Carlton Palmer

Carlton Palmer

Personal information
Full name	Carlton Lloyd Palmer [1]
Date of birth	(1965-12-05) 5 December 1965 (age 58) [1]
Place of birth	Rowley Regis, England [1]
Height	6 ft 2 in (1.88 m) [2]
Position(s)	Midfielder
Youth career
	Chelsea
	West Bromwich Albion
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
1984–1989	West Bromwich Albion	121	(4)
1989–1994	Sheffield Wednesday	205	(14)
1994–1997	Leeds United	103	(5)
1997–1999	Southampton	45	(3)
1999	Nottingham Forest	16	(1)
1999–2001	Coventry City	30	(1)
2000–2001	→ Watford (loan)	5	(0)
2001	→ Sheffield Wednesday (loan)	22	(0)
2001–2003	Stockport County	43	(4)
2004	Dublin City	3	(0)
2005	Mansfield Town	1	(0)
2013	Staveley Miners Welfare	1	(0)
2021	Grantham Town	0	(0)
Total		594	(32)
International career
1989	England U21	4	(1)
1989	England B	5	(0)
1992–1993	England	18	(1)
Managerial career
2001–2003	Stockport County (player-manager)
2004–2005	Mansfield Town
2021	Grantham Town
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Carlton Lloyd Palmer (born 5 December 1965) is an English football manager, former footballer and football television pundit whose last management role was as manager of Grantham Town.

As a player, he was a midfielder from 1984 to 2005, playing in the Premier League for Sheffield Wednesday, Leeds United, Southampton, Nottingham Forest and Coventry City. He also played for West Bromwich Albion, Watford and Dublin City. He was capped 18 times by England and was part of the squad at UEFA Euro 1992.

He went into management in 2001 when he was appointed player-manager of Stockport County, later holding the same position at Mansfield Town from 2004 to 2005. In 2021 he had a brief return to management with a spell at non-league Grantham Town.

Club career

Palmer started his career at West Bromwich Albion, joining as an apprentice in July 1983 before turning professional in December 1984. ^[3] He made his league debut in September 1985, as a substitute against Newcastle United. ^[3] He earned a move to Sheffield Wednesday in February 1989 for £750,000, where he made his name in the old First Division. He missed Wednesday's victory in the 1991 Football League Cup Final due to suspension. ^[4]

He was bought by Leeds United under manager Howard Wilkinson for £2.6 million in June 1994. ^[5]

In September 1997 he was signed by Southampton manager Dave Jones for a fee of £1.0 million. In the dressing room he was "abrasive, awkward and argumentative" but on the pitch he was "determined, hard-working and persistent" and his long legs made him "a most difficult player to compete against". ^[6] Jones said of Palmer "He covers every blade of grass out there, but that's only because his first touch is so crap". ^[7] In January 1999 he was transferred to Nottingham Forest for a fee of £1.1 million and was replaced in Southampton's midfield by Chris Marsden.

He scored once for Nottingham Forest, his strike coming in a 2–1 win over Grimsby Town. ^[8] He later played for Coventry City, scoring his first and what turned out to be only goal for the club in a 4–1 win over Newcastle United. ^[9] Coventry loaned him out to Watford for three months in 2000–01. ^[10] He also had a loan spell at Sheffield Wednesday, ^[11] before joining Stockport County in November 2001 as player-manager. Palmer also briefly played for Dublin City in Ireland, whom he joined in August 2004 ^[12] and played three games before leaving the club. ^[13]

International career

Graham Taylor gave Palmer all of his 18 caps for the England national team. Palmer scored his only goal for England against San Marino. He was a member of the England squad that went to the 1992 European Championships in Sweden. ^[14] He was also capped 5 times for the England B team.

Managerial career

Palmer's management career began when he was appointed player-manager of Stockport County in November 2001. ^[15] He was sacked by the club in September 2003, following a poor start to the season. ^[16]

In November 2004, events involving Mansfield Town manager Keith Curle resulted in Curle being suspended. With no manager, the Mansfield chairman rang up Carlton and asked him if he would join The Stags temporarily as manager of the club, which Carlton accepted, without being paid. Curle was later dismissed and Carlton Palmer signed a contract until 2006 as manager of Mansfield Town. ^[17] In September 2005, after Mansfield Town were beaten 2–0 by Rochdale and close to the League Two relegation zone, Palmer resigned as manager saying "I have had a good career and I don't need to take the abuse from the crowd. Keith Haslam, the Mansfield chairman, is a good mate of mine and I want to keep it that way so I will be stepping down as manager". ^[18] In April 2021 he was appointed manager of Grantham Town. ^[19]

On 14 September at the age of 55, Palmer named himself as a substitute in a game against Ashton United due to injuries. ^[20]

On 9 November 2021, Palmer resigned as manager of Grantham Town. He had joined Grantham to work alongside chairman Darren Ashton, and left as Ashton had resigned from his role. ^[21]

Personal life

Born in England, Palmer is of Jamaican descent. ^[22] In 1997, Palmer was found guilty of sexual assault after groping a teenage girl. He was fined £600. ^[23] Palmer later appealed the conviction which was rejected.^{[ citation needed ]}

