{{short description|English footballer (born 1976)}} {{use British English|date=July 2013}} {{Use dmy dates|date=October 2023}} {{Infobox football biography | name = Sam Aiston | image = | fullname = Samuel James Aiston | birth_date = {{birth date and age|1976|11|21|df=y}} | birth_place = Newcastle upon Tyne, England | height = {{height|ft=6|in=1}}<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://archive.org/details/skysportsfootbal0000unse_2008/page/554/mode/2up |title=Sky Sports Football Yearbook: 2008–2009 |publisher=Headline |year=2008 |isbn=978-0-7553-1819-3 |editor-last=Rollin |editor-first=Glenda |location=London |pages=555 |editor-last2=Rollin |editor-first2=Jack}}</ref> | youthyears1 = 1994–1995 | youthclubs1 = Newcastle United | position = Midfielder | years1 = 1995–2000 | clubs1 = Sunderland | caps1 = 20 | goals1 = 0 | years2 = 1997–1999 | clubs2 = → Chester City (loan) | caps2 = 23 | goals2 = 0 | years3 = 1999 | clubs3 = → Stoke City (loan) | caps3 = 6 | goals3 = 0 | years4 = 2000 | clubs4 = → Shrewsbury Town (loan) | caps4 = 10 | goals4 = 0 | years5 = 2000–2005 | clubs5 = Shrewsbury Town | caps5 = 167 | goals5 = 7 | years6 = 2005–2006 | clubs6 = Tranmere Rovers | caps6 = 36 | goals6 = 3 | years7 = 2006–2008 | clubs7 = Northampton Town | caps7 = 22 | goals7 = 0 | years8 = 2007 | clubs8 = → Burton Albion (loan) | caps8 = 5 | goals8 = 0 | years9 = 2007–2008 | clubs9 = → Wrexham (loan) | caps9 = 8 | goals9 = 0 | years10 = 2008–2009 | clubs10 = Wrexham | caps10 = 30 | goals10 = 0 | years11 = 2009 | clubs11 = Stafford Rangers | caps11 = 18 | goals11 = 0 | years12 = 2009–2010 | clubs12 = Hednesford Town | caps12 = 18 | goals12 = 0 | years13 = 2010–2011 | clubs13 = Gainsborough Trinity| caps13 = 53 | goals13 = 5 | totalcaps = 416 | totalgoals = 15 }}
'''Samuel James Aiston''' (born 21 November 1976) is an English former professional footballer.
He played as a midfielder and made over 200 appearances in the Premier League and the Football League, particularly for Sunderland, Chester City, Shrewsbury Town, Tranmere Rovers, Northampton Town and Wrexham. He finished his career in Non-League football and turned out for Stafford Rangers, Hednesford Town and Gainsborough Trinity.
==Career== Aiston began his career at Newcastle United in 1994 but made no appearances for the club before joining Sunderland in 1995, where he made over 20 first-team appearances, most as substitute.<ref name="sbase" /> He was loaned to Chester City, Stoke City and Shrewsbury Town,<ref name="sbase" /> before joining Shrewsbury for a £50,000 transfer fee in the summer of 2000.<ref name="sbase">{{cite web|url=https://www.soccerbase.com/players/player.sd?player_id=8943|title=Sam Aiston |work=Soccerbase|publisher=Racing Post|access-date=6 June 2008}}</ref> Aiston made 165 league appearances for Shrewsbury, scoring seven goals,<ref name="sbase" /> helping the club to promotion from the Football Conference at the end of the 2003–04 season.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/eng_conf/3713971.stm|title=Shrews secure promotion|date=16 May 2004|publisher=BBC Sport|access-date=6 June 2008}}</ref> Whilst at Shrewsbury Town Aiston endeared himself to the Shrewsbury faithful owing to his style of play.<ref>{{cite news|title=Shrewsbury Town dressing room was spilt – Aiston|url=https://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/teams/s/shrewsbury/9398537.stm|publisher=BBC Sport|date=16 February 2011|access-date=4 May 2013}}</ref>
