Southampton Folly was brought to England in 2003 by then
Southampton manager
Gordon Strachan who paid
St. Étienne £250,000 to secure his signature. After numerous managerial changes at Southampton, Folly struggled to get in the team and loan spells at
Nottingham Forest (where he scored his first goal in English football against
QPR in the
FA Cup)
Plymouth Argyle Folly handed in a transfer request to the club in January 2008, citing concerns about his lack of first team football, and he joined Championship rivals
Plymouth Argyle that month for a fee believed to be around £200,000, joining manager
Paul Sturrock for the third time in his career. Despite this, Folly failed to make a serious impact in the club's first-team, being out for a sustained period of time due to a number of injuries and illnesses. He made a surprise return to the starting line-up in October 2009 against
Middlesbrough, having only appeared once before that in 2009, producing a composed performance in a 1–0 victory for the Pilgrims in which he was the Man of the Match. Folly retained his place in the team for three of the club's next four games, but soon fell out of favour under new manager
Paul Mariner. He joined
League Two club
Dagenham & Redbridge on an initial one-month loan at the end of February 2010. On 29 March 2010, Folly returned to parent club Plymouth Argyle from his loan spell at Dagenham because of a midfield crisis at the club, but, on 2 May 2010, it was announced that Folly, alongside defender
David McNamee and goalkeeper
Lloyd Saxton, would be released.
Aberdeen After a trial at
Scottish Premier League side
Aberdeen, he signed for the club on 26 July 2010. Folly became an instant hit with the local supporters playing a crucial part in the team's midfield alongside fellow summer signing,
Scottish internationalist Paul Hartley. Folly scored his first goal for Aberdeen on 26 December 2010 in a 2–1 win at Hibernian. However, just a week later, while up against
Dundee United, Folly broke his ankle after a 65th minute tackle by
Paul Dixon. Manager
Craig Brown, later that day, confirmed Folly would not play again during the
2010–11 season. Near the end of the 2011–12 season, Folly was advised that his contract with Aberdeen would not be extended. On 25 August 2012, Folly had to retire from professional football after being diagnosed with chronic pulmonary embolism. ==International career==