Paul Bodin
| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Paul John Bodin | ||
| Date of birth | 13 September 1964 | ||
| Place of birth | Cardiff, Wales | ||
| Playing position | Left Back | ||
| Club information | |||
Current team | none | ||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps† | (Gls)† |
| 1981–1982 | Chelsea | 0 | (0) |
| 1982 | Newport County | ? | (?) |
| 1982–1985 | Cardiff City | 75 | (4) |
| 1985 | Merthyr Tydfil | 39 | (8) |
| 1985–1988 | Bath City | 106 | (30) |
| 1988 | Newport County | 6 | (1) |
| 1988–1991 | Swindon Town | 93 | (9) |
| 1991–1992 | Crystal Palace | 9 | (0) |
| 1991 | → Newcastle United (loan) | 6 | (0) |
| 1992–1996 | Swindon Town | 146 | (28) |
| 1996–1998 | Reading | 40 | (1) |
| 1997 | → Wycombe Wanderers (loan) | 5 | (0) |
| 1998–2001 | Bath City | 81 | (8) |
| National team | |||
| 1983 | Wales U21 | 1 | (0) |
| 1990–1994 | Wales | 23 | (3) |
| Teams managed | |||
| 1998–2001 | Bath City | ||
| 2008-2013 | Swindon Town (youth team coach) | ||
| 2011 | Swindon Town(caretaker) | ||
| * Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only. † Appearances (Goals). | |||
Paul John Bodin (born 13 September 1964) is a former Wales international footballer. A left-back, Bodin's domestic career is best remembered for his two spells at Swindon Town.
Career
Bodin began his career with Chelsea as a schoolboy, but then moved onto a brief spell with Newport County after being released. He instead joined his home town club Cardiff City and was handed his professional debut on the opening day of the 1982–83 season against Wrexham. He helped the side to promotion to Division Two in his first year, finishing as runners-up to Portsmouth. In total, he spent three seasons at Ninian Park before being released and the Welshman fell into non-league with Bath City, before returning to the Football League with Newport.[1]
Bodin left Newport for Swindon Town in March 1988 for a fee of £30,000 as cover for Phil King - and his first few appearances for the club were terrible - leading Town fanzine Bring the Noise to describe him as being "no better than an average Conference player".
When King left for Sheffield Wednesday in November the following year, Bodin became the club's first choice left back, and his performances began to improve - so much so that he became a regular choice for his country. He was almost ever-present in 1989/1990, a season which resulted in his first appearance for Swindon at Wembley, in the ill-fated Play-Off Final win over Sunderland.
After the illegal payments scandal, Swindon were forced to sell players, and shortly after Ossie Ardiles left the club, Bodin also left - Crystal Palace paying over £½ million for his services. Bodin failed to settle in London, and after Ardiles took him to Newcastle United for a short loan spell, he returned to the County Ground just ten months after he had left - Glenn Hoddle paying half the fee that Palace had.
Hoddle played Bodin as a more attack-minded wing back, making better use of Bodin's crossing ability. He also installed Bodin as the club's penalty taker - moves which were to come to fruition the following season, when he scored a total of twelve goals from his new position. Five of these goals came from the penalty spot - the last of which was possibly the most pressurised kick ever to be taken by a Swindon player - the penalty which gave Swindon the lead in the dying minutes of the 1993 Play-Off Final win over Leicester City at Wembley.
Bodin performed well again in the Premiership, scoring seven league goals, including penalty strikes against Manchester United and Arsenal. By now, he was a regular choice at international level - missing a crucial penalty for Wales in their World Cup qualifier with Romania - had he scored, Wales may well have qualified.
He remained as the Town's first choice left back for two more seasons, despite two successive relegations and the arrival of Jason Drysdale - and he helped the club to the Second Division championship in 1996, before leaving the club at the end of that season.[2]
After a spell with Reading in which he scored once against former club Crystal Palace,[3] he returned to Bath City to take up a position as player-manager. In 2001 his position was dropped to a part-time role due to financial troubles at the club and he subsequently resigned.
Bodin was appointed coach to Swindon Town's youth team set-up in January 2008.[4]
In April 2011 he took over as caretaker manager of Swindon Town following the departure of Paul Hart.[5]
Following the arrival of Paulo Di Canio, Bodin rebuffed advances from Torquay to become assistant manager under good friend Martin Ling, and opted to sign a new long term deal with the club following the revelations he had been working without a contract for three and a half years.[6]
Wales career
For four years Bodin was a regular fixture for the Welsh national football team under the management of Terry Yorath and Mike Smith, attaining 23 caps. He was noted for missing a penalty when the score was 1-1 in Wales' final and decisive 1994 World Cup qualifier at home to Romania, a game Wales needed to win in order to qualify but they subsequently lost 2-1.[7]
References
- ↑ "Newport County: 1946/47 - 1987/88". Post War English & Scottish Football League A - Z Player's Database. Retrieved 17 November 2013.
- ↑ "Paul Bodin". swindon-town-fc.co.uk. Retrieved 2007-09-01.
- ↑ "Shipperley strengthens Palace's play-off push". The Independent. 24 April 1997. Retrieved 21 April 2013.
- ↑ "Bodin sold on a fresh outlook".
- ↑ "Swindon bring in Paul Bodin as manager for Paul Hart". BBC Sport. 28 April 2011. Retrieved 17 November 2013.
- ↑ Morshead, Sam (18 June 2011). "SWINDON TOWN: Bodin poised to sign new long-term deal". Swindon Advertiser.
- ↑ Bevan, Chris (17 November 2013). "Paul Bodin on when Wales were a spot-kick away from the World Cup". BBC Sport. Retrieved 17 November 2013.
- Hayes, Dean (2006). The Who's Who of Cardiff City. Breedon Books. ISBN 1-85983-462-0.
External links
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