Paul Harding (English footballer)

Paul John Harding (born 6 March 1964) is an English former professional footballer who played as a midfielder. He played 119 games in the Football League representing Notts County, Southend United, Watford, Birmingham City and Cardiff City.

Paul Harding
Personal information
Full name Paul John Harding[1]
Date of birth (1964-03-06) 6 March 1964[1]
Place of birth Mitcham,[1] England
Height 5 ft 9 in (1.75 m)[2]
Position(s) Midfielder
Youth career
Chelsea
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
Wimbledon
Sutton United
Whyteleafe
Epsom & Ewell
Carshalton Athletic
Dulwich Hamlet
1986–1990 Enfield 103 (19)
1990 Barnet 24 (5)
1990–1994 Notts County 54 (1)
1993 → Southend United (loan) 5 (0)
1993 → Watford (loan) 2 (0)
1993–1994 → Birmingham City (loan) 4 (0)
1994–1995 Birmingham City 18 (0)
1995–1997 Cardiff City 36 (0)
1996 → Kettering Town (loan) 6 (0)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only

Playing career

Harding was born in Mitcham, Surrey. He began his football career as an apprentice with Chelsea, but did not progress to the first team,[3] and worked as a bricklayer,[4] playing part-time for a number of non-league clubs in the Surrey and south London area before joining Enfield of the Conference National, with whom he won the FA Trophy in 1988. In February 1990 he moved to Conference runners-up Barnet, and in September of the same year he and teammate Dave Regis signed for Notts County, newly promoted to the Football League Second Division.[3][5]

Harding contributed to their second successive promotion, to the First Division via the play-offs, at the end of his first season with the club. Notts County had drawn the first leg of the play-off semi-final at Middlesbrough. In the second leg, following an injury to Phil Turner, Harding, who had played as a striker with Enfield, moved out of midfield to play in attack. Within minutes, he headed the only goal of the game, the first he had scored since joining the club.[6] He appeared in the play-off final at Wembley Stadium, though only briefly, as an 81st-minute substitute.[7] After the semi-final, Harding told the press that "turning pro with Notts County was a big gamble for me. But now I know that it was worth it."[8]

In the quarter-final of the that season's FA Cup, with County leading First Division Tottenham Hotspur 1–0, Harding was elbowed by Tottenham's Paul Gascoigne, a sending-off offence which the referee allowed to go unpunished but which left Harding with a black eye. Gascoigne was instrumental in Tottenham's equalising goal and scored the winner.[9][10][11]

Harding made 25 starts in the top flight as County were relegated back to the second tier.[12] He fell out of favour, and spent time on loan at Southend United, Watford and Birmingham City, before joining the latter club on a permanent basis in January 1994 for a fee of £50,000.[3] Harding made 26 appearances in all competitions for Birmingham[3] before, in the 1995 close season, making his last move within the Football League, to Cardiff City where he was made captain.[13][14] He played 36 league games for the club, and spent a short time on loan at Kettering Town where he played six times.

References

Infobox stats

  • Enfield: Harman, John, ed. (2005). Alliance to Conference 1979–2004: The first 25 years. Tony Williams. pp. 231, 235. ISBN 978-1-869833-52-7.
  • Barnet: Harman ed., Alliance to Conference, pp. 65, 73.
  • Football League clubs: "Paul Harding". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 19 May 2012.
  • Birmingham City (loan and permanent spells): Matthews, Tony (1995). Birmingham City: A Complete Record. Derby: Breedon Books. p. 229. ISBN 978-1-85983-010-9.
  • Kettering Town: Harman ed., Alliance to Conference, pp. 363, 377.

General

  1. "Paul Harding". Barry Hugman's Footballers. Retrieved 23 July 2015.
  2. "Paul Harding: Profile". worldfootball.net. HeimSpiel Medien. Retrieved 9 February 2020.
  3. Matthews, p. 93.
  4. Naylor, Martin (February 2005). "As good as it got: Notts County 1991–92". When Saturday Comes. Archived from the original on 10 February 2009. Retrieved 20 March 2009.
  5. "Notts County". Football Club History Database. Richard Rundle. Retrieved 20 March 2009.
  6. Stapleton, David (23 May 1991). "Maggies make it: Wembley here we come again". Nottingham Evening Post., reproduced at "1991-05-22 Notts County 1 Middlesbrough 0". Up the Maggies. Archived from the original on 27 May 2008. Retrieved 20 March 2009.
  7. "1991-06-02 Notts County 3 Brighton 1". Up The Maggies. Archived from the original on 30 August 2009. Retrieved 20 March 2009.
  8. Paylor, Eric (23 May 1991). "Brave battle, but Boro are... County-D out!". Evening Gazette. Middlesbrough., reproduced at Martin, Julie (14 December 2008). "Memories". Gazette Live. Retrieved 20 March 2009.
  9. "Gazza gives Notts' FA Cup dreams the elbow". Nottingham Evening Post. 14 March 2009. Archived from the original on 5 May 2013. Retrieved 24 April 2009.
  10. Warnock, Neil (7 January 2006). "What I've learnt this week". The Independent. London. Retrieved 24 April 2009.
  11. Shepherd, Ralph (9 July 2007). "Life after football". BBC Nottingham. Retrieved 24 April 2009.
  12. "Notts County FC season 1991/92". Up the Maggies. Archived from the original on 12 March 2009. Retrieved 8 June 2009.
  13. "Ten-year Review 1995/96". Cardiff City F.C. 17 November 2004. Archived from the original on 14 February 2012.
  14. "Shakers star anxious over Welsh reunion". Bolton Evening News. 17 November 1995. Retrieved 9 February 2020.
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