Chris Humphrey

Christopher Charles Humphrey (born 19 September 1987) is a Jamaican professional footballer and coach. He currently Manages Milnthorpe Corinthians FC in the West Lancashire Premier league. Humphrey has played for several clubs in the United Kingdom, including English clubs Shrewsbury Town, Preston North End and Bury, and Scottish clubs Motherwell and Hibernian. He also played for the Jamaica national team in 12 matches, having made his full international debut in 2012. Humphrey announced his retirement from football in October 2018, due to ongoing injury problems before returning to the game with East Kilbride. Humphrey took over as player/manager of Lowland League side Gretna 2008 but was sacked in November 2019.}

Born in Jamaica before moving to Walsall at the age of 5, Humphrey was at Walsall's Centre of Excellence until he joined West Bromwich Albion.

After playing in a reserve team match against Shrewsbury Town on 4 September 2006, Shrewsbury manager Gary Peters was impressed by Humphrey's performance and inquired about his availability, discovering that he was out of contract. Two days later Humphrey had signed for Shrewsbury on a free transfer until the end of the 2006–07 season, with Peters joking that he had kidnapped Humphrey.

Three days after signing, on 9 September, Humphrey made his debut as a 79th-minute substitute for Ben Herd in a 1–0 home defeat to Lincoln City. On 8 February 2007, and having made nine substitute appearances, Humphrey's progress had pleased Peters sufficiently to earn him a one-year contract extension until summer 2008.

In his first season, he made a total of 14 league appearances for Shrewsbury, all but one as a substitute. Humphrey played for Shrewsbury, as a late second-half substitute, in the 2007 Football League Two play-off final. Shrewsbury lost 3–1 to Bristol Rovers at Wembley. A mistake was made on his shirt, spelling his surname as "Humphery".

After making three league and three cup appearances in the early part of the 2007–08 season Humphrey joined Conference National side Stafford Rangers on 2 November 2007 on loan for a month, playing four games. On 25 January 2008, his contract was extended by another year, until the end of the 2008–09 season.

He scored his first goal on 25 October 2008, two minutes after coming on as a 78th-minute substitute for Shane Cansdell-Sherriff to earn Shrewsbury a 1–1 draw with Brentford at Griffin Park. Late in the January 2009 transfer window, and with Humphrey about to be out of contract in summer, it was claimed that he had attracted the interest of various clubs, including Aston Villa, following a number of eye-catching performances that season. On 2 May, Humphrey set up one goal and scored another as Shrewsbury beat Dagenham & Redbridge 2–1 to ensure the Shrews finished in seventh place in League Two, the fourth and final play-off spot.

On 23 May 2009, Humphrey played for Shrewsbury in the League Two play-off final at Wembley, which they lost 1–0 to Gillingham. Shortly after the play-off, Humphrey was offered a new contract by the club. On 25 June 2009, Sky Sports claimed that Shrewsbury had turned down a bid for Humphrey by Championship side Blackpool. On 3 July, Shrews manager Paul Simpson confirmed the Blackpool approach. The contract was soon stalled, as Humphrey was in favour of joining Scottish Premier League club Motherwell.