Carlton Lloyd Palmer (born 5 December 1965) is an English football manager, former

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 le ...

and football television pundit whose last management role was as manager of Grantham Town. As a player, he was a

midfielder A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

from 1984 to 2005, playing in the

Premier League The Premier League (legal name: The Football Association Premier League Limited) is the highest level of the men's English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Foo ...

for

Sheffield Wednesday Sheffield Wednesday Football Club is a professional association football club based in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England. The team competes in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. Formed in 1867 as an offshoot of ...

Leeds United Leeds United Football Club is a professional football club based in Leeds, West Yorkshire in England. The club competes in the Premier League, the highest level of England's football league system, and plays its home matches at Elland Road S ...

Southampton Southampton () is a port city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. It is located approximately south-west of London and west of Portsmouth. The city forms part of the South Hampshire built-up area, which also covers Po ...

Nottingham Forest Nottingham Forest Football Club is an association football club based in West Bridgford, Nottinghamshire, England. Nottingham Forest was founded in 1865 and have been playing their home games at the City Ground, on the banks of the River Tren ...

and

Coventry City Coventry City Football Club is a professional association football club based in Coventry, West Midlands (county), West Midlands, England. The team currently compete in the EFL Championship, Championship, the second tier of the English footbal ...

. He also played for

West Bromwich Albion West Bromwich Albion Football Club () is an English professional football club based in West Bromwich, West Midlands, England. They compete in the EFL Championship, the second tier of English football. The club was formed in 1878 and has pla ...

Watford Watford () is a town and borough in Hertfordshire, England, 15 miles northwest of Central London, on the River Colne. Initially a small market town, the Grand Junction Canal encouraged the construction of paper-making mills, print works, a ...

and Dublin City. He was capped 18 times by

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

and was part of the squad at

UEFA Euro 1992 The 1992 UEFA European Football Championship was hosted by Sweden between 10 and 26 June 1992. It was the ninth UEFA European Championship, which is held every four years and supported by UEFA. Denmark won the 1992 championship, having qualifi ...

. He went into management in 2001 when he was appointed player-manager of

Stockport County Stockport County Football Club are a professional football club in Stockport, England, who compete in EFL League Two, the fourth tier of the English football league system. Formed in 1883 as Heaton Norris Rovers, they were renamed Stockport Co ...

, later holding the same position at

Mansfield Town Mansfield Town Football Club is a professional football club based in the town of Mansfield, Nottinghamshire, England. The team competes in , the fourth tier of the English football league system. Nicknamed 'The Stags', they play in a blue and ...

from 2004 to 2005. In 2021 he had a brief return to management with a spell at non-league Grantham Town.

Club career

Palmer started his career at

, joining as an apprentice in July 1983 before turning professional in December 1984. He made his league debut in September 1985, as a substitute against

Newcastle United Newcastle United Football Club is an English professional football club, based in Newcastle upon Tyne, that plays in the Premier League – the top flight of English football. The club was founded in 1892 by the merger of Newcastle East End ...

. He earned a move to

in February 1989 for £750,000, where he made his name in the old First Division. He missed Wednesday's victory in the 1991 Football League Cup Final due to suspension. He was bought by

under manager

Howard Wilkinson Howard Wilkinson (born 13 November 1943) is an English former footballer and manager. Despite having a low-profile playing career, Wilkinson embarked on a successful managerial career. He won the First Division championship in 1992 with Leeds ...

for £2.6 million in June 1994. In September 1997 he was signed by

manager Dave Jones for a fee of £1.0 million. In the dressing room he was "abrasive, awkward and argumentative" but on the pitch he was "determined, hard-working and persistent" and his long legs made him "a most difficult player to compete against". Jones said of Palmer "He covers every blade of grass out there, but that's only because his first touch is so crap". In January 1999 he was transferred to

for a fee of £1.1 million and was replaced in Southampton's midfield by

Chris Marsden Christopher Marsden (born 3 January 1969) is an English former footballer who played in the Football League and Premier League for Sheffield United, Huddersfield Town, Coventry City, Wolverhampton Wanderers, Notts County, Stockport County, Birm ...

. He scored once for Nottingham Forest, his strike coming in a 2–1 win over Grimsby Town. He later played for

, scoring his first and what turned out to be only goal for the club in a 4–1 win over Newcastle United. Coventry loaned him out to Watford for three months in 2000–01. He also had a loan spell at Sheffield Wednesday, before joining Stockport County in November 2001 as player-manager. Palmer also briefly played for Dublin City in

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

, whom he joined in August 2004 and played three games before leaving the club.

