicks head coach revealed the extent of his knowledge of the player. "I've been aware of Lloyd for some time,” said Dowie, who remembered Sam coming off the bench for his Premiership debut despite the tension that day. I was aware of him when he came on against Palace as he was a young player that a lot of people have had a look at. He's now in a situation where he has had that grooming-in period and it's about establishing himself as a first-team player. Clearly we have other good players in that position, such as Dennis Rommedahl, Jerome Thomas and Darren Ambrose, and they've been ahead of him up to now, but it's up to him to do something about that. Competition for places is great and Sam has come back in good shape, as have most of the boys, but you can see that now the contract is out of the way there is a determination that he wants to go and prove what he is capable of.” He went on loan to Sheffield Wednesday on 23rd August 2006 and coincidentally made his debut against his hometown team in a rare away win for them that season at Hillsborough on 27th August 2006, in which he started and played seventy-six minutes and was also booked. He started four games for the Owls before returning to the Valley on 16th September 2006. After his return from Hillsborough he was eased into the Charlton team with a few late substitute appearances and starting games in the F.A. and League Cups before a bout of chickenpox saw him out for a while. When he came back he was loaned to Southend United but only played two games as a substitute during the loan to the Roots Hall club which had started on 12th March 2007 but was cut short by a groin injury. When he returned to the Valley he played in two games at the end of the EPL season on 7th May 2007 at home to Tottenham Hotspur, when he got nineteen minutes as a substitute, and on 13th May 2007 against Liverpool at Anfield, where he started and was given eighty-two minutes. After relegation to the CCCL at the end ofthe 2006-07 season, Sam received an opportunity to break into Charlton's first-team. He was given the number eighteen shirt. He started the season well, scoring his first ever goals in a 4-3 home win over Stockport County, in the League Cup, on 28th August 2007 and in a 1-1 away draw at Coventry City on 29th September 2007, but was sent-off in October 2007 following a clash with Ian Ashbee of Hull City. Sam and Charlton narrowly missed out on promotion back to the EPL after poor end of season form saw them drop out of the play-off positions to eleventh place. It had proved to be a memorable year for Sam, with the winger featuring in twenty-four games for the Addicks, scoring three goals along the way. Sam impressed on both flanks during the campaign until a hamstring strain, suffered early on in the 2-1 defeat to Preston North End, on 8th March 2008, saw him ruled out for the remainder of the season. This presence continued through the 2008-09 season as Charlton continued their slide down the football ladder as they were relegated from the CCCL. This was his second relegation with Charlton, having played a minor part in the squad that was relegated from the EPL in 2006-07. He narrowly missed out on promotion in the 2009-10 season when Charlton reached the League One play-off semi-finals but ended up losing against Swindon Town. The Charlton Athletic youth product was not offered a new contract by Charlton after they failed to gain an immediate return to the Championship as they could not afford his wages, which had been set during their final Premier League season in 2006-07 under Ian Dowie. He had scored six goals in one hundred and nineteen League games, of which twenty-four were as a substitute, he had scored once more in three starts and two games from the bench in League Cup games, but failed to score in seven F.A. Cup ties of which one was from the bench, two play-off Finals and one Johnstone's Paint Trophy game. Sam signed a two year deal with his hometown club Leeds United on 9th July 2010 on a free transfer. The contract also came with an option to extend it further than the initial two years. After a successful pre-season he made his Leeds debut in the opening game of the season aginst Derby County at Elland Road on 7th August 2010. He was in good scoring form and got his first Leeds goal on 10th August 2010 in the second game of the season in a Carling League Cup win over Lincoln City at Elland Road, when he got the third Leeds goal after thirty minutes in a 4-0 win. He was on the mark again five days later when in his third game he scored a thirty-sixth minute equalizer in a 1-1 draw at Nottingham Forest. Six days later in his fourth Leeds game he made it three goals with a thirty-second minute equalizer at Elland Road against Millwall in a game they went on to win 3-1. But the bright start could not be maintained and after starting every game, he was dropped to the bench for the game with Swansea City on 11th September 2010, but came on as a fifty-sixth minute replacement for Sanchez Watt. He was recalled for the next match with Barnsley three days later but was replaced by Davide Somma in the sixty-seventh minute, as the game slipped out of United's grasp. Sam slipped out of the United team as Simon Grayson changed formations and kept picking up niggling injuries to compound matters. While he made some telling contributions when given a chance from the bench by the start of February he had not made a single start since the game with Barnsley and subsequently did not make even an appearance from the bench. He spent the close season working on his fitness and was rewarded as he was restored to the first team in the initial pre-season games with Falkirk and