Leroy Paul Canoville (born 14 March 1981) is an English football coach and 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 le ...

. As a player he was a defender who began his career with

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 ...

side

Arsenal An arsenal is a place where arms and ammunition are made, maintained and repaired, stored, or issued, in any combination, whether privately or publicly owned. Arsenal and armoury (British English) or armory (American English) are mostly ...

, he went on to play in the

Football League The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, the league is the oldest such competition in the world. It was the top-level football league in Engla ...

for

Northampton Town Northampton Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in the town of Northampton, England. The team plays in , the fourth tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1897, the club competed in the Midland ...

Torquay United Torquay United Football Club is a professional football club based in Torquay, Devon, England. The team currently compete in the , the fifth tier of English football. They have played their home matches at Plainmoor since 1921 and are nicknamed ...

Boston United Boston United Football Club is a semi-professional association football club based in Boston, Lincolnshire, England. The club participates in the National League North, at the sixth tier of the English football league system. The club is known ...

Shrewsbury Town Shrewsbury Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in Shrewsbury, Shropshire, England. The team competes in League One, the third tier of English football. The club plays its home games at the New Meadow, having mo ...

and

Notts County Notts County Football Club is a professional association football club based in Nottingham, England. The team participate in the National League (division), National League, the fifth tier of the English football league system. Founded on the 2 ...

before playing in Non-league for

Grays Athletic Grays Athletic Football Club is a football club based in Grays, Essex, England. They are currently members of the and play at Parkside in nearby Aveley. History The club was established as Grays Juniors in 1890, before merging with former S ...

Halesowen Town Halesowen Town Football Club is a football club based in Halesowen, West Midlands, England. They are currently members of the and play at the Grove Recreation Ground. History The club was believed to have been established around 1873, but rece ...

and

Gainsborough Trinity Gainsborough Trinity Football Club is a football club based in Gainsborough, Lincolnshire, England. Established in 1873, the club became members of the Football League in 1893 and remained members of the Second Division until 1912, making Gainsbo ...

. He returned to Boston in 2011 as joint – player/manager alongside

Jason Lee Jason Lee may refer to: Entertainment *Jason Lee (actor) (born 1970), American film and TV actor and former professional skateboarder *Jason Scott Lee (born 1966), Asian American film actor * Jaxon Lee (Jason Christopher Lee, born 1968), American v ...

before departing at the end of the 2011–12 season. He has represented England at Under-16 level.

Playing career

Canoville joined

as an apprentice in the summer of 1997 from the FA School at Lilleshall, turning professional in August 2000. He mainly played for the Gunners' youth and reserve sides; his sole first-team appearance was in a 2–1

League Cup In several sports, most prominently association football, a league cup or secondary cup generally signifies a cup competition for which entry is restricted only to teams in a particular league. The first national association football tournament t ...

defeat at

Highbury Highbury is a district in North London and part of the London Borough of Islington in Greater London that was owned by Ranulf brother of Ilger and included all the areas north and east of Canonbury and Holloway Roads. The manor house was situ ...

at the hands of

Ipswich Town Ipswich Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in Ipswich, Suffolk, England. They play in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. The club was founded in 1878 but did not turn profession ...

on 1 November 2000, coming on as a second-half substitute. In further need of first-team experience he joined

on a month's loan on 25 January 2001, making his league début in a goalless draw at home to

Peterborough United Peterborough United Football Club is an English professional football club based in Peterborough, Cambridgeshire, England. The team compete in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. Peterborough have a long-standing ...

two days later. He played only one further game for Northampton before returning to Highbury, and although attracting interest from Torquay manager

Colin Lee Colin Lee (born 12 June 1956) is an English football manager and former footballer. He is currently head of football at South Dartmoor Community College in Ashburton, Devon along with Chris Beard. Playing career Lee began his football career ...

, remained there beyond transfer deadline day. In April 2001 he went to

Middlesbrough Middlesbrough ( ) is a town on the southern bank of the River Tees in North Yorkshire, England. It is near the North York Moors national park. It is the namesake and main town of its local borough council area. Until the early 1800s, the a ...

on trial, but due to an injury crisis at Highbury was recalled by

Arsène Wenger Arsène Charles Ernest Wenger (; born 22 October 1949) is a French former association football, football Manager (association football), manager and football player, player who is currently serving as FIFA's Chief of Global Football Developme ...

. In the summer of 2001 it was clear that he did not fit into Wenger's plans for Arsenal, and was released. In July he was reported to be training at

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 ...

, with a view to impressing enough to earn a contract. On 14 September 2001, he joined

on non-contract terms, along with his former Arsenal teammate Greg Lincoln. His début for the Gulls came the following day in the 2–1 home win against

Darlington Darlington is a market town in the Borough of Darlington, County Durham, England. The River Skerne flows through the town; it is a tributary of the River Tees. The Tees itself flows south of the town. In the 19th century, Darlington underwen ...

