Paul Gilchrist

Last updated

Paul Gilchrist
Personal information
Full name Paul Anthony Gilchrist
Date of birth (1951-01-05) 5 January 1951 (age 73)
Place of birth Dartford, England
Height 5 ft 11 in (1.80 m)
Position(s) Forward
Senior career*
YearsTeamApps(Gls)
1968–1971 Charlton Athletic 7 (0)
1971–1972 Doncaster Rovers 22 (8)
1972–1977 Southampton 107 (17)
1977–1978 Portsmouth 39 (3)
1978–1980 Swindon Town 17 (6)
1980 Hereford United 11 (1)
Total203(35)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Paul Anthony Gilchrist (born 5 January 1951) is a former footballer who played as a forward. He won the FA Cup with Southampton in 1976.

Contents

Gilchrist began his career with Charlton Athletic in 1968, before departing two years later to join Doncaster Rovers. In 1972, he moved to Southampton. After spending five years at Southampton, Gilchrist joined Portsmouth in 1978. A year later, he signed for Swindon Town. In 1980, Gilchrist joined Hereford United before a cruciate ligament injury forced him to retire.

Early life

Paul Gilchrist was born in Dartford, Kent. [1]

Playing career

Early career

Gilchrist was a Charlton apprentice and played seven league games for them. [2] During his time at Charlton he was loaned out briefly to several clubs, including Cambridge United and Fulham, but never played in their first teams. [2]

In September 1970, he joined non-league Yeovil Town, initially on loan (he played four games), Gilchrist joined 4th Division Doncaster Rovers in the 1971 close season. [1] He was relatively successful in the 1971–72 season, scoring 8 goals in his 22 appearances, which prompted Lawrie McMenemy to sign him for 1st Division Southampton. [1]

Southampton

He joined Saints for a fee of £30,000 in March 1972, and over the next five years was intermittently in and out of the first team, as they were relegated from Division 1 at the end of the 1973–74 season. [1] According to Lawrie McMenemy he was "One of the quiet brigade but a likeable, popular player".[ citation needed ] He suffered a number of injuries while at Southampton but managed to score 22 goals in his 120 appearances. [1]

His major contribution to Saints' history came in the run to the FA Cup final in 1976, when he scored two goals, the most important of which was the first goal, scored from 25 yards, in the semi-final against Crystal Palace. [3] Southampton went on to win the final at Wembley 1–0 against Manchester United on 1 May 1976. [4]

He only made two league appearances in the following season, his final appearance being at The Valley, where he had started his career with Charlton. [1] Southampton lost this game 6–2 and Gilchrist's place in the side had been taken by Ted MacDougall, who had recently signed from Norwich City. [5]

Gilchrist spent a brief, unhappy period at the end of 1976 on loan to Alahfi in Saudi Arabia, before moving to Portsmouth in March 1977. [1]

Portsmouth

Ian St. John, then manager at 3rd Division Portsmouth, invited Gilchrist to join the struggling club. Although Gilchrist played in every remaining game that season, because of his history with their local rivals, he was made the scape-goat for his new club's problems, and was barracked by the home fans throughout every game. [6]

By the end of the 1977–78 season, Gilchrist had been joined at Portsmouth by his fellow ex-Saint, Bobby Stokes and St. John had been replaced as manager by Jimmy Dickinson, but he could not prevent Portsmouth being relegated into Division 4. [7] [8] By then, Gilchrist had played his last league game for the club.

Swindon and Hereford

Despite the fact that Bobby Smith was in charge of team affairs at 3rd Division Swindon, it was general manager Danny Williams who influenced the signing of Gilchrist in August 1978. [9] Smith didn't take well to this, and within a month, he had bought Andy Rowland from Bury. [9]

Because of this, Gilchrist found it difficult to break into the first team, even though his scoring record was good – he scored six goals from ten games. [9] He was one of the players who made way after a home defeat by Plymouth in January 1979 – and he only made seven more substitute appearances for the club, before leaving for 4th Division Hereford United in March 1980. [9]

At Hereford, he played every game to the end of the 1979–80 season and Hereford just managed to avoid having to apply to be re-elected to the League. [1] [10] His only goal for Hereford came in the final game of the season. [1]

At the start of the following season, in a pre-season friendly against Wolves, he suffered a broken cruciate ligament in his leg after a nasty tackle, and, despite a year of medical treatment, his football career was over. [1]

After football

With his partner, he opened a fitness centre in Swindon, which he ran successfully for seven years before moving to Redhill, Surrey where he is employed as a service advisor at a BMW/MINI dealership. [1] He lives in a village close to Tunbridge Wells. [1]

Honours

Southampton

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ted Bates (footballer)</span> English footballer (1918–2003)

Edric Thornton Bates MBE was an English professional footballer who played as a forward. He spent the majority of his career at Southampton F.C. as a player, manager, director and president which earned him the sobriquet Mr. Southampton.

Michael Roger Channon is an English former professional footballer who played as a forward, most notably for Southampton, and went on to represent the England national team in the 1970s. Scoring over 250 goals in his career, he also became known for his trademark windmill goal celebration. Channon later became a successful racehorse trainer.

