Player Profile

Londoner Woolery took a somewhat old fashioned path into professional football, playing non-league football across the South East of England in his teens before being scouted by Bolton Wanderers at the age of 19. He made his league debut for Notts County on loan before playing for Bolton and then joining Wigan a year later. His year at Wigan included a loan at Forest Green Rovers, meaning Woolery had managed to add nine clubs to his CV before the age of 22. He scored two goals in Forest Green’s National League playoff final at Wembley in 2017, catching the eye of Town’s scouting team.

In August 2017, Town paid Wigan a fee in the region of £350,000 - a small fortune in Town money - to secure Woolery’s signature. A pacy forward player with the ability to play up front or as a wide player, Woolery got off to the perfect start with a goal on his debut as a substitute against Exeter City on 12th of August, but didn’t score again for three months and only picked up five over the course of his first season at Town. A pattern emerged in his first season which would endure throughout Woolery’s time at Town - he quickly became pigeonholed as an impact player, either being introduced from the bench or playing sixty minutes or so when he started. Of his 43 appearances in that first season, only six saw him on the field for the whole ninety.

Having picked up an injury at the tail end of the previous season, Woolery didn’t appear until October of the 2018/19 season. Again, he scored in his first game, netting Town’s third in an EFL Trophy win at Plymouth, and after a few more substitute appearances he made his first start of the season, scoring in a win at Newport. Deployed on the right hand side of a front three in support of Elijah Adebayo, Woolery finally got a run of full games from Christmas onwards. Whilst he didn’t regularly find the net, he was contributing to Town’s attacking play and did pick up occasional goals, including a brace at Bury in March. Woolery capped the season off with a goal as Town relegated Notts County from the Football League on the final day of the season, his seventh of the season, his most productive in a Town shirt.

Entering the final year of his contract in 2019/20 and having not fully delivered on Town’s investment, Woolery’s career was at a crossroads. Luckily for him, he had Town’s best side in years around him as Richie Wellens’ side delivered the League Two title, fired by the goals of Jerry Yates and Eoin Doyle. Whilst he wasn’t ever present, Woolery was the most regular third in Town’s attacking unit and created plenty of problems with his pace on the counter attack. That pace once again meant he was regularly deployed from the bench though, and he was introduced as a sub 15 times over the season.

Woolery scored only two goals during that 2019/20 season - in August against Carlisle and in December against Oldham, but provided seven assists - the most of any Town player, and his overall contribution was enough to see Town announce that he had been made an offer to extend his contract. What came next was something of a farce, with Town insisting Woolery had not responded and Woolery insisting that he had not received a contract offer, a state of affairs that rumbled on for several weeks before Woolery was announced as a Tranmere player. Manager Wellens, clearly disgruntled about the whole situation, criticised Woolery’s agent publicly and said the player had been poorly advised.

Playing Record

Senior

Reserve and Youth Team Appearances

Note that appearance data for reserve and youth teams may not be complete. Expand for more information.

Career details

Club	Details
Redhill Redhill	(youth)
Maidstone United Maidstone United	cs 2012 ; transferred out (rptd June 5th, 2013)
Tamworth Tamworth	rptd June 5th, 2013 (transferred in); transferred out (August 13th, 2014)
Maidstone United Maidstone United	rptd January 24th, 2014 (loan); recalled from loan (rptd March 13th, 2014)
Stafford Rangers Stafford	rptd October 31st, 2013 (loan)
Bolton Wanderers Bolton	August 13th, 2014 (transferred in , £10,000 ); transferred out (August 31st, 2016)
Notts County Notts County	January 29th, 2015 (loan); expired (rptd March 1st, 2015)
Wigan Athletic Wigan Athletic	August 31st, 2016 (transferred in, undisclosed fee reported to be in the region of £200,000); transferred out (August 7th, 2017)
Forest Green Rovers Forest Green	rptd January 21st, 2017 (loan); expired (2016/7)
Swindon Town Swindon	August 7th, 2017 (transferred in , £350,000 ); released (2019/0)
Tranmere Rovers Tranmere Rovers	September 14th, 2020 (unattached); released (2020/1)
Motherwell Motherwell	rptd June 22nd, 2021 (unattached); transferred out (rptd July 14th, 2022)
Sakaryaspor Sakaryaspor	rptd July 14th, 2022 (transferred in, undisclosed fee); transferred out (rptd January 10th, 2023)
Ionikos Ionikos	rptd January 10th, 2023 (transferred in, free transfer); released (2022/3)
Panserraikos Panserraikos	rptd July 21st, 2023 (unattached); released (rptd June 29th, 2024)
Anorthosis Anorthosis	rptd June 29th, 2024 (unattached)