Paul Futcher

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Paul Futcher
Personal information
Full name Paul Futcher
Date of birth September 25, 1956 (1956-09-25) (age 51)
Place of birth    Chester, England
Height 6' 0" (1.83m)
Playing position Centre Back
Senior clubs1
Years Club App (Gls)*
1972-73
1974-77
1978-79
1980-82
1982-83
1983-89
1990
1991-94
1994-95
1995
1995-97
1997-00		 Chester
Luton Town
Manchester City
Oldham Athletic
Derby County
Barnsley
Halifax Town
Grimsby Town
Dundalk
Droylsden
Gresley Rovers
Southport		 20 (0)
131 (1)
37 (0)
98 (1)
35 (0)
230 (0)
15 (0)
132 (0)   
National team
1976-78 England Under-21s 11 (0)
Teams managed
1995
1995-97
1997-00
2001-02
2005		 Darlington
Gresley Rovers
Southport
Stalybridge Celtic
Ashton United

1 Senior club appearances and goals
counted for the domestic league only.
* Appearances (Goals)

Paul Futcher (born September 25, 1956 in Chester, England) is a former professional footballer who had a distinguished career as defender in the English football league, for England under 21s and as manager of several non-league clubs.

Contents

[edit] Playing career

Futcher was the defensive half of twin brothers. His brother was centre-forward Ron. Paul was the most expensive defender in England when he became Manchester City's record signing for £350,000 on June 1 1978.[1]

Paul began his career with hometown club Chester, who he made his debut for as a 16-year old against Cambridge United in March 1973. This came just a fortnight after his older brother Graham had played his final game for the club and seven months before Ron made his debut for the Blues. Futcher quickly turned professional and had made 20 Football League appearances when Luton Town snapped him up up for £100,000 in the summer of 1974. Ron joined him on the journey south, where Paul was to play more than 140 games and won ten England under 21 caps. On July 1 1978 he left Maine Road for a fee of £150,000 and joined Second Division Oldham Athletic.

Futcher had twice been chosen for the England squad and each time a road accident had put paid to him fulfilling the invitation.[2]

[edit] Grimsby Town

Paul was signed from Halifax Town reserves, aged 34, by Alan Buckley for £10,000 as a short term replacement for Andy Tillson. He went on to be a fans favourite for 5 seasons, winning the Supporters Player of the Year twice in that time. Then his son Ben Futcher joined the club for there league 2 play-off final season on 2005-06 before he left for Peterborough.

[edit] Dundalk

Futcher played in UEFA Cup Qualifying Round against Malmo.

[edit] Huddersfield New College

Paul is currently coaching both male and female academy sides at Huddersfield New College who has started the careers of players such as Zoe Barrett and Birmingham City striker Cameron Jerome.

[edit] Management

[edit] Gresley Rovers

Paul lead Rovers to the Dr. Martens Premier Division championship in 1997, unfortunately there was no promotion to Conference due to ground not being up to standard.

[edit] Southport

The highlight of his two-and-a-half year stint with Southport was the club’s FA Trophy final outing in 1998, where at 41; Futcher became the oldest player to appear in a competitive Wembley final.

The Sandgrounders narrowly lost to Cheltenham Town, and the remainder of the former Manchester City man’s Haig Avenue tenure was blemished by successful relegation scraps.

[edit] Ashton United

Paul was unable to save the Robins from relegation to the UniBond League. He subsequently failed to motivate the squad (using nearly 50 players in 10 months) and left in December 2005.

[edit] Honours

[edit] Grimsby Town

  • Division Three 3rd place, Promotion: 1991
  • Grimsby Town Supporters Player of the Year: 1992,1993

[edit] References

  1. ^ Paul Futcher at Sporting-Heroes.net
  2. ^ Official Grimsby Town site Paul Futcher profile

[edit] External links

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Darlington F.C. – Managers

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