Aston Villa Fenton joined
Aston Villa as a trainee in June 1990, turning professional in February 1992. He was loaned out to
West Bromwich Albion in January 1994, making his league debut against Leicester City in the same month.
Blackburn Rovers In November 1995, having struggled to claim a regular place in the
Villa Park first team, Fenton made a £1.5 million move to reigning Premiership champions
Blackburn, but his first team opportunities were limited as he faced competition from
Alan Shearer,
Chris Sutton and
Kevin Gallacher. He scored seven times for Blackburn, including two as a late substitute against
Newcastle United, the team Fenton has supported since childhood, in April 1996, which effectively ended Newcastle's title challenge.
Leicester City In August 1997, he moved to
Martin O'Neill's
Leicester City for a fee of £1.1million. He scored on his Leicester debut, having replaced
Ian Marshall as a late substitute in the 2–1 win away to
Liverpool, but again struggled to establish himself, making only 34 league appearances (21 as substitute) over three seasons. Despite being left out of Leicester's squad for the
2000 Football League Cup Final he made four appearances and scored one goal during their victorious League Cup campaign. He also scored one of the penalties in the shootout against
Fulham in the quarter final. He joined
Walsall on loan in March 2000, scoring once against Port Vale and had an unsuccessful trial with
Barnsley in July 2000.
Later career In August 2000 he joined
Stoke City on a monthly contract, scoring once against
Reading, and at the end of the following month, signed for
St Mirren on a two-year contract. In August 2001, Fenton joined
Blackpool on a free transfer, but once more struggled to establish himself in the first team. He was an unused substitute for the
final as Blackpool won the
2001–02 Football League Trophy. Blyth manager
Paul Baker appointed Fenton as player-assistant manager in July 2004. Fenton took over as caretaker-manager of Blyth when Baker left that September, returning to his player-assistant manager role in October 2004 after the appointment of
Harry Dunn as manager. In the 2005–06 season he was part of the Spartans' side that gained promotion to the
Conference North by winning the
Northern Premier League. He was assistant manager and player at
North Shields from 2009 until 2012. ==International career==