Paul Wotton

Personal information
Full name	Paul Anthony Wotton
Date of birth	August 17, 1977 (1977-08-17) (age 32)
Place of birth	Plymouth, England
Height	5 ft 11 in (1.80 m)
Playing position	Defender / Midfielder
Club information
Current club	Southampton
Number	10
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps†	(Gls)†
1994–2008	Plymouth Argyle	394	(54)
2008–	Southampton	43	(0)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 21:00, 12 December 2009 (UTC). † Appearances (Goals).

Paul Anthony Wotton (born 17 August 1977 in Plymouth, Devon) is an English footballer. He currently plays for Southampton, having spent most of his career with Plymouth Argyle, where he is considered the clubs most successful captain.

Contents 1 Playing career 2 Career statistics 3 Footballing honours 4 References 5 External links

[edit] Playing career

Wotton was born in Plymouth, Devon, and started his playing career with his hometown club. His first season for Plymouth Argyle was also his first as a professional, under Neil Warnock in 1994–95. After Argyle were relegated from the Second Division at the end of the 1997–98 season following defeat at Burnley he famously vowed that he would be part of the side that won promotion,^{[citation needed]} and captained the side to the title with a record 102 points in 2001–02 whilst being named in the PFA Division Three team of the year [2]. Two seasons later he again lifted some silverware, this time the Division Two championship. He was named the player of the season for Argyle for the following 2004–05 season, in which the team finished 17th. He appeared in the famous Jimmy Glass game against Carlisle, in which the goalkeeper scored in the 94th minute to keep Carlisle United in the Football League.^[1]

Wotton can be described as a solid and mature defender with a ferocious shot taking ability that results in him taking the majority of free-kicks and penalties. Playing at centre back during Argyle's Third and Second Division championship winning seasons, his slight lack of pace means that in the Championship he now tends to play a holding midfield role just in front of the defence. He was the top-scorer in 2004–05 with 12 league goals, an excellent return for a non-striker, and again in 2005–06 with 8 goals. Despite his claimed love of the club Paul actually requested to be sold to Northampton Town at the start of the 2001–02 campaign. Northampton, however, refused to offer him a contract, thus he stayed with the Pilgrims.

In the summer of 2006 he was involved in an incident with young striker Chris Zebroski, which required Wotton to have more than a hundred stitches in his head. Zebroski was sacked early in the 2006–07 season as a result of this, having been found guilty of gross misconduct. Zebroski said Wotton was bullying him for a while prior to the incident.

In the Championship match against Hull City on 9 December 2006 he damaged his cruciate and medial ligaments to his left knee and missed the rest of the 2006–07 Championship season. He returned from injury in time for Paul Sturrock's return to the club as manager, and after making a handful of substitute appearances he returned to the side for his first start in 15 months in the 2–1 win at Bristol City on 15 March 2008.

His autobiography, My Journey: The First Ten Years was published in 2004.

In June 2008, Wotton was released by Plymouth. On 18 June he joined Southampton.^[2][3]

In his first start he came up against former club Plymouth's arch rivals, Exeter City, in the first round of a Carling Cup match that Southampton comfortably won 3–1.

[edit] Career statistics

Club	Season	League		FA Cup		League Cup		Other		Total
		Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
Plymouth Argyle
	1994–95	7	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	7	0
	1995–96	1	0	0	0	0	0	2	0	3	0
	1996–97	9	1	2	0	0	0	2	0	13	1
	1997–98	34	1	2	0	2	0	1	0	39	1
	1998–99	36	1	5	1	2	0	0	0	43	2
	1999–00	23	0	1	0	0	0	1	0	25	0
	2000–01	42	4	2	0	1	0	1	0	45	4
	2001–02	46	5	4	1	1	0	1	0	52	6
	2002–03	43	8	4	3	1	0	0	0	48	11
	2003–04	38	9	1	0	1	0	2	0	42	9
	2004–05	40	12	1	0	1	1	0	0	42	13
	2005–06	45	8	1	0	1	1	0	0	47	9
	2006–07	22	4	0	0	1	0	0	0	23	4
	2007–08	8	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	8	1
	Total	394	54	23	5	11	2	10	0	438	61
Southampton
	2008–09	29	0	0	0	3	0	0	0	32	0
	2009–10	14	0	2	0	2	0	0	0	18	0
	Total	43	0	2	0	5	0	0	0	50	0
Career Total		437	54	25	5	16	2	10	0	488	61

Updated to games played as of 12 December 2009.^[4]

[edit] Footballing honours

Plymouth Argyle

• Football League Third Division
  • Winner (1): 2001–02
• Football League Second Division
  • Winner (1): 2003–04
• Player of the Year
  • Winner (2): 2002–03, 2004–05
• PFA Third Division Team of the Year
  • Winner (1): 2001–02

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Paul Wotton player profile at saintsfc.co.uk
• Paul Wotton player profile at pafc.co.uk
• Paul Wotton career stats at Soccerbase

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