Paul Shrubb (1 August 195528 May 2020) was an English 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 ...

, coach and

scout Scout may refer to: Youth movement *Scout (Scouting), a child, usually 10–18 years of age, participating in the worldwide Scouting movement ** Scouts (The Scout Association), section for 10-14 year olds in the United Kingdom ** Scouts BSA, sect ...

who made 350 appearances as a player 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 ...

, most notably for

Brentford Brentford is a suburban town in West (London sub region), West London, England and part of the London Borough of Hounslow. It lies at the confluence of the River Brent and the River Thames, Thames, west of Charing Cross. Its economy has dive ...

and

Aldershot Aldershot ( ) is a town in the Rushmoor district, Hampshire, England. It lies on heathland in the extreme north-east corner of the county, south-west of London. The town has a population of 37,131, while the Farnborough/Aldershot built-up are ...

. He later returned to Aldershot as assistant manager and coached at a number of

non-League Non-League football describes association football, football leagues played outside the top leagues of a country. Usually, it describes leagues which are not fully professional. The term is primarily used for football in England, where it is ...

clubs.

Playing career

Fulham

Shrubb began his career in the

youth system In sporting terminology, a youth system (or youth academy) is a youth investment program within a particular team or league, which develops and nurtures young talent in farm teams, with the vision of using them in the first team if they show en ...

at Second Division club

Fulham Fulham () is an area of the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham in West London, England, southwest of Charing Cross. It lies in a loop on the north bank of the River Thames, bordering Hammersmith, Kensington and Chelsea, London, Chelsea ...

and signed his first professional contract in 1972. He made his debut during the 1972–73 season, which would be his only appearance before his departure in 1975.

Hellenic

Shrubb moved to

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

to sign for

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a Professional gridiron football, professional American football league in the United States. Composed of 32 teams, it is divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National ...

club Hellenic in 1975. The high point of his time with the club was reaching the final of the 1976 NFL Cup, which was lost to Cape Town City.

Brentford

Shrubb returned to

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 joined Fourth Division club

in March 1977. With a small squad of players, Shrubb blossomed as a

utility player In sports, a utility player is one who can play several positions competently. Sports in which the term is often used include association football, basketball, American football, baseball, rugby union, rugby league, softball, ice hockey, and water ...

in defence and

midfield In many sports, midfield is the part of a sports field that is near the line that is equally far from the end lines. That is, in American football it is the part of the field near the 50-yard line; in association football (soccer) and field hoc ...

and contributed to the Bees' promotion to the Third Division in the 1977–78 season. Shrubb took over as

captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader or highest rank officer of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police depa ...

from Jackie Graham for a time, while Graham was out injured. Shrubb missed only a handful of games per season until the 1981–82 campaign, when he was dropped early in the season. He departed the Bees in August 1982, having made 198 appearances and scored eight goals during his five years with the club.

Aldershot

Shrubb signed for Fourth Division club

in August 1982. He made 202 appearances and scored six goals during a five-season spell and departed after the Shots' success in the 1987 Fourth Division play-off final. He put his skills as a utility player to good use, wearing every single shirt number (1–11) during his time with the club.

Non-League football

Shrubb dropped into

non-League football Non-League football describes association football, football leagues played outside the top leagues of a country. Usually, it describes leagues which are not fully professional. The term is primarily used for football in England, where it is ...

in 1987 and had spells with

Isthmian League The Isthmian League () is a regional Association football, football league covering Greater London, East of England, East and South East England, featuring mostly semi-professional clubs. Founded in 1905 by amateur clubs in the London area, th ...

clubs

Woking Woking ( ) is a town and borough status in the United Kingdom, borough in north-west Surrey, England, around from central London. It appears in Domesday Book as ''Wochinges'', and its name probably derives from that of a Anglo-Saxon settleme ...

Dorking Dorking () is a market town in Surrey in South East England about south-west of London. It is in Mole Valley, Mole Valley District and the non-metropolitan district, council headquarters are to the east of the centre. The High Street runs ro ...

Leatherhead Leatherhead is a town in the Mole Valley district of Surrey, England, about south of Central London. The settlement grew up beside a ford on the River Mole, from which its name is thought to derive. During the late Anglo-Saxons, Anglo-Saxon ...

Cove A cove is a small bay or coastal inlet. They usually have narrow, restricted entrances, are often circular or oval, and are often situated within a larger bay. Small, narrow, sheltered bays, inlets, creek (tidal), creeks, or recesses in a coast ...

and

Wessex League The Wessex Football League, known as the Velocity Wessex Football League for sponsorship reasons, is an English regional men's football league in southern England. Its members are primarily from Hampshire and Dorset, but clubs from adjoining co ...

club Fleet Town.

