Chris Baird

Christopher Patrick \"Chris\" Baird is a Northern Irish footballer who plays for Fulham and the Northern Ireland national football team. Baird started his career at Northern Irish club, Ballymena United, before moving to Southampton in 1998. Baird made his debut for Southampton on 22 March 2003 as a late substitute for David Prutton in a 2–2 draw at home with Aston Villa. He subsequently made two successful loan spells away from Southampton – two months at Walsall, where he played regularly in the first-team, and a month at Watford. He spent most of the 2006–07 season in central defence, and at the end of the season he was the winner of the Saints Player of the Season award. Baird left Southampton on 12 July 2007 to move to Premier League club Fulham for £3.025m. On 28 December 2010 he scored his first and second goals for Fulham against Stoke City at the Britannia Stadium in a 2–0 victory. In June 2003, Baird made his Northern Ireland debut against Italy in a 2–0 defeat. Since then, he has been a regular member of the national side, despite playing little domestically between 2003 and 2005.