Alan Francis McLoughlin was an Irish professional footballer and coach, who played as a midfielder for the Republic of Ireland and various English club sides, most notably Swindon Town and Portsmouth. His most notable moment at international level was scoring the equaliser against Northern Ireland in Belfast that qualified the Republic of Ireland for the 1994 FIFA World Cup.

Robert William Thomas Stokes was an English footballer, best known for scoring the winning goal in the 83rd minute of the FA Cup Final for Southampton against Manchester United in 1976.

Peter Joseph Rodrigues is a retired footballer. He was the captain of Southampton's 1976 FA Cup-winning team, and the last captain to be presented the FA Cup by the Queen.

Hugh Donnelly Fisher is a Scottish former professional footballer who played as a midfielder. He began his career at Blackpool before moving to Southampton in 1967. During his time with Southampton, he was a substitute in the 1976 FA Cup final.

David Sidney Peach is an English former professional footballer who played as a full-back. He notably appeared for Southampton in the FA Cup final in 1976.

Melvin Bernard Blyth was an English professional footballer who played as a centre back.

James Steele is a Scottish former professional footballer who played as a centre back.

James McCalliog is a Scottish former football player and coach. He played in the Football League for Chelsea, Sheffield Wednesday, Wolverhampton Wanderers, Manchester United, Southampton and Lincoln City, as well as in the United States with Chicago Sting and in Norway with Lyn.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1976 FA Cup final</span> Football match

The 1976 FA Cup final was the 95th final of the FA Cup. It took place on 1 May 1976 at Wembley Stadium and was contested between Manchester United and Southampton.

Nicholas Charles Holmes is an English former professional footballer. He spent the majority of his playing career with Southampton, where he won the FA Cup Final in 1976. In 1987, he joined East Cowes Victoria for a season before retiring. From July 2002 to July 2009, Holmes was manager of Salisbury City.

Paul Reginald Bennett is an English former footballer who played as a centre-back during the FA Cup run of Southampton in 1976, and also had spells at Reading and Aldershot.

Gerald O'Brien is a Scottish retired professional footballer, who played as a winger for various clubs in Scotland and England in the 1960s and 1970s, including Clydebank, Southampton and Swindon Town.

Emanuel Franciszek Andruszewski is an English former footballer who played for Southampton. He played at full back and centre back during the late 1970s.

Graham Baker is an English former footballer who played as a midfielder for Southampton, Manchester City and Fulham.

Reuben Omojola Folasanje Agboola is a former professional footballer who played at left back. He made 268 league appearances in a 13-year career in the Football League, and made nine appearances for Nigeria between 1991 and 1993, appearing at the 1992 Africa Cup of Nations.

James Ferrier Easson was a Scottish footballer who played as an inside-forward for Portsmouth in the English Football League, helping them reach the FA Cup Final in 1934. He also made three appearances for the Scotland national team.

Stephen Roy Middleton is an English former footballer who played as a goalkeeper for local rivals Southampton and Portsmouth in the 1970s.

The 1899–1900 season was the 15th since the foundation of Southampton F.C. and their sixth in league football, as members of the Southern League.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 Chalk, Gary; Holley, Duncan; Bull, David (2013). All the Saints: A Complete Players' Who's Who of Southampton FC. Hagiology Publishing. pp. 327–328. ISBN   978-0-9926864-0-6.
  2. 1 2 "Paul Gilchrist Profile". SaintsPlayers.co.uk. Retrieved 9 August 2023.
  3. ↑ "Saints v Palace clash in FA Cup for first time since 1976 semi final". Southern Daily Echo. 23 January 2015. Retrieved 20 June 2023.
  4. ↑ Bevan, Chris (2 January 2009). "When Saints shocked Man Utd". BBC Sport. Retrieved 20 June 2023.
  5. ↑ "Forgotten Heros Ted MacDougall". The Ugly Inside. 26 January 2011. Retrieved 9 August 2023.
  6. ↑ Cross, Jordan (20 January 2022). "The 20 Portsmouth strikers who spectacularly flopped - including Manchester United, Newcastle United, Leeds United, Stoke City and Watford favourites". The News (Portsmouth). Retrieved 20 June 2023.
  7. ↑ Llewellyn-Stevens, Gareth (30 December 2009). "Portsmouth on Brink of Bankruptcy". Bleacher Report. Retrieved 20 June 2023.
  8. ↑ "Crouch to add name to this list?". Southern Daily Echo. 8 July 2004. Retrieved 20 June 2023.
  9. 1 2 3 4 "Paul Gilchrist – Player Profile". SwindontownFC.co.uk. Retrieved 9 August 2023.
  10. ↑ Prime, Richard (17 September 2010). "Barren runs for Hereford United have happened before". Hereford Times. Retrieved 9 August 2023.
  11. ↑ Vernon, Leslie; Rollin, Jack (1977). Rothmans Football Yearbook 1977–78. London: Brickfield Publications Ltd. p. 491. ISBN   0354 09018 6.

Bibliography

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.