Guy Ipoua

Who is Guy Ipoua?

Guy Ipoua is an Cameroonian footballer who has played for Oryx Douala and a string of British and Continental clubs. His elder brother Samuel Ipoua represented Cameroon at the 1998 World Cup.

Ipoua was born in Cameroon and moved to Strasbourg, France at the age of four. His early football career is unclear but he joined AS Nancy in 1992, and had a spell at Torino where his brother was also on loan from Inter Milan, for six months. He was also on the books of Atlético Madrid, at the time the reigning La Liga champions and cup holders. He has also played for Sevilla, Alicante, Écija Balompié and Novelda.

In the summer of 1998, he spent 3 weeks on trial at Crystal Palace, but failed to secure a contract. He spent a season at Bristol Rovers where he scored 3 goals in 24 league games, before being released the following summer. A trial at Torquay United followed trial in July 1999, but he again failed to secure a contract. He subsequently went for trials at a number of clubs in England and Scotland, including Wycombe Wanderers and St. Johnstone.

He eventually signed for Scunthorpe United in August 1999, scoring on his debut against Bournemouth, and again against Cardiff City two days later. This earned him a contract with the club, and he enjoyed almost two successful seasons with Scunthorpe, notably scoring seven times in the space of a week. He was sold to Gillingham for just £25,000, a low fee because he could have left for free a couple months later under the Bosman ruling. He was mainly used as a substitute for Gillingham up to the end of the season.