Michail Antonio, 18, made his EFL debut for Cheltenham Town at Elland Road against Leeds United during a loan from Reading. He was thrown into the match by manager Martin Allen as the Robins were four points adrift at the bottom of League One.
Antonio arrived at Whaddon Road from Reading after being snapped up from non-league Tooting & Mitcham. The 18-year-old was handed a chance to play in the Football League when Martin Allen, who had taken Cheltenham to the brink of relegation, selected him for the away fixture at Elland Road.
The atmosphere was electric - Antonio moved from a 200-person crowd at Tooting to 20,000 fans at Elland Road in six months. He described the first 28 minutes as “on absolute fire”, beating defenders, making long throws and taking corners. Unfortunately, after 28 minutes he tore three ligaments in his ankle and had to be replaced by fellow teenager Marley Watkins.
Leeds United sealed a 2-0 win with a second-half double from Jonny Howson. Antonio missed five weeks with the injury but returned to add eight more appearances for Cheltenham, six of them starts. He was kept out of the starting XI by youth team forward Jake Lee in a 1-0 home win over Yeovil Town, but came on at half-time and was substituted by Lee Ridley in the 87th minute.
Cheltenham’s season ended in relegation on the penultimate Saturday after a 1-1 home draw with Carlisle United. Antonio was on the winning side only twice during his loan spell. He later reflected that the experience taught him “the real life of football” before moving on to Southampton the following season.
After breaking into Reading’s first team, Antonio had loan spells at Colchester United and Sheffield Wednesday, the latter becoming a permanent move in 2012. Nottingham Forest bought him for £1.5 million two years later and he was named their Player of the Year in 2014/15. A year after that, West Ham United signed him for £7 million.
He went on to make more than 300 appearances for the Hammers, scoring 83 goals and helping them win the UEFA Europa Conference League in 2022/23. In December 2024 he was involved in a serious road-traffic accident but returned to play for Jamaica in a 2025 CONCACAF Gold Cup match against Guatemala in June 2025.
Antonio received England call-ups from Sam Allardyce in 2016 and Gareth Southgate in 2017 but never earned a cap. He made his Jamaica debut against Panama in 2021 and, after stints at other English clubs, signed for Al-Sailiya in Qatar in March 2026.
Cheltenham has also taken several other Reading loanees, including Michael Thorp, Nathan Tyson, Oliver Bozanic, Lawson D’Ath, Jake Taylor, Michael Hector, Rob Dickie, Sam Smith and Luke Southwood. Current Robins defender Pierce Sweeney is another Reading academy product.