Return to Aldershot

Shrubb signed for Isthmian League Third Division phoenix club

Aldershot Town Aldershot Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in Aldershot, Hampshire, England. The team competes in the National League, the fifth level of the English football league system. The club was founded in the spr ...

in 1992. The Shots won the Third Division championship during the 1992–93 season and secured promotion to First Division in the following campaign. He made 31 appearances before retiring in January 1995. Shrubb was awarded a

testimonial In promotion and advertising, a testimonial or show consists of a person's written or spoken statement extolling the virtue of a product. The term "testimonial" most commonly applies to the sales-pitches attributed to ordinary citizens, whe ...

versus

Charlton Athletic Charlton Athletic Football Club is a professional association football club based in Charlton, south-east London, England. The team compete in the EFL Championship, the second level of the English football league system. Their home ground is ...

on 1 August 2007, in recognition of his service to the club.

Management and coaching career

Between 1987 and 1992, Shrubb held

player-coach 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 ...

roles with Woking, Dorking, Leatherhead, Fleet Town and Cove. When he returned to Aldershot in 1992, he became player-assistant manager of the club and was

caretaker manager In association footballing terms, a caretaker manager or interim manager is somebody who takes temporary charge of the management of a football team, usually when the regular manager is dismissed or leaves for a different club. However, a caret ...

for one match in 1995, after the departure of

Steve Wignall Steven Leslie Wignall (born 17 September 1954) is an English former professional football manager and player. During his playing career, Wignall, who played as a central defender, made over 600 appearances in the Football League. Playing career ...

. He was offered the job on a permanent basis but turned it down, citing work commitments. After his retirement from playing, Shrubb served as

Steve Wigley Steven Wigley (born 15 October 1961) is an English football coach and former player for Nottingham Forest, Sheffield United, Birmingham City, Portsmouth and Exeter City. He made 340 appearances in the Football League. He is the former manag ...

's assistant, before departing the

Recreation Ground A park is an area of natural, semi-natural or planted space set aside for human enjoyment and recreation or for the protection of wildlife or natural habitats. Urban parks are green spaces set aside for recreation inside towns and cities. N ...

for the final time in 1997. He later served Hampton and Kingstonian as a coach and resigned from the latter club in April 2001, in protest over the sacking of fellow coach Ian McDonald.

Scouting career

Shrubb served as a

, Plymouth Argyle and

AFC Wimbledon AFC Wimbledon is an English professional association football club based in Wimbledon, London, Wimbledon, London Borough of Merton, London. The team competes in , the third tier of the English football league system. The club was founded in ...

. While with Plymouth Argyle, he worked alongside former Aldershot teammate Andy King.

Personal life

Shrubb lived in

and ran his own window cleaning business. As of 2014, he was living in

Ash, Surrey Ash is a village and civil parish in the far west of the borough of Guildford, Surrey. Ash is on the eastern side of the River Blackwater, with a station on the Reading-Guildford-Gatwick line, and direct roads to Aldershot, Farnham and Guildfo ...

. Shrubb was diagnosed with

motor neurone disease Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), also known as motor neuron disease (MND) or—in the United States—Lou Gehrig's disease (LGD), is a rare, terminal neurodegenerative disorder that results in the progressive loss of both upper and low ...

in January 2006 and was given two years to live by doctors. The condition forced him to give up full-time work in 2009. Shrubb died of the disease in May 2020.

Career statistics

Honours

Brentford *

Football League Fourth Division The Football League Fourth Division was the fourth-highest division in the English football league system from the 1958–59 season until the creation of the Premier League prior to the 1992–93 season. Following the creation of the Premier ...

fourth-place promotion: 1977–78 Aldershot/Aldershot Town * Football League Fourth Division play-offs: 1986–87 *

Second Division third-place promotion: 1993–94 *Isthmian League Third Division: 1992–93

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Shrubb, Paul 1955 births Footballers from Guildford English men's footballers Brentford F.C. players English Football League players Hellenic F.C. players Fulham F.C. players Aldershot F.C. players National Football League (South Africa) players Men's association football midfielders English expatriate men's footballers 2020 deaths English expatriate sportspeople in South Africa Woking F.C. players Dorking F.C. players Isthmian League players Leatherhead F.C. players Fleet Town F.C. players Cove F.C. players Aldershot Town F.C. players Aldershot Town F.C. managers Charlton Athletic F.C. non-playing staff Plymouth Argyle F.C. non-playing staff AFC Wimbledon non-playing staff Isthmian League managers English football managers Aldershot Town F.C. non-playing staff Deaths from motor neuron disease in England