Jay Tabb

Brentford

Tabb was born in Tooting, Greater London and was released from Crystal Palace as a junior at the age of 16, after being deemed, at 5'5", too short to play professional football. Undeterred, he signed for Brentford. He attended Wimbledon College from 1997 to 2000, leaving to pursue a football career. Tabb made his Brentford debut on 3 May 2001 in a 2–2 draw against Luton Town but made only five appearances in his first two seasons at the club.

Tabb struggled with injuries during the 2002–03 season and again made only a handful of appearances for Brentford that year. Tabb travelled to Crawley Town (then playing in the Southern League Premier Division) in February 2004 intent on signing loan forms, but ultimately did not agree to terms after suffering torn ligaments in training with Brentford a few days later. He did not appear again for Brentford until 19 April, starting in a 2–1 defeat to Queens Park Rangers and made just two starts during the entire campaign. Despite his injury hit season Brentford took up their option to extend Tabb's contract by a year in May 2003 with manager Wally Downes confident he would break into the first team the following season. Tabb played a major role in the 2003–04 season contributing 11 goals in 40 appearances making him the club's second top scorer. His strong performances saw him sign a new deal in October 2003 keeping him at Brentford until 2005 with the option of a further one-year extension beyond that. He continued…

Despite being born in England, Tabb also holds an Irish passport and has represented the Republic of Ireland at international level. He was first called up to the under–21 squad on 18 May 2004 to face Scotland and made his debut in the match, helping Ireland to a 3–1 win. Tabb scored his first and only international goal in his next appearance for the under–21s, a 3–2 win over Bulgaria on 17 August 2004, and was a regular in the squad for the next two years. His final appearance came as a second-half substitute in a 3–0 win over Azerbaijan on 18 May 2006 and he ended his under–21 career with ten caps and one goal. The day after the win over Azerbaijan, Tabb was called up to the senior squad for the first time for the match against Chile though he did not make an appearance. He received another call up for the Euro 2008 qualifier against Cyprus but again failed to make it off the bench and never made his full international debut.

Tabb joined Rugby Union side Old Wimbledonians in 2017.

On 13 March 2020, Tabb was interviewed during ITV Racing's coverage of the Cheltenham Festival when leading up one of Philip Hobbs' horses where he now works as a stable lad. In October 2021, it was reported that Tabb would ride at the Fitzdares Racing Welfare Charity Flat Race at Wincanton Racecourse. He finished sixth on the Hobbs-trained Umndeni and described the occasion as the 'best feeling ever'.