Motherwell, but picked up a few knocks and missed the game with Rochdale before coming on as a second half substitute for Ramon Nunez against Sheffield Wednesday at Hillsborough in the fifty-ninth minute and eight minutes later he scored from an acute angle. He was on the bench for the opening game of the season at St Mary's against Southampton on 6th August 2011 and came on as a replacement for Robert Snodgrass in the seventy-third minute. He made the starting eleven three days later in a Carling League Cup game against Bradford City at Elland Road, in a team weakened by International calls and was back on the bench for the home game against Middlesbrough four days later, when he came on as a seventy-fifth minute substitute for Ross McCormack as Leeds had to reorganize their team after having Max Gradel and Jonathan Howson sent off. While he did make the starting line-up in a weakened team in the Carling Cup tie at Doncaster Rovers on 23rd August 2011 and at Burnley on 19th November 2011, when he deputised for the injured Danny Pugh, and at home to Barnsley seven days later when he was preferred to Pugh after a sound display at Turf Moor, Sam spent much of his time on the bench making cameo appearances if he made the field of play. He did replace the injured Jonathan Howson in the thirty-sixth minute of the game with Millwall on 3rd December 2011 and was retained for the subsequent game at Watford seven days later, but gave way to Mika Vayrynen in the sixty-third minute. He had made fourteen substitute appearances in the League when he was loaned to Notts County for the rest of the season on 14th March 2012. He made a tremendous start to life at Meadow Lane scoring on two minutes from time after coming on as a substitute in place of Jon Harley in the fifty-seventh minute of his debut on 17th March 2012 in a 1-2 home defeat against Sheffield Wednesday. He made his starting debut three days later in a 2-5 home defeat by Sheffield United. Two games more soon followed before in his fourth game at Leyton Orient on 6th April 2012 he scored in the final minute in a 3-0 away win. Three days later he opened the scoring in the thirty-seventh minute and followed this by goals in the eighty-seventh and ninetieth minute to complete his hat-trick in a 3-1 home win over Yeovil Town to make it five goals in five games. Sam finished his time at Notts County with five goals from eight starts and two games from the bench in the League. When he returned to Leeds Manager Neil Warnock told him that he would be released by the club at the end of his contract. Notts County did show an interest in taking Sam on a permanent basis, but eventually they could not afford him and so he trained with Portsmouth to keep up his fitness levels. It was MLS side New York Red Bulls that eventually gave him a trial. After impressing in a Reserve team fixture against DC United, in On 17th August Sam was given a contract for the remainder of the 2012 season. He made his debut on 29th August 2012 as a substitute in a 2-2 draw with DC United. He made his starting debut in the 4-1 win over Toronto FC a month later and played a part in the second goal, but had to leave the field with a knee problem in the fifty-eighth minute. After two starts and three games as a substitute, his season came to an end. He had started the game with Sporting Kansas City on 20th October 2012 but he picked up a knee injury and had to leave the field in the seventy-seventh minute. It was diagnosed as posterior cruciate ligament damage and it meant the end of his season. His form had been good enough to warrant a further contract on 7th January 2013. It was thought that he would be fit for the pre-season. This proved to be the case but there seemed to be a problem with the coach's opinion of Sam' ability and consequently he did not receive adequate game time. He made three late game appearances as a substitute in the games against Montreal Impact, Philadelphia Union and Chicago Fire, but was then an unused substitute for the following two games and it seemed like he was not in favour with coach Mike Petke, as the team could obviously use the pace that he offered. He was sent on midway through the second half of a 4-1 win over New England Revolution and received positive opinions for his performance. He started his first game in six months, the following game in a 2-1 win over Toronto FC, again to good reviews. However he was back on the bench for the 1-0 and 2-1 victories over Columbus Crew and Montreal Impact but he was back in the starting eleven for the game with New England Revolution in May. Sam scored the first Red Bulls goal in the fifty-fith minute. Picking the ball up just inside the penalty area from an Andre Akpan pass, Sam controlled it with his left foot, poked it forward with his right and then drilled a low angled shot past the goalkeeper Bobby Shuttleworth. It seemed as though he was finally making progress. He found the net once more in the Red Bulls' Third Round U.S. Open Cup win over Reading United on 29th May 2013. But on 23rd June 2013, against the Philadelphia Union, Sam received a straight red card for his twenty-eighth minute challenge on Danny Cruz. In early January 2015 Sam signed an extension to his long-term contract with the New York Red Bulls after having played a large part another successful season for his club. He was a regular choice in the 2014 season scoring four times in thirty-two starts in the MLS regular season and started all five of their play-off games. Since joining the Red Bulls he had now scored nine goals in forty-wo starts and seventeen from the bench in the MLS and had started six and come off the bench once in the MLS play-offs.