Paul Warhurst

Paul Warhurst (born 26 September 1969) is an English former professional footballer who played as a defender, midfielder or striker.

Warhurst notably played in the Premier League for Sheffield Wednesday, Blackburn Rovers, Crystal Palace and Bolton Wanderers. He was part of the Wednesday team who finished as FA Cup and Football League Cup runners-up in 1993, and was a Rovers player when they won the title in 1995. Prior to this he had come through the youth ranks at Manchester City and later went on to play in the Football League for Stoke City, Chesterfield, Barnsley, Carlisle United, Grimsby Town, Blackpool, Wrexham and Barnet. He also played Non-league football for Forest Green Rovers and Northwich Victoria.

In 2007 Warhurst was appointed caretaker manager of Northwich but passed at the job on a full-time basis, he has since worked in the sport as a football consultant and runs his own sports management agency.

Warhurst began his career as a trainee at Manchester City in 1988, he was added to the club's first team squad at the beginning of the 1988–89 season, but by October he found himself frozen out of the squad and he was sold.

He joined Oldham Athletic for a fee of £10,000. There he became a first team regular, featuring in the team's memorable run to the semi-finals of the 1989-90 FA Cup. After 86 appearances (scoring twice), he began to capture the eye of bigger clubs and the 1990–91 season was his final season for the club.

Sheffield Wednesday came in for Warhurst in the summer of 1991, for £750,000. He began his career at the club as a solid defender, but midway through his second season, injuries to David Hirst and Mark Bright saw Warhurst deployed 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 team as a striker.^[1][2] Warhurst was injured, however, and missed an opportunity to win his first cap.^[3] 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 left the club, having scored 18 goals in 88 games in Sheffield. Whilst at Wednesday, Warhurst played in both the 1993 League Cup Final as a striker, and the 1993 FA Cup Final as a centre back, due to David Hirst returning from injury and defenders Nigel Pearson and Phil King absent.

Following his departure from Sheffield Wednesday, Warhurst signed for Blackburn for £2.7 million. Ironically, he played in a new position for Rovers and was primarily a midfielder. He did, however, play occasionally as a forward. While at Ewood Park, Warhurst was part of the most successful squad in the club's recent history. He played amongst the likes of Alan Shearer, Chris Sutton, Tim Flowers, Colin Hendry, Henning Berg and Graeme Le Saux and won a Premier League winners' medal in the 1994–95 season, as Rovers beat rivals Manchester United to the title. The following season, Rovers struggled to maintain their form and Manchester United regained the title, finishing ahead of Newcastle United. Blackburn could only manage to finish in 7th place. The following season saw the club finish in the bottom half of the league down in 13th, as the club initially seemed to struggle following the loss of Shearer to Newcastle United. In the summer of 1997, after 74 games for Blackburn (yielding four goals), Warhurst left Blackburn.

Warhurst made a switch to Crystal Palace for the 1997–98 season, as the club had recently earned promotion back to the top flight. Palace suffered relegation, though, in their first season back since 1995, but Warhurst remained with the club despite losing their status as a Premier League club. He made 30 appearances, scoring four times, before being loaned to Bolton Wanderers in November 1998.

Following a successful spell at Bolton, this led to the Lancashire team signing him permanently for £800,000 in January 1999. Warhurst became an integral part of The Trotters midfield, and In 2000–01 he helped Bolton gain promotion to the Premier League under Sam Allardyce. After promotion Warhurst initially kept his place in the team, despite having regular injuries. Other players such as Youri Djorkaeff were signed and in the end, even if Warhurst was fit, he struggled to break into the first team. Stoke City signed Warhurst on loan from Bolton for two months in the close of the 2002–03 season, where he scored once against Rotherham United.^[4] At the end of the season Warhurst was released by Sam Allardyce after 100 club appearances. After failing to find another club, Bolton briefly re-signed Warhurst in September 2003.^[5] However, he made no more appearances for the club and was released again in October.

In October 2003, Warhurst signed a short-term deal for Second Division side Chesterfield and made his debut in a 3–0 home victory over Swindon Town.^[6] However, after only playing 6 times and scoring one goal against Lincoln City in the League Trophy^[7] he was released from his monthly rolling contract after only playing for the club for 4 weeks.

His next port of call was to link up with fellow Second Division side Barnsley. He made his club debut in the Yorkshire derby against his former club Sheffield Wednesday. In a 1–1 draw, Warhurst was sent off against the club where he arguably made a name for himself. Following the completion of three other league games, Barnsley also opted to release the veteran player from his contract.

In February 2004 Warhurst joined Division Three relegation strugglers Carlisle United on non-contract terms.^[8] He played in the club's 1–1 away draw with Macclesfield Town and after the game he left the club due to the amount of time he would need to travel.^[9]

In March 2004, he was signed by new Grimsby Town manager Nicky Law, as well as a wave of new players brought to the club to stave off the threat of relegation. In his debut after playing well all game, he headed into his own net to give AFC Bournemouth a 1–1 draw at Blundell Park. Warhurst was used as a forward, midfielder and a centre back for The Mariners, who eventually released him at the end of the season after playing in 7 games.

Following his release from Grimsby in the summer, Warhurst struggled to find himself a new club, until landing a short-term deal with Blackpool following a successful trial.^[10] Warhurst managed to stay with the club for 3 months, playing 6 times in that period until he was released yet again.^[11]

In April 2005 he moved to have his first taste of Non League football, having signed a one-month contract with Conference club Forest Green Rovers. He played in the club's final 6 games of the season before leaving the club at the close of the 2004–05 season.

In August 2005 he moved back into The Football League and signed for Welsh side Wrexham, where he added experience to their otherwise young side.^[12] He managed to play in 13 games for the club, scoring once against Barnet,^[13] before being released in March 2006.

Upon his release from Wrexham, Warhurst signed a short-term deal with fellow League Two side Barnet, adding much needed experience to his new club, who were managed by Paul Fairclough. Warhurst played out the remainder of the 2005–06 season for the club, and was given a one-year deal for the following season. Warhurst managed to chalk up 23 games in all competitions during the 2006–07 season and completed his first full season for one club only since playing for Bolton Wanderers in the 2001–02 season. This had ended a spell of moving from club to club during the season since his release by The Trotters in the summer of 2003.^[14]

Warhurst was released by Barnet following the conclusion of the 2006–07 season. In September 2007 he joined Northwich Victoria and on 17 September took over as caretaker manager following Neil Redfearn's resignation. Despite initially being favourite to be permanent manager, he left the club before the appointment was decided. Warhurst has since retired from football.

Warhurst now runs his own football consultancy company, named "PW Football Consultants". He is also a director of sports management agency "Stone Mountain Management". Notable players that Warhurst has helped during his time as a football consultant are Callum McManaman, Jon Walters and Ben Mee.^[15]

Source:^[16]

Oldham Athletic

• Football League Second Division: 1990–91
• Football League Cup runner-up: 1989–90

Sheffield Wednesday

• FA Cup runner-up: 1992–93
• Football League Cup runner-up: 1992–93

Blackburn Rovers

• Premier League: 1994–95^[17]

• Paul Warhurst at Soccerbase