Pawel Abbott

Pawel Abbott
Born	(1982-05-05) May 5, 1982 York, North Yorkshire, England
Occupation	Professional footballer (retired)
Known for	Football striker, represented Poland U21

Pawel Tadeusz Howard Abbott (born 5 May 1982) is a retired professional football player who operated primarily as a striker. Although born in England, he represented Poland at the under-21 international level.

Early career

Abbott entered the world in York, North Yorkshire, as the younger sibling in a family with a Polish mother and an English father. His earliest football experiences were with Beagle Boys in York, which later evolved into York RI. He turned down an opportunity at Doncaster Rovers and opted to move to Poland, where he joined ŁKS Łódź as a youth player before returning to England at age 19 to sign for Preston North End.

During his three-year spell at Preston, Abbott featured in just 25 matches and went out on loan twice to Bury.

Huddersfield Town

In early 2004, Abbott secured a loan move to Huddersfield Town, brought in to fill the void left by Jon Stead, who had recently transferred to Premier League club Blackburn Rovers. He marked his debut by scoring against Bristol Rovers and went on to net four goals across six loan appearances. Following this success, Huddersfield completed his transfer for approximately £125,000. During the 2004–05 season, Abbott became Huddersfield’s first striker in six years to surpass 20 goals in all competitions, finishing with 27.

The subsequent campaign was less prolific; despite scoring in six straight matches early on, Abbott underwent a prolonged scoring drought and was predominantly utilized as a substitute, ending the 2005–06 season with 14 goals.

In July 2006, Abbott declined a proposed move to Milton Keynes Dons, which was linked to defender Dean Lewington, choosing instead to compete for a starting role against teammates such as Gary Taylor-Fletcher, Andy Booth, and new arrival Luke Beckett. On 30 December 2006, he scored twice—including a last-minute winner—against future employers Swansea City. His final outing for Huddersfield came on 1 January 2007 when he was sent off during a match versus Doncaster Rovers.

Swansea City

Abbott transferred to Swansea City in January 2007 for a fee of £150,000. He made his debut as a late substitute against Gillingham on 23 January. Initially signed by manager Kenny Jackett, Abbott later featured under the guidance of new coach Roberto Martínez. Throughout 18 league appearances (nine starts), he scored once, netting against Rotherham United in Martínez’s inaugural match in charge.

Darlington

After spending half a year at Swansea, Abbott moved on to Darlington for £100,000. Over two seasons, he found the net 17 times in 31 appearances but faced injury setbacks before eventually transferring to Oldham Athletic.

Oldham Athletic

On 26 June 2009, Abbott agreed to a two-year contract with League One side Oldham Athletic. He opened his goal-scoring account by netting twice on 15 August 2009, securing a 2–1 victory over Leyton Orient. He concluded the season as Oldham’s leading scorer with 13 goals.

Charlton Athletic

Abbott joined Charlton Athletic on 30 July 2010 for a transfer fee of £20,000. He registered his first goals for Charlton by scoring twice against Shrewsbury Town in the League Cup. Additional goals followed in both the Football League Trophy and league fixtures, culminating in a total of four goals for the season.

Ruch Chorzów

On 28 February 2011, Abbott joined the Polish side Ruch Chorzów on a free transfer, following a spell at Charlton where he featured in 25 matches and netted four goals. He opened his scoring account for Ruch on 30 July 2011, contributing the decisive goal in a 2–1 triumph against GKS Bełchatów during the opening fixture of the 2011–12 Ekstraklasa campaign.

International career

Abbott was eligible to play internationally for both England and Poland but opted to represent Poland, honoring his maternal lineage. He made a single appearance for the Poland under-21 squad, in which he scored.

Career statistics

Appearances and goals by club, season, and competition

Club	Season	League			National cup		League cup		Other		Total
		Division	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
ŁKS Łódź	1999–2000	Ekstraklasa	8	0	1	1	2	0	—		11	1
	2000–01	II liga	0	0	1	0	0	0	—		1	0
	Total		8	0	2	1	2	0	—		12	1
Preston North End	2000–01	First Division	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
	2002–03	First Division	16	3	1	0	0	0	—		17	3
	2003–04	First Division	9	2	3	0	1	0	—		13	2
	Total		25	5	4	0	1	0	0	0	30	5
Bury (loan)	2002–03	Third Division	17	6	0	0	2	0	1	0	20	6
Huddersfield Town (loan)	2003–04	Third Division	6	4	0	0	0	0	0	0	6	4
Huddersfield Town	2003–04	Third Division	7	1	0	0	0	0	2	0	9	1
	2004–05	League One	44	26	1	1	1	0	1	0	47	27
	2005–06	League One	36	12	3	0	2	2	3	0	44	14
	2006–07	League One	18	5	0	0	1	0	1	0	20	5
	Total		111	48	4	1	4	2	7	0	126	51
Swansea City	2006–07	League One	18	1	1	0	0	0	0	0	19	1
Darlington	2007–08	League Two	24	9	2	0	1	0	0	0	27	9
	2008-09	League Two	18	8	0	0	０	０	０	０	18	8
	Total		42	17	２	０	１	０	０	０	45	17
Oldham Athletic	2009-10	League One	39 !!13 !!０ !!０ !!１ !!０ !!１ !!０ !!41 !!13
Charlton Athletic	201０-11	League One	17 !!１ !!３ !!０ !!１ !!２ !!４ !!１ !!25 !!４
Ruch Chorzów	201０-11 Ekstraklasa	Ekstraklasa	- ! colspan= "2" |- !8 !!０
	201１-12 Ekstraklasa	Ekstraklasa	- !!! colspan= "２" |- !!!36 !!!9
	colspan= "２" ! Total	36	!6	!8	!3	-	-	!44	!9
Zawisza Bydgoszcz	201２-13 I Liga (Poland)	I liga (Poland)	- !!! colspan= "２" |- !!!29 !!!15
	201３-14 Ekstraklasa	Ekstraklasa	- !!!! colspan= "２" |- !!!!5 !!!!１
	colspan= "２" ! Total	31		15		３		１		-		-		34		16
Arka Gdynia	201４-15 I liga	I liga	- !!!! colspan= "２" |- !!!!16 !!!!２
	201５-16 I liga	I liga	- !!!! colspan= "２" |- !!!!27 !!!!12
	201６-17 Ekstraklasa	Ekstraklasa	- !!!! colspan= "２" |- !!!!14 !!!!２
	colspan= "２" ! Total	51		14		５		２		-		-		57		16
OKS Stomil Olsztyn	201７-18 I liga	I liga	- !!!!! colspan= "２"|- !!!!!10 !!!!!０
Career total			405	126	33	8	12	4	13	1	463	139

Honours

Huddersfield Town

• Football League Third Division play-offs: 2004

Zawisza Bydgoszcz

• I liga: 2012–13
• Polish Cup: 2013–14

Arka Gdynia

• I liga: 2015–16
• Polish Cup: 2016–17