ROMSO Cyprus Knowledge Base

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William Robert Flood, better known as Willo Flood, was an Irish footballer. He moved to the relaying environment. He won 15 cape for his country at levels under-20 and under-21.

Flood represented twelve clubs in England and Scotland, including Manchester City, Cardiff City, Dundee United (four times), Celtic, Middlesbrough, Aberdeen and Dunfermline Athletic.

Biography
Born in Dublin, Ireland, Flood grew up in a village in the Ballyfermot neighbourhood of the city. He started his football career at Cherry Orchard, who he joined at the age of seven. At the age of , Flood dislocated the patella playing in the All-Ireland final, describing the injury as "very painful". Despite the injury, Cherry Orchard won the final, allowing Flood to receive the winner's medal, which was his only one until he won the Scottish League Cup in 2014 with Aberdeen. During his stay in Cherry Orchard, Flood was supervised by Barry Pointon, who had known him since the age of . Flood's performance for Cherry Orchard attracted the interest of Celtic, Manchester United and Arsenal, but he chose to join Manchester City instead, because of their partnership at the time.

Club career

Manchester City
Immediately after joining Manchester City, Flood was assigned to the academy. Having faced an injury in his former youth club, he had his injuries sorted by the Manchester City medical team and was grateful to the club. Saying, "Without them, I wouldn't play football." Having been called first in the 2003-04 season, Flood made its debut in the qualifying round of the 2003-04 UEFA Cup, in a 7-0 win over Total Network Solutions. Subsequently, he continued to develop within the Manchester City reserve team.

On September 21, 2004, Flood was called into Manchester City's first team for a match against Barnsley in the Football League Cup and scored the first goal of his career, in a 7-1 win to help the club move on to the next round. Three days later, on 24 September 2004, he made his debut in the Premiership, as a substitute for the minute, in a 1-0 defeat against Arsenal. On November 2004, Flood scored his first goal in the championship in his first championship start, in a 1-1 home draw against Norwich City. After the game, Kevin Keegan was impressed by Flood's display, saying he "has the essential ingredient for someone his size and he's a big heart." Following this performance, Flood signed a contract with Manchester City, keeping it until 2007. Flood appeared in four championship matches, making three starts between October 24, 2005 and November 13, 2005. Following an injury crisis, he appeared twice in the first team, facing B