Paul Jonathan Trollope (born 3 June 1972) is a football coach and 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 midfielder. He is currently joint-assistant manager of

Luton Town Luton Town Football Club () is a professional association football club based in the town of Luton, Bedfordshire, England, that competes in the Championship, the second tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1885, it is nicknam ...

Born in England, he represents Wales internationally. As a player, he began his career with

Swindon Town Swindon Town Football Club is a professional football club based in Swindon, Wiltshire, England. The team currently competes in , the fourth tier of the English football league system. The club has played home matches at the County Ground sin ...

in 1989, but made his name at

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 ...

between 1992 and 1995. He then transferred to

Derby County Derby County Football Club () is a professional association football club based in Derby, Derbyshire, England. In 2022, it was announced that DCFC was acquired by Clowes Developments (UK) Ltd, a Derbyshire-based property group. Founded in 188 ...

, before signing with Fulham in 1997. After five years he moved on to

Northampton Town Northampton Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in the town of Northampton, England. The team plays in , the fourth tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1897, the club competed in the Midland ...

via

Coventry City Coventry City Football Club is a professional association football club based in Coventry, West Midlands, England. The team currently compete in the Championship, the second tier of the English football league system. The club is nicknamed t ...

. He joined his final club,

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 ...

, in 2004, before retiring as a player in 2007. He played for Wales at international level. While still a player, he was appointed caretaker manager of Bristol Rovers in 2005. Impressing in the position he was handed the job permanently, and took the club to the

Football League Trophy The English Football League Trophy, known for sponsorship purposes as the Papa Johns Trophy after restaurant chain Papa John's Pizza, is an annual English association football knockout competition open to all clubs in EFL League One and EFL Le ...

final in 2007, as well victory in the League Two play-off Final. Stabilizing the club in

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 took Rovers to 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 ...

quarter-finals in

2008 File:2008 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Lehman Brothers went bankrupt following the Subprime mortgage crisis; Cyclone Nargis killed more than 138,000 in Myanmar; A scene from the opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing; ...

, equalling a club record in the competition. After two more seasons finishing mid-table in League One, he was sacked after a poor start to

2010–11 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1. ...

. He was first-team coach at

Birmingham City Birmingham City Football Club is a professional association football, football club based in Birmingham, England. Formed in 1875 as Small Heath Alliance, it was renamed Small Heath in 1888, Birmingham in 1905, and Birmingham City in 1943. Sin ...

for the 2011–12 season, and then followed manager

Chris Hughton Christopher William Gerard Hughton (born 11 December 1958) is a professional football manager and former player. Born in England, he represented the Republic of Ireland national team. After making his professional debut aged 20, Hughton spen ...

Norwich City Norwich City Football Club (also known as The Canaries or The Yellows) is an English professional football club based in Norwich, Norfolk. The club competes in the EFL Championship following their relegation from the Premier League in the 20 ...

until April 2014. On 24 November 2016, Trollope joined Brighton and Hove Albion alongside Chris Hughton's coaching team, as assistant manager.

Playing career

Club career

Trollope was born in Swindon,

Wiltshire Wiltshire (; abbreviated Wilts) is a historic and ceremonial county in South West England with an area of . It is landlocked and borders the counties of Dorset to the southwest, Somerset to the west, Hampshire to the southeast, Gloucestershire ...

, and is the son of former

defender John Trollope. He began his career at Swindon Town as a trainee, turning professional in December 1989, but failed to make the first team. He joined

on loan in March 1992 and signed on a free transfer for the

Plainmoor Plainmoor is an association football stadium located in the Plainmoor suburb of Torquay, Devon, England. Since 1921, the stadium has been the home of Torquay United Football Club, who currently compete in the National League, the fifth tier of E ...

side that summer. after 106 league games and 16 goals for Torquay, he was a regular under manager Don O'Riordan and started to attract Premier League clubs and moved to

in December 1994 for a fee of £100,000. He had loan spells with

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 ...

in August 1996 and

Crystal Palace Crystal Palace may refer to: Places Canada * Crystal Palace Complex (Dieppe), a former amusement park now a shopping complex in Dieppe, New Brunswick * Crystal Palace Barracks, London, Ontario * Crystal Palace (Montreal), an exhibition building ...

in October 1996. He moved to Fulham in November 1997 for a fee of £600,000. He made ten league appearances during Fulham's 2000–01 season after which they were promoted to the

Premier League The Premier League (legal name: The Football Association Premier League Limited) is the highest level of the men's English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Fo ...

. However, he left the Cottagers to join

on a free transfer in March 2002 after losing his place at

Craven Cottage Craven Cottage is a football ground in Fulham, West London, England, which has been the home of Fulham F.C. since 1896.According to the club'official website The ground's capacity is 22,384; the record attendance is 49,335, for a game against ...

. He stayed only a few months at

Highfield Road Highfield Road was a football stadium in the city of Coventry, England. It was the home ground for Coventry City F.C. for 106 years. History It was built in 1899 in the Hillfields district, close to the city centre, and staged its final game ...

, moving to

in July after being released at the end of the season.

International career

In May 1997, Trollope was called up by then Wales manager,

Bobby Gould Robert Hewitt Gould (born 12 June 1946) is an English former footballer and manager. Early life Gould was born in Wyken, Coventry, Warwickshire on 12 June 1946. He is the son of Henry Gould and Helen McKellar Gould (née Morton). He spent h ...

