Paul Junior Bignot (born 14 February 1986) is an English 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 ...

who played as a defender. He played in the Football League with

Crewe Alexandra Crewe Alexandra Football Club is an English professional association football club based in the town of Crewe, Cheshire, that competes in League Two, the fourth tier of the English football league system. Nicknamed 'The Railwaymen' because of ...

, Blackpool, Plymouth Argyle and

Grimsby Town Grimsby Town Football Club is a professional football club based in Cleethorpes, North East Lincolnshire, England, that in the 2022–23 season will compete in , the fourth tier of the English football league system, following the victory in t ...

and Newport County, and in Non-league football with Kidderminster Harriers, Solihull Moors, Barrow and

AFC Telford United AFC Telford United is a football club based in Telford, Shropshire, England. The club was formed in 2004 after the original Telford United, founded in 1872, folded due to financial problems. Currently members of the National League North, they ...

. He also had a brief stint in

Iceland Iceland ( is, Ísland; ) is a Nordic island country in the North Atlantic Ocean and in the Arctic Ocean. Iceland is the most sparsely populated country in Europe. Iceland's capital and largest city is Reykjavík, which (along with its s ...

with

Keflavík Keflavík (pronounced , meaning ''Driftwood Bay'') is a town in the Reykjanes region in southwest Iceland. It is included in the municipality of Reykjanesbær whose population as of 2016 is 15,129. In 1995, Keflavik merged with nearby Njarð ...

. He was capped once by the

England C The England national football C team (previously known as the England National Game XI and the England Semi-Pro national team) is the football team that represents England at non-league level. Formed in 1979 as the England Non-League team, it f ...

team in 2011.

Career

Crewe Alexandra

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands (county), West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1. ...

-born Bignot started his career as a trainee at Crewe Alexandra at the age of 13. He progressed through the youth teams, reaching the FA Youth Cup semi final for the first time in the club's history, where they lost 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 ...

. Bignot pushed his way through the reserves and into the first team at the age of 18, making his senior debut in a win by a penalty shoot-out over Sunderland in the

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 ...

. He made his Football League debut the following week in the

Championship In sport, a championship is a competition in which the aim is to decide which individual or team is the champion. Championship systems Various forms of competition can be referred to by the term championship. Title match system In this system ...

game away against

Rotherham United Rotherham United Football Club, nicknamed The Millers, is a professional football club based in Rotherham, South Yorkshire, England, which compete in the . The club's colours were initially yellow and black, but changed to red and white around 1 ...

. The following season, after Crewe were relegated to

League One The English Football League One (often referred to as League One for short or Sky Bet League One for sponsorship purposes, and known as the Football League One from 2004 until 2016) is the second-highest division of the English Football Leag ...

, he made sixteen league appearances. His last game was against

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 ...

at the

City Ground The City Ground is a football stadium in West Bridgford, Nottinghamshire, England, on the banks of the River Trent. It has been home to Nottingham Forest Football Club since 1898 and has a capacity of 30,445. The stadium was a venue when En ...

. He turned down a contract extension offered by

Dario Gradi Dario Gradi, MBE (born 8 July 1941) is an Italian-English former amateur football player, coach and manager. He was associated for more than 36 years with Crewe Alexandra, where he was variously manager, director of football and director of t ...

in search of regular football. He found this at Kidderminster Harriers, where he had previously spent a successful six weeks on loan.

Kidderminster Harriers

Bignot signed a two-year contract and was a regular in his first season. The following year saw his contract cancelled by mutual consent. After talks with manager Mark Yates, it was decided that it was time for him to move on.

Newport County

Bignot was signed by

Dean Holdsworth Dean Christopher Holdsworth (born 8 November 1968) is an English former professional football player and manager. As a striker he scored 193 goals in 610 league games over a 22-year career. Despite playing for 16 clubs in 19 spells the majorit ...

at Newport County. In his first full season, Newport won the 2009-10 season Conference South with a record 103 points. He was named in the league's team of year. The 2010-11 season was County's first at that level for over 20 years and Bignot picked up the Newport County Player of the Year, Players' Player, South Wales Argus Player of the Year, and the President's Cup. He made a total of 113 appearances for County. His form also won him his first

cap, in a 1–0 win over Belgium U-23 on 9 February 2011 at

Kenilworth Road Kenilworth Road is an association football stadium in Luton, Bedfordshire, England. It has been the home ground of Luton Town Football Club since 1905. The stadium has also hosted women's and youth international matches, including the second ...

Blackpool

In the summer of 2011, Bignot accepted the offer of a one-week trial at

Leicester City Leicester ( ) is a city, unitary authority and the county town of Leicestershire in the East Midlands of England. It is the largest settlement in the East Midlands. The city lies on the River Soar and close to the eastern end of the National ...

. However, Blackpool, recently relegated from the Premier League, made an approach for Bignot and asked him to play for them in a friendly against Scottish Premier League champions Rangers at

Bloomfield Road Bloomfield Road is a single-tier football stadium in Blackpool, Lancashire, England, which has been the home of Blackpool F.C. since 1901. It is the third stadium in the club's existence, the previous two being Raikes Hall Gardens and the At ...

. Following this appearance, he was offered a two-year deal with the option of a third. On 4 November 2011, he joined

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 ...

side Plymouth Argyle on a three-month loan deal; the first player brought into the club since their exit from administration. He made his debut the following day in a 1–1 draw with Morecambe at

Home Park Home Park is a football stadium in Plymouth, England. The ground has been the home of Football League One club Plymouth Argyle since 1901.Grimsby Town Grimsby Town Football Club is a professional football club based in Cleethorpes, North East Lincolnshire, England, that in the 2022–23 season will compete in , the fourth tier of the English football league system, following the victory in t ...

on 23 July 2013 on a one-year deal. In Bignot's first full season Grimsby reached the semi-final of the FA Trophy losing to eventual winners Cambridge United. Grimsby also reached the conference play-offs to be knocked out by Gateshead. Bignot's first goal came as an equaliser in the 2–2 home League game against Gateshead. Bignot contract got extended for the 14/15 season. On 19 May 2015, Bignot was released, having spent two years at the club.

Keflavík

On 27 July Bignot signed for Keflavík on a three-month deal and made his debut against FH

Return to Newport County

On 30 July 2016 Bignot rejoined Newport County on a one-year contract after a successful trial period. He played his first Football League game for Newport County on 28 August 2016 in the 2–2 draw against Hartlepool United. On 9 May 2017 Bignot was released by Newport at the end of the 2016–17 season.

Non-league

In September 2017 he joined Barrow on non-contract terms. Whilst with

in December 2020, Bignot announced his retirement from competitive football.

Personal life

He is the brother of fellow footballer, turned manager, Marcus Bignot.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Bignot, Paul 1986 births Living people Footballers from Birmingham, West Midlands English men's footballers Men's association football defenders Crewe Alexandra F.C. players Kidderminster Harriers F.C. players Newport County A.F.C. players Blackpool F.C. players Plymouth Argyle F.C. players Grimsby Town F.C. players English Football League players National League (English football) players Solihull Moors F.C. players Knattspyrnudeild Keflavík players England men's semi-pro international footballers Barrow A.F.C. players Expatriate men's footballers in Iceland