Dave Kitson is a former Premier League striker for Reading and Stoke City.
He started his career at Cambridge United and was included in the PFA team of the year in the 2002/03 season, before joining Reading in the summer of 2003.
Dave was Reading’s player of the season in 2004/05 and was top scorer in the club’s record-breaking 106 point Championship title winning season in 2005/06.
He still holds the record for most goals scored by one player at the Select Car Leasing Stadium.
He scored the first Premier League goal in Reading’s history in a 3-2 home win against Middlesbrough on the opening day of the 2006/07 season, as the Royals went on to finish 8th, their highest ever finish in English football.
After five successful seasons with Reading, Dave moved to Stoke City for a club record £5.5m fee.
He spent the next two seasons in the Premier League, famously scoring against Manchester City in an incredible 3-2 win at the Britannia Stadium.
Dave also played for Portsmouth, Middlesbrough, Sheffield United and Oxford United in a career that saw him score more than 160 goals.
He remains one of only a handful of players to score in every English professional division and domestic cup competition.
In 2019, Dave was inducted into the Reading FC Hall of Fame and, in 2022, he was inducted into the Cambridge United Hall of Fame.
With Dave coaching them, Reading Blue Coat School’s first team won a national cup competition for the first time in the school’s 378-history this season.
In March, Dave was appointed as the first ever national team manager for Nauru, the world’s third smallest nation.
