Purdie,Rob

**Robert James 'Rob' Purdie** (born 28 September, 1982 in Leicester, 41 years of age) is an English footballer, who currently plays for Hereford FC, where he plays as a midfielder.

Purdie is one of the most versitile players that has represented Hereford United, playing in most positions on the field - starting out as an attacking midfielder behind the strikers, moving more central in midfield and also excelling at full back.

## Career

He began his career at local club Leicester City where he played for the U19 and reserve teams, but not for the first team.

In June 2007 Purdie turned down a new contract at Hereford to sign a two-year deal with fellow League 2 side Darlington, he was voted player of the season in 08-09 although his 2 games against Hereford United, proved to be disappointing ones as he was on the losing team twice as the Bulls pipped Darlington for promotion. At the end of his Darlington contract he followed Dave Penney to Oldham Athletic in 2009 and was indeed his 1st signing at the club, unfortunately Rob never played a competitive game for the latics as a hip injury kept him sidelined for a lengthy spell. In an effort to regain fitness, he rejoined Hereford United (on loan) in October 2010 after being placed on the Oldham transfer list, and was released at the end of the 2010/11 season.

Rob re-joined Hereford United for the 2011/12 season but this ended in relegation, and he decided to join Shrewsbury Town for the 2012/13 season - this meant that he was able to play under the management of Graham Turner and John Trewick again. He started the season in the first team, but lost his place during the middle part of the season and was released at the end of the campaign - ironically he did play against Hereford United in the FA Cup and was again on the losing side, and Rob once again joined Hereford United.

On 26 July 2014, Purdie signed a contract with Tamworth he was signed predominately as a left back. Following a disappointing start to the season, manager Dale Belford left the club, and Purdie was asked to take over on a caretaker basis, with another ex Hereford United player in Paul Green acting as caretaker assistant manager. The pair only led the team for one game, a 1-1 home draw with Colwyn Bay. Rob's season was distrubted by another long term injury and he was released at the end of the season.

## Hereford United

In his final season with the Foxes he played several matches for Hereford United reserves before signing for them in July 2002. In his first season at Hereford most of his appearances were as a substitute, but as the season progressed he started matches more regularly - Rob scored his 1st senior goal in a 2-2 away draw at Northwich Victoria. He started the 2003/04 playing alongside Steve Guinan up front, a partnership that saw the team top the Conference in the first part of the season. He moved back into midfield for the latter part of that season, finishing with 9 goals from 41 appearances. Unfortunately the team failed to progress in the play-offs despite finishing the season with 91 points and equalling the record for goals scored in a season. During the season, Rob made his England "C" debut against Italy.

The 2004/05 season was less successful as he was in and out of the side due to injuries, and Hereford again failed to gain promotion as they missed out in the play-offs. The 2005/06 season saw Purdie make more appearances than any other Hereford player, he missed only one match due to injury. His season finished with an eventful play-off final in his home city of Leicester. While Halifax Town were taking the lead he was off the field receiving treatment, after he got knocked in the face. This broke his front teeth, and the bleeding from this caused him to change his shirt 3 times during the match. In the second half he had a decent shout for a penalty which was not given, when he went down in the penalty area. Not that it mattered, as Hereford went on to win the match. During this season Rob became the club's penalty taker and scored several vital penalties - including in the play off semi final 1st leg game away at Morecambe.

He signed a new contract in June 2006 and was made club captain after the departure of Tony James. His first season in the Football League saw him appear in 44 out of 46 league matches with a further 7 appearances in cup competitions, thus making more first team appearances than any other player. He scored 9 goals in all competitions, 8 of which were from the penalty spot, which made him the second highest goalscorer for Hereford. Midway through the season he was moved from a midfield role into the left-back position, underlining his versatility. At the end of the season he was voted the Supporters Player of the Year, and also picked up the award for Away Player of the Year. At the time of his departure, he was the longest serving player at the club

He re-joined Hereford United loan on 29 October 2010 and scored two goals in his first game for the club against Stockport County the next day - during this loan spell Rob played 29 games, scoring 5 goals as the Bulls stayed up. After being released by Oldham, Rob rejoined Hereford, but was unable to keep the club in the Football League, playing 36 games scoring 4 goals.

In the summer of 2013 Purdie signed yet again for Hereford United. This time round Purdie took up two roles as both a player and a coach, and he was able to help the club survive on the last day of the season with a win over Aldershot. With the club's mis-management coming to the fore, Rob moved on at the end of the season.

## Hereford FC

In June 2015 Purdie returned to Hereford, this time to play for Hereford F.C., the newly formed phoenix club. Purdie was the club's seventh signing for the upcoming Midland Football League season.

Rob made his debut on the opening day victory over Dunkirk, and then scored his first Hereford FC goal in a 2-1 defeat to Highgate - becoming the 1st player to score a competitive goal for both Hereford United and Hereford FC.

The following week Rob scored a late winning penalty in an amazing 4-3 victory over Rocester, where Hereford had been 3-0 down at half time.

An injury kept Rob out of the side for 6 weeks before returning and scoring in the 7-0 Herefordshire County Cup tie against Hinton