He was released by Shrewsbury at the end of the 2004–05 season and initially agreed a two-year deal with Grimsby Town, with the official website initially announcing the signing.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.skysports.com/football/news/2337193/aiston-stuns-mariners|title=Aiston stuns Mariners}}</ref> He then did a u-turn and joined Tranmere Rovers in July 2005,<ref>{{cite news|url=https://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/teams/t/tranmere_rovers/4640957.stm|title=Tranmere complete double signing|date=1 July 2005|publisher=BBC Sport|access-date=6 June 2008}}</ref> where he made over 40 league and cup appearances in the 2005–06 season.<ref name="sbase" /> He was released by Tranmere at the end of the season, and joined Northampton Town.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/teams/n/northampton_town/5121922.stm|title=Aiston and Holt join Northampton|date=27 June 2006|publisher=BBC Sport|access-date=6 June 2008}}</ref> Injuries meant he struggled to command a regular first team place and he dropped into the Conference National for a loan spell with Burton Albion.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/b/burton_albion/7018740.stm|title=Burton pair's loan deals extended |date=28 September 2007|publisher=BBC Sport|access-date=6 June 2008}}</ref>
In November 2007, Aiston joined Wrexham on loan, having previously played for Wrexham manager Brian Little at Tranmere Rovers.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/teams/w/wrexham/7107914.stm|title=Wrexham get winger Aiston on loan |date=22 November 2007|publisher=BBC Sport|access-date=6 June 2008}}</ref> Aiston made his debut in a 2–2 draw with Chester City three days later. In January 2008, Aiston's move to Wrexham was made into a permanent signing.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/teams/w/wrexham/7177703.stm|title=Aiston completes permanent switch |date=28 January 2008|publisher=BBC Sport|access-date=6 June 2008}}</ref> He was transfer listed by Wrexham in May 2008 following the club's relegation to the Football Conference.
Aiston went on to play for Stafford Rangers and Hednesford Town before joining Gainsborough Trinity in February 2010. He was released in May 2011.
==Personal life== After retiring from playing football Aiston became a primary school teacher, working initially at Bicton primary school near Shrewsbury.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.shropshirestar.com/news/2010/07/08/ex-shrews-player-sam-aiston-to-become-a-sir/|title=Ex-Shrews player Sam Aiston to become a 'sir'|last=Pinnington|first=Sam|date=8 July 2010|work=Shropshire Star|accessdate=22 August 2010}}</ref>
He got married in August 2012 to Hollie Adams at St Chad's Church, Shrewsbury. At the time he was teacher at Newdale Primary School in Telford, Shropshire.<ref>{{cite web|title=Former Shrewsbury Town winger Sam Aiston nets stunning Hollie|url=http://www.shropshirestar.com/news/2012/08/28/former-shrewsbury-town-winger-sam-aiston-nets-stunning-hollie/|work=Shropshire Star|accessdate=4 May 2013}}</ref>
In December 2021 Aiston, along with his ex Shrewsbury Town teammates Dave Edwards and Gavin Cowan, launched the podcast, In The Stiffs.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Cox |first=Lewis |title=Shrewsbury Town old boys have tales aplenty with new podcast |url=https://www.shropshirestar.com/sport/football/shrewsbury-town-fc/2022/01/22/shrewsbury-town-old-boys-have-tales-aplenty-with-new-podcast/ |access-date=2022-10-19 |website=shropshirestar.com |language=en}}</ref>
