Will Buckley

Notes

Rochdale

Buckley started his career at Rochdale, becoming a youth scholar in 2006. Prior to that, Buckley started out at Oldham Athletic before being released. Following this, Buckley was rejected by clubs, such as, Bolton Wanderers, Bury and Accrington Stanley after going on trial before settling at Rochdale. Having played in the club's reserve side, he went on to make his first league appearance in Rochdale's 4–2 home defeat against Hereford United on 12 February 2008. He made a second substitute appearance in a 2–1 away at Bradford City on 16 February, before making his first start for the club in a 1–0 defeat against Wycombe Wanderers on 23 February. Buckley made four more appearances, all as a substitute, in the regular season as Rochdale finished fifth. Buckley did not feature in either leg of Rochdale's League Two play-off semi-final victory over Darlington. However, he made an appearance in the final at Wembley, where Rochdale played Stockport County for a place in League One. Buckley came on as a 73rd-minute substitute for Nathan D'Laryea with Rochdale 3–1 down. They went on to lose 3–2. After not playing in the first four games of the 2008–09 season, Buckley started a run of seven consecutive league starts. In the third of these, a 2–2 draw away at Rotherham United on 13 September 2008, Buckley scored his first professional goal. He then scored in the two subsequent games on 20 September and 28 September 2008 against Chesterfield and Accrington Stanley. By…

Buckley is eligible to play for the Republic of Ireland through his grandfather and in 2013, encouraged by his then Brighton teammate Stephen Ward, expressed his desire to declare. However, he was never called up to the national side.

Despite growing up in Oldham, Buckley supported Newcastle United and scored against them on 28 January 2012.