. Within a week he had impressed manager

Roy McFarland Roy Leslie McFarland (born 5 April 1948) is an English former football manager and former player. With Derby County, he played 442 league games, helping him to earn 28 caps for England. Playing career Born in Liverpool, McFarland was a player f ...

enough to earn himself a two-year contract. He helped Torquay to promotion in the 2003–04 season, but was released after Torquay's relegation in 2005, joining

that June. He was voted player of the season in his first season at Boston. He joined Shrewsbury Town on 31 January 2007, on a loan deal until the end of the 2006–07 season, when his Boston contract expired. His first appearance for the Shrews came in the 1–1 draw at

Mansfield Town Mansfield Town Football Club is a professional association football, 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 ...

on 3 February 2007; he was substituted when Shrewsbury led 1–0. He was released in May 2007, injuries ruling him out of the playoffs and hastening his departure, with an expected move to

Milton Keynes Dons Milton Keynes Dons Football Club (), usually abbreviated to MK Dons, is a professional association football club based in Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire, England. The team competes in , the third tier of the English football league system. The ...

on the cards. He did however, make a cameo appearance in the playoff final against

Bristol Rovers Bristol Rovers Football Club are a professional football club in Bristol, England. They compete in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. They play home matches at the Memorial Stadium in Horfield, they have been c ...

in the form of being incorrectly credited as Shrewsbury's goalscorer in the

Wembley Stadium Wembley Stadium (branded as Wembley Stadium connected by EE for sponsorship reasons) is a football stadium in Wembley, London. It opened in 2007 on the site of the Wembley Stadium (1923), original Wembley Stadium, which was demolished from 200 ...

scoreboard, when in fact it was midfielder Stewart Drummond He had a trial with

AFC Bournemouth AFC Bournemouth () is a professional association football club based in Kings Park, Boscombe, a suburb of Bournemouth, Dorset, England. The club competes in the Premier League, the highest division of English club football. Formed in 1899 as B ...

and on 24 July 2007, but signed for Notts County, in League Two and quickly became a regular in their side, but was released at the end of the season along with seven other players. Canoville joined

Conference National The National League, known as the Vanarama National League for sponsorship reasons, is the highest level of the National League System and fifth-highest of the overall English football league system. It is the highest league that is semi-profes ...

outfit

on 1 September 2008. However, he failed to make an appearance for Grays Athletic and joined

in October 2008. In February 2009, Halesowen loaned Canoville to

for the remainder of the 2008–09 season. On 13 July, Canoville re-signed for

. On 24 May 2012 Canoville signed with Spalding United as a player. He left them in November 2013, due to injury. On 29 November 2013 his retirement was announced.

Coaching career

On 22 March 2011, Canoville along with

was named as joint caretaker manager of Boston United. After guiding the Pilgrims to the Conference North Play-offs and narrowly losing to

Guiseley Guiseley ( ) is a town in metropolitan borough of the City of Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. Historically part of the West Riding of Yorkshire, it is situated south of Otley and Menston and is now a north-western suburb of Leeds. It sits in t ...

on penalties in the semi-final,s the pair were appointed full-time managers ahead of the 2011–12 season. He left the club at the end of the season. Canoville now runs his football coaching academy in

Nottinghamshire Nottinghamshire (; abbreviated Notts.) is a landlocked county in the East Midlands region of England, bordering South Yorkshire to the north-west, Lincolnshire to the east, Leicestershire to the south, and Derbyshire to the west. The traditi ...

Personal life

Canoville's brother

Dean Dean may refer to: People * Dean (given name) * Dean (surname), a surname of Anglo-Saxon English origin * Dean (South Korean singer), a stage name for singer Kwon Hyuk * Dean Delannoit, a Belgian singer most known by the mononym Dean Titles * ...

was a professional with

Millwall Millwall is a district on the western and southern side of the Isle of Dogs, in east London, England, in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. It lies to the immediate south of Canary Wharf and Limehouse, north of Greenwich and Deptford, east ...

, and his first cousin once removed is

Paul Canoville Paul Kenneth Canoville (born 4 March 1962) is an English former professional footballer who played as a winger. He was signed by Chelsea from Hillingdon Borough in 1981, and went on to win the Second Division title with the club in 1983–84 ...

, formerly a winger with

Chelsea Chelsea or Chelsey may refer to: Places Australia * Chelsea, Victoria Canada * Chelsea, Nova Scotia * Chelsea, Quebec United Kingdom * Chelsea, London, an area of London, bounded to the south by the River Thames ** Chelsea (UK Parliament consti ...

References

External links

*
England profile
at TheFA {{DEFAULTSORT:Canoville, Lee 1981 births Living people Footballers from Ealing English footballers Men's association football defenders Arsenal F.C. players Northampton Town F.C. players Torquay United F.C. players Boston United F.C. players Shrewsbury Town F.C. players Notts County F.C. players Grays Athletic F.C. players Halesowen Town F.C. players Gainsborough Trinity F.C. players Spalding United F.C. players English Football League players English football managers Boston United F.C. managers National League (English football) managers