Matthew Etherington's Biography

Midfielder, Matthew Etherington was born in Truro on 14 August 1981.

Etherington joined Peterborough as a trainee in 1998 and showed sufficient promise in the first team there for Spurs to shell out £500,000 for him in January 2000.

Etherington, however, was unable to maintain a regular place in the first team at Tottenham and was loaned out to First Division Bradford City in October 2001, where he played 13 games, scoring one goal.

On his return, Matthew Etherington still failed to impress manager Glenn Hoddle sufficiently enough for him to secure a regular first team spot, and he handed in a transfer request.

On 8 August 2003 he was transferred to West Ham for £1,000,000 and became an influential member of the side. Matthew Etherington won the "Hammer of the Year" award for the 2003/04 season.

He has also had success in another sphere: poker. On December 1, 2004 Etherington picked up a cheque for £17,000 for taking first prize at the celebpoker.com Poker Classic Tournament.

However, amid a difficult season for West Ham, in February 2007, Matthew Etherington admitted that he was undergoing treatment for a gambling addiction.

In January 2009, the BBC reported that Stoke City had signed Matthew Etherington for a fee of £2m.