Ex-Files: Chris Lucketti
The former North End skipper started his professional career at his home town club Rochdale back in the late 80's. He only managed to make just the one, solitary appearance for the club before being transferred to nearby Stockport County where he only stayed for one season.
In 1991, Lucketti moved to Yorkshire to play for Halifax Town in search of first team football. It was at Halifax where he had established himself as a first team player for the first time in his, so far, short lived career. In just two years, Lucketti made over 70 appearances for Town and impressed the likes of Bury, who secured his services in 1993.
Lucketti spent 6 years at Bury and notched up over 250 appearances before being transferred to Huddersfield Town where he spent another two years. His leadership skills and never say die attitude did enough to impress clubs in the First Division and in the summer of 2001, Lucketti was transferred to Preston for £750,000.
Preston at the time had just missed out on promotion to the premiership and were looking for reinforcements at the back. David Moyes saw Lucketti as the ideal person to fill the void in the centre of defence and went on to become club captain following the departure of Sean Gregan a year later.
Whilst at Preston, Lucketti made a name for himself due to the aforementioned never say die attitude and commitment, making him a first time regular for the majority of the five years he spent at Deepdale. Towards the end of his tenure, Lucketti found himself playing second fiddle to Claude Davis and Youl Mawene who had formed a formidable partnership. Davis had capitalised on the first team opportunity given to him by manager Billy Davies when Lucketti got himself suspended. Due to the success of Davis and Mawene, Lucketti found it very hard to force his way back into the side and resorted to the odd substitute appearance before being loaned out to Sheffield United towards the end of the 05/06 season.
Lucketti moved to the Blades in March 2006 and made 3 appearances for the club that season before moving on a permanent transfer. The Blades had just secured promotion to the Premier League and so due to stiff competition in his department, ironically with his former Preston teammate Claude Davis, his appearances were limited to just 9.
Despite dropping back to the Championship, Lucketti still found it hard to break into the side and again his appearances were limited. He finished the season on loan to Southampton as they looked to stop leaking goals at the back, thus turned to Lucketti's experience.
Southampton managed to avoid the drop on the final day with Chris Lucketti being a major part in that great escape. Whether or not he will make his move to the south coast a permanent one remains to be seen.