Russell Hoult (born 22 November 1972) is an English 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 le ...

who played as a

goalkeeper In many team sports which involve scoring goals, the goalkeeper (sometimes termed goaltender, netminder, GK, goalie or keeper) is a designated player charged with directly preventing the opposing team from scoring by blocking or intercepting o ...

. He notably spent time playing in 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 Foo ...

and played for

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 ...

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 1884 ...

and

West Bromwich Albion West Bromwich Albion Football Club () is an English professional football club based in West Bromwich, West Midlands, England. They compete in the EFL Championship, the second tier of English football. The club was formed in 1878 and has pla ...

. He also 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 Lincoln City,

Blackpool Blackpool is a seaside resort in Lancashire, England. Located on the North West England, northwest coast of England, it is the main settlement within the Borough of Blackpool, borough also called Blackpool. The town is by the Irish Sea, betw ...

Bolton Wanderers Bolton Wanderers Football Club () is a professional football club based in Horwich, Bolton, Greater Manchester, England, which competes in . The club played at Burnden Park for 102 years from 1895 after moving from their original home at Pike's ...

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 ...

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 ...

Stoke City Stoke City Football Club is a professional football club based in Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, England, which competes in the . Founded as Stoke Ramblers in 1863, it changed its name to Stoke in 1878 and then to Stoke City in 1925 after Stoke ...

Notts County Notts County Football Club is a professional association football club based in Nottingham, England. The team participate in the National League (division), National League, the fifth tier of the English football league system. Founded on the 2 ...

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 ...

and

Hereford United Hereford United Football Club was an association football club based in Hereford, England. They played at Edgar Street for their entire history. They were nicknamed 'The Whites' or 'The Lilywhites', after their predominantly white kit, or 'The ...

. Following the end of his playing career, Hoult moved into coaching and has worked for Hereford United as a goalkeeping coach, before a spell as club president and manager of Thringstone Miners Welfare.

Playing career

Hoult began his career at

, where he was usually a reserve. During his time at the club he was sent on loan to Lincoln City twice,

Kettering Town Kettering Town Football Club is a football club based in Burton Latimer, Northamptonshire, England. They are currently members of and play at Latimer Park in Burton Latimer. Kettering were the first club to wear sponsorship on their shirts in ...

, where he did not make a first team appearance,

Cheltenham Town Cheltenham Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in the town of Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, England. From the 2021–22 season, the club compete in League One, the third tier of the English football league syst ...

, when they were playing non-league football, and

. He signed for

in the summer of 1995, joining for a fee of £200,000. He went on to help them win promotion to the Premiership in 1996. Hoult remained with the club until January 2000, when he was loaned to

. This transfer was made permanent two months later and he remained with the club until the following January, when he left to join

for £450,000. Hoult played a key role in helping West Brom win promotion to the Premiership in 2001–02, keeping a club record number of clean sheets and being named in the PFA Division One team of the year. On 15 September 2001, in a game against

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, a ...

, he saved a last minute

Marcus Gayle Marcus Anthony Gayle (born 27 September 1970) is a football coach and former professional player who serves as club ambassador at Brentford. Gayle's primary position was as a striker but also played as a winger and central defender towards ...

penalty to preserve West Brom's 2–1 lead. He was a regular for Albion in the Premiership and was watched by England manager

Sven-Göran Eriksson Sven-Göran Eriksson (; born 5 February 1948) is a Swedish football manager and former player. After an unassuming playing career as a right-back, Eriksson went on to experience major success in club management between 1977 and 2001, winning 18 ...

, but never made it into the national squad. A highlight of Hoult's 2002–03 season was saving a

Dion Dublin Dion Dublin (born 22 April 1969) is an English former professional footballer, television presenter and pundit. He is a club director of Cambridge United. As a player he was a centre-forward, notably playing in the Premier League for Manchest ...

penalty to help his side secure a 0–0 draw away at

Aston Villa Aston Villa Football Club is a professional football club based in Aston, Birmingham, England. The club competes in the , the top tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1874, they have played at their home ground, Villa Park ...

. Following Albion's relegation, Hoult remained a fixture in the side for the following season, as the club were promoted to the Premiership at the first attempt. In 2004, he was named as one of West Bromwich Albion's 16 greatest players, in a poll organised as part of the club's 125th anniversary celebrations. He played for the majority of the 2004–05 season, as West Bromwich Albion escaped relegation. However, after being a regular in goal for West Brom for several seasons, Hoult lost his place at the start of the 2005–06 season due to a groin injury. Second choice to

Chris Kirkland Christopher Edmund Kirkland (born 2 May 1981) is an English football coach and former professional goalkeeper who is now the head goalkeeping coach at Colne. As a player, he made 321 league and cup appearances in an 18-year professional career ...

, who manager

Bryan Robson Bryan Robson OBE (born 11 January 1957) is an English football manager and former player. He began his career with West Bromwich Albion in 1972, where he amassed over 200 appearances and was club captain before moving to Manchester United in ...

had signed on a 12-month loan from

Liverpool Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a popul ...

, Hoult was loaned to

in September 2005. However, he was recalled during his second month with the club after Kirkland sustained a rib injury. Following the club's relegation and Kirkland's return to Liverpool, goalkeeping duties for the 2006–07 season were shared between Hoult and new signing

Pascal Zuberbühler Pascal Zuberbühler (born 8 January 1971) is a Swiss former professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper. He played in the Swiss Super League for Grasshopper, Basel and Neuchâtel Xamax. He also had a season on loan to Bayer Leverkusen of ...

