Paul William Batty (born 9 January 1964) is a 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 ...

who made nearly 250 appearances 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 ...

. He played as 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 ...

. Batty began his career as an apprentice with Swindon Town, turning professional in January 1982. He made his debut on 25 September 1982 as Swindon won 1-0 at home to Crewe Alexandra and remained a regular for the next two seasons. He lost his place late in 1985 and was released at the end of the season. He joined

Chesterfield Chesterfield may refer to: Places Canada * Rural Municipality of Chesterfield No. 261, Saskatchewan * Chesterfield Inlet, Nunavut United Kingdom * Chesterfield, Derbyshire, a market town in England ** Chesterfield (UK Parliament constitue ...

but left to join Exeter City in 1986. After five years with Exeter he dropped out of league football, joining

Yeovil Town Yeovil Town may refer to: * Yeovil Town F.C., an English football team based in Yeovil, Somerset * Yeovil Town L.F.C. Bridgwater United Women's Football Club are an English women's association football club based in Bridgwater, Somerset who wer ...

in March 1991. In 1992, he scored a hat-trick as Yeovil knocked Football League team

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 ...

out of the

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 ...

. He joined Bath City in July 1993, scoring the goal that knocked league side

Hereford United Hereford United Football Club was an association football club based in Hereford, England. They played at Edgar Street for their entire history. They were nicknamed 'The Whites' or 'The Lilywhites', after their predominantly white kit, or 'The ...

out of the following season's FA Cup. He struggled with a knee injury towards the end of the season and left to join

Salisbury City Salisbury City Football Club was an English football club based in Salisbury, Wiltshire. They were formed in 1947 and played at The Raymond McEnhill Stadium. Salisbury had gained back-to-back promotions in recent years, first to the Conference S ...

in July 1994.

References

1964 births Living people People from Edlington Association football midfielders English footballers Swindon Town F.C. players Chesterfield F.C. players Exeter City F.C. players Yeovil Town F.C. players Bath City F.C. players Salisbury City F.C. players English Football League players National League (English football) players Southern Football League players {{England-footy-midfielder-1960s-stub