Buckley&District Reds

‘Well-travelled’, ‘injury prone’, ‘utility player’… the usual descriptions that spring to the minds of most football followers at the mention of Paul Warhurst.

 

He is certainly all of those things but he has many positive attributes too, which sometimes aren’t so quickly recognised by some. Wrexham fans fortunate enough to watch him plug many a gap during his brief spell with us during 2005-06 however do know his worth.

 

Paul is the son of Roy Warhurst, a footballer himself who played for Man.City among other clubs during the 1940’s and 50’s. It was at Maine Road that Warhurst Jnr started his career, though without making an appearance. He moved on to Boundary Park to become part of the successful Oldham Athletic side of the early 1990’s. A £750,000 move to Sheffield Wednesday followed where he was part of the side that lost the League Cup and FA Cup finals at Wembley to Arsenal in 1993.

 

Unfortunately, having won a number of England U-21 caps, injury was to rule Warhurst out of playing for his country at senior level, after then England manager Graham Taylor called him up to the full squad. Playing as an emergency striker for Wednesday he’d had a prolific scoring patch, and Taylor had planned a similar role for him with England. He was never to receive another call-up.

 

That year he was snapped up by big-spending Blackburn Rovers for £2.7 million. Despite being plagued by injury he was a part of the 1995 Rovers side that won the Premiership under Kenny Dalglish, and played in the Champions League the next season.

 

Warhurst moved on in 1997 to newly promoted Premiership side Crystal Palace for £800,000. Over a year later he was on the move again to Bolton Wanderers for £800,000. He helped Bolton up to the Premiership but again suffered with numerous injuries. He had a loan spell at Stoke City at the end of the 2002-03 season and moved onto Chesterfield permanently in October 2003. Two months later he had again moved on, this time to Barnsley.

 

Another couple of months later he moved to Carlisle United making just one appearance. The next month he pitched up at Grimsby Town for the end of an unsettled season that saw him play little first-team football. He trialled at Preston in the summer of 2004 but didn’t find a new contract anywhere until signing for Blackpool in November 2004. That didn’t last long either and Warhurst spent the first half of 2005 playing in the Conference with Forest Green Rovers.

 

That summer he was rumoured to have been trialling with Chester but in August it was confirmed that he was by now on trial with Wrexham. A number of fans were wary about Denis Smith taking a look at the veteran who was nearly 36. After such a highly nomadic, injury plagued few years, that had seen Warhurst rapidly make his way down the divisions with clubs up and down the country passing him on, many weren’t keen.

 

This was at the beginning of the 2005-06 season. We were in administration, strapped for cash, and bound by Football League rules our squad was paper-thin. Warhurst was versatile, experienced and when fit would bring quality to any side at League 2 level. So we signed him on a short-term contract until January.

 

His debut came in the Carling Cup 1st Round tie at home to Doncaster Rovers, the same night that saw on-loan Liverpool striker Robbie Foy and youngster Matty Done make their debuts.

 

Warhurst, with his trademark shaggy look, replaced Shaun Pejic at centre-back who’d torn knee ligaments after being the victim of a reckless challenge with half an hour to go. With ten minutes to go Warhurst was playing out on the right after Dean Bennett had gone off injured. Despite losing the tie to a late goal, Warhurst had already showed his legendary versatility, and enough class on the ball to prove that he was an asset.

 

He started the next game at Bury and the following Bank Holiday Monday scored his only Wrexham goal at home to Barnet, a nice finish from a deflection 10 yards out. He had a run of games throughout that September deputising for others either along the back-line, in midfield or out on the right, showing surprising stamina and reliability in not letting us down wherever he was asked to play.

 

At home to Torquay that October he had the unusual distinction of replacing the injured Andy Holt early on, before being replaced himself, because of a twisted ankle, with 20 minutes to go by substitute Levi Mackin.

 

The ankle injury kept him on the sidelines throughout much of the November and December. Frustratingly for Warhurst he only started to recover fitness at the turn of the year shortly before his contract was due to end.

 

His final appearance in a Wrexham shirt came in early January, the dismal 1-0 away defeat to Shrewsbury Town. Warhurst replaced centre-back Dave Bayliss with just a few minutes to go, not in defence but up front as Wrexham sought an equaliser in a game in which they’d not yet had a shot on target. Warhurst did get to provide a shot on target, a weak tap towards Joe Hart in the Shrewsbury goal.

 

At the end of that week Denis Smith was scratching around for funds to bring in a much-needed striker. Despite his contract still having time to run Warhurst graciously decided to leave early without being paid up, allowing Denis to bring in a striker, and showed his class as a person as well as a player.

 

He vowed to find another league club, though some were sceptical about his chances. In March 2006 he did resurface, ironically in North London with Barnet, the club he’d scored against earlier in the season. He performed so well for the Bees in the season’s run in that he won a new contract for the 2006-07 season.

 

At the beginning of that season he returned to the Racecourse as a Barnet player and received a good ovation from the Wrexham fans when he appeared as a substitute at the start of the second-half.

 

He featured sporadically throughout the season for Barnet, a mixture of starts and substitute outings, but found himself released at the end of the season. In September 2007 he joined Blue Square Premier side Northwich Victoria. At around the same time current Wrexham defender Gareth Evans joined the Vics on loan and was sent off shortly into his only appearance for the club.

 

After a couple of outings Warhurst found himself as the temporary manager when Neil Redfearn resigned. Despite being tipped as a permanent replacement Warhurst left the club before a new manager had been found. As of February 2008 he has not yet returned to football.

 

Paul Warhurst’s brief and unspectacular stint during a mundane season at Wrexham was just one stop near the end of a lengthy journeyman career of highs and lows. His most lasting impression at the club could be the advice and experience he freely passed on to his younger colleagues which could benefit the club in the future. Defenders Mike Williams and Simon Spender, both trying to break into the side on a regular basis during Warhurst’s time at Wrexham, acknowledged the help and support he gave to them at the time.

 

Paul Warhurst didn’t leave too many memories for fans of Wrexham FC, but he did a good job at a difficult time when his ability to play almost anywhere was invaluable.