Former Wolves, Bournemouth, and Cardiff City man made free agent by League One club at 33

Former Wolves defender Scott Malone has been made a free agent after his club terminated his contract.

Malone, who hails from Rowley Regis, and was at Wolves at the start of his career, but left without making an appearance for the first team, joined Crawley Town from Gillingham for an undisclosed fee in the summer. His contract has been ripped up just four months in what was meant to be a one-year deal.

The 33-year-old had made three appearances for the Sussex based club, but hadn't made a match day squad since August. A short 24-word club statement on Sunday read: "Crawley Town Football Club and Scott Malone have mutually agreed to part ways. The club wish Scott all the best in his future endeavours.

As Malone was released outside of the transfer window, he will have to wait until January until he can sign with a club. It means he’ll have to go a month without being able to sign for a new team, but he should be able to train with any potential suitors.

During his time at Wolves, he had loan spells at Ujpest, Southend United, Burton Albion, and Bournemouth. He earned Wolves a fee of around £150,000 after joining the Cherries initially on a six-month loan deal before it was made permanent.

After leaving Bournemouth, Malone went on to play for a further seven clubs. He spent three years at Millwall, before being signed by Cardiff City. Fulham signed him, and had him for a season, where he a joint career best six goals from left-back, before he was given an opportunity to play in the Premier League with Huddersfield Town.

Derby County signed him in 2018, and he made 40 appearances for the Rams before he returned to Millwall in 2020, which took his appearances with the South London club up to 189, the most of any team in his career.

Malone joined Gillingham in the 2023/24 season, and he ended up making 48 appearances for the Gills, scoring four goals. A change of manager meant he fell down the pecking order, and was allowed to join Crawley. The manager who signed Malone, Scott Lindsey left his role this season to join MK Dons, but Malone wasn’t featuring under Lindsey or his successor Rob Elliott.