Marcus Bent

At 46 years old, Marcus Bent has this physical status:

Marcus Nathan Bent (born 19 May 1978) is an English footballer who played as a striker.

For fourteen different clubs, the journeyman striker played 574 games and scored 113 goals.

His numerous transfer fees accounted for more than $10 million. He started his career at Brentford in 1995 before signing with Crystal Palace in 1998.

He joined Sheffield United via Port Vale next year.

He moved to Blackburn Rovers, where he got his first glimpse of Premier League football, before moving to Ipswich Town in 2001.

He spent 2003–2004 on loan at Leicester City before moving to Everton in 2004.

He had been sold on to Charlton Athletic two years ago.

He spent the 2007–08 season on loan at Wigan Athletic before moving to Birmingham City in 2008.

He spent three years with Birmingham, during which he spent time on loan at Middlesbrough, Queens Park Rangers, Wolverhampton Wanderers, and Sheffield United.

He spent six months in Indonesia with Mitra Kukar after leaving the club.

Personal life

Bent was born in Hammersmith, London, to parents of Jamaican origin. Marcus Lecky was born in 1994 and had been waiting for a scholarship with Brentford. Elliott, he's ten years older and is also a footballer, has a younger brother, Elliott. Elliott was a youth team player at Fulham until he was released in 2007 due to injury. He has played for Dorchester Town, Welling United, and Hampton & Richmond Borough since being banned from non-league football.

Bent had proposed to Kelly Clark, with whom he has a child, but they fell in love and split up. He has since been friends with model Danielle Lloyd and actress Gemma Atkinson, to whom he was briefly attached. Bent's playing career came to an end, and he ventured into the oil industry. However, he left the industry and his life fell in a drastic decline as he dealt with mental illness, using opioids to self medicate.

In September 2015, he was charged with affray and possession of a Class A drug after police used a taser whilst arresting him at his house in Esher, Surrey. After detecting intruders were in his house, he had called 999 but was not tasered by police responding to the call. He pleaded guilty to one count of affray and cocaine use in February 2016, was sentenced to a 12-month jail term, a two-month suspension, and 200 hours of compulsory unpaid work. After being discovered with cocaine at Chessington World of Adventures, four months later, he was fined £385 with £85 charges. In January 2019, he was declared bankrupt.

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Club career

Bent came up through the Brentford youth ranks, most likely as a forward. He joined Griffin Park's first team under new manager David Webb in 1995-96, leading the Bees to their 15th-place finish in the Second Division. With a fourth-place finish in 1996-97, Bent was almost always present in a fruitful season that saw Brentford reach the play-offs. He was at Wembley in the play-off Final loss to Crewe Alexandra and was suspended after 70 minutes for Scott Canham. In 1997–98, Bent scored five goals in 29 games, as the Bees failed to prevent relegation under Eddie May and then his replacement Micky Adams.

Bent's potential was discovered by Crystal Palace boss Steve Coppell, who moved Bent to Selhurst Park for £300,000 in January 1998, though he was not a prolific striker for Brentford. In 1997-1998, the Eagles were kicked out of the Premier League for the first time, but Bent had demonstrated his potential in 16 games, including strikes at Stamford Bridge and Anfield. However, in 15 appearances from 1998-99, he was goalless, as Palace continued under new manager Terry Venables. He was sold on to Port Vale, one of long-serving manager John Rudge's last purchases before the club went into administration in January 1999.

Rudge was unable to make the most of his new recruits as chairman Bill Bell controversially dismissed Rudge and recruited Brian Horton. In 1998-1999, Bent was out of place on the left-wing and went 15 games without a single goal. In 1999–2000, he played nine games, scoring once against Grimsby Town in a 3–1 victory at Vale Park. He was sold on to Sheffield United for £375,000 in October 1999, with Bell eager to cash in on the £75,000 earned. As he tried to adjust to life outside of London, he later described moving from Crystal Palace to Port Vale as "my dream blown up in my face." "Why is your calling you Duck?" I wondered.

Bent was the Blades top scorer in 1999–2000, with 15 league goals in 32 appearances, including a hat-trick past West Bromwich Albion in a 6–0 victory at Bramall Lane on February 19th. During Adrian Heath's time as manager of Adrian Heath, the club had failed to see a revival in results after Neil Warnock took over the hot seat in December. He began his 2000–01 campaign in fine form, winning by a hat-trick over Lincoln City in a 6–1 victory in the League Cup. In November 2000, he was sold to promotion chasing Blackburn Rovers for £2 million; both clubs were viewed as positive revenue.

