Paul Warhurst

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Paul Warhurst
Personal information
Full name	Paul Warhurst
Date of birth	September 26, 1969 (age 37)
Place of birth	Stockport, England
Playing position	Defender/Midfielder
Club information
Current club	Barnet
Number	16
Senior clubs1
Years	Club	App (Gls)*
1987-1988 1988-1991 1991-1993 1993-1997 1997-1998 1998-2003 2003 2003 2003 2004 2004 2004 2005 2005 2006-present	Manchester City Oldham Athletic Sheffield Wednesday Blackburn Rovers Crystal Palace Bolton Wanderers → Stoke City (loan) Chesterfield Barnsley Carlisle United Grimsby Town Blackpool Forest Green Rovers Wrexham Barnet	00 (0) 67 (2) 66 (6) 57 (4) 27 (4) 91 (0) 05 (1) 04 (0) 04 (0) 01 (0) 07 (0) 04 (0) 06 (2) 11 (1) 09 (0)
National team
1990-1991	England U21	08 0(0)
1 Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of the end of the 2005-06 season. * Appearances (Goals)

Paul Warhurst is an English football player (born 26 September 1969, Stockport) who currently plays for Barnet F.C. He plays primarily as a defender, but has also played in midfield or as a striker at various points in his career. Having played for 15 different clubs through his career, Warhurst is regarded as one of the quintessential journeymen of English football. He is the son of former Birmingham and Manchester City midfielder Roy Warhurst.

He began his career as a trainee at Manchester City in 1988, before signing professional terms with Oldham. There he became a first team regular, featuring in the team's memorable run to the semi-finals of the 1990 FA Cup. After 86 appearances (scoring twice), he was signed by Sheffield Wednesday in the summer of 1991, for £750,000. He began his career at the club as a solid defender, but midway through his first season, injuries to David Hirst and Mark Bright saw Warhurst employed as an emergency striker.

In a phenomenal sequence, he scored 12 goals in as many games, and after four years as a defender, was called up to the England national side as a striker. Warhurst was unluckily injured, however, and missed an opportunity to win his first cap. His scoring ratio inevitably slowed down, and when Hirst returned to action, Warhurst fell out with manager Trevor Francis, who wanted the player to return to defensive duties. In the summer of 1993, Warhurst was transfer-listed, and signed for Blackburn for £2.7 million, having scored 18 goals in 88 games for Wednesday.

Ironically, he played primarily as a defender for Blackburn, but injuries ruined his spell there. He did, however, play occasionally as a forward, and picked up a FA Premier League winners' medal in the 1994-95 season. In the summer of 1997, after 74 games for Blackburn (yielding 4 goals, Warhurst switched to Crystal Palace for the 1997-98 season. He made 30 appearances, scoring four times, before being loaned to Bolton in November 1998. A successful spell there led to the Lancashire team signing him permanently for £800,000 in January 1999. In 2000-01 he helped Bolton gain promotion to the Premier League, but injuries were now mounting.

In August 2003 he left Bolton after 100 appearances, and has since moved between a number of clubs - Chesterfield (6 games, 1 goal), Barnsley (4 games), Carlisle (1 game), Grimsby (7 games), Blackpool (6 games) and non-league Forest Green Rovers (6 games, two goals).

In August 2005, he signed for Wrexham, where he added experience to their otherwise young side. After being released by Wrexham, he joined struggling Barnet in a bid to help them fight off relegation from the league.

[edit] External links

• Paul Warhurst career stats at Soccerbase

Barnet F.C. - Current Squad
1 Flitney | 2 Bailey | 3 King | 4 Hendon | 5 Gross | 7 Hatch | 8 Sinclair | 9 Grazioli | 11 Graham | 12 Norville | 14 Yakubu | 15 Hessenthaler | 16 Warhurst | 17 Devera | 18 Harrison | 19 Nicolau | 20 Puncheon | 21 Vieira | 23 Cogan | 24 Hunt | 27 Birchall | 28 Allen | 31 Constanti | Manager: Fairclough