Some players have long and lasting associations with non-league football. In contrast, others spend only a tiny sliver of their playing careers gracing non-league pitches before becoming big successes higher up the pyramid.
One player whose time in the non-league was short was former Scotland international forward Jordan Rhodes, who has recently retired at the age of 35.
Many forget that Rhodes played in the non-league
Even non-league football aficionados would be forgiven for not knowing that the Rhodes ever appeared outside the EFL. However, the forward spent a one-month loan spell at Conference Premier side Oxford City from his first club, Ipswich Town, in October 2007. Even fans of Oxford will be forgiven for not remembering Rhodes’ very limited time at the club.
The loan spell, comprising just five appearances in all competitions, saw him score twice during his time in the fifth tier. His time in non-league may well have played a part in his later football journey, even if he was only in the fifth-tier for a month.
A series of loan moves before hitting it big with Huddersfield
Having come through the youth ranks at Ipswich Town, Rhodes looked to develop his talent with a series of loan moves. His spell at Oxford was just the first temporary spell away from the Tractor Boys.
After his loan spell with City, he also enjoyed loan spells at League Two clubs Rochdale and Brentford in the 2008/09 season, scoring a combined total of nine goals in 19 league appearances.
That season led to Rhodes making his breakthrough in the professional game, as he moved to League One Huddersfield Town in the summer of 2009 for a reported fee of £350,000.
The move made his career, as in Rhodes’ first campaign with the Terriers, he scored 23 goals in 53 appearances in all competitions. The forward remained prolific for the next two seasons in England’s third tier.
His most prolific campaign with the Yorkshire outfit was in the 2011/12 campaign, when his 36 league goals in 40 appearances helped Town to win promotion to the Championship.
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Rhodes’ scoring form caught the attention of many clubs higher up the English football pyramid. After just two games of the next season, fellow Championship outfit Blackburn Rovers paid a club-record fee of £8m to sign the forward.
He left Huddersfield having scored a highly impressive 87 goals in 148 appearances for the Terriers in all competitions.
Rhodes proved to be just as prolific in the English second-tier as he was in League One for Blackburn. In fact, he enjoyed some of the most consistent seasons of his career with Rovers, scoring at least 21 goals in his three full seasons with the club from Lancashire. His scoring form led to links with a move to the Premier League.
However, his next move saw him move to the north east outfit Middlesbrough in the January transfer window of 2015. Rhodes had already scored 11 goals for Blackburn that season before his move and found the net six more times for Boro, ending the season campaign with a respectable tally of 17 in 44 appearances in all competitions.
Once again, Rhodes’ goals proved crucial in earning his team promotion, as Middlesbrough won promotion to the Premier League. Boro winning promotion seemed like it would finally give Rhodes the chance to prove himself in the English top-flight.
However, unfortunately, the forward made just six top-flight appearances without scoring, before a loan switch to Championship Sheffield Wednesday in the January transfer window.
In truth, that was the start of the forward’s career going on a slight downward spiral. He joined the Owls on a permanent basis the following summer. In total, Rhodes made 115 appearances for Wednesday over the three-and-a-half-year period, scoring 20 goals.
He had a short-lived loan spell with Norwich in season 2018/19, when he scored nine goals in 40 appearances, before returning to Huddersfield for a second spell for the 2021/22 campaign.
Rhodes played for Town for two seasons, without ever recapturing the form that made him so notorious as a prolific goalscorer at Huddersfield and later Blackburn Rovers.
The forward’s most prolific season, towards the end of his playing career, was during a loan spell at League One club Blackpool, where he scored 15 goals in 32 appearances across all competitions.
At that point, he was in the twilight of his career. After a further unsuccessful season with the Tangerines, he ended his career with one last season in the third tier, failing to score in 14 appearances for Mansfield Town before calling time on his career and taking up his new role as loan manager for former club Blackburn Rovers.
A natural goalscorer
Although he struggled to score goals in the latter stages of his career, Jordan Rhodes still managed to score 248 goals in 665 appearances across all competitions during his career. He was a natural goalscorer. In fact, only Harry Kane and Billy Sharp have scored more goals in the English football league in the last decade.
During his Rhodes international career, he also scored three goals in 14 appearances for Scotland.
His career was strong, but the one regret he may have is that he never had more of a chance of playing in the Premier League, especially during the peak of his career.
He may not have played in the non-league game for long, but he is just one of many forwards who have treaded the path of the non-league game and gone on to be highly successful, much higher up the English football pyramid.