Palmer owned an online estate agency in Sheffield called The Home Game which ceased trading in August 2008. In March 2009 he starred in a Paddy Power TV advert which involved him being in a bath with a football fan. ^[24] In June 2010 Palmer appeared in a one-off football special of Come Dine with Me where he came in first place and won £1,000 for charity. ^[25] After working in Dubai for Repton School, he set up his own Football Academy in 2012 teaching football and P.E. ^[26] In August 2014, Carlton became the Director of Sport at Wellington College, Shanghai. ^[27]

In December 2016, Palmer required a life-saving five-hour operation for a heart condition. He made a full recovery. ^[28]

In March 2023, Palmer was admitted to hospital after suffering a suspected "small heart attack" while he was running the Sheffield half-marathon. ^[29]

Honours

Sheffield Wednesday

• Football League Cup: 1990–91; runner-up: 1992–93
• FA Cup runner-up: 1992–93

Leeds United

• Football League Cup runner-up: 1995–96 ^[30]

Individual

• PFA Team of the Year: 1990–91 Second Division ^[31]

References

1. "Carlton Palmer". Barry Hugman's Footballers. Retrieved 27 May 2018.
2. "Carlton Palmer: Overview". Premier League. Retrieved 15 August 2023.
3. Matthews, Tony (2005). The Who's Who of West Bromwich Albion. Breedon Books. pp. 170–171. ISBN   1-85983-474-4.
4. "Ferguson's Black Wednesday". espnfc.co.uk. 21 April 2011. Retrieved 18 January 2017.
5. "Football: Palmer signs for Leeds". The Independent. 1 July 1994. Retrieved 29 January 2019.
6. Holley, Duncan; Chalk, Gary (2003). In That Number – A post-war chronicle of Southampton FC. Hagiology Publishing. p. 563. ISBN   0-9534474-3-X.
7. Murphy, Alex (4 July 2007). "40: Carlton Palmer". The 50 worst footballers. The Times. Archived from the original on 24 July 2008. Retrieved 9 May 2011.
8. "Nottingham Forest 2 Grimsby 1". Sporting Life. 14 August 1999. Archived from the original on 4 June 2011. Retrieved 16 February 2010.
9. "Coventry 4 Newcastle 1". Sporting Life. 16 October 1999. Archived from the original on 4 June 2011. Retrieved 16 February 2010.
10. "Palmer is Watford bound". BBC Sport. 15 December 2000. Retrieved 20 June 2007.
11. "Palmer back at Hillsborough". BBC Sport. 4 September 2001. Retrieved 20 June 2007.
12. "Carlton Palmer signs with Vikings". RTÉ Sport. 26 August 2004. Archived from the original on 22 February 2009. Retrieved 20 June 2007.
13. "Carlton Palmer - Soccer player profile & career statistics - Global Sports Archive".
14. "England players: Carlton Palmer". englandfootballonline. Retrieved 7 April 2018.
15. "Palmer named Stockport boss". BBC Sport. 6 November 2001. Retrieved 20 June 2007.
16. "Stockport sack Palmer". BBC Sport. 19 September 2003. Retrieved 20 June 2007.
17. "Palmer earns permanent Stags role". BBC Sport. 9 March 2005. Retrieved 20 June 2007.
18. "Palmer resigns as Mansfield boss". BBC Sport. 17 September 2005. Retrieved 20 June 2007.
19. Grantham Town announce Carlton Palmer as their new manager, Grantham Journal, 9 April 2021
20. "Sheffield Wednesday legend names himself on subs bench at 55-years-old…". Thestar.co.uk. Retrieved 8 December 2021.
21. "Carlton Palmer: Former England midfielder resigns as Grantham Town boss". BBC Sport. 9 November 2021. Retrieved 9 November 2021.
22. "Flying the flags: The influence of the Caribbean on England's Euros teams". www.ucfb.ac.uk. 21 July 2024. Retrieved 5 October 2024.
23. "Palmer guilty of sex rap". Thefreelibrary.com. Retrieved 8 December 2021.
24. "Paddy Power TV Ad featuring Carlton Palmer". YouTube. 26 February 2009. Retrieved 7 June 2017.^{[ dead YouTube link ]}
25. "Come Dine with Me Footballers Special". IMDB. Retrieved 5 December 2017.
26. "Carlton Palmer Football Academy | Dubai, UAE". www.carlton-palmer.com. Archived from the original on 11 October 2012.
27. "Wellington welcomed Mr Carlton Palmer as prospective Director of Sport - Wellington College International Shanghai 上海惠灵顿国际学校". Wellington-shanghai.cn. 25 August 2014. Archived from the original on 5 October 2014. Retrieved 31 May 2015.
28. Madeley, Peter (29 September 2017). "Ex-West Brom star Carlton Palmer recalls brush with death". Express & Star. Retrieved 14 November 2019.
29. "Carlton Palmer: Former England midfielder suffers suspected 'small heart attack'". BBC Sport . 27 March 2023. Retrieved 27 March 2023.
30. "Milosevic gives; Villa a touch of magic". The Independent. 25 March 1996. Retrieved 2 April 2024.
31. Lynch. The Official P.F.A. Footballers Heroes. p. 148.

External links

• Carlton Palmer at Soccerbase
• Carlton Palmer management career statistics at Soccerbase