Peter Ian Pawlett (born 3 February 1991) is a 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 ...

who plays as 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 ...

for club

Peterhead Peterhead (; , ) is a town in Aberdeenshire, Scotland. It is the council area's largest settlement, with a population of 19,060 at the 2022 Census for Scotland, 2022 Census. It is the largest fishing port in the United Kingdom for total landi ...

. He spent much of his early career at

Aberdeen Aberdeen ( ; ; ) is a port city in North East Scotland, and is the List of towns and cities in Scotland by population, third most populous Cities of Scotland, Scottish city. Historically, Aberdeen was within the historic county of Aberdeensh ...

and has also played for St Johnstone, Milton Keynes Dons and

Dundee United Dundee United Football Club is a Scotland, Scottish professional association football, football club based in the city of Dundee. Formed in 1909, originally as Dundee Hibernian, the club changed to the present name in 1923. United are nickname ...

. Born in England, he has been capped for Scotland at U19 and U21 levels.

Early life

Born on 3 February 1991 in Hull, East Riding of Yorkshire but moved to

Banchory Banchory (, , ) is a burgh or town in Aberdeenshire, historically in Kincardineshire, Scotland. It is about west of Aberdeen, near where the Feugh River meets the River Dee. Prehistory and archaeology In 2009, a farmer discovered a short ...

Aberdeenshire Aberdeenshire (; ) is one of the 32 Subdivisions of Scotland#council areas of Scotland, council areas of Scotland. It takes its name from the Shires of Scotland, historic county of Aberdeenshire (historic), Aberdeenshire, which had substantial ...

aged around 7. He grew up supporting Hull City.

Club career

Aberdeen

Pawlett was brought up in

from a young age and made his

debut in February 2009, coming on as a substitute in a 5–0

Scottish Cup The Scottish Football Association Challenge Cup,East Fife. He made his SPL debut for Aberdeen as a substitute in a 3–1 loss to

Celtic Celtic, Celtics or Keltic may refer to: Language and ethnicity *pertaining to Celts, a collection of Indo-European peoples in Europe and Anatolia **Celts (modern) *Celtic languages **Proto-Celtic language *Celtic music *Celtic nations Sports Foot ...

on 2 May 2009, and he made his first league start in a 2–1 loss to Rangers two weeks later. On 7 November 2009, Pawlett set up the first goal for Sone Aluko in a 2–1 win over St Johnstone. Soon after, Pawlett, along with four other players, was offered a new contract and eventually signed a four-year deal soon after During the season, in January 2010, Pawlett sustained a knee injury which required surgery. A month later it was reported that the injury would keep him out of action for the remainder of the 2009–10 season. In each of the next two seasons, Pawlett spoke out about his injury, saying he had worked for optimum fitness while undergoing rehabilitation and that he was able to move on from his injury. Pawlett made his return at the beginning of the 2010–11 season and played his first match in a 4–0 win over Hamilton Academical at the opening game of the season. After making three more appearances during the season, Pawlett suffered a toe injury and this kept him for three months. He made his return in a 5–0 defeat to Heart of Midlothian on 11 December 2010. On 30 April 2011, Pawlett scored his first goal for Aberdeen in a 1–0 win over Inverness Caledonian Thistle. On 20 December 2011 in a 1–0 win over Hibernian, Pawlett received a straight red card after a challenge on Lewis Stevenson. In the second half before his sending off, he fell theatrically inside the penalty box when challenged by Ivan Sproule, resulting in a penalty being given which was converted by Scott Vernon. After the game, he was given a two match suspension by the SFA. The club decided against appealing the ban. On 23 August 2012, Pawlett joined fellow

Scottish Premier League The Scottish Premier League (SPL) was the Scottish football league system, top-level league competition for professional Association football, football clubs in Scotland. The league was founded in 1998, when it broke away from the Scottish Foo ...

side St Johnstone on loan until January 2013. Pawlett made his debut, coming on as a substitute in a 2–0 loss against Hibernian. Pawlett went on to make nine appearances for St Johnstone and stated his desire to stay at the club for the rest of the season On 1 January, the loan spell was extended for another two games, although there was also the possibility of a permanent move. However, after the sale of fellow midfielder Ryan Fraser to

Bournemouth Bournemouth ( ) is a coastal resort town in the Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole unitary authority area, in the ceremonial county of Dorset, England. At the 2021 census, the built-up area had a population of 196,455, making it the largest ...

recalled the midfielder to play in their first team. After his loan spell ended, St Johnstone Manager Steve Lomas said he wasn't surprised that Aberdeen had chosen to recall Pawlett. After being recalled from his loan with St Johnstone, he made his first appearance since leaving on loan, in a 0–0 draw against Hibernian. During the match, Pawlett created controversy when he was booked for diving, leading Craig Brown to say that if it was found he had dived, the club would take action against him. During that game, Pawlett gained more notoriety when his shorts fell down after getting tackled by Gary Deegan, revealing his underpants. a match against

Dundee Dundee (; ; or , ) is the List of towns and cities in Scotland by population, fourth-largest city in Scotland. The mid-year population estimate for the locality was . It lies within the eastern central Lowlands on the north bank of the Firt ...

on 5 May 2013, Pawlett was criticised for allegedly diving to win a penalty. The penalty was converted by Niall McGinn to level the game. The match finished 1–1, but the draw wasn't enough to prevent Dundee being relegated to the First Division. After criticism of the diving, Pawlett received a two-match suspension, which was accepted by the club, following an investigation from the SFA. In the 2013–14 season Pawlett retained his first team place, mostly playing as more of an attacking midfielder. He would score five league goals, against

Partick Thistle Partick Thistle Football Club are a professional association football, football club from Glasgow, Scotland and currently plays in the . Despite their name, the club are based at Firhill Stadium in the Maryhill area of the city, and have not ...