International career

Graham Taylor Graham Taylor (15 September 1944 – 12 January 2017) was an English football player, manager, pundit and chairman of Watford Football Club. He was the manager of the England national football team from 1990 to 1993, and also managed Lincoln C ...

gave Palmer all of his 18

caps Caps are flat headgear. Caps or CAPS may also refer to: Science and technology Computing * CESG Assisted Products Service, provided by the U.K. Government Communications Headquarters * Composite Application Platform Suite, by Java Caps, a Java ...

for the England national team. Palmer scored his first and only goal for England against

San Marino San Marino (, ), officially the Republic of San Marino ( it, Repubblica di San Marino; ), also known as the Most Serene Republic of San Marino ( it, Serenissima Repubblica di San Marino, links=no), is the fifth-smallest country in the world an ...

. He was a member of the England squad that went to the 1992 European Championships in Sweden. He was also capped 5 times for the England B team.

Managerial career

Palmer's management career began when he was appointed

player-manager 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. A player-coach may be a head coach or an assistant coach. They may make changes to the sq ...

in November 2001. He was sacked by the club in September 2003, following a poor start to the season. In November 2004, events involving

manager

Keith Curle Keith Curle (born 14 November 1963) is an English football manager and former professional player, who is the current manager of League Two side Hartlepool United. He played as a centre back from 1981 to 2005, notably in the Premier League for ...

resulted in Curle being suspended. With no manager, the Mansfield chairman rang up Carlton and asked him if he would join The Stags temporarily as manager of the club, which Carlton accepted, without being paid. Curle was later dismissed and Carlton Palmer signed a contract until 2006 as manager of Mansfield Town. In September 2005, after Mansfield Town were beaten 2–0 by

Rochdale Rochdale ( ) is a large town in Greater Manchester, England, at the foothills of the South Pennines in the dale on the River Roch, northwest of Oldham and northeast of Manchester. It is the administrative centre of the Metropolitan Borough ...

and close to the

League Two The English Football League Two (often referred to as League Two for short or Sky Bet League Two for sponsorship purposes, and known as the Football League Two from 2004 until 2016) is the third and lowest division of the English Football Lea ...

relegation zone, Palmer resigned as manager saying "I have had a good career and I don't need to take the abuse from the crowd. Keith Haslam, the Mansfield chairman, is a good mate of mine and I want to keep it that way so I will be stepping down as manager". In April 2021 he was appointed manager of Grantham Town. On 14 September at the age of 55, Palmer named himself as a substitute in a game against Ashton United due to injuries. On 9 November 2021, Palmer resigned as manager of Grantham Town. He had joined Grantham to work alongside chairman Darren Ashton, and left as Ashton had resigned from his role.

Personal life

In 1997, Palmer was found guilty of sexual assault after groping a teenage girl. He was fined £600. Palmer later appealed the conviction which was rejected. Palmer owned an online estate agency in

Sheffield Sheffield is a city status in the United Kingdom, city in South Yorkshire, England, whose name derives from the River Sheaf which runs through it. The city serves as the administrative centre of the City of Sheffield. It is Historic counties o ...

called The Home Game which ceased trading in August 2008. In March 2009 he starred in a Paddy Power TV advert which involved him being in a bath with a football fan. In June 2010 Palmer appeared in a one-off football special of Come Dine with Me where he came in first place and won £1,000 for charity. After working in Dubai for Repton School, he set up his own Football Academy in 2012 teaching football and P.E. From August 2014, Carlton will be Director of Sport at Wellington College, Shanghai. In December 2016, Palmer required a life-saving five-hour operation for a heart condition. He made a full recovery.

Honours

Sheffield Wednesday *

Football League Cup The EFL Cup (referred to historically, and colloquially, as the League Cup), currently known as the Carabao Cup for sponsorship reasons, is an annual knockout competition and major trophy in men's domestic football in England. Organised by the ...

: 1990–91; runner-up: 1992–93 *

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual knockout football competition in men's domestic English football. First played during the 1871–72 season, it is the oldest national football competi ...

runner-up: 1992–93 Leeds United * Football League Cup runner-up: 1995–96

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Palmer, Carlton 1965 births Living people People from Rowley Regis English footballers English expatriate footballers Association football midfielders England international footballers England B international footballers England under-21 international footballers West Bromwich Albion F.C. players Sheffield Wednesday F.C. players Leeds United F.C. players Southampton F.C. players Nottingham Forest F.C. players Coventry City F.C. players Watford F.C. players Stockport County F.C. players Dublin City F.C. players Mansfield Town F.C. players Staveley Miners Welfare F.C. players Grantham Town F.C. players English Football League players Premier League players English expatriate sportspeople in Ireland Expatriate association footballers in the Republic of Ireland League of Ireland players UEFA Euro 1992 players English football managers Stockport County F.C. managers Mansfield Town F.C. managers English people of Guyanese descent Grantham Town F.C. managers FA Cup Final players