In November 2022, he was head teacher at Broseley C.ofE. Primary School, when he was named to take up his next appointment as first head teacher at Bowbrook Primary School, Shrewsbury, in 2023.<ref>{{cite news|title=Ex-Shrews player in transfer to new town school as head|work=Shropshire Star|date=15 November 2022|page=3}}Report by David Tooley.</ref>
==Career statistics== Source:<ref>{{ENFA}}</ref>
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align: center;" |- !rowspan="2"|Club !rowspan="2"|Season !colspan="3"|League !colspan="2"|FA Cup !colspan="2"|League Cup !colspan="2"|Other{{ref label|Other|A|}} !colspan="2"|Total |- !Division!!Apps!!Goals!!Apps!!Goals!!Apps!!Goals!!Apps!!Goals!!Apps!!Goals |- |rowspan="6"|Sunderland |1995–96 |First Division |14||0||0||0||1||0||0||0||15||0 |- |1996–97 |Premier League |2||0||2||0||0||0||0||0||4||0 |- |1997–98 |First Division |3||0||0||0||0||0||0||0||3||0 |- |1998–99 |First Division |1||0||0||0||1||0||0||0||2||0 |- |1999–2000 |Premier League |0||0||0||0||0||0||0||0||0||0 |- !colspan="2"|Total !20!!0!!2!!0!!2!!0!!0!!0!!24!!0 |- |rowspan="3"|Chester City (loan) |1996–97 |Third Division |14||0||0||0||0||0||2||0||16||0 |- |1998–99 |Third Division |11||0||0||0||0||0||1||0||12||0 |- !colspan="2"|Total !25!!0!!0!!0!!0!!0!!3!!0!!28!!0 |- |Stoke City (loan) |1999–2000 |Second Division |6||0||0||0||1||0||0||0||7||0 |- |rowspan="7"|Shrewsbury Town |1999–2000 |Third Division |10||0||0||0||0||0||0||0||10||0 |- |2000–01 |Third Division |42||2||1||0||2||0||0||0||45||2 |- |2001–02 |Third Division |35||2||1||0||0||0||0||0||36||2 |- |2002–03 |Third Division |21||2||1||0||0||0||3||0||25||2 |- |2003–04 |Conference National |34||0||2||0||0||0||1||0||37||0 |- |2004–05 |League Two |35||1||1||0||1||0||1||0||38||1 |- !colspan="2"|Total !177!!7!!6!!0!!3!!0!!5!!0!!191!!7 |- |Tranmere Rovers |2005–06 |League One |36||3||1||0||1||0||1||0||39||3 |- |rowspan="3"|Northampton Town |2006–07 |League One |21||0||0||0||1||0||0||0||22||0 |- |2007–08 |League One |1||0||1||0||1||0||0||0||3||0 |- !colspan="2"|Total !22!!0!!1!!0!!2!!0!!0!!0!!25!!0 |- |Burton Albion (loan) |2007–08 |Conference National |5||0||0||0||0||0||0||0||5||0 |- |rowspan="3"|Wrexham |2007–08 |League Two |19||0||0||0||0||0||0||0||19||0 |- |2008–09 |Conference National |19||0||1||0||0||0||0||0||20||0 |- !colspan="2"|Total !38!!0!!1!!0!!0!!0!!0!!0!!39!!0 |- !colspan="3"|Career Total !329!!10!!11!!0!!9!!0!!9!!0!!358!!10 |}
{{refbegin}} :A. {{note|Other}} The "Other" column constitutes appearances and goals in the Football League Trophy and Football League play-offs. {{refend}}
==References== {{reflist}}
==External links== * {{Soccerbase}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Aiston, Sam}} Category:1976 births Category:Living people Category:English men's footballers Category:Newcastle United F.C. players Category:Sunderland A.F.C. players Category:Chester City F.C. players Category:Stoke City F.C. players Category:Shrewsbury Town F.C. players Category:Tranmere Rovers F.C. players Category:Northampton Town F.C. players Category:Burton Albion F.C. players Category:Wrexham A.F.C. players Category:Stafford Rangers F.C. players Category:Hednesford Town F.C. players Category:Gainsborough Trinity F.C. players Category:Premier League players Category:English Football League players Category:National League (English football) players Category:Schoolteachers from Tyne and Wear Category:Men's association football midfielders Category:Footballers from Newcastle upon Tyne