Stephen Dobbie was a fundamental part of Swansea City’s promotion squad in the famous 2010/11 season. The Scotsman was at times the focal point in attack for the Swans, and was definitely a brilliant performer who was a huge asset to Brendan Rodgers’ side back in the Championship. However, since Swans got promoted into the Premier League in 2011, Dobbie’s career hasn’t lived up to expectations. What happened?

Stephen Dobbie has made a name for himself in the Championship, and especially in the play-off finals. He went to Wembley whilst on loan at Blackpool in 2010, and won. And then after an impressive season with the Swans, he was once again celebrating on the hallowed turf of Wembley. Not again, surely? Yes, he was back at Wembley in 2012, but lost to West Ham whilst on loan at Blackpool again. Then the following season, whilst on loan at Crystal Palace he made it a staggering three play-off final victories in four successive appearances. But after so much success in the second tier, what happened when he stepped up to the Premier League?

The former-Rangers man started in Swansea’s first ever Premiership game against Manchester City as he looked to continue the form he left the previous season in; scoring vital goals in the play-off semi-final and final. He played as an attacking midfielder to accommodate the new signing of Danny Graham, but he wasn’t overly impressive in that 4-0 loss. After a few games with Rodgers trying to suss out his best XI in the Premier League, Dobbie was knocked back to the bench after an underwhelming start to the 2011/12 season. Although, he was finally called upon to play against Norwich in October 2011, but suffered an ankle injury after a rash challenge from none other than current Swansea right-back Kyle Naughton, who was on loan at Carrow Road at the time. This meant time-off for Dobbie, as he sat out as the Swans were progressing quickly in the league. He made the odd few appearances for the mid-table Swansea side after his injury, but effectively, his time was over in the top-flight.

In March 2012, Dobbie opted to return to Ian Holloway’s Blackpool squad on loan for the remainder of the campaign. He found himself an important player for the Tangerines, scoring five goals in seven games. He was also to feature in yet another play-off final in 2012 when Blackpool faced West Ham at Wembley. However, West Ham overcame Blackpool to win 2-1.

After evidently not being in Michael Laudrup’s plans for the 2012/13 season, it was clear that Dobbie would be heading out of SA1. On the 31st of August, the Scotsman signed for Brighton & Hove Albion for a fee believed to be around £1 million. Dobbie made 15 appearances for the Seagulls in his first four months there, but after an average start to his career at the AMEX, he joined Brighton’s arch-rivals Crystal Palace on a six-month loan deal on transfer deadline day in January 2013. He featured 15 times for Palace in the ending months of 2012/13 and helped the Eagles secure a play-off final win over Watford. Later on that summer, Dobbie made a permanent move to the newly-promoted Palace.

It was at Crystal Palace where he displayed the most promise after leaving Swansea. In Palace’s promotion run-in, he scored three important goals whilst playing behind the veteran Kevin Phillips. However, yet again he didn’t prove himself in the Premier League though. He made only one start at Selhurst Park in 2013/14, and it was the same story all over again for the disappointed attacker. He joined Blackpool on a three month-loan in September 2013 and proved his talents back in the Championship. He returned to South London in December but still, Dobbie didn’t gain any first-team minutes in January so re-joined Blackpool on another loan on January’s transfer deadline day.

He returned to Palace in the summer of 2014 and was loaned out to League Two side Fleetwood Town for the 2014/15 season. He made nearly 30 appearances in the fourth division last campaign, scoring four goals. It wasn’t a season to set the world alight at Fleetwood, but the 32-year-old was content with getting some game-time after the struggles in recent years.

This summer, Dobbie was released by Crystal Palace after being surplus to requirements. With a search for a new club spanning to a month, he signed for Bolton Wanderers as a free-agent on the 5th August. So, the Scotsman is back in the Championship with a struggling Bolton side. He made his debut in a 1-0 loss to Burton Albion in the Capital One Cup, and then scored a late equaliser against Dorus de Vries’ Nottingham Forest on his return to the second-tier. We wish Dobbie all the best at Bolton this season, and we’re sure he can be a success at the Macron Stadium.