Paul Konchesky
Personal information
Full name	Paul Martyn Konchesky
Date of birth	15 May 1981 (1981-05-15) (age 28)
Place of birth	Barking, England
Height	1.78 m (5 ft 10 in)
Playing position	Left back
Club information
Current club	Fulham
Number	3
Youth career
	West Ham United Charlton Athletic
Senior career1
Years	Club	App (Gls)*
1997–2005 2003 2005–2007 2007–	Charlton Athletic → Tottenham Hotspur (loan) West Ham United Fulham	149 (5) 012 (0) 059 (1) 073 (2)
National team2
2002–2003 2003–2005	England U21 England	015 (0) 002 (0)
1 Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 19:24, 26 May 2009 (UTC). 2 National team caps and goals correct as of 09:09, 7 March 2008 (UTC). * Appearances (Goals)

Paul Martyn Konchesky (born 15 May 1981 in Barking, Greater London) is a professional English football player currently playing for Fulham in the left-back position.

Contents 1 Background 2 Club career 2.1 Charlton Athletic 2.2 Tottenham Hotspur 2.3 West Ham United 2.4 Fulham 3 International career 4 Honours 5 References 6 External links

[edit] Background

Konchesky studied at Eastbrook Comprehensive School in Dagenham, London and played for Great Danes YFC amateur club as well as being a product of the Senrab FC academy who have produced a whole string of players such as John Terry and Jermaine Defoe. He signed for West Ham United as a boy at the Academy. Paul is now living in Upminster with Son, Connor.^[1] He owes his surname to his Polish great-grandfather.^[2]

[edit] Club career

[edit] Charlton Athletic

Konchesky joined Charlton Athletic as a trainee in August 1997.^[3] He became the youngest player to appear in the first team for Charlton (a record broken recently by Jonjo Shelvey) when he played against Oxford United in August 1997 at the age of 16 years and 93 days^[4][3] but it was not until the 2000–01 season when he made 27 appearances,^[3] that he became a regular in the first team. In June 2003, frustrated by a lack of first-team opportunities at his preferred position of leftback, Konchesky made a written request for a transfer, which was accepted by Charlton.^[5] However, firm offers were not forthcoming. Instead Konchesky joined Tottenham Hotspur on loan. A spate of injuries at Charlton led to Konchesky being recalled from Spurs in December 2003,^[6] when he also came off the transfer list.^[7]

In July 2005, Konchesky signed for West Ham United,^[8] having made a total of 169 appearances for Charlton in all competitions, scoring six goals, and 15 appearances for Tottenham.^[3]

[edit] Tottenham Hotspur

In September 2003, Konchesky joined Tottenham Hotspur on one-month loan.^[9] The loan was extended for a further month^[10] and then until January 2004.^[11] Although Konchesky was keen on a permanent move to Tottenham,^[12] no move materialised.

[edit] West Ham United

Konchesky joined West Ham United in July 2005^[8] for a fee of £1.5 million.^[3] He made 45 league and cup appearances in the 2005–06 season,^[3] helping West Ham to ninth place in the Premier League and to the 2006 FA Cup Final, where he scored when his cross went straight into the net but later had a spot kick saved as West Ham went down to Liverpool on penalties after drawing 3-3 after extra time.^[13] He lost his place in the first team during the 2006–07 season, making only 25 appearances,^[3] as West Ham slipped into the relegation places and only secured their place in the Premier League on the final day of the season, and left the club in July 2007 having made a total of 70 league and cup appearances for West Ham, scoring two goals.^[3] After leaving West Ham, Konchesky criticised manager Alan Curbishley, claiming that he made the players unhappy.^[14]

[edit] Fulham

Konchesky signed a four-year contract with Fulham in July 2007 for a fee of up to £3.25 million. Konchesky played the first game of the 2008/09 season for Fulham against new Premier League team Hull City but his mistake greatly helped the opposing team score a winner after he stumbled over the ball. He missed the next game against Arsenal due to injury but returned to action the following league game against Bolton Wanderers. He scored his first goal for the club, a 35 yard thunderbolt into the top left hand corner of the net in January 2009 at Upton Park, in a 3-1 defeat against his former side West Ham United,^[15] which later won the January 2009 Goal of the Month competition and was included in the running for Goal of the Season. In September 2009 Konchesky continued his goalscoring by putting Fulham level with Everton in a 2-1 win, scoring with the aid of a deflection off Everton defender Sylvain Distin.^[16]

[edit] International career

Konchesky made 15 appearances for the England national under-21 football team,^[17] and has two caps for senior England team.^[18] He made his England first team debut in a half-time substitution in the friendly against Australia in February 2003^[19] and made a second appearance for England again in a half-time substitution in the friendly against Argentina in November 2005.^[20]

[edit] Honours

West Ham United

• F.A. Cup runner-up: 2006

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Paul Konchesky career stats at Soccerbase
• Paul Konchesky profile at bbc.co.uk
• Paul Konchesky at FootballDatabase
• Paul Konchesky at 4thegame.com

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