Paul George Hardyman (born 11 May 1964 in

Portsmouth Portsmouth ( ) is a port and city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. The city of Portsmouth has been a unitary authority since 1 April 1997 and is administered by Portsmouth City Council. Portsmouth is the most dens ...

) is an English former footballer and coach. He was a left-back for

, Sunderland,

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 ...

, Barnet, Wycombe and Slough Town. He is currently Academy manager and assistant coach at Orange County Soccer Club who have just won the United Soccer League (USL).

Playing career

Hardyman began his playing career at

Waterlooville Waterlooville is a market town in the Borough of Havant in Hampshire, England, approximately north northeast of Portsmouth. It is the largest town in the borough. The town has a population of about 64,350 and is surrounded by Purbrook, Blendwort ...

, immediately becoming a first-team regular for the whole of the 1982–83 season in the Southern League Premier Division, playing as a winger. During that season he also appeared several times for

Reserves in the Midweek League. He joined Portsmouth permanently in the summer of 1983, shortly after their promotion to Division Two, and was converted to a left-back. During the 1985–86 season Hardyman represented England for the second and final time at U21 level in the European Championship quarter-final against Denmark in Copenhagen. Although England returned victorious, Hardyman lost his place for the semi-final as

Mitchell Thomas Mitchell Thomas (born 2 October 1964) is an English former footballer who played as a defender. While at Tottenham Hotspur he started in the 1987 FA Cup Final. Playing career David Pleat brought Thomas into the Luton Town side from Limbury b ...

of Tottenham, whom he had replaced for the quarter-final, had recovered from injury. In 1989 Hardyman was transferred to Sunderland for a fee of £130,000. While at Sunderland, he played in the

1992 FA Cup Final The 1992 FA Cup Final was contested by Liverpool and Sunderland at Wembley. Liverpool won 2–0, with goals from Michael Thomas and Ian Rush. Summary This was the first FA Cup Final to feature a Second Division team since Queens Park Rangers ...

as a substitute where they lost to Liverpool.

Later career

Following the end of his playing career, Hardyman worked alongside

Guy Whittingham Guy Whittingham (born 10 November 1964) is an English football manager and former professional footballer. As a player, he was a striker from 1988 until 2005, notably in the Premier League for Aston Villa and Sheffield Wednesday. Having start ...

as a match day summariser for Portsmouth matches on BBC Radio Solent. Until being made redundant by Portsmouth in October 2009, Hardyman coached Portsmouth youngsters between the ages of 8 & 18 alongside Whittingham, Rod Ruddick and

Ian Woan Ian Simon Woan (born 14 December 1967) is an English football coach and former professional footballer who is assistant manager of Premier League side Everton. As a player, he was a left winger who notably played in the Premier League for Nott ...

. For a time, Hardyman was manager at Sydenhams Football League (Wessex) club New Milton Town, where he also played a few matches, including being sent off on his debut. He left the club in 2011 to return to Portsmouth, assisting academy manager Andy Awford. When Awford was appointed caretaker manager of the first team in March 2014, Hardyman became first-team coach and was appointed permanently to the role in June. Following Awford's departure in April 2015, Hardyman assisted caretaker manager Gary Waddock for the rest of the season. He and Waddock left the club in May 2015. He subsequently joined

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, and ...

, coaching their under-12 and under-14 teams, before becoming the under-18 coach in summer 2017. In July 2018 Paul Hardyman joined Southampton after being appointed to the position of Lead Under-16s coach in the Saints Academy.

References

External links

Paul Hardyman Basingstoke Town Profile
1964 births Living people Footballers from Portsmouth Waterlooville F.C. players Portsmouth F.C. players Sunderland A.F.C. players Bristol Rovers F.C. players Wycombe Wanderers F.C. players Barnet F.C. players New Milton Town F.C. players Portsmouth F.C. non-playing staff Watford F.C. non-playing staff England under-21 international footballers English footballers New Milton Town F.C. managers Association football defenders English football managers Southampton F.C. non-playing staff Rangers F.C. non-playing staff FA Cup Final players {{England-footy-defender-1960s-stub