Player Profile

A small striker who had tormented Swindon in the past when with local rivals Reading, Cureton signed a two year deal with the Town in July 2005, having been released by Queens Park Rangers, shortly after top scorer Sam Parkin had moved to Ipswich Town. With Tony Thorpe also arriving from Loftus Road, Town fans that had been disappointed following Parkin's departure were suddenly optimistic again - unfortunately neither player's time at the County Ground started off as planned.

Cureton endured a unmemorable debut - missing one decent second half chance and having a penalty saved in a 2-0 defeat at Barnsley, and another miss - hitting the post in the dying seconds of the home game with Oldham - denied the Town what would have been a remarkable but undeserved comeback from three goals down. By the end of August, having not registered a goal in the first five games of the campaign, Cureton found himself relegated to the bench - by the middle of September, he was left out of the squad completely. In an interview with the Evening Advertiser, Cureton admitted to not playing well and feeling as low as he had ever done, but also pointed to the lack of service he had received as a reason.

With Swindon at the bottom of the table, manager Andy King was sacked, and new man Iffy Onuora was quick to point out to Cureton that he didn't fit in with the style of play that the Town were now going to be playing. Though he made a couple of substitute appearances under Onuora, Cureton didn't get much of a look-in, especially after the signing of Hameur Bouazza, a pacy striker signed on loan from Watford. Cureton's name was circulated on the "available for loan" list, and Cureton was also particularly scathing in his Adver column, complaining that Onuora had not given him a chance to impress, and that he couldn't impress if he wasn't playing.

Within a week, Cureton was allowed to join Colchester on a month's loan, where former team mate Phil Parkinson was manager. He made a good start, scoring on his full debut for the U's, then scoring a brace the following week in an FA Cup tie. Despite the goals, Onuora allowed Colchester to extend his loan until the end of the year - and the fact that Cureton had been allowed to become cup-tied pointed to an expected permanent deal to materialise come the transfer window in January. Cureton continued his good form, going onto score seven goals in his nine appearances, before the loan expired. Cureton himself seemed to prefer that his deal was made permanent in another Adver interview, and clearly did not expect to return.

Surprisingly though, with Bouazza's loan deal also expired, Cureton was again to feature in a Town shirt - being thrown into the starting line-up for an away game at Hartlepool on 2nd January, having become available again on the 1st. Before the month was out, Cureton finally opened his Town account, with the opening goal in a 4-2 win over Bournemouth, and his relief at scoring was evident - so much so that he didn't know which way to turn to celebrate, and ended up in front of the Cherries fans in the North Stand! The goal prompted a run of seven goals in seven home matches - including a goal-of-the-season effort that won a relegation battle with Walsall, and both goals in a 2-0 victory over Chesterfield in March.

Despite this home form, Cureton failed to score away from the County Ground, and though he was scoring goals, his game was littered with many spurned opportunities - most notably in matches against fellow relegation candidates Rotherham, Yeovil and Hartlepool, the latter of which saw Cureton have a tame penalty saved. Frustrations boiled over after a home defeat by MK Dons - with fans in the Town End voicing their dispproval, Cureton reacted by arguing with some of them - later saying that they had told him to "so and so back to Bristol". After that incident, Cureton started just one more game - a 3-1 defeat by Brentford that all but condemned the Town to League Two - though he did come off the bench to miss another golden opportunity at Bristol City - Cureton failing to score in any of the last seven games of the season. Perhaps surprisingly, Cureton was voted as runner-up in the player of the season awards, coming second to Rhys Evans.

Once the season ended, Cureton was quick to point out that he didn't want to play in League Two - through his column in the Adver, he said he would like to pursue any opportunity he might be offered at a higher level. It also soon became apparent that Cureton had a clause in his contract, allowing him a free transfer if Swindon were relegated. Within a month, Phil Parkinson moved to sign him on a permanent basis, and he returned to Colchester, who had since been promoted to the Championship.

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
Southampton Southampton	(schoolboy)
Manchester United Man Utd	cs 1989 (trial)
Norwich City Norwich City	1989 (youth) February 5th, 1993 (signed professional contract); transferred out
AFC Bournemouth Bournemouth	September 8th, 1995 (loan)
Bristol Rovers Bristol Rovers	September 20th, 1996 (loan)
Bristol Rovers Bristol Rovers	rptd October 17th, 1996 (transferred in , £200,000 ); transferred out
Reading Reading	August 21st, 2000 (transferred in , £250,000 ); released
DC United DC United	cs 2003 (trial)
Busan I'cons Busan I'cons	rptd July 14th, 2003 (unattached); released (November 2003)
Sunderland Sunderland	January 2004 (trial)
Peterborough United Peterborough United	January 2004 (trial)
Queens Park Rangers Q.P.R.	February 2nd, 2004 (unattached)
Swindon Town Swindon	August 5th, 2005 (unattached); transferred out (June 2nd, 2006)
Colchester United Colchester United	October 21st, 2005 (loan); expired (rptd January 1st, 2006)
Colchester United Colchester United	June 2nd, 2006 (transferred in); transferred out
Norwich City Norwich City	July 2nd, 2007 (transferred in, undisclosed fee); released
Barnsley Barnsley	November 27th, 2008 (loan); recalled from loan (rptd January 14th, 2009)
Shrewsbury Town Shrewsbury Town	February 17th, 2010 (loan); expired (rptd May 6th, 2010)
Exeter City Exeter City	August 2nd, 2010 (non-contract) rptd August 26th, 2010 (signed professional contract); released
Leyton Orient Leyton Orient	July 1st, 2011 (unattached); released (2011/2)
Exeter City Exeter City	March 1st, 2012 (loan); expired
Exeter City Exeter City	July 31st, 2012 (unattached); released (rptd May 3rd, 2013)
Cheltenham Town Cheltenham Town	July 1st, 2013 (announced June 17th, 2013) (unattached); released (rptd May 7th, 2014)
Dagenham and Redbridge Dagenham & Redbridge	July 24th, 2014 (unattached); released (2015/6)
Colchester United Colchester United	July 2016 (trial)
Farnborough Farnborough	rptd August 5th, 2016 (unattached)
Eastleigh Eastleigh	rptd September 22nd, 2016 ; released (rptd December 1st, 2016)
Farnborough Farnborough	rptd December 3rd, 2016
St. Albans City St. Albans	rptd December 9th, 2016
Farnborough Farnborough	rptd March 31st, 2017 (dual registration)
Farnborough Farnborough	rptd July 28th, 2017 ; transferred out (rptd January 2nd, 2018)
Arsenal Arsenal	rptd September 21st, 2017 (assistant academy coach)
Bishop's Stortford Bishop's Stortford	rptd January 2nd, 2018 (transferred in) rptd September 18th, 2018 (player-interim joint manager) rptd October 2nd, 2019 (appointed player-manager); by mutual consent (rptd February 4th, 2020) February 2020 (academy coach)
Enfield Enfield	rptd October 3rd, 2019 (dual registration)
Hornchurch Hornchurch	rptd February 4th, 2020
Enfield Enfield	rptd June 29th, 2020 (player-coach) rptd September 29th, 2020 (appointed player-manager)
Maldon and Tiptree Maldon and Tiptree	October 7th, 2023 (coach) March 2nd, 2024 (player-coach) April 5th, 2024 (appointed interim manager); replaced (rptd May 4th, 2024)
Cambridge City Cambridge City	May 17th, 2024 (appointed manager)