Barnsley sign Cureton on loan

[Scottsus of Nazareth]

I know he's a striker and used to play for Colchester but what's he like? Good in the air? Clinical finisher? Havn't really seen him play.

[Remember Jesus]

Nov 28, 2008 16:57:21 GMT -1 Scottsus of Nazareth said:

I know he's a striker and used to play for Colchester but what's he like? Good in the air? Clinical finisher? Havn't really seen him play.

Scored plenty of goals in the lower divisions. Mid-thirties can't get a game at Norwich.

We will have to wait and see.

[Arnold]

Reading FC Legend.

[Remember Jesus]

Cureton began his professional career with Norwich City before moving on to Bristol Rovers. An England youth international, big things were expected of Cureton, but he never quite lived up to the potential. However he became a cult figure among the Norwich faithful by bleaching his hair in yellow and green colours in a derby game against Ipswich in 1996 and subsequently scoring in the same fixture. He was sold by Mike Walker to Bristol Rovers in 1996.


Reading
The best spell of football in his career since leaving Norwich came with Reading, whom he joined in 2000. He played at Reading for three years. While at the club, the RFC supporters' trust had a newly discovered star in the "Perseus" constellation named after him.


South Korea
Cureton then made a mid-2003 switch to Korean league side Busan I'cons (now Busan I'Park). He failed to settle in the Far East however, and after being released from his contract, he returned to England and joined QPR. After an unsettled season at Loftus Road, he joined Swindon Town in June 2005. He failed to make his mark in his first spell at the club and subsequently joined Colchester United on loan

Swindon Town
He then briefly returned to Swindon Town as they aimed to avoid relegation to League Two.

After Swindon's relegation to League Two, Cureton activated a clause in his contract that allowed him to leave Swindon on a free transfer, and rejoined Colchester on a permanent basis

Colchester United
Cureton had a period of good goal-scoring form following his transfer, with the highlight being a hat-trick against Derby County on 26 August 2006. He also scored a hat-trick in the 3-0 away win against Southend United. His 23 goals in the 2006-07 season gave him the Championship Golden Boot as the league's top scorer, and made him the first Colchester United striker since Tony Adcock to score 20 league goals in a season; the first for 22 years.

On 5 June 2007, Cureton handed in a transfer request to Colchester United, citing Colchester's ambitions differing from his own, underlined when the club failed to re-sign several key players. This inevitably fueled speculation that Cureton may return to Norwich City, the club where he began his career. Cureton himself stated that he would like to return to the club.

Colchester initially rejected the transfer request, saying that Cureton was an important part of the club's future and that they wanted to keep him, though Norwich City manager Peter Grant confirmed that he would like to sign Cureton Cureton moved to Norwich City for £825,00 on 29 June 2007 He was signed as a replacement for Robert Earnshaw, Norwich's top scorer of the 2006-07 season, who left for Derby County FC in a £3.5m deal the same day.


Norwich City
He scored his first goals for Norwich since re-signing against King's Lynn at The Walks. This was followed up by another goal on Norwich's pre season tour of Holland against AGOVV Apeldoorn. He then scored two in the League Cup against Barnet and two on his league debut for Norwich against Southampton. One of his more crucial goals came during the Canaries 1-0 win at Scunthorpe United, a victory that lifted Norwich clear of the relegation places and one which will have given Cureton a lot of confidence ahead of the Christmas and New Year fixtures. On 22 March 2008, Cureton scored his first ever hat-trick for Norwich against former club Colchester United.

On 27 November 2008, Cureton joined Barnsley on a 3 month loan deal.