, and made his debut in a 1–0 victory over

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a Anglo-Scottish border, border with England to the southeast ...

at Kilmarnock. While Trollope was never able to hold down a regular place in the

Wales national football team ) , Association = Football Association of Wales (FAW) , Confederation = UEFA (Europe) , Coach = Rob Page , Captain = Gareth Bale , Most caps = Gareth Bale (111) , Top scorer = Gareth ...

, he made nine appearances for the senior squad over six years, culminating in March 2003 in a 4–0 home victory over

Azerbaijan Azerbaijan (, ; az, Azərbaycan ), officially the Republic of Azerbaijan, , also sometimes officially called the Azerbaijan Republic is a transcontinental country located at the boundary of Eastern Europe and Western Asia. It is a part of t ...

in the ultimately unsuccessful qualifying campaign for

Euro 2004 The 2004 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as Euro 2004, was the 12th edition of the UEFA European Championship, a quadrennial football competition contested by the men's national teams of UEFA member associations. The ...

Management career

Bristol Rovers

In June 2004 he moved to

on a free transfer. In his second season, he became caretaker manager and was then appointed first-team coach in a two-tier managerial structure, alongside Director of Football

Lennie Lawrence Robin Michael Lawrence (born 12 December 1947) is an English former football manager, player and football consultant who is non-executive director at EFL League Two side Hartlepool United. Lawrence was a semi-professional at Croydon, Carshalto ...

, in November 2005. His first season in charge ended in a respectable midtable position of 12th place in

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 ...

. The following year Rovers reached the

final but lost to

Doncaster Rovers Doncaster Rovers Football Club is a professional association football club based in Doncaster, South Yorkshire, England. The team compete in League Two, the fourth tier of the English football league system. The club play their home games at ...

. They made up for this loss by winning promotion to

via the play-offs. In the 2007–08 season, Trollope steered Bristol Rovers to mid-table security after a shaky start. Rovers also made the quarter-finals of the FA Cup for the first time in 50 years. In September 2009, following more success, he signed a rolling one-year contract under which his title changed to manager. Despite his achievements at the club, he was sacked on 15 December 2010, with Rovers lying in the League One relegation zone. His overall record in charge of the club was 106 wins and 71 draws from 284 games. During his time with the club, Trollope won the

EFL League One Manager of the Month The Manager of the Month is an association football award that recognises the manager adjudged best for each month of the season in the Football League One, the third tier of English football. The recipient is chosen by a panel assembled by the Lea ...

award on two occasions, for October 2008 after four wins and one draw from five and September 2009.

Return to coaching

In July 2011, Trollope was appointed first-team coach of

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 ...

club

to work with manager

. When Hughton left for Premier League club

at the end of the season, Trollope went with him, again as first-team coach. He left the club when Hughton was dismissed in April 2014. Trollope was appointed head coach of Championship club Cardiff City in February 2015. On 21 July 2015, Trollope was appointed as a coach for the Wales national team alongside his role at Cardiff City.

Cardiff City

At the end of the 2015–16 season, Cardiff manager

Russell Slade Russell Mark Slade (born 10 October 1960) is an English professional football manager, who was most recently managerial consultant of League Two club Stevenage. Having had an extended career at reserve team level, Slade entered professional ...

moved into a head of football role and Trollope was named as his successor, his first job in management since departing Bristol Rovers six years previously. Slade later resigned from his role, after just two weeks, on 3 June. After a poor start to the season, winning 2 of his opening 12 matches, Trollope was sacked by the club on 4 October 2016.

Brighton & Hove Albion

On 24 November 2016, Trollope joined

Brighton & Hove Albion Brighton & Hove Albion Football Club (), commonly referred to simply as Brighton, is an English professional football club based in the city of Brighton and Hove. They compete in the Premier League, the top tier of the English football league ...

as assistant manager. After the sacking of Chris Hughton on 13 May 2019 as Brighton manager, Trollope was also relieved of his duties at the club.

Nottingham Forest

On 8 October 2020, Trollope again followed former manager Chris Hughton as assistant, joining

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 ...

Luton Town

In November 2022, Trollope joined

as joint-assistant manager to former international teammate Rob Edwards.

Managerial statistics

Honours

As a player

;Derby County * 1995–96: Division One runner-up (promotion to the

) ;Fulham * 1998–99: Division Two champion (promotion to Division One) * 2000–01: Division One champion (promotion to the Premier League)

As a manager

;Bristol Rovers * 2006–07:

play-off winner (promotion to

) Individual * League One Manager of the Month: October 2008, September 2009 * League Two Manager of the Month: April 2007

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Trollope, Paul 1972 births Living people Footballers from Swindon English footballers Welsh footballers Wales men's international footballers Men's association football midfielders Swindon Town F.C. players Torquay United F.C. players Derby County F.C. players Grimsby Town F.C. players Crystal Palace F.C. players Fulham F.C. players Coventry City F.C. players Northampton Town F.C. players Bristol Rovers F.C. players English Football League players Premier League players English football managers Welsh football managers Bristol Rovers F.C. managers Cardiff City F.C. managers English Football League managers Birmingham City F.C. non-playing staff Norwich City F.C. non-playing staff Cardiff City F.C. non-playing staff Nottingham Forest F.C. non-playing staff Luton Town F.C. non-playing staff