In a 2–0 victory over Turf Moor on 17 December 20, Bent scored his first goal for Rovers against their bitter East Lancashire rivals Burnley. In 2000–01, he scored 11 goals in 34 appearances, defending Graeme Souness's compensation as the Ewood Park club gained promotion back to the Premier League. In 2001–2002, he made ten goalless appearances before being sold to Ipswich Town for £3 million, Town's fourth highest transfer fee behind teammates Matteo Sereni, Hermann Hreirsson, and Finidi George.

Despite Bent's nine appearances in 22 league starts, the Blues were relegated from the Premier League at the end of the 2001-02 season. He remained at Portman Road for the 2002–03 season, scoring 12 goals in 38 games, but the Tractor Boys lost by one point and four points in the play-offs. However, Ipswich came to an end, and they were forced to sell talents such as Marcus Stewart, Titus Bramble, and Darren Ambrose; a relegation contest was only avoided after manager George Burley was fired by Joe Royle. Darren Bent (no relation) was the next big name to impress in Ipswich's debut, and Bent joined Leicester City on loan for the 2003-04 season, reunited him with manager Micky Adams. Bent scored ten goals in 35 games, but the Foxes called for the First Division, where the Walkers Stadium outfit finished sixth, behind 17th place Everton.

"He's got athleticism, he's quick, good in the air," Ipswich's boss David Moyes said in June 2004. He was a regular starter at Goodison Park in the lone center forward role (supported by Tim Cahill), but he only scored seven goals in 2004-05, which were instrumental in winning draws away from Southampton and away to Aston Villa, as well as decisive goals against Middlesbrough and Manchester City. Despite helping the club secure a spot in the Champions League, Bent became a more peripheral figure in 2005–06, losing his first team appearance to James Beattie.

Bent had signed for Charlton Athletic in a £2.3 million contract in January 2006. In a 1–1 draw, he scored on his debut as a replacement against Chelsea in the Premier League. Bent scored just two goals in 35 games between 2006 and 2007, 13 fewer goals than strike partner Darren Bent, who had signed with Charlton from Ipswich. Following the departure of boss Alan Curbishley after his fifteen-year tenure, the club had failed, and First Division football had returned to The Valley despite the best efforts of Iain Dowie, Les Reed, and Alan Pardew.

Bent joined Wigan Athletic on Transfer Deadline Day (31 August 2007) in a season-long loan move, one of nine summer signings by boss Chris Hutchings. Hutchings was then replaced by Steve Bruce after a rough start to the season. On December 15, Bent scored a hat-trick, his first in the Premier League, against former Blackburn Rovers, who won by 5–3; Roque Santa Cruz added a hat-trick in the match, the first time in the Premier League in which two opposing players scored hat-tricks in the same match. Despite only scoring seven goals in 32 games, he was still the Latics' top scorer in 2007–08. At the end of the season, Wigan boss Steve Bruce decided not to make the contract permanent, feeling that Bent's style was too similar to Emile Heskey; Bent then returned to cash-strapped Charlton, where he was placed on the transfer list.

After turning down the opportunity to join Cardiff City in July 2008, Bent signed a three-year contract for Birmingham City for a fee in excess of £1 million. As Alex McLeish led the team to the Premier League in 2008–09 with three goals from 16 starts and 17 substitute appearances. He did not appear at the top of the Blues for the first time. Rather, he was Gordon Strachan's first signing for Middlesbrough when he first signed on a two-month loan agreement on October 30, 2009, which was later extended to 16 January 2010. He spent the remaining three months of the 2009–10 season on loan with Queens Park Rangers, his second Championship team, who joined in February 2010. Both clubs finished in the middle of the table, and Bent was unable to locate the net at either the Riverside Stadium or Loftus Road.

He was also out of the first team plans at St Andrew's in August 2010, when he joined Mick McCarthy's Premier League team Wolverhampton Wanderers until January 4, 2011. He made five appearances without scoring before joining Sheffield United on loan until the end of the 2010–11 season, teaming up with Micky Adams at a new club for the third time. Bent, the Blades' free-fall player, made ten appearances, most from the bench, before returning to Birmingham in mid-April after failing to score a single goal. Birmingham opted against taking up another season, and Bent was fired when his deal came to an end at the end of the 2010–11 season.

On September 3rd, 2011, Bent agreed to a one-year deal with Indonesia Super League team Mitra Kukar. He discarded an interest from England clubs by selecting the Far East because he "didn't want to be based up north." He was born in mid-April 2012 and was released with the club in mid-table.

Bent, now 39, signed a one-year deal with Southern Combination League club Wick on September 13, 2017, according to club chairman Rodney Lampton, who said he and Bent had been childhood friends. However, Bent left the team without making an appearance. He joined Cornard United, the Eastern Counties League First Division North club, on January 3, 2020.

International career

In May 1998, Bent represented his England under the age of 21 in games against South Africa and Argentina.

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