Paul Johnson (born 5 April 1992) 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 le ...

who plays for

Spennymoor Town Spennymoor Town Football Club is a football club based in Spennymoor, County Durham, in the North East of England. They currently compete in and currently play their home matches at The Brewery Field. The club began playing in the Northern ...

as a

central defender In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield position whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Centre-backs are usually positioned in pairs, with one full-back on either s ...

Career

Hartlepool United

Born in

Sunderland Sunderland () is a port city in Tyne and Wear, England. It is the City of Sunderland's administrative centre and in the Historic counties of England, historic county of County of Durham, Durham. The city is from Newcastle-upon-Tyne and is on t ...

, Johnson joined

Hartlepool United Hartlepool United Football Club is a professional association football club based in Hartlepool, County Durham, England. The team competes in League Two, the fourth tier of the English football league system. They were founded in 1908 as Hartle ...

at the age of 12. He turned professional in 2010, making his senior debut in April 2011. In May 2011 he signed a new contract with the club. And next season, he had a successful three-month loan spell at Conference North side

Workington Workington is a coastal town and civil parish at the mouth of the River Derwent on the west coast in the Allerdale borough of Cumbria, England. The town was historically in Cumberland. At the 2011 census it had a population of 25,207. Loca ...

where he received praise from the Reds' manager Darren Edmondson with him saying "Paul has been fantastic for us, he's grown as a player and learned more about the game than playing meaningless Reserve games. It's been a pleasure to aid his development. He returns to Hartlepool an improved footballer and shows what effect the non league can have on the development of young talent." He was an unused substitute in a 2–1 win away at Bury shortly before he was loaned to local rivals

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 ...

for the rest of the season. He made his debut a day later as he played the full match in a 0–2 league defeat to

Ebbsfleet United Ebbsfleet United Football Club is a professional football club based in Northfleet, Kent, England. As of the 2021–22 season, the club competes in the National League South, the sixth tier of English football. The club was formed in 1946 from ...

. He rejoined

on loan in February 2013, making 17 appearances for the club. Johnson was released by Hartlepool at the end of the 2012–13 season.

Non-league

After his release from Hartlepool, it was reported that Workington boss Darren Edmondson tried to get Johnson to join Workington permanently but hit a stumbling block due to wages. Johnson joined Carlisle-based

Northern League Northern League may refer to: Sport Baseball * Northern League (baseball, 1902–71), a name used by several minor leagues that operated in the upper midwestern U.S. and Manitoba from 1902 to 1971 * Northern League (baseball, 1993–2010), an indep ...

side

Celtic Nation The Celtic nations are a cultural area and collection of geographical regions in Northwestern Europe where the Celtic languages and cultural traits have survived. The term ''nation'' is used in its original sense to mean a people who shar ...

in June, on a one-year deal, where he was reunited with Mick Wadsworth who was Johnson's coach at Hartlepool United. Paul left Celtic Nation to join

in the summer of 2014.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Johnson, Paul 1992 births Living people English men's footballers Hartlepool United F.C. players Garforth Town A.F.C. players Workington A.F.C. players Darlington F.C. players Celtic Nation F.C. players Spennymoor Town F.C. players English Football League players National League (English football) players Men's association football defenders Footballers from Sunderland