, St Mirren, St Johnstone, Inverness Caledonian Thistle and

during the season. His good performances earned a contract extension, which will keep him at Aberdeen until 2017. In the second half of the season, Pawlett would play a vital role for the club, as he scored one and then set one up, in a 4–0 win over St Johnstone, to send the club to the

Scottish League Cup The Scottish League Cup, also known as the Premier Sports Cup for sponsorship reasons, is a football competition open to all Scottish Professional Football League (SPFL) clubs. First held in 1946–47, it is the oldest national League cup in ...

final for the first time in fourteen years. Then, in the fifth round of the

Scottish Cup The Scottish Football Association Challenge Cup,The Human League The Human League are an English synth-pop band formed in Sheffield in 1977. Initially an experimental electronic music, electronic outfit, the group signed to Virgin Records in 1979 and later attained widespread commercial success with their t ...

song '

Don't You Want Me "Don't You Want Me" is a song by British synth-pop group the Human League (credited on the cover as the Human League 100). It was released on 27 November 1981 as the fourth single from their third studio album, '' Dare'' (1981). The band's be ...

' to Number One in the charts following the success of their version singing 'Peter Pawlett baby'. Pawlett did not play regularly for Aberdeen in the following seasons, as Niall McGinn and Jonny Hayes were the first choice wingers.

Milton Keynes Dons

On 9 March 2017, English League One side Milton Keynes Dons announced that Pawlett had signed a pre-contract deal to join the club at the end of the 2016–17 season. Pawlett made his first appearance for his new club on 5 August 2017 in a 1–0 home defeat to

Wigan Athletic Wigan Athletic Football Club is a professional association football club based in Wigan, Greater Manchester, England. The team competes in the EFL League One, the third level of the English football league system. Founded in 1932, they have p ...

, coming on as a 63rd-minute substitute for Ryan Seager. On 2 December 2017, Pawlett scored his first goal for the club in a 4–1

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 ...

second round home win over Maidstone United.

Dundee United

On 31 January 2019, Pawlett joined

Scottish Championship The Scottish Championship known as the William Hill (bookmaker), William Hill Championship for sponsorship reasons, is the second tier of the Scottish Professional Football League, the league competition for men's professional association footb ...

club

for an undisclosed fee. Two days later, he scored the winning goal in a 2–1 win for United against Greenock Morton. Following relegation to the

in the 2022–23 season, Pawlett was released by United at the end of the season.

Peterhead

After a few months out of the game, Pawlett signed with

Scottish League Two The Scottish League Two, known as William Hill (bookmaker), William Hill League Two for sponsorship reasons, is the fourth tier of the Scottish Professional Football League, the league competition for men's professional association football, foo ...

side

in January 2024.

International career

Born in Hull, Pawlett was initially only eligible for

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 ...

. Following a revision of the Home nations agreement Pawlett became eligible to play for

Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...

,Dons youngster Peter Pawlett set for Scotland bow under new FIFA ruling
'' Daily Record'', 4 November 2009 as Pawlett was educated in

for eight years. Pawlett was selected for the Scotland under-19 team in November 2009 and spoke out about his delight at having switched nationality. On 16 May 2014, Pawlett was called into the senior

squad for a friendly against

Nigeria Nigeria, officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa. It is situated between the Sahel to the north and the Gulf of Guinea in the Atlantic Ocean to the south. It covers an area of . With Demographics of Nigeria, ...

Career statistics

Honours

Aberdeen *

: 2013–14 Dundee United *

: 2019–20 Individual * Scottish Premier League Young Player of the Month: November 2009 *

PFA Scotland Team of the Year The Professional Footballers' Association Scotland Team of the Year (often called the PFA Scotland Team of the Year, or simply the Team of the Year) is an annual award given to a set of 44 footballers in the four national tiers of the Scottish foo ...

: 2013–14 Premiership

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Pawlett, Peter 1991 births Footballers from Kingston upon Hull Footballers from Aberdeenshire Living people People educated at Banchory Academy 21st-century Scottish sportsmen Anglo-Scots Men's association football midfielders Scottish men's footballers Scotland men's under-21 international footballers Scotland men's youth international footballers Aberdeen F.C. players St Johnstone F.C. players Milton Keynes Dons F.C. players Dundee United F.C. players Peterhead F.C. players Scottish Premier League players Scottish Professional Football League players English Football League players