Paul Wilkinson (footballer)

Paul Wilkinson (born 30 October 1964) is an English former professional footballer and coach.

Paul Wilkinson
Personal information
Full name Paul Wilkinson
Date of birth (1964-10-30) 30 October 1964
Place of birth Louth, England
Playing position(s) Striker
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1982–1985 Grimsby Town 87 (33)
1985–1987 Everton 42 (16)
1987–1988 Nottingham Forest 43 (8)
1988–1991 Watford 155 (56)
1991–1996 Middlesbrough 202 (65)
1995 → Oldham Athletic (loan) 5 (2)
1995 → Watford (loan) 4 (0)
1996 → Luton Town (loan) 3 (0)
1996–1997 Barnsley 55 (11)
1997–1998 Millwall 35 (3)
1998–2000 Northampton Town 19 (1)
Total 650 (196)
National team
1985–1986 England U21 4 (1)
Teams managed
2017 Northampton Town (caretaker)
2018 Grimsby Town (caretaker)
2019 Truro City (caretaker)
2019 Bury
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only

Wilkinson had an 18-year professional playing career that saw make over 650 senior appearances and score more than 150 goals. Since retiring as a player in 2000 he has held a number of development and assistant coaching positions. He was briefly manager of Truro City before being appointed manager of Bury, who were expelled from the English Football League in August 2019.

Playing career

Wilkinson started his career with Grimsby Town before moving to Everton in March 1985. Wilkinson's first goal for Everton was the winning goal in a Merseyside derby in May 1985; Everton had already secured the title by this point.[1]

At this time he won caps for the England under-21 team. During the 1986–87 season he made 32 appearances and scored 12 goals, as Everton won the Football League First Division championship. He also scored a hat-trick in a 5-1 League Cup second round second leg victory over Newport County in October 1986.[2]

After a short spell at Nottingham Forest he went on to play over 150 league games for Watford between 1988 and 1991.

Wilkinson played more than 200 times for Middlesbrough between 1991 and 1996, his most successful season being his first season, in which he scored 24 goals. In the final minutes of the last league game of the season at Wolverhampton Wanderers, he scored a last minute winner to secure Middlesbrough's automatic promotion to the new FA Premier League. He was also the scorer of the club's first Premier League goal, with a 63rd minute consolation strike in a 2–1 defeat at Coventry City on the opening day of the season.[3]

Middlesbrough spent just one season in the top tier, and by the time they won promotion again two years later, Wilkinson was no longer a regular player.[4]

In 1997, partnering former Middlesbrough teammate John Hendrie in attack, Wilkinson helped Barnsley reach the Premier League, scoring one of the goals in the game against Bradford City at Oakwell that sealed their automatic promotion.[5] He played four Premier League games at the start of the following season before joining Millwall in September 1997, scoring on his debut against former club Grimsby Town.[6] He then finished his career at Northampton Town.

Coaching career

After retiring from playing he moved into coaching by taking over as the youth team manager at Leeds United before moving on to become reserve team manager at Grimsby Town and then Cardiff City in October 2003, where he was brought in by manager Lennie Lawrence.[7] In 2012 he moved onto Sheffield Wednesday. He took a position as a coach at the Norwich City academy in October 2014. In 2016 he was appointed assistant manager at Northampton Town under Robert Page.[8]

In April 2017 Wilkinson was appointed assistant manager at Grimsby alongside incoming manager Russell Slade.[9] After Slade was sacked in February 2018, Wilkinson was appointed caretaker manager.[10] Wilkinson lost all three of his games in charge of Grimsby and reverted to his role as assistant manager following the appointment of Michael Jolley as Slade's replacement.[11] On 11 May 2018, it was confirmed that Wilkinson had left Grimsby Town.[12]

On 27 March 2019, he was appointed as the caretaker manager of National League South side Truro City until the end of the season.[13] Truro were relegated from the National League South, but Wilkinson stayed on, signing a full-time two-year contract at the White Tigers on 17 June 2019.[14]

On 2 July 2019, he was appointed as the permanent manager of EFL League One side Bury.[15] Bury's first six matches of the 2019–20 campaign were suspended after the English Football League concluded that the club had not provided sufficient proof of the necessary finances.[16] On 27 August 2019 Bury were expelled from the Football League after a takeover bid for the club collapsed.[17]

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References
  1. "Everton v Liverpool, 23 May 1985". 11v11.com.
  2. "ToffeeWeb - History - Everton Hat-tricks". www.toffeeweb.com.
  4. "Perfect 10 at Molineux. - Free Online Library". www.thefreelibrary.com.
  5. "Football: Barnsley board the Premiership". Independent. 27 April 1997. Retrieved 17 October 2018.
  6. "Games played by Paul Wilkinson in 1997/1998". soccerbase.com. Retrieved 17 October 2018.
  7. "Wilkinson back in work". BBC Sport. 9 October 2003. Retrieved 11 July 2015.
  8. "PAUL WILKINSON NAMED NORTHAMPTON TOWN'S NEW ASSISTANT MANAGER". Northampton Town. 13 June 2016. Retrieved 11 February 2018.
  9. "Club Statement: New Management Duo Appointed". Grimsby Town. 12 April 2017. Retrieved 11 February 2018.
  10. "Russell Slade: Grimsby Town part company with manager". BBC Sport. 11 February 2018. Retrieved 11 February 2018.
  11. "'Frustrating' final game as caretaker for Wilkinson". grimsbytelegraph.co.uk. 3 March 2018.
  12. "Backroom Staff Update". www.grimsby-townfc.co.uk.
  13. "Paul Wilkinson: Truro City appoint ex-striker as caretaker manager". BBC Sport. 27 March 2019. Retrieved 28 March 2019.
  14. "Manager Paul Wilkinson to leave Truro City". Truro City F.C. 2 July 2019. Retrieved 2 July 2019.
  15. "Paul Wilkinson: Bury appoint Truro City boss as manager". BBC Sport. 2 July 2019.
  16. "Bury: Shakers' fixture at Rotherham called off by English Football League". BBC Sport. 15 August 2019. Retrieved 15 August 2019.
  17. "Bury expelled by English Football League after takeover collapses". BBC Sport. 27 August 2019. Retrieved 27 August 2019.
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