Ex-Reading FC, Sheffield United and Middlesbrough star reveals hidden secret | OneFootball

Dave Kitson was a Premier League and EFL veteran - but he's now revealed something of an open secret to the footballing world

As far as stalwart EFL strikers go in the 2000's, perhaps one of the more distinctive and memorable ones was Dave Kitson - and not just because of his ginger hair.

A late-starter to the professional game, Kitson signed for Cambridge United in 2001 from Arseley Town, and he'd soon move up the pyramid in late 2003 to the Championship, where he landed at Reading for just £150,000.

It was at the Royals where he spent four-and-a-half years, scored 60 times in all competitions and became a Premier League player for the first time, going from non-league to the top flight in just five years, and he eventually went to Stoke for a bumper £5.5 million fee.

Kitson would not replicate his past success at the Potters, and he would go on to return to Reading on loan, with permanent stints also coming with Middlesbrough, Portsmouth, Sheffield United and Oxford United before his retirement in 2014.

Ex-EFL striker Dave Kitson reveals big secret

Whilst Kitson didn't go into professional coaching or management after his career on the pitch was over, albeit he's now the manager of Maidenhead United's women's team, he has been much speculated as 'The Secret Footballer' - an anonymous player who wrote a number of books and columns about his trials and tribulations - and that of his team-mates too.

Columns first emerged from The Secret Footballer in the early 2010's, and now in February 2026, Kitson has finally revealed that he indeed was behind it all along.

“I am The Secret Footballer. I’ve never said that out loud before," Kitson revealed in a YouTube video with Champions Speakers.

“It was an idea that came to me when I wasn’t happy with where football was going and I needed an outlet to express it for my own mental health.

“I’ve been writing since I was a kid. It’s a passion. As I said, I wanted to be a travel writer.

“The writing was cathartic. It helped me process what was going on in football.

“It was fun for a while, then it bred huge anxiety. I had a career and a big contract.

“If I’d been outed, I would have been sacked and ostracised. Now everyone has a podcast and an outlet. Back then, it was genuinely new.”

However, was it that much of a secret? The identity of The Secret Footballer being Kitson has been rumoured for years - even as far back as 2013, when it was deciphered via a couple of stories told that it may very well be the ex-Reading star that was penning the stories.

The evidence and stories started to stack up more and more in favour of Kitson being the writer, and some 15 years after he started, the revelation has finally come out.

With his career somewhat on the decline after failing to live up to the billing at Stoke, Kitson took to writing when he was at Portsmouth in 2011, back in the Championship and at a club that were soon to be facing more financial struggles - and there were perhaps regrets that he didn't stay at Reading during his heyday.

Kitson was a key player alongside Kevin Doyle and Leroy Lita in attack for the Royals as they were promoted to the Premier League with a record points total in 2006, and he took to the top flight very well, scoring 12 goals in 37 matches over the course of two seasons.

He could not find his footing at Stoke however after his big seven-figure switch to the Britannia Stadium, and that proved to be the beginning of the end of his on-pitch career at the top level.

His revelation though as being The Secret Footballer could open up a lot of avenues in the media side of things in the near future - expect to hear a lot more from Kitson in the coming weeks and months off the back of this.