Josh Meekings

Josh Meekings

Personal information
Full name	Josh Meekings
Date of birth	(1992-09-02) 2 September 1992
Place of birth	Bury St Edmunds, England
Height
Position(s)	Defender
Team information
Current team	Inverness Caledonian Thistle
Number	6
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
2010–2011	Ipswich Town	0	(0)
2011–	Inverness Caledonian Thistle	136	(4)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals, correct as of 12 December 2015

Josh Meekings (born 2 September 1992) is an English professional footballer who plays as a central defender for Inverness Caledonian Thistle.

Career

Ipswich Town

Meekings was born in Bury St Edmunds, England and raised in Suffolk. As a youth, Meekings captained the under-18s at Ipswich Town. However, in the summer of 2011 he was released by the club without having played for the first-team.

Inverness Caledonian Thistle

He was due to sign a deal with Stevenage but the deal fell through and instead, on 4 July 2011 he agreed to join Inverness Caledonian Thistle on a two-year deal. Shortly after moving to Inverness, Meekings revealed that the prospect of developing under manager Terry Butcher was influential in his decision to sign.

After months of being an unused substitute for Inverness following his recovery from ankle ligament damage, Meekings made his debut after coming on for Thomas Piermayr in the 66th minute during a 1–1 draw against Dunfermline Athletic on 22 October 2011. Two weeks later on 5 November 2011, he provided the 'assist' for Grégory Tadé to score – to make 3–1 – against Kilmarnock, which the match ended with Inverness winning 6–3. On 24 March 2012, Meekings received a red card for the first time in his career after a second bookable offence in a 1–0 win over Aberdeen.

At the start of the 2012–13 season, Meekings become a regular starter for the club, playing in either central defence or right-back. Ultimately, he settled into a regular, central pairing with Gary Warren. On 31 October 2012, Meekings was in the team that beat Rangers 3–0 away, in the quarter-final of the 2012–13 Scottish League Cup. He also played in the team that beat Celtic 1–0 away, the following month. On 15 December 2012, he scored an own goal in a 4–4 draw against Dundee United. Nevertheless, a few days later, Meekings along with Graeme Shinnie, signed two-year contract extensions, keeping them at the club until 2015, as Terry Butcher demonstrated his desire to keep the squad intact. Meekings' excellent season and consistent form was recognised with the award of SPL Young Player of the Month for March 2013. Weeks later on 4 May 2013, Meekings provided a double assist for Billy Mckay, who later scored a hat-trick, in a 4–3 win over Motherwell, in hopes of earning a spot in the UEFA Europa League next season. However, this never happened after

In the 2013–14 season, Meekings continued a regular starter for the club, playing in central defense mostly of the season and occasionally playing as a right-back. Despite being sent off in the semi-final of the Scottish League Cup, Meekings was cleared to play in the final after a successful appeal. However, Inverness lost the match against Aberdeen, on penalties. Two weeks later on 29 March 2014 after the Scottish League Cup final, Meekings was sent-off in the 68th minutes on a foul on Josh Magennis, in a 2–2 draw against St Mirren. After serving one game, Meekings featured for three more matches before being sidelined for the rest of the season.

In the 2014–15 season, Meekings started the season well when hescored the first goal of his career in September 2014, heading the opening goal for Inverness, in a 3–2 defeat by Aberdeen. On 8 November 2014, Meekings made his 100th league appearance for the club in a 4–2 win over Hamilton Accies. Meekings scored two weeks later on 22 November 2014, in a 3–1 win over Motherwell and scored seven days later, in the fourth round of Scottish Cup, in a 1–1 draw against St Mirren, leading to a replay. Despite interests from Peterborough United, it was announced on 12 February 2015 that he signed an extension to his contract, agreeing to remain with Inverness until the summer of 2017. Meekings became the subject of much national and international interest in the aftermath of ICTs Scottish Cup semi-final win against Celtic. During the game, television pictures and replays clearly showed that he ‘handled’ the ball in the penalty area, preventing a certain goal – however, the incident was ‘missed’ by the match officials. In an unprecedented move, Meekings was retrospectively cited by the SFA's Compliance Officer to face a charge of 'preventing a goal-scoring opportunity by deliberately handling the ball'. He was offered a one-match-ban, but Inverness contested this and a date was set for the case to be heard. On the day of the hearing, it transpired that he should not actually have been cited, as the referee had subsequently confirmed that he had indeed seen the ‘incident' but not the alleged ‘offence’. As a result, the case did not proceed and the charge against Meekings was dropped, with the SFA confirming that he would be eligible to play in the cup final. Following this, Celtic Manager Ronny Deila believed Meekings deserved to play in the final, while Meekings, himself, said he was lucky to avoid suspension and credited Manager John Hughes for helping avoid global headlines. In the build up to the Scottish Cup final, Meeking scored his third goal of the season and setting up one of the goal, in a 3–0 win over Dundee United on 16 May 2015. Meekings started and played in Scottish Cup Final, which Inverness won 2–1 against Falkirk.

In the 2015–16 season, Meekings played in both legs of the second round in the Europa League, as Inverness CT lose 1–0 on aggregate against Astra Giurgiu. However, Meekings was soon sidelined after suffering a knee injury during a match in the opening game of the season against Motherwell and was substituted in half time.

Honours

Inverness Caledonian Thistle

• Scottish Cup : 2014–15

External links

• Josh Meekings at Soccerway