Dave Kitson

Cambridge United

After playing non-league football for Hitchin Town and Arlesey Town, Kitson joined Cambridge United, then in Division Two, in 2001 after being recommended by agent Barry Silkman to U's manager John Beck. He made his debut in 3–2 victory away over Stoke City on 17 March 2001. On the final day of the same season, Kitson notched his first goal for the club in a 1–1 draw at Swansea City. The following season saw the club relegated from League One but Kitson scored 10 goals, finishing as the club's second-top goalscorer, one behind Tom Youngs. In the 2002–03 season, Kitson scored 25 goals, falling two goals short of David Crown's club record of 27 goals in a season. After 11 goals in 19 appearances at the start of the 2003–04 season, Kitson left to join Reading, having scored 47 goals in 123 appearances in all competitions for Cambridge.

Reading

Kitson was sold to Reading on 26 December 2003, for a fee of £150,000. He scored five goals in 10 starts in his first season. In the 2005–06 season, despite injury he went on to record an impressive goals-to-game ratio, and continued to do so as Reading won the Championship title with a record 106 points. Following promotion with Reading, Kitson scored the club's first Premier League goal in their 3–2 home win against Middlesbrough on the opening day of the 2006–07 season, but was then badly injured later in the same match. The injury kept him out of the game until Reading's FA Cup victory over…

Kitson launched The Dave Kitson Academy in October 2023, but it was dissolved in April 2025. In March 2024, it was announced that Kitson was set to manage the Nauru national team for their first ever game. Then, in June 2024, it was announced that he was planning for Nauru to take on Reading XL, a team made up of overweight footballers based in Reading, in the nation's first game. However, Kitson's role with Nauru and the game against Reading XL did not materialise. In June 2025, it was announced that Kitson had been appointed as manager of Maidenhead United Women.

Kitson was born in Hitchin, Hertfordshire and worked for Sainsbury's as a shelf stacker prior to becoming a professional footballer. In 2008, Kitson was arrested and subsequently banned from driving for 18 months after failing to provide a breath test. Kitson caused controversy in December 2018 when, during a Talksport interview, he said that "players make themselves a target" following racist abuse of Raheem Sterling. Tyrone Mings pulled out of a planned TalkSport interview in protest at Kitson's comments. In May 2020, Kitson came in for criticism following his announcement that he wanted to become chief executive of the Professional Footballers' Association, with the chairman of Kick It Out questioning his anti-racism credentials and three black players attacking the former Reading striker for his comments about Sterling. He has revealed that he wanted to give up playing football in his 20s and believes he should have retired after being part of the Reading side that won promotion to the Premier League in 2006. He said: "I should have stopped right there and then. I would have been a much happier person." He also admitted that he "still takes an awful lot of medication to get through the day". In February 2026 he revealed himself as the former Premier League player behind The Secret Footballer series of Guardian columns and books. Rumours and speculation that Kitson was the Secret Footballer had been circulating for many years and he had been thought of as the 'Leading…

Cambridge United

Football League Trophy runner-up: 2001–02 Reading

Football League Championship: 2005–06 Individual

PFA Team of the Year: 2002–03 Third Division Reading Player of the Season: 2004–05