Paul Gerrard
| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Paul William Gerrard | ||
| Height | 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m) | ||
| Position(s) | Goalkeeper | ||
| Team information | |||
Current team | Stockport County | ||
| Number | 13 | ||
| ‡ National team caps and goals, correct as of 2006-09-28 | |||
Paul William Gerrard (born 22 January 1973 in Heywood, Lancashire), is an English football goalkeeper who is currently goalkeeping coach at Stockport County[1] as well as second-choice goalkeeper. He is also a former England Under 21 international.
Biography
Oldham
Gerrard started his career as a goalkeeping apprentice at Oldham Athletic. He made his Premiership debut at the age of 19 on 5 December 1992 in a 3-2 defeat at Queens Park Rangers. In all, he made 118 League appearances for The Latics
Everton
Nearly 2 years after Joe Royle had left Oldham for Everton, he returned to buy Gerrard for £1 million in July 1996, He made his debut for Everton as a half-time substitute for Neville Southall in a 7-1 win at home to Southampton on 16 November 1996.
When Royle left Everton, Neville Southall returned as first choice goalkeeper for Everton and Gerrard decided to go on loan to Oxford United in 1997 for regular first team action. However, soon afterwards Howard Kendall took over for his second spell as team manager at Goodison Park and recalled Gerrard from Oxford. Despite this, he only played a small number of games.
Royle, now at Ipswich, swooped to sign Gerrard on loan, although he returned to Everton after an injury to first choice goalkeeper Thomas Myhre in the 2002-03 season. In 2003-04, he was signed on loan by Sheffield United. He played a total of 16 games for the Blades, before joining Nottingham Forest on loan in March 2004 for the final two months of the season.
Nottingham Forest
In the summer of 2004, Gerrard signed permanently for Nottingham Forest despite Ipswich Town and Leeds being interested.[citation needed] His first season was a disaster with the club being relegated to League One.
Despite ending the 2004-05 season as first-choice goalkeeper and Player of the Year at Forest, Gerrard found himself as second choice goalkeeper behind new signing Rune Pedersen. Although he handed in a transfer request, Gerrard returned to first team action at the end of August in a 3-1 win against Gillingham. Gerrard was again dropped from the first team when manager Gary Megson signed Russell Hoult on loan from West Bromwich Albion. However, Hoult was recalled by West Brom in October and Gerrard returned as number one.
By February 2006, Forest were a few points adrift of the play-offs, but on 15 February Gerrard limped off in a 3-0 defeat against former club Oldham Athletic, and a day later Megson resigned as manager of Nottingham Forest. He played only one game under Ian McParland and Frank Barlow due to a knee injury. Gerrard was released from Forest at the end of the 2005-06 season to free up some money on the wage bill.
Sheffield United
On 27 September 2006, he signed a four-month contract with the Blades to add depth to the goalkeeping department. The 33-year-old, who had a loan spell at Bramall Lane in 2003, was signed to provide cover for Paddy Kenny and Ian Bennett. On 1 January 2007, Gerrard made his Premiership debut for Sheffield United against Middlesbrough at the Riverside Stadium. He made two further appearances for the Blades, but was released at the end of the 2006-07 season.
On 6 August 2007, he was re-signed on a 12-month deal by new Sheffield United manager Bryan Robson for the upcoming Championship campaign.[2] On 24 January 2008, he signed on loan for Blackpool until the end of the 2007-08 season.[3] On 3 March it was revealed that Gerrard had undergone a knee operation which ended his season prematurely.[4] He was subsequently released by the Blades when his contract expired at the end of the season.[5] Since leaving Bramall Lane, he has joined side Stockport County.
References
- ^ http://www.stockportcounty.com/page/LatestNews/0,,10419~1723628,00.html
- ^ "United re-sign Gerrard".
- ^ "Transfer latest". Blackpool F.C. 2008-01-24. Retrieved 2008-01-24.
- ^ "Fitness test for Dickov". Blackpool Gazette. 2008-03-03. Retrieved 2008-03-04.
- ^ "Just two seniors released". sufc.co.uk. 2008-05-09. Retrieved 2008-05-09.
External links
- Paul Gerrard at Soccerbase
- 1973 births
- English footballers
- Oldham Athletic A.F.C. players
- Everton F.C. players
- Ipswich Town F.C. players
- Sheffield United F.C. players
- Oxford United F.C. players
- Nottingham Forest F.C. players
- Blackpool F.C. players
- Stockport County F.C. players
- Premier League players
- The Football League players
- England under-21 international footballers
- Living people
- People from Heywood