Paul Sparrow (born 24 March 1975 in Wandsworth, Greater London) is an English, retired 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 played 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 Crystal Palace,

Preston North End Preston North End Football Club, commonly referred to as Preston, North End or PNE, is a professional football club in Preston, Lancashire, England, who currently play in the EFL Championship, the second tier of the English football league syste ...

and Rochdale, as a defender. He also played

non-league football Non-League football describes football leagues played outside the top leagues of a country. Usually, it describes leagues which are not fully professional. The term is primarily used for football in England, where it is specifically used to de ...

for

Lancaster City Lancaster City Football Club is an English semi-professional non-League football club based in the northern city of Lancaster, Lancashire. They currently compete in and play at Giant Axe. They are full members of the Lancashire County Footb ...

Stalybridge Celtic Stalybridge Celtic Football Club is an English football club based in Stalybridge, Greater Manchester. They are currently members of the and play at Bower Fold. The team traditionally plays in a blue and white strip. In 1921 Stalybridge Celtic ...

, Kendal Town and

Chorley Chorley is a town and the administrative centre of the wider Borough of Chorley in Lancashire, England, north of Wigan, south west of Blackburn, north west of Bolton, south of Preston and north west of Manchester. The town's wealth came pr ...

Playing career

Sparrow began his youth career at Crystal Palace and subsequently signed professional terms. He made his professional debut on 8 November 1995 as a substitute in an away 0–2 defeat to Middlesbrough in a League Cup replay. After one further appearance in the

, Sparrow moved to

, in March 1996. At Preston, Sparrow made 20 league appearances over the next two seasons, without scoring, before moving to Rochdale in 1998. At Rochdale, he made 25 appearances, scoring twice, before moving to

in 1999. He spent six seasons at Lancaster and, when he left in 2005, was the club's longest serving player at the time.

Later career

After retiring from football, Sparrow completed the London Marathon. , he was known to be working with the coaching team at Myerscough College.

References

External links

*
Paul Sparrow at SoccerbasePaul Sparrow at holmesdale.net
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sparrow, Paul 1975 births Living people Footballers from the London Borough of Wandsworth People from Wandsworth Crystal Palace F.C. players Preston North End F.C. players Rochdale A.F.C. players Lancaster City F.C. players Stalybridge Celtic F.C. players Kendal Town F.C. players Chorley F.C. players English men's footballers Men's association football defenders English Football League players