Paul Allen Pettinger (born 1 October 1975) is an English former professional

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 coach who is a goalkeeping coach for Worsbrough Bridge Athletic. He played as a

goalkeeper In many team sports that involve scoring goal (sport), goals, the goalkeeper (sometimes termed goaltender, netminder, GK, goalie, or keeper) is a designated player charged with directly preventing the opposing team from scoring by blocking or i ...

and after coming through the

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 ...

academy and various loan spells with

Kettering Town Kettering Town Football Club is a football club based in Burton Latimer, Northamptonshire, England. They are currently members of the and play at Latimer Park. Kettering were the first club to wear sponsorship on their shirts in 1976, and have ...

Torquay United Torquay United Football Club is a professional association football club based in Torquay, Devon, England. The team currently compete in the National League South, the sixth level of the English football league system. They have played their ho ...

Halifax Town FC Halifax Town is a professional association football club based in Halifax, West Yorkshire, England. They currently compete in the National League, the fifth level of English football league system. They replaced Halifax Town, who went i ...

and Gillingham, he went on to play in the

Football League The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional association football, football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, it is the oldest football league in Association football around the world, the w ...

for

Carlisle United Carlisle United Football Club ( , ) is a professional association football club based in Carlisle, Cumbria, England. The team currently compete in the National League, the fifth level of the English football league system. They have played their ...

Rotherham United Rotherham United Football Club, nicknamed The Millers, is a professional association football club based in Rotherham, South Yorkshire, England. The team plays in EFL League One, the third tier of English football, after suffering relegation fr ...

and Lincoln City. He later went on to play Non-league football for Telford United,

Gainsborough Trinity Gainsborough Trinity Football Club is a Association football, football club based in Gainsborough, Lincolnshire, Gainsborough, Lincolnshire, England. Established in 1873, the club became members of the English Football League, Football League i ...

Hucknall Town Hucknall Town Football Club is a football club based in the town of Hucknall, Nottinghamshire, England. The club is a member of the and plays at the RM Stadium. History Hucknall Town were renamed from Hucknall Colliery Welfare in 1987 and for ...

, Harrogate Town,

Stalybridge Celtic Stalybridge Celtic Football Club is an English football club based in Stalybridge, Greater Manchester. They are currently members of the and play at Bower Fold. The team traditionally plays in a blue and white strip. In 1921, Stalybridge Celti ...

Worksop Town Worksop Town Football Club is an English football club based in Worksop, Nottinghamshire. The team play in the . They are nicknamed ''The Tigers'' and play their home games at Sandy Lane in Worksop. History Previous clubs The club claims it w ...

, Ilkeston Town,

Frickley Athletic Frickley Athletic Football Club is a football club based in South Elmsall, West Yorkshire, England. They are members of the and play at Westfield Lane. History The club was formed on 30 July 1908, and became a member of the South Yorkshire Lea ...

Matlock Town Matlock Town Football Club is a association football, football club based in Matlock, Derbyshire, Matlock, Derbyshire, England. Nicknamed 'the Gladiators', they are currently members of the and play at Causeway Lane. History The club was esta ...

and

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 ...

He represented

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 ...

at schoolboy and youth level.

Playing career

Pettinger played for

Barnsley Barnsley () is a market town in South Yorkshire, England. It is the main settlement of the Metropolitan Borough of Barnsley and the fourth largest settlement in South Yorkshire. The town's population was 71,422 in 2021, while the wider boroug ...

schools before beginning his senior career as a trainee with

, turning professional in October 1992. He won an

FA Youth Cup The Football Association Youth Challenge Cup is an English football competition run by The Football Association for under-18 sides. Only those players between the age of 15 and 18 on 31 August of the current season are eligible to take part. It ...

winners' medal with Leeds, playing in the side that beat

Manchester United Manchester United Football Club, commonly referred to as Man United (often stylised as Man Utd) or simply United, is a professional association football, football club based in Old Trafford (area), Old Trafford, Greater Manchester, Engl ...

in the final. He failed to make the Leeds first team and in December 1994 joined

on loan. In February 1995 he joined Conference side

on loan, playing seven times before the end of the season. He also played six times on loan for

in the same season. In August 1995 he joined

on loan, but made just one appearance, as a substitute, before returning to Leeds. In March 1996, Pettinger joined Gillingham on a free transfer, but was released at the end of the season without making his debut. In August 1996 he joined

, but failed to appear in their league team. In August 1997 he joined

, but again struggled to make regular appearances. He finally forced his way into the team towards the end of the 2000–01 season, at one point playing a career best six football league games in a row, as Rotherham won promotion. In July 2001 he joined Lincoln City on a free transfer, but played just five times in two years. In March 2002 he joined

on loan and in December 2002 joined Telford United on loan. He joined

in February 2003 and in May 2003 joined Kettering Town. He struggled with the travelling from his Barnsley home to Kettering and in February 2004 left to join

. He helped Hucknall win the

Northern Premier League The Northern Premier League is an English Association football, football league that was founded in 1968. Together with the Isthmian League and the Southern Football League, Southern League it forms levels seven and eight of the English footba ...

title before leaving in the 2004 close season to join Harrogate Town. He left Harrogate, having missed just one game the previous season, to join

in May 2005. He missed just one game the following season and remained a regular before moving on to

in February 2007 for an undisclosed small fee. He played in 11 games for Worksop that season. He later joined Ilkeston Town from where he moved to

in January 2008. He subsequently joined

Belper Town Belper Town Football Club is a football club based in Belper, Derbyshire, England. They are currently members of the and play at Christchurch Meadow. The club are nicknamed the "Nailers" due to the town's nail-making industry. History The club ...

, moving to

in December 2008. In September 2010 he joined

Sheffield F.C. Sheffield Football Club is an English association football, football club, currently based in Dronfield, Derbyshire. They compete in the , on the eighth level of the English football league system, English football pyramid. Founded in October ...

debuting in the 2–0

Northern Premier League Division One South The Northern Premier League is an English football league that was founded in 1968. Together with the Isthmian League and the Southern League it forms levels seven and eight of the English football league system. Geographically, the league c ...

away defeat to Carlton Town on 18 September 2010.

Coaching career

After spending a decade out of the game, in July 2020 Pettinger joined the coaching staff at Worsbrough Bridge Athletic. In 2024 he joined the Coaching staff managed by Craig Rouse and assistant manager Lee Stratford at Cleethorpes Town Gaining promotion to the Northern Premier -Premier division for the fist time in the clubs History.

Other interests

Plays cricket for his local team Wombwell Main Cricket Club

References

External links

Lincoln City F.C. Official Archive Profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Pettinger, Paul 1975 births Living people Footballers from Sheffield English men's footballers English Football League players Men's association football goalkeepers Leeds United F.C. players Torquay United F.C. players Halifax Town A.F.C. players Rotherham United F.C. players Gillingham F.C. players Carlisle United F.C. players Lincoln City F.C. players Kettering Town F.C. players Telford United F.C. players Gainsborough Trinity F.C. players Hucknall Town F.C. players Harrogate Town A.F.C. players Stalybridge Celtic F.C. players Worksop Town F.C. players Ilkeston Town F.C. (1945) players Frickley Athletic F.C. players Belper Town F.C. players Matlock Town F.C. players Sheffield F.C. players