Carlton Lloyd Palmer (born 5 December 1965) is an English football manager, former

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby lea ...

and football television pundit whose last management role was as manager of Grantham Town. As a player, he was a

midfielder In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in t ...

from 1984 to 2005, playing in the

Premier League The Premier League is a professional association football league in England and the highest level of the English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Football Lea ...

for

Sheffield Wednesday Sheffield Wednesday Football Club is a professional association football club based in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England. They compete in the EFL Championship, the second level of the English football league system. Formed in 1867 as an off ...

Leeds United Leeds United Football Club is a professional football club based in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. The team compete in the Premier League, the top tier of the English football league system. Leeds United have won the League Championship th ...

Southampton Southampton is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and unitary authority in Hampshire, England. It is located approximately southwest of London, west of Portsmouth, and southeast of Salisbury. Southampton had a population of 253, ...

Nottingham Forest Nottingham Forest Football Club is a professional association football club based in West Bridgford, Nottinghamshire, England. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football league system, English football. Founde ...

and Coventry City. He also played for

West Bromwich Albion West Bromwich Albion Football Club (), commonly known as West Brom or The Albion, is a professional association football club based in West Bromwich, West Midlands, England. They compete in the EFL Championship, the second level of the Englis ...

Watford Watford () is a town and non-metropolitan district with Borough status in the United Kingdom, borough status in Hertfordshire, England, northwest of Central London, on the banks of the River Colne, Hertfordshire, River Colne. Initially a smal ...

and Dublin City. He was capped 18 times by

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

and was part of the squad at

UEFA Euro 1992 The 1992 UEFA European Football Championship was hosted by Sweden between 10 and 26 June 1992. It was the ninth UEFA European Championship, which is held every four years and supported by UEFA. Denmark won the 1992 championship, having been inv ...

. He went into management in 2001 when he was appointed player-manager of Stockport County, later holding the same position at

Mansfield Town Mansfield Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in the town of Mansfield, Nottinghamshire, England. The team competes in , the third level of the English football league system. The club was formed in 1897 as Mans ...

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

, joining as an apprentice in July 1983 before turning professional in December 1984. He made his league debut in September 1985, as a substitute against

Newcastle United Newcastle United Football Club is a professional association football club based in Newcastle upon Tyne, Tyne and Wear, England. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football league system, English football. Since th ...

. He earned a move to

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. He was bought by

under manager Howard Wilkinson for £2.6 million in June 1994. In September 1997 he was signed by

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". Jones said of Palmer "He covers every blade of grass out there, but that's only because his first touch is so crap". In January 1999 he was transferred to

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. 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. Coventry loaned him out to Watford for three months in 2000–01. He also had a loan spell at Sheffield Wednesday, before joining Stockport County in November 2001 as player-manager. Palmer also briefly played for Dublin City in

Ireland Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...

, whom he joined in August 2004 and played three games before leaving the club.

International career

Graham Taylor gave Palmer all of his 18

caps Caps are flat headgear. Caps or CAPS may also refer to: Science and technology Computing * CESG Assisted Products Service, provided by the U.K. Government Communications Headquarters * Composite Application Platform Suite, by Java Caps, a Java ...

for the England national team. Palmer scored his only goal for England against

San Marino San Marino, officially the Republic of San Marino, is a landlocked country in Southern Europe, completely surrounded by Italy. Located on the northeastern slopes of the Apennine Mountains, it is the larger of two European microstates, microsta ...

. He was a member of the England squad that went to the 1992 European Championships in Sweden. He was also capped 5 times for the England B team.

Managerial career

Palmer's management career began when he was appointed

player-manager A player–coach (also playing coach, captain–coach, or player–manager) is a member of a sports team who simultaneously holds both playing and coaching duties. Player–coaches may be head coaches or assistant coaches, and they may make chang ...

of Stockport County in November 2001. He was sacked by the club in September 2003, following a poor start to the season. In November 2004, events involving

manager

Keith Curle Keith Curle (born 14 November 1963) is an English football manager and former professional player, who was most recently the manager of National League side Hartlepool United. He played as a centre back from 1981 to 2005, notably in the Prem ...

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. In September 2005, after Mansfield Town were beaten 2–0 by

Rochdale Rochdale ( ) is a town in Greater Manchester, England, and the administrative centre of the Metropolitan Borough of Rochdale. In the United Kingdom 2021 Census, 2021 Census, the town had a population of 111,261, compared to 223,773 for the wid ...

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". In April 2021 he was appointed manager of Grantham Town. On 14 September at the age of 55, Palmer named himself as a substitute in a game against Ashton United due to injuries. 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.

Personal life

Born in England, Palmer is of Jamaican descent. In 1997, Palmer was found guilty of sexual assault after groping a teenage girl. He was fined £600. Palmer later appealed the conviction which was rejected. Palmer owned an online estate agency in

Sheffield Sheffield is a city in South Yorkshire, England, situated south of Leeds and east of Manchester. The city is the administrative centre of the City of Sheffield. It is historically part of the West Riding of Yorkshire and some of its so ...

called The Home Game which ceased trading in August 2008. In June 2010 Palmer appeared in a one-off football special of

Come Dine with Me ''Come Dine with Me'' is a British reality series that has aired on Channel 4 since 10 January 2005 and is narrated by Dave Lamb. Format The original format features five amateur chefs who live in the same town or area, who each host a three-c ...

where he came in first place and won £1,000 for charity. After working in Dubai for Repton School, he set up his own Football Academy in 2012 teaching football and P.E. In August 2014, Carlton became the Director of Sport at Wellington College, Shanghai. In December 2016, Palmer required a life-saving five-hour operation for a heart condition. He made a full recovery. In March 2023, Palmer was admitted to hospital after suffering a suspected "small heart attack" while he was running the

half-marathon.

Honours

Sheffield Wednesday *

Football League Cup The English Football League Cup, often referred to as the League Cup and currently known as the Carabao Cup for sponsorship reasons, is an annual Single-elimination tournament, knockout competition in men's domestic football in England. Orga ...

: 1990–91; runner-up: 1992–93 *

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual Single-elimination tournament, knockout association football, football competition in domestic Football in England, English football. First played during ...

runner-up: 1992–93 Leeds United *Football League Cup runner-up: 1995–96 Individual *

PFA Team of the Year The Professional Footballers' Association Team of the Year (often called the PFA Team of the Year, or simply the Team of the Year) is an annual award given to a set of 55 footballers across the top four tiers of men's Football in England, En ...

: 1990–91 Second Division

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Palmer, Carlton 1965 births Living people People from Rowley Regis Sportspeople from Sandwell English men's footballers English people of Jamaican descent English expatriate men's footballers Men's association football midfielders England men's international footballers England men's B international footballers England men's under-21 international footballers West Bromwich Albion F.C. players Sheffield Wednesday F.C. players Leeds United F.C. players Southampton F.C. players Nottingham Forest F.C. players Coventry City F.C. players Watford F.C. players Stockport County F.C. players Dublin City F.C. players Mansfield Town F.C. players Staveley Miners Welfare F.C. players Grantham Town F.C. players English Football League players Premier League players English expatriate sportspeople in Ireland Expatriate men's association footballers in the Republic of Ireland League of Ireland players UEFA Euro 1992 players English football managers Stockport County F.C. managers Mansfield Town F.C. managers Grantham Town F.C. managers Black British sportsmen