, until reports about his personal life surfaced in national newspapers. On 31 January 2007, after making 190 appearances for the club, Hoult was transferred to

on a free transfer after being sacked by West Brom. He made his Stoke City debut on 14 August 2007 in a

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 ...

match away at

Rochdale Rochdale ( ) is a large town in Greater Manchester, England, at the foothills of the South Pennines in the dale on the River Roch, northwest of Oldham and northeast of Manchester. It is the administrative centre of the Metropolitan Borough ...

that finished 2–2 after extra time. He was unable to prevent Rochdale from progressing 4–2 on penalties, despite saving one of the spot-kicks. Hoult received a red card on his league debut for Stoke, in a match against

Plymouth Argyle Plymouth Argyle Football Club is a professional football club based in the city of Plymouth, Devon, England. As of the 2021–22 season, the team are competing in League One, the third tier of English football. They have played at Home Park, ...

in December 2007. In February 2008 Hoult joined

on loan until the end of the season, following an injury to regular keeper

Kevin Pilkington Kevin William Pilkington (born 8 March 1974) is an English football coach and former professional footballer who is now the goalkeeping coach at club Luton Town. As a player, he had a 25-year career as a goalkeeper, playing 439 league and cup ...

. He kept a clean sheet in the 0–0 draw away at

Peterborough United Peterborough United Football Club is an English professional football club based in Peterborough, Cambridgeshire, England. The team compete in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. Peterborough have a long-standing ...

in March, making the League Two Team of the Week. He made 14 appearances for the club, keeping seven clean sheets and helping the club to avoid relegation. He was released at the end of the 2007–08 season, following Stoke's promotion to the Premiership. On 1 July 2008, Hoult returned to Notts County on a permanent basis, signing a two-year contract with the club. He played the first three games of the 2009–10 season for Notts County, before being replaced by new signing

Kasper Schmeichel Kasper Peter Schmeichel (born 5 November 1986) is a Danish professional footballer who plays as a goalkeeper for club Nice and the Denmark national team. Schmeichel began his career with Manchester City, but had loan spells with Darlington, B ...

for the home game against

Dagenham & Redbridge Dagenham & Redbridge Football Club is a professional association football club based in Dagenham, Greater London, England. The team competes in the National League, the fifth tier of the English football league system. Often known simply as Dag ...

. On 16 September 2009,

manager

Colin Todd Colin Todd (born 12 December 1948) is an English football manager and former player. He was most recently the manager of Esbjerg fB. As a player, he made more than 600 appearances in the Football League, playing for Sunderland, Derby County, ...

signed Hoult on loan for a month as Todd felt that permanent Quakers keeper

David Knight David or Dave Knight may refer to: *David Knight (American football) (born 1951), former American football player *David Knight (CND), chair for the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament 1996–2001 *David Knight (cricketer) (born 1956), Australian cric ...

needed a break after a tough start to the season. Todd was sacked during Hoult's loan and he was recalled by Notts County at the end of his month spell. He had played five games for Darlington. On 10 May 2010, it was announced that he had been released by Notts County along with seven other players.

Coaching career

Hoult signed on as goalkeeping coach at

on Thursday 26 August. In October 2010 he became assistant manager to

Jamie Pitman Jamie Pitman (born 6 January 1976) is an English footballer turned football manager, who was the manager of Hereford United until 5 March 2012. Playing career He progressed through the youth system at Swindon Town, eventually making three lea ...

after the sacking of

Simon Davey Simon Davey (born 1 October 1970 in Swansea) is a Welsh former professional footballer and football manager. He is now Head Director of a youth club in America called Southern Soccer Academy. He played for Swansea City, Carlisle United and Pr ...

. On 25 February 2011, he registered as a player for

in order to provide goalkeeping back up. In March 2012, Hoult signed for Thringstone Miners Welfare as both player/manager and club president.

Personal life

Hoult, a married man, has on a number of occasions been the subject of public revelations concerning his sexual conduct. In 2000, he was fined £300 for

kerb crawling Clients of prostitutes or sex workers are sometimes known as ''johns'' or ''tricks'' in North America and ''punters'' in Britain and Ireland. In common parlance among prostitutes as well as with others, the act of negotiating and then engaging with ...

. He was also cleared of sending indecent letters to a 15-year-old girl after his lawyer told magistrates that they were no worse than "saucy seaside postcards". In January 2007 he was suspended by West Bromwich Albion after footage of him involved in an orgy was leaked onto the Internet allegedly with him wearing a club polo shirt.

Career statistics

Honours

Individual *

PFA Team of the Year The Professional Footballers' Association Team of the Year (often called the PFA Team of the Year, or simply the Team of the Year) is an annual award given to a set of 55 footballers across the top four tiers of men's English football; the Premie ...

: 2001–02 First Division

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Hoult, Russell 1972 births Living people People from Ashby-de-la-Zouch Footballers from Leicestershire English men's footballers Men's association football goalkeepers Leicester City F.C. players Lincoln City F.C. players Kettering Town F.C. players Blackpool F.C. players Cheltenham Town F.C. players Bolton Wanderers F.C. players Derby County F.C. players Portsmouth F.C. players West Bromwich Albion F.C. players Nottingham Forest F.C. players Stoke City F.C. players Notts County F.C. players Darlington F.C. players Hereford United F.C. players English Football League players Premier League players