Paul George Hardyman (born 11 May 1964) is an English former football player and coach who played as a

left-back In the sport of association football, a defender is an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield player whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Defenders fall into four main categ ...

for

Portsmouth Portsmouth ( ) is a port city status in the United Kingdom, city and unitary authority in Hampshire, England. Most of Portsmouth is located on Portsea Island, off the south coast of England in the Solent, making Portsmouth the only city in En ...

Sunderland Sunderland () is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England. It is a port at the mouth of the River Wear on the North Sea, approximately south-east of Newcastle upon Tyne. It is the most p ...

Bristol Rovers Bristol Rovers FC is a men's professional football club in Bristol. The team competes in , the fourth tier of the English football league system. The club is affiliated to Bristol Rovers W.F.C., whose team play in the FA Women's National Leag ...

Barnet Barnet may refer to: People *Barnet (surname) *Barnet (given name) Places United Kingdom *Chipping Barnet or High Barnet, commonly known as Barnet, one of three focal towns of the borough below. *East Barnet, a district of the borough below; anc ...

Wycombe Wanderers Wycombe Wanderers Football Club () is a professional association football club based in the town of High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire, England. The team competes in League One, the third level of the English football league system. Founded in 188 ...

and Slough Town. He was previously the manager of

Orange County SC Orange County Soccer Club is an American soccer team based in the Orange County, California city of Irvine. Founded in 2010 as the Los Angeles Blues, the team currently plays in the Western Conference of the USL Championship, the second tier ...

of the

USL Championship The USL Championship (USLC) is a men's professional association football, soccer league in the second tier of the United States soccer league system#Men's leagues, United States league system. It is organized by the United Soccer League (USL) a ...

Playing career

Hardyman was born in

. He began his playing career at

Waterlooville Waterlooville is a town in the Borough of Havant in Hampshire, England, approximately north northeast of Portsmouth. It is the largest town in the borough. The town had a population of 64,350 in the 2011 Census. It is surrounded by Purbrook, ...

, immediately becoming a first-team regular for the whole of the 1982–83 season in the Southern League Premier Division, playing as a winger. During that season he also appeared several times for

Reserves in the Midweek League. He joined Portsmouth permanently in the summer of 1983, shortly after their promotion to Division Two, and was converted to a left-back. During the 1985–86 season Hardyman represented England for the second and final time at U21 level in the European Championship quarter-final against Denmark in Copenhagen. Although England returned victorious, Hardyman lost his place for the semi-final as

Mitchell Thomas Mitchell Thomas (born 2 October 1964) is an English former footballer who played as a defender. While at Tottenham Hotspur he started in the 1987 FA Cup Final. Playing career David Pleat brought Thomas into the Luton Town side from Limbury b ...

of Tottenham, whom he had replaced for the quarter-final, had recovered from injury. In 1989 Hardyman was transferred to

for a fee of £130,000. While at Sunderland, he played in the 1992 FA Cup Final as a substitute where they lost to Liverpool.

Later career

Following the end of his playing career, Hardyman worked alongside

Guy Whittingham Guy Whittingham (born 10 November 1964) is an English football manager and former professional footballer. As a player, he was a striker from 1988 until 2005, notably in the Premier League for Aston Villa and Sheffield Wednesday. Having started ...

as a match day summariser for Portsmouth matches on BBC Radio Solent. Until being made redundant by Portsmouth in October 2009, Hardyman coached Portsmouth youngsters between the ages of 8 & 18 alongside Whittingham, Rod Ruddick and Ian Woan. For a time, Hardyman was manager at Sydenhams Football League (Wessex) club New Milton Town, where he also played a few matches, including being sent off on his debut. He left the club in 2011 to return to Portsmouth, assisting academy manager Andy Awford. When Awford was appointed caretaker manager of the first team in March 2014, Hardyman became first-team coach and was appointed permanently to the role in June. Following Awford's departure in April 2015, Hardyman assisted caretaker manager

Gary Waddock Gary Patrick Waddock (born 17 March 1962) is a former professional footballer. He is assistant head coach at Walsall. A midfielder, he spent most of his career playing for Queens Park Rangers and Luton Town. He also had stints at Belgian club ...

for the rest of the season. He and Waddock left the club in May 2015. He subsequently joined

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 ...

, coaching their under-12 and under-14 teams, before becoming the under-18 coach in summer 2017. In July 2018 Paul Hardyman joined Southampton after being appointed to the position of Lead Under-16s coach in the Saints Academy.

Coaching

In June 2024, Hardyman was named interim manager for

following the departure of Morten Karlsen. On July 19th, 2024, Hardyman was named the permanent manager.

References

External links

Paul Hardyman Basingstoke Town Profile
1964 births Living people Footballers from Portsmouth Waterlooville F.C. players Portsmouth F.C. players Sunderland A.F.C. players Bristol Rovers F.C. players Wycombe Wanderers F.C. players Barnet F.C. players New Milton Town F.C. players Portsmouth F.C. non-playing staff Watford F.C. non-playing staff England men's under-21 international footballers English men's footballers New Milton Town F.C. managers Men's association football defenders English football managers Southampton F.C. non-playing staff Rangers F.C. non-playing staff English Football League players English expatriate football managers Expatriate soccer coaches in the United States English expatriate sportspeople in the United States Orange County SC coaches USL Championship coaches {{England-footy